Unless you HAVE to buy a home, hold off. There are going to be tons of foreclosures and the overall market valuation is going to dip. Independent of the current circumstances we're 2-3 years overdue for a market correction.
We're saving for a house now. The reason it's becoming even more feasible for us is because I was able to join biotech right before our IPO and got a good chunk of ISOs. Now those ISOs are pretty much what has allowed us to have at least 5-10% down payment. This is in California. I don't know how we would do this without getting the ISOs. Shit is rough.
Yep, that sounds about right. No way I could have afforded to buy anything without my parents basically giving me my inheritance early. And even that was only possible because my aunt who lived in Switzerland died without children. Like, I had 20k saved after several years, which isn't nothing but it's not down payment money.
My city (St Louis) does something, has pretty strict income restrictions but a nice program
I lived at home until i was 32 before I moved out. Helped me save a lot of money for my downpayment on a place.
In some cultures, parents helping with buying a house is normal and not shameful. A lot of Chinese Americans here in Brooklyn are helped by their parents with the understanding that the parents will live with them when they are of very old age.
Smart man, I met my wife when I was at my lowest point. She fell in love with me despite my less than stellar financial situation. I'll never forget that.
My big issue right now is that my work is contract and too competitive for permanent
if i could guarantee A permanent gig i Could Get family assistance for a house
if i could guarantee A permanent gig i Could Get family assistance for a house
Where are people living that a 2-10k from their parents makes a meaningful difference to the down payment on a property?
In any major city in this country, that wouldn't be a drop in the ocean for a deposit - even in the middle of the COVID housing market.
In any major city in this country, that wouldn't be a drop in the ocean for a deposit - even in the middle of the COVID housing market.
What really helped us is I went to a super small college which that was cheap, and my wife's family paid for her college tuition. That in itself was a massive game changer. The debt from her college would have taken a while to recoup if they didn't pay for it.
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You guys came of age before clickbait driven journalism was a thing haha.
Millennial stuff is not as hot as Zoomer stuff these days.
My wife got a job in oil and gas for a couple of years and the bonus money was enough to pay for my down payment.
I saved for about 3 years. Then my lender was like "if only you had 5k more, then I could give you a really good loan". I said "brb I'll sell some of my video games." Three months later I pulled it off and bought this pos house.
See, video games are a good investment. ;)
See, video games are a good investment. ;)
Haha from what I can gather it is not mandatory, unless it's a very traditional household. But it does explain the higher home ownership rates in that demographic. Chinese people really don't like renting apartments!
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They don't do nursing homes. Many also provide childcare too. The Traditional American way is to pay huge chunks of in day care and then pay more in nursing homes, which can be horrible.
Seems better honestly.
Sounds like you're a good man as well and well done finding a genuine girl! Yeah, I'm really picky about who I date and I definitely filter out any gold diggers 🤣
Same. But my wife and I skipped the starter home and went straight for the "Forever Home." And that's even after saving as much money as possible by living with my parents for four years after graduating.
I own one and didn't get assistance from parents. Didn't want it anyway, helped my mum out financially even. Was able to because I moved to a different country for a good job, have no student debt, no medical debt, no children, have avoided the crazy high rents before the purchase, got lucky finding this property and live a generally pretty spartan livestyle.
I was fortunate i dropped out of high school at 16 and went up north to work in the oil fields. They paid a ton and i lived in camp for years. So i was easily able to afford a down payment and to make accelerated mortgage payments. But i was only able to because the oil companies paid all my living expenses and all my schooling while i was up there.
I backed out of a purchase 2 years ago even though I lost due diligence money. Just didn't feel right. Even though I have the savings and income, I don't particularly like my city and couldn't see myself living here for more than 2-3 more years. I am now renting a townhouse which has been nice. I realized the ownership aspect is less important to me than just having extra space and a garage. I'll keep saving and prepare to get out of here when things hopefully get better in the U.S. May even leave the country if things go further south.
Yeah, this is right. When I was buying my current house in 2016, I watched house prices go up ~8% or so over the course of the year. I ended up firing my realtor and getting a new one, but it was eye-opening when doing the math.
If I had spent more to buy the house I had wanted earlier in the year, it would have cost me less than buying a lesser house later in the year. But that's hindsight, though - it's entirely possible the market had gone sideways or even down.
Yeahhh...this is why I'm refusing to ask for help from my parents about buying a house. Seeing how they got help from my grandparents, and my grandparents lord over them about it whenever they get a chance, I definitely don't want my parents to do the same for me.
$50k isn't bad money, but it's not significantly more than the median individual income. I'm impressed she got to $500k NW by 28 at that income--unless she job-hopped and got big raises each time. She must have been saving >50% of her income in either case.
I myself am at a 30% savings rate at a far higher starting salary... Hoping to get that up to as close to 50% as possible in the next couple of years.
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Median individual is key here. That's just one person's income. That's starting salary out of college. Still very strong.
When I re-entered the dating pool at 30. All the women I went out with besides 1 were homeowners. So also being a homeowner is a definite plus. Even my ex purchased a home a few months before we broke up.
Wife and I just bought our first home in April. Im 29 and she is 27. She works for non profits and im a high school teacher. Started saving 4 years ago and even with two car loans and one student loan we made it. It was hard and terrifying, and we consistently got pushed out of where we wanted to live.
So now we live in a small suburb about 30 minutes south of Seattle.
We made it but I acknowledge that we couldn't have done it without each other, we couldn't have done it if my teachers union didn't get 15% raises over the last two years, and we couldn't have done it living in Seattle - no fucking way. If we hadn't received cost of living adjustments to our wages this would have been near impossible.
We have two other millenial friends who bought houses, one bought a 120 year old fixer upper and the other bought a house in the middle of nowhere. But with the insane market and amount of big money pouring into places like Seattle, Millenials are kind of doomed to gentrify wherever they go because we are being forced to buy in traditionally lower income areas, or rural areas to get by.
So now we live in a small suburb about 30 minutes south of Seattle.
We made it but I acknowledge that we couldn't have done it without each other, we couldn't have done it if my teachers union didn't get 15% raises over the last two years, and we couldn't have done it living in Seattle - no fucking way. If we hadn't received cost of living adjustments to our wages this would have been near impossible.
We have two other millenial friends who bought houses, one bought a 120 year old fixer upper and the other bought a house in the middle of nowhere. But with the insane market and amount of big money pouring into places like Seattle, Millenials are kind of doomed to gentrify wherever they go because we are being forced to buy in traditionally lower income areas, or rural areas to get by.
Yeah, life isn't the same for regular folk. My best friend has very well off parents. His parents helped him put a down payment on his first place. He sold that place a while ago and while he looks for a new place his parents let him stay in one of their investment properties rent free.
The place he's staying in is about $3,000 a month.
While I'm definitely not struggling in life I just don't know if I'll ever be able to buy a place unless someone really helps my gf and I out.
The place he's staying in is about $3,000 a month.
While I'm definitely not struggling in life I just don't know if I'll ever be able to buy a place unless someone really helps my gf and I out.
Right, it's a strong starting salary, but it's not super far removed from the median individual income, which hovers somewhere around $33k~$35k last I checked.
I can see the plus sides to it for some people but buying my own home now doesn't make sense since I may potentially relocate somewhere else after I finish my degree and I honestly don't need an entire house for myself. I'd rather date someone for a few years and see where things go, buying a house with an SO and sharing it with her would be a lot more satisfying :)
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I've been trying to buy a house for the last few weeks. I live in SF, so it's pretty much the most expensive area in the country. And you'd have no idea there was a recession around here. People are still bidding hundreds of thousands over asking with a good number of cash buyers (I'm assuming foreign).
Had two offers turned down this week (not even considered) and it's pretty disheartening tbh. I've saved up for the last 5 years while staying with my folks and am not trying to borrow money from them for any down payments (I mean, I'd have to foot an even crazier mortgage every month if I did).
Had two offers turned down this week (not even considered) and it's pretty disheartening tbh. I've saved up for the last 5 years while staying with my folks and am not trying to borrow money from them for any down payments (I mean, I'd have to foot an even crazier mortgage every month if I did).
Here's the article in question, there's just not a ton of background info in it.
I Built a $550K Net Worth by Age 28, Thanks to These Lessons My Parents Taught Me
By the time I turned 28 years old, my net worth was already $550K. I didn't win the lottery or inherit a trust fund, and I wasn't earning a doctor's or lawyer's salary. So, how'd I do it? I was raised to be financially independent.
www.biggerpockets.com
Then the next generation is going to be even worse off, because we don't have the ability to help!
My parents helped me and my sibling with down payments for our first apartments, though I don't reckon that I'll be able to afford owning a house reasonably close to the city and public transports until I'm like 40 and married.
But I hope to be able to help my kids as well, since I think that getting a proper living space won't be easier in the future. If anything it'll be harder.
But I hope to be able to help my kids as well, since I think that getting a proper living space won't be easier in the future. If anything it'll be harder.
I bought my first house entirely on my own, without a college degree. But I got really lucky in multiple ways:
- Dropped out of college to be the 7th employee hire of a software startup, was earning shit wages tho for 5 years
- Company sold after 6 years of working there and I was screwed out of stock. I was given a bonus but it didn't cover opportunity cost at all for all those years working shit wages. A lot of the reason I was screwed out of stock was because I was young and naive and I didn't understand what I was signing. Others at the company walked away with millions. Hardest lesson I had to learn in life.
- I invested the bonus and it sat there growing for another 6 years.
- Eventually decided to buy a house. Like many here I was trying to get to 20% down. But my father made me realize I was chasing a moving target. My savings and investments were not growing quickly enough and it would take me much longer to get there than just putting 5% down and letting equity do its thing.
- I sold my first house after living there for 5 years and I'm now in my second. I got lucky in that even though I only put 5% down due to market appreciation I walked away from the sale with $80k in equity which allowed me to get into a much nicer house.
- Dropped out of college to be the 7th employee hire of a software startup, was earning shit wages tho for 5 years
- Company sold after 6 years of working there and I was screwed out of stock. I was given a bonus but it didn't cover opportunity cost at all for all those years working shit wages. A lot of the reason I was screwed out of stock was because I was young and naive and I didn't understand what I was signing. Others at the company walked away with millions. Hardest lesson I had to learn in life.
- I invested the bonus and it sat there growing for another 6 years.
- Eventually decided to buy a house. Like many here I was trying to get to 20% down. But my father made me realize I was chasing a moving target. My savings and investments were not growing quickly enough and it would take me much longer to get there than just putting 5% down and letting equity do its thing.
- I sold my first house after living there for 5 years and I'm now in my second. I got lucky in that even though I only put 5% down due to market appreciation I walked away from the sale with $80k in equity which allowed me to get into a much nicer house.
My wife and I saved for 12 years to buy our condo (we got it when I was 32).
Twelve years of penny pinching
It sucked
Twelve years of penny pinching
It sucked
It is really dependent on location with all of this. I am doing ok right now with no parental supports while still having a family of my own. I will never be able to buy though as anything real estate related is either 750k ish for an apartment and over a million for anything with land. So even if you could save 20k a year, you are going to take years to get to a point where you could have a sizeable downpayment and not a huge ass mortgage. 20% isn't even good enough for a downpayment really. Paying 250K to have a 750k mortgage is not worth it.