Anyone else who will likely never be a home owner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re in the position to buy but prices have gone up $200-300,000 in the past three years. This plus interest rates moves us back down to a fixer upper or a townhouse instead. We couldn’t compete with the all cash, no inspection crowd responsible for these increases and now we’re dealing with the consequences too. Not a fan of this game.

Yup. We bought a far out, fixer upper TH in a so-so neighborhood, thinking we'd build equity and move to an SFH. That now looks impossible. Predictably, the SFHs have appreciated twice as much as the THs, and we've sunk tens of thousands into major repairs we couldn't DIY. So i find this "you should have got on the property ladder somehow" advice both smug and inaccurate.

That said, I guess I'm glad we're not renting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

PP here. I think most people (except realtors) are saying don't buy right now. Like I said, wait 6-18 months to buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

PP here. I think most people (except realtors) are saying don't buy right now. Like I said, wait 6-18 months to buy.

The problem with this is that people have been waiting years already and have just seen prices escalate. I started looking pre-COVID, thought prices had gotten crazy, and now those prices would be a screaming bargain. On top of that, inventory is low in a lot of places, even before the spike in interest rates. For example, I, like many people here, want to stay in my general area so that my kids stay in the same schools and are near their friends. We have outgrown our house, and then some.

So if you see a good house that you could afford (even if expensive) and would be happy living in for 10 years, do you wait another 6-18 months in the hope that prices go down? Or do you buy it and accept the higher cost and hope that interest rates go down at some point and you can refinance? Even if someone could guarantee that prices would be at prepandemic levels in a year AND an acceptable house would be available in an area where you want to live, those prices would still be high, the interest rates would still be high, and you've lost a year of building equity.

So the people who had the means to buy a house that is comfortable enough and at great interest rates and relatively low prices should just recognize the good fortune and not act like it's no big deal to wait another year or more. It is a tough decision with little clarity on the financial and other tradeoffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OK. I'll bite. I'm a gen xer in my mid-40s. What systemic barriers did you face that i didn't?

Multiple recessions

Gen Xer here who graduated college in a recession and spent years underwater on a condo during the Great Recession of 2008. I also had unpaid parental leave and had to pay 100% of my student loans even though I’ve spent my career in public service.

What recession did you graduate from college in?

Gen-X here -- graduated during early 90's. Could not get a job. PhDs were driving cabs. Look it up

yep! I graduated in 1990, had to work two retail jobs to pay the bills.

Wow, hair styled professionally?? Manicures? HOW COULD THEY. We should all just look like slobs so that we can buy a house.

Sorry but the tone that you write in is just so condescending. Not everyone’s goal in life is to save for a house but glad you achieved your goal.

For how long? That's not really a sob story. Poor little thing had to work retail after college!

I worked three jobs, and two of them were pretty crappy bosses! I knew from growing up in a lower income environment that saving and making money was my only way out, I watched and I learned what I did not want for my own life. Meanwhile my friends had their hair styled professionally, nails (sculptured at the time) were always on point, clothing spectacular and they had credit card bills out the a... It was a matter of choices, I wanted to own my own condo more than anything. I accomplished that by my mid twenties because I worked multiple jobs even while in school. Did it suck, yes, but so did growing up poor and hungry. I have a good life now because I sacrificed while so many of my long time friends did not and they are paying that price now.

This. I see that in my co-workers who are in their early 30s who are single professionals, rent in DMV area, travel all the time, go to restaurants, buy stuff and complain that they will never own a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

PP here. I think most people (except realtors) are saying don't buy right now. Like I said, wait 6-18 months to buy.

The problem with this is that people have been waiting years already and have just seen prices escalate. I started looking pre-COVID, thought prices had gotten crazy, and now those prices would be a screaming bargain. On top of that, inventory is low in a lot of places, even before the spike in interest rates. For example, I, like many people here, want to stay in my general area so that my kids stay in the same schools and are near their friends. We have outgrown our house, and then some.

So if you see a good house that you could afford (even if expensive) and would be happy living in for 10 years, do you wait another 6-18 months in the hope that prices go down? Or do you buy it and accept the higher cost and hope that interest rates go down at some point and you can refinance? Even if someone could guarantee that prices would be at prepandemic levels in a year AND an acceptable house would be available in an area where you want to live, those prices would still be high, the interest rates would still be high, and you've lost a year of building equity.

So the people who had the means to buy a house that is comfortable enough and at great interest rates and relatively low prices should just recognize the good fortune and not act like it's no big deal to wait another year or more. It is a tough decision with little clarity on the financial and other tradeoffs.

When the Fed literally says we are in a bubble, you should not buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

Darn. If I had only compromised safety, I too could own a home.

OMG. This is why some of you will never be homeowners. We have the military person who can get their mortgage paid by DOD but they “don’t want to be a long distance landlord” when they move. We have the person who “refuses” to buy a cape cod bc they could get it in their hometown much cheaper. Too much work, too small, too dangerous, too far…I have bad news for you. Many first time homebuyers have to COMPROMISE - even on the fundamentals, because there will ALWAYS be people out there who are older than you, which simply means they’ve had more time to earn and save, and most likely build equity and benefit from appreciation. Someday, you too will be that older person, with a higher salary, more equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

PP here. I think most people (except realtors) are saying don't buy right now. Like I said, wait 6-18 months to buy.

The problem with this is that people have been waiting years already and have just seen prices escalate. I started looking pre-COVID, thought prices had gotten crazy, and now those prices would be a screaming bargain. On top of that, inventory is low in a lot of places, even before the spike in interest rates. For example, I, like many people here, want to stay in my general area so that my kids stay in the same schools and are near their friends. We have outgrown our house, and then some.

So if you see a good house that you could afford (even if expensive) and would be happy living in for 10 years, do you wait another 6-18 months in the hope that prices go down? Or do you buy it and accept the higher cost and hope that interest rates go down at some point and you can refinance? Even if someone could guarantee that prices would be at prepandemic levels in a year AND an acceptable house would be available in an area where you want to live, those prices would still be high, the interest rates would still be high, and you've lost a year of building equity.

So the people who had the means to buy a house that is comfortable enough and at great interest rates and relatively low prices should just recognize the good fortune and not act like it's no big deal to wait another year or more. It is a tough decision with little clarity on the financial and other tradeoffs.

When the Fed literally says we are in a bubble, you should not buy.

You are the same guy who keeps posting that comment from Powell over and over in these threads. It's weird. Powell was talking about across the country, and he never said that prices will return to anywhere near pre-pandemic, especially in desirable neighborhoods. He said that price increases would moderate until supply and demand came in line. If you want to buy in a particular desirable neighborhood and live there for 10 years, it makes absolutely no sense to pass on a good house in the hope that prices will be 5% lower in a year. You would really have to believe that prices will be much, much lower in a year to make the gamble worth it. It just doesn't make sense to time the market if your plan is to buy a house you can afford and stay there for 10 years. The problem is that there are no houses to buy! We shall see when the Spring rolls around. I hope that the inventory of good houses in my neighborhood spikes, but I have zero belief that it will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

PP here. I think most people (except realtors) are saying don't buy right now. Like I said, wait 6-18 months to buy.

The problem with this is that people have been waiting years already and have just seen prices escalate. I started looking pre-COVID, thought prices had gotten crazy, and now those prices would be a screaming bargain. On top of that, inventory is low in a lot of places, even before the spike in interest rates. For example, I, like many people here, want to stay in my general area so that my kids stay in the same schools and are near their friends. We have outgrown our house, and then some.

So if you see a good house that you could afford (even if expensive) and would be happy living in for 10 years, do you wait another 6-18 months in the hope that prices go down? Or do you buy it and accept the higher cost and hope that interest rates go down at some point and you can refinance? Even if someone could guarantee that prices would be at prepandemic levels in a year AND an acceptable house would be available in an area where you want to live, those prices would still be high, the interest rates would still be high, and you've lost a year of building equity.

So the people who had the means to buy a house that is comfortable enough and at great interest rates and relatively low prices should just recognize the good fortune and not act like it's no big deal to wait another year or more. It is a tough decision with little clarity on the financial and other tradeoffs.

When the Fed literally says we are in a bubble, you should not buy.

You are the same guy who keeps posting that comment from Powell over and over in these threads. It's weird. Powell was talking about across the country, and he never said that prices will return to anywhere near pre-pandemic, especially in desirable neighborhoods. He said that price increases would moderate until supply and demand came in line. If you want to buy in a particular desirable neighborhood and live there for 10 years, it makes absolutely no sense to pass on a good house in the hope that prices will be 5% lower in a year. You would really have to believe that prices will be much, much lower in a year to make the gamble worth it. It just doesn't make sense to time the market if your plan is to buy a house you can afford and stay there for 10 years. The problem is that there are no houses to buy! We shall see when the Spring rolls around. I hope that the inventory of good houses in my neighborhood spikes, but I have zero belief that it will.

Right, when Powell said we “had a housing bubble,” what he really meant was, “we had a housing bubble across the country, except in special neighborhoods of the DMV because those areas are *chef’s kiss*. Folks buying now in those places, don’t worry, we are increasing the cost of purchasing houses there by 50% in the span of just months because we want to make sure that housing prices there stay exactly that elevated or more for perpetuity. You snowflakes are golden, carry on!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re in the position to buy but prices have gone up $200-300,000 in the past three years. This plus interest rates moves us back down to a fixer upper or a townhouse instead. We couldn’t compete with the all cash, no inspection crowd responsible for these increases and now we’re dealing with the consequences too. Not a fan of this game.

Yup. We bought a far out, fixer upper TH in a so-so neighborhood, thinking we'd build equity and move to an SFH. That now looks impossible. Predictably, the SFHs have appreciated twice as much as the THs, and we've sunk tens of thousands into major repairs we couldn't DIY. So i find this "you should have got on the property ladder somehow" advice both smug and inaccurate.

That said, I guess I'm glad we're not renting?

Some people on here who say they can’t afford a home have come off pretty obnoxious, but think it’s also important to point out that sometimes people just get unlucky like PP. And that sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re in the position to buy but prices have gone up $200-300,000 in the past three years. This plus interest rates moves us back down to a fixer upper or a townhouse instead. We couldn’t compete with the all cash, no inspection crowd responsible for these increases and now we’re dealing with the consequences too. Not a fan of this game.

Yup. We bought a far out, fixer upper TH in a so-so neighborhood, thinking we'd build equity and move to an SFH. That now looks impossible. Predictably, the SFHs have appreciated twice as much as the THs, and we've sunk tens of thousands into major repairs we couldn't DIY. So i find this "you should have got on the property ladder somehow" advice both smug and inaccurate.

That said, I guess I'm glad we're not renting?

Some people on here who say they can’t afford a home have come off pretty obnoxious, but think it’s also important to point out that sometimes people just get unlucky like PP. And that sucks.

A PP who said “choices are limited by options” nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

Darn. If I had only compromised safety, I too could own a home.

OMG. This is why some of you will never be homeowners. We have the military person who can get their mortgage paid by DOD but they “don’t want to be a long distance landlord” when they move. We have the person who “refuses” to buy a cape cod bc they could get it in their hometown much cheaper. Too much work, too small, too dangerous, too far…I have bad news for you. Many first time homebuyers have to COMPROMISE - even on the fundamentals, because there will ALWAYS be people out there who are older than you, which simply means they’ve had more time to earn and save, and most likely build equity and benefit from appreciation. Someday, you too will be that older person, with a higher salary, more equity.

Only a man would think safety is an ok compromise to make.

The DoD doesn’t pay for their house any more than your employer pays for yours. It’s just a variable part of the salary. It ranges from nothing to adequate to not enough depending on where you are.

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Anonymous wrote:We didn't buy our first home until we were in the mid-thirties, but took quite a few years of saving $$$ to get there. This was about 10 years ago. Since then, we've been able to buy four additional homes as investment properties. The trick? As our income grew over 10 years, we kept our spending habits more or less the same as 10 years ago, so we've had 6x growth in saving over the year. Takes strong discipline, being handy helps (fixing things in the house ourselves and doing most of car maintenance self also.....w/both cars being 15+ yrs old)

You can do it, discipline and trading off current consumption for future consumption.

Best of luck!

Your trick? Buying at the bottom of a crash and then hoarding properties. You’re not that smart. My worst financial decision was being born too late to do what you did. Those of us who are born later and did the right thing and worked hard to save for a down payment are getting screwed because the cost of housing has artificially increased over the last two years far faster than we can save. It is utterly unprecedented and you are in no position to give advice.

Amen.

No. Your generation had access to the lowest interest rates in history. You couldn’t afford bc you wanted to enter the property ladder without compromise. Buy further out, buy smaller, buy a condo, buy in a lower cost of living area, build equity, enjoy appreciation, sell and enjoy a tax free profit and climb the ladder. I’ll never forget my first real estate agent. She bought in Capitol Hill 40 years ago. She said no one would even come to their house. Now she owns a boss home in a prime location. But it did not come easy.

How would I have afforded to buy a property while in school and making no income? What about people who graduated in say 2019 and needed to work a few years to save up for a down payment? You don’t make any sense. The cost of housing right now in every corner of America is vastly less affordable than it was just a year ago. Not everyone was in a position to buy last year or before that, and even if they could it was very hard to “win” a bidding war.

We're supposed to cry because 24 year olds can't buy right now? There's been a 2-year blip of homes being either overly priced, high interest rates, or both. Just ride it out and you'll be in a great position to buy in 6-18 months.

No, that’s the point. You’re not supposed to cry. All the PPs were going on and on about how great things turned out because they bought when they were young, and it’s just a totally different scenario right now. They are telling people to buy right now and “compromise” because it worked out when they were young, when really the best thing to do is just wait it out.

PP here. I think most people (except realtors) are saying don't buy right now. Like I said, wait 6-18 months to buy.

The problem with this is that people have been waiting years already and have just seen prices escalate. I started looking pre-COVID, thought prices had gotten crazy, and now those prices would be a screaming bargain. On top of that, inventory is low in a lot of places, even before the spike in interest rates. For example, I, like many people here, want to stay in my general area so that my kids stay in the same schools and are near their friends. We have outgrown our house, and then some.

So if you see a good house that you could afford (even if expensive) and would be happy living in for 10 years, do you wait another 6-18 months in the hope that prices go down? Or do you buy it and accept the higher cost and hope that interest rates go down at some point and you can refinance? Even if someone could guarantee that prices would be at prepandemic levels in a year AND an acceptable house would be available in an area where you want to live, those prices would still be high, the interest rates would still be high, and you've lost a year of building equity.

So the people who had the means to buy a house that is comfortable enough and at great interest rates and relatively low prices should just recognize the good fortune and not act like it's no big deal to wait another year or more. It is a tough decision with little clarity on the financial and other tradeoffs.

When the Fed literally says we are in a bubble, you should not buy.

You are the same guy who keeps posting that comment from Powell over and over in these threads. It's weird. Powell was talking about across the country, and he never said that prices will return to anywhere near pre-pandemic, especially in desirable neighborhoods. He said that price increases would moderate until supply and demand came in line. If you want to buy in a particular desirable neighborhood and live there for 10 years, it makes absolutely no sense to pass on a good house in the hope that prices will be 5% lower in a year. You would really have to believe that prices will be much, much lower in a year to make the gamble worth it. It just doesn't make sense to time the market if your plan is to buy a house you can afford and stay there for 10 years. The problem is that there are no houses to buy! We shall see when the Spring rolls around. I hope that the inventory of good houses in my neighborhood spikes, but I have zero belief that it will.

Right, when Powell said we “had a housing bubble,” what he really meant was, “we had a housing bubble across the country, except in special neighborhoods of the DMV because those areas are *chef’s kiss*. Folks buying now in those places, don’t worry, we are increasing the cost of purchasing houses there by 50% in the span of just months because we want to make sure that housing prices there stay exactly that elevated or more for perpetuity. You snowflakes are golden, carry on!”

The past tense here is key. The housing market was crazy during Covid. There’s a difference between slowing down and normalizing an insane market and housing prices crashing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people live beautiful, rich home lives without owning a home. But of that's your dream, then move to a lower cost of living area and buy a home. Live in a tiny house. Scale your dream to fit what you can attain.

The DMV has exceptionally high prices. Many of my relatives live in other states and own $200-$300K homes that are quite nice. Save your money up.

[Anonymous]

Move to Baltimore.