How are Millennials affording new $1.5+million home in MD, DC and VA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We each bought condos in 2009 with the 10k from Obama. They were foreclosures where the owners had just abandoned them. Lived with roommates who paid nearly the entire mortgage. We still saved a lot. We didn't live together until we married so that we could keep getting the roommate money. Sold the condos in 2016 and bought a 1m house. We only owe 350k on it and our salary is under 200k. We're 32 and plan on staying here long term. Key also was waiting until we could afford kids.

Interesting you could pursue a condo with zero equity that generates enough rent to cover mortgage and hoa.

And these were 1bedroom condos — so were you sleeping in a closet or something?

As I wrote, the roommate income paid part of the mortgage and condo fee, not all of it. The roommate had the bedroom. I had a pullown trundle bed in the living room and my husband had a futon in his living room. For the VA loans both of the upfront costs were mitigated somewhat because we were wounded in battle and got a reduction for that

Sorry I am a different poster and was responding about VA loans

[Anonymous]

We bought 2 years ago at 31 and 33 in that price range with help from my parents. We were first time buyers with no equity from a prior home. We had about $100k of our own savings and got a 500k mortgage. You do the math...

[Anonymous]

Pretty much either help from mom and dad or got really lucky on real estate appreciation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much either help from mom and dad or got really lucky on real estate appreciation.

Yeah none of these stories are rented and saved up our down payment.

It’s getting on property ladder cheap or darn crypto FFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought 2 years ago at 31 and 33 in that price range with help from my parents. We were first time buyers with no equity from a prior home. We had about $100k of our own savings and got a 500k mortgage. You do the math...

Can they adopt me?

[Anonymous]

Are there any places left to get appreciation like this?

[Anonymous]

It's all about timing Very few 22-25 year olds have any clue about what kind of market they are getting into

for all the stories about people buying a condo in 2009 you have people that bought in 2005 that got screwed and are just breaking even now

It does crack me up all these people in these $2000, 2500+ per month apartments renting. It's like roommates and living within your means are foreign to folks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- Bought a Townhome in 2001 right out of college. Sold for $200k profit in 2007. Easy to get loan back then.
- Invested in crypto around early 2015 and took out half of the profit in Dec 2017.
- Saved over 10 years
- HHI 500k
- Paid 1.8 million, all cash

Good for you, but yours isn't the average millennial story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any places left to get appreciation like this?

Anywhere close to a metroline and to a lesser extent close in. Schools don't matter as much as crime.

I would look at the Northern sections of the Green and Yellow lines and Eastern branch of the Red Line

[Anonymous]

We bought our first house more than 10 years ago for about $1m. We were 29 and 31. We bought a house a few years ago for $1.5m and ages 36 and 38. We had no help. Just 2 professional jobs and we saved.

[Anonymous]

We’re barely 40 and have normal incomes - GS15 equivalent and a GS13. Our next house in 2-3yrs will be closer to $1.25-1.4. We’ll sell our current house for $900k and find the difference with cash.

No student loans - thanks to scholarships and engineering co-ops.
Had roomates until we got married at 33.
Lived in mid-tier cities so rent with roomies was low.
Had jobs that require frequent business travel - per diems and airline / hotel points paid all vacations.
Max out employee share purchase plan for a company whose stock has done very well. Shares bought at $12 were sold for $65 to fund part of our down payment.
Family help - we get a check each year for $28-50k to spend down an estate. We will get $0 inheritance because we get it now.
We live within our means and don’t budget for bonuses, tax refunds or family gifts. Any “bonus” is applied to college savings or our next car and house.
We drive modest cars. We send our kids to in-home daycare/church preschool instead of having a nanny. Our vacations are modest - a week at the beach in a rented house or visiting family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post makes me feel good and gives me hope. We might buy a condo or continue to rent and keep our heads down and keep saving 5k a month + whatever our raises are for the next few years so we can pay off our SL debt and save for our "big home". We are in our early 30s, so it may coincide with us having a child at 36/37.

Thanks for the inspiration.

OP here. Agreed. Thanks all for the insight. I'm going to use the models here to advise my own children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:- Bought a Townhome in 2001 right out of college. Sold for $200k profit in 2007. Easy to get loan back then.
- Invested in crypto around early 2015 and took out half of the profit in Dec 2017.
- Saved over 10 years
- HHI 500k
- Paid 1.8 million, all cash

Condo was getting luck on a bubble.
Crypto same thing.

You must have rich parents b/c you bought young and like gambling.

You also aren't a millennial.

[Anonymous]

I have many friends who bought at 1.5 at age 30. They all got help from parents. They have decent jobs too and work hard. But they got 100K to 1 million help from parents.
We got $100K from my inlaws and saved another $400k by working in DC and commuting to a 1 bedroom in Baltimore. But were are not the norm among our friends.

[Anonymous]

We’re older millennials who make 800k (me 300k, DH 500)

We just saved