How does someone buy a 2M+ house in their 20’s just a few years out of grad school?

[Anonymous]

I don’t want to argue about family money, but I read many parent posts who plan to help their kid with a home down payment. They never mention if it’s $50,000, $100,000 or more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate how everyone assumes this is family help. My dh and I both graduated w/ zero debt and took high paying jobs right out of school where we had crazy hours so spent barely any money and stashed everything away. We also had each saved a lot from our jobs before senior year and working senior year. Add to that our sign on bonuses, which we both invested. I bought a coop my first year out of undergrad and had a great turn on it. Sold it 3 years later and combined that profit with what each of us had saved up. We used that for the down payment on a $2.2M house and my half of the monthly expenses were not any higher than what my monthly carrying cost for my 2 bedroom coop had been. The new property was a DC row house w/ a legal basement apartment that we rented out for I think $2200.
It annoyed me to no end when I’d hear people say must be nice to have generous parents or whatever. This was all on us while the bitter friends were going on endless instagram worthy trips right out of college. Yes our hours sucked for the first 5/6 years but we knew they would get better so we just kept our heads down and sticking money away. We were definitely lucky with both the stock market and real estate market timing, too.

Buying a coop out of undergrad? This has to be 1999 or so. They saw their coop balloon in value, and high salaries and loose terms.

[Anonymous]

The reason we are arguing about "family money" is because it just doesn't work out for 99.99% of people to buy 2+ million house at that age without some "assistance". I'm glad all those .001% have shown up, but that's how hit's happening. /Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate how everyone assumes this is family help. My dh and I both graduated w/ zero debt and took high paying jobs right out of school where we had crazy hours so spent barely any money and stashed everything away. We also had each saved a lot from our jobs before senior year and working senior year. Add to that our sign on bonuses, which we both invested. I bought a coop my first year out of undergrad and had a great turn on it. Sold it 3 years later and combined that profit with what each of us had saved up. We used that for the down payment on a $2.2M house and my half of the monthly expenses were not any higher than what my monthly carrying cost for my 2 bedroom coop had been. The new property was a DC row house w/ a legal basement apartment that we rented out for I think $2200.
It annoyed me to no end when I’d hear people say must be nice to have generous parents or whatever. This was all on us while the bitter friends were going on endless instagram worthy trips right out of college. Yes our hours sucked for the first 5/6 years but we knew they would get better so we just kept our heads down and sticking money away. We were definitely lucky with both the stock market and real estate market timing, too.

Great, it's still family money.

DP. How is that “family money”?

t

It’s not explicitly family money, but in this day and age, graduating with no college debt is a form of advantage if you have parents who can fully cover it.

Then again, graduating with no debt is also not value neutral: some people choose cheaper colleges deliberately to be frugal, some people have merit scholarships, but also! some people win those merit scholarships *because* they had other advantages…honestly the whole system kinda falls apart when you scrutinize it and try to bean-count.

I was in a PhD program where we all received fixed stipends, yet people had wildly different advantages: some had parents sending them rent money, some had partners bankrolling them…it made me crazy but all of these things are some combo of both choices AND privileges

But I think we can all agree housing prices in this area are out of control lol

Of course prices are out of control. But joining the military to pay for school isn’t family money or “privilege.” Except I guess the privilege of being physically healthy enough to join.

Right but you aren’t buying a house first year out of undergrad on an officers salary. You would do your 4 year turn, and then MAYBE cash into a high salary (I think MD and JAG have longer tours though right?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason we are arguing about "family money" is because it just doesn't work out for 99.99% of people to buy 2+ million house at that age without some "assistance". I'm glad all those .001% have shown up, but that's how hit's happening. /Thread

You’re offering less evidence than the people speaking from personal experience. Feel free to cite contrary personal experience or aggregate data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate how everyone assumes this is family help. My dh and I both graduated w/ zero debt and took high paying jobs right out of school where we had crazy hours so spent barely any money and stashed everything away. We also had each saved a lot from our jobs before senior year and working senior year. Add to that our sign on bonuses, which we both invested. I bought a coop my first year out of undergrad and had a great turn on it. Sold it 3 years later and combined that profit with what each of us had saved up. We used that for the down payment on a $2.2M house and my half of the monthly expenses were not any higher than what my monthly carrying cost for my 2 bedroom coop had been. The new property was a DC row house w/ a legal basement apartment that we rented out for I think $2200.
It annoyed me to no end when I’d hear people say must be nice to have generous parents or whatever. This was all on us while the bitter friends were going on endless instagram worthy trips right out of college. Yes our hours sucked for the first 5/6 years but we knew they would get better so we just kept our heads down and sticking money away. We were definitely lucky with both the stock market and real estate market timing, too.

Great, it's still family money.

DP. How is that “family money”?

t

It’s not explicitly family money, but in this day and age, graduating with no college debt is a form of advantage if you have parents who can fully cover it.

Then again, graduating with no debt is also not value neutral: some people choose cheaper colleges deliberately to be frugal, some people have merit scholarships, but also! some people win those merit scholarships *because* they had other advantages…honestly the whole system kinda falls apart when you scrutinize it and try to bean-count.

I was in a PhD program where we all received fixed stipends, yet people had wildly different advantages: some had parents sending them rent money, some had partners bankrolling them…it made me crazy but all of these things are some combo of both choices AND privileges

But I think we can all agree housing prices in this area are out of control lol

Of course prices are out of control. But joining the military to pay for school isn’t family money or “privilege.” Except I guess the privilege of being physically healthy enough to join.

Right but you aren’t buying a house first year out of undergrad on an officers salary. You would do your 4 year turn, and then MAYBE cash into a high salary (I think MD and JAG have longer tours though right?)

JAG spouse and I met in law school. I did biglaw, spouse did JAG. We bought a $1.8 million house at 2.5% interest with a VA loan (0 down). It’s our first and only house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love the shifting goalposts to attribute everything to "family money." Got it. Yeah, it's a neat explanation that obviously makes you happy. End of the day, some people have more luck/discipline/focus than others and that's all there is to it.

And some are born into families with more fiscal responsibility. It's up to you what you do with your opportunities in life. Many of us forge and make our own, despite not coming from money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate how everyone assumes this is family help. My dh and I both graduated w/ zero debt and took high paying jobs right out of school where we had crazy hours so spent barely any money and stashed everything away. We also had each saved a lot from our jobs before senior year and working senior year. Add to that our sign on bonuses, which we both invested. I bought a coop my first year out of undergrad and had a great turn on it. Sold it 3 years later and combined that profit with what each of us had saved up. We used that for the down payment on a $2.2M house and my half of the monthly expenses were not any higher than what my monthly carrying cost for my 2 bedroom coop had been. The new property was a DC row house w/ a legal basement apartment that we rented out for I think $2200.
It annoyed me to no end when I’d hear people say must be nice to have generous parents or whatever. This was all on us while the bitter friends were going on endless instagram worthy trips right out of college. Yes our hours sucked for the first 5/6 years but we knew they would get better so we just kept our heads down and sticking money away. We were definitely lucky with both the stock market and real estate market timing, too.

Great, it's still family money.

DP. How is that “family money”?

DP. They had no student loan debt. They clearly had sufficient equity straight out of school to make a down payment and probably had fortuitous timing in the market. No one is buying a $2 million home much less a $700-$800k row house straight of out school without some help, even if it’s the bank of mom and dad paying for tuition and housing while in school. And frankly, who cares? They’re an extreme exception. Their smug and self satisfied take that this is somehow easy and available if others were just better with money is what I take issue with. It’s not. Not by a long shot.

Both of my children went to great universities on full scholarships and graduated with no debts, so it is not always family money.

It's your family $$ and knowledge that helped them know they could search for full scholarships at "great universities" rather than just hoping they can attend the local state U and somehow find the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to argue about family money, but I read many parent posts who plan to help their kid with a home down payment. They never mention if it’s $50,000, $100,000 or more.

Because it depends on the family. Some it's $20K, some it's $400K. For us, it's a trust that will help fund their needs/wants in a few years as well as $38K (max tax free gift a couple can yearly gift) we gift yearly (and will also gift to any SO once they get married) to help them invest and have enough for a downpayment. Why? Because we have worked hard, built ourselves from nothing (both grew up poor/LMC) and now have the fortune to give back to our family (and others). So we do.

But our kids work hard, live within a budget (the 27 yo lives in a modest apartment, could easily spend an extra $1K/month on rent and not be "luxurious") and mostly uses our gifts for investing/retirement maximization/and we pay for them on family vacations. Otherwise, they can pay their monthly bills (and they would still be saving 15%+ monthly). We just want them to save more, hence the gifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason we are arguing about "family money" is because it just doesn't work out for 99.99% of people to buy 2+ million house at that age without some "assistance". I'm glad all those .001% have shown up, but that's how hit's happening. /Thread

You’re offering less evidence than the people speaking from personal experience. Feel free to cite contrary personal experience or aggregate data.

The people "speaking from personal experience" are either lying or are in the 0.01% for their age. Very few can qualify for a 2M+ home at any age, let alone by age 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason we are arguing about "family money" is because it just doesn't work out for 99.99% of people to buy 2+ million house at that age without some "assistance". I'm glad all those .001% have shown up, but that's how hit's happening. /Thread

You’re offering less evidence than the people speaking from personal experience. Feel free to cite contrary personal experience or aggregate data.

The people "speaking from personal experience" are either lying or are in the 0.01% for their age. Very few can qualify for a 2M+ home at any age, let alone by age 30.

I explained how we did it (admittedly $1.8 million). We had a great combo of no debt due to merit scholarships and military service, one of us in biglaw, 2.5% interest rate, and access to a VA loan (0 down and no PMI). Free healthcare and tax benefits (no tax on BAH and BAS) help a lot too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason we are arguing about "family money" is because it just doesn't work out for 99.99% of people to buy 2+ million house at that age without some "assistance". I'm glad all those .001% have shown up, but that's how hit's happening. /Thread

You’re offering less evidence than the people speaking from personal experience. Feel free to cite contrary personal experience or aggregate data.

The people "speaking from personal experience" are either lying or are in the 0.01% for their age. Very few can qualify for a 2M+ home at any age, let alone by age 30.

The few that have are dual income too. They have 700k HHI but it’s combined. You can’t be a stay at home spouse and do this at 30 in most cases unless your husband struck it rich in his 20’s or you marry a lot older

[Anonymous]

They have a better daddy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate how everyone assumes this is family help. My dh and I both graduated w/ zero debt and took high paying jobs right out of school where we had crazy hours so spent barely any money and stashed everything away. We also had each saved a lot from our jobs before senior year and working senior year. Add to that our sign on bonuses, which we both invested. I bought a coop my first year out of undergrad and had a great turn on it. Sold it 3 years later and combined that profit with what each of us had saved up. We used that for the down payment on a $2.2M house and my half of the monthly expenses were not any higher than what my monthly carrying cost for my 2 bedroom coop had been. The new property was a DC row house w/ a legal basement apartment that we rented out for I think $2200.
It annoyed me to no end when I’d hear people say must be nice to have generous parents or whatever. This was all on us while the bitter friends were going on endless instagram worthy trips right out of college. Yes our hours sucked for the first 5/6 years but we knew they would get better so we just kept our heads down and sticking money away. We were definitely lucky with both the stock market and real estate market timing, too.

How did you graduate with zero debt without family money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I bought places separately at age 25/26 in Clarendon. Together they made a profit tax free of over $400k. We bought a new house together when we got married at 30/31, and had been aggressively saving a lot from our $700k HHI. No inheritance or parents paying for a downpayment like everyone thought I'm sure. I don't know why it's so hard for people to believe that some people actually make their own money.

LOL because very, very, very few people have a $700k HH, especially in their early thirties.