Is home ownership out of reach for people under 30?

[Anonymous]

I work in software engineering and most of my friends/coworkers in this field bought houses in their mid 20’s (24-27) in the last 5 years. We all made 200-300k each at our jobs and a few were dual income but most were single at the time. A mix of TH’s and lower end SFH’s (400-750k). I realize most young people are not in this position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in software engineering and most of my friends/coworkers in this field bought houses in their mid 20’s (24-27) in the last 5 years. We all made 200-300k each at our jobs and a few were dual income but most were single at the time. A mix of TH’s and lower end SFH’s (400-750k). I realize most young people are not in this position.

what city are you in?
I’m a strong believer in RE personally. We bought at 30 and our house is worth 2-3x what we bought.

[Anonymous]

Sorry forgot to mention that was 8 years ago. Purchased for $600

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in software engineering and most of my friends/coworkers in this field bought houses in their mid 20’s (24-27) in the last 5 years. We all made 200-300k each at our jobs and a few were dual income but most were single at the time. A mix of TH’s and lower end SFH’s (400-750k). I realize most young people are not in this position.

Yeah if you can swing a home for 2x income, it’s pretty easy…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in software engineering and most of my friends/coworkers in this field bought houses in their mid 20’s (24-27) in the last 5 years. We all made 200-300k each at our jobs and a few were dual income but most were single at the time. A mix of TH’s and lower end SFH’s (400-750k). I realize most young people are not in this position.

what city are you in?
I’m a strong believer in RE personally. We bought at 30 and our house is worth 2-3x what we bought.

That’s great it tripled in 8 years, where was that? But appreciation doesn’t always happen. We bought 8 years ago and it barely moved 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 45 and don’t know many people who purchased their first home before age 30.

I bought my first home at age 40. I already had one child. I never wanted to own a house before then. I'm not sure I want to own a house now, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

The only person I know who did this was a HS classmate who inherited money when her grandparents died.

I lived in a group home for nearly 8 years after college as did my future husband. We managed to pay off our loans that way but it would still take us another 6+ years to save for a down payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that hard. Step 1- buy a condo instead of renting. Step 2 work your way up to a townhouse or small sfh. I would not live where we do now if we did not buy a condo in our early 20’s. By 30 we has a house with no family money

This is the way.

What are people smoking! I'm 38 and if I had done that would likely have been under water for at least a decade. Very thankful I didn't

Today? Condos in my area are 500-700K. I'm not seeing how that math works either.

Our tiny starter home in 2005 was $600k. We sold it after ten years, made a profit, rolled it into a better house and are now sitting on a lot of equity. I don’t know where you live, but if you’re in an area with healthy home appreciation then a condo at 500k seems like a good starter investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in software engineering and most of my friends/coworkers in this field bought houses in their mid 20’s (24-27) in the last 5 years. We all made 200-300k each at our jobs and a few were dual income but most were single at the time. A mix of TH’s and lower end SFH’s (400-750k). I realize most young people are not in this position.

what city are you in?
I’m a strong believer in RE personally. We bought at 30 and our house is worth 2-3x what we bought.

DMV suburbs, not DC proper. No fancy SFH’s in Bethesda obviously, if they bought close in it was a TH or old SFH. I live in an exurb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that hard. Step 1- buy a condo instead of renting. Step 2 work your way up to a townhouse or small sfh. I would not live where we do now if we did not buy a condo in our early 20’s. By 30 we has a house with no family money

This is the way.

What are people smoking! I'm 38 and if I had done that would likely have been under water for at least a decade. Very thankful I didn't

Today? Condos in my area are 500-700K. I'm not seeing how that math works either.

Our tiny starter home in 2005 was $600k. We sold it after ten years, made a profit, rolled it into a better house and are now sitting on a lot of equity. I don’t know where you live, but if you’re in an area with healthy home appreciation then a condo at 500k seems like a good starter investment.

Condos don’t appreciate the same amount as SFHs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that hard. Step 1- buy a condo instead of renting. Step 2 work your way up to a townhouse or small sfh. I would not live where we do now if we did not buy a condo in our early 20’s. By 30 we has a house with no family money

This is the way.

What are people smoking! I'm 38 and if I had done that would likely have been under water for at least a decade. Very thankful I didn't

Today? Condos in my area are 500-700K. I'm not seeing how that math works either.

Our tiny starter home in 2005 was $600k. We sold it after ten years, made a profit, rolled it into a better house and are now sitting on a lot of equity. I don’t know where you live, but if you’re in an area with healthy home appreciation then a condo at 500k seems like a good starter investment.

I have two friends who bought homes in 2005 that left them in foreclosure since they dropped to 1/3 their value. DC benefitted from the war economy in 2000s, so was more insulated. People are still thinking with a ZIRP ZIRP mindset, and that the Fed will always prop up housing.

But it’s over. Inflation is back and nipping at our heels, so higher rates are here. Buying can be a decent inflation hedge, but don’t count on appreciation. And overall growth will slow with higher rates, which means there will be some neighborhoods back sliding (like my brother in Oakland who is $200k under water on his SFH).

[Anonymous]

Here to be the exception to the rule

Got my PhD before age 30, got married with wife that makes more than me, and we bough a 1 million dollar townhouse. It’s doable. But takes lots of planning and some sacrifice in your 20s. Hard otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is home ownership now out of reach for people under 30 years old? Especially in expensive states or cities?

WDYT?

Home ownership is actually out of reach for many people in their 30s and older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in software engineering and most of my friends/coworkers in this field bought houses in their mid 20’s (24-27) in the last 5 years. We all made 200-300k each at our jobs and a few were dual income but most were single at the time. A mix of TH’s and lower end SFH’s (400-750k). I realize most young people are not in this position.

Yes, 200K is an extremely high salary compared to the median one. In fact 200k is more than twice the median household income in USA. Most people will never come close to making that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here to be the exception to the rule

Got my PhD before age 30, got married with wife that makes more than me, and we bough a 1 million dollar townhouse. It’s doable. But takes lots of planning and some sacrifice in your 20s. Hard otherwise.

Yeah, anybody can do it if they work hard on their PHDs and on marrying a high earner.