Anonymous wrote:Middle aged first time buyer and I am practically suicidal over mistakes I made by not buying at what turned out to be the last possible time I could have afforded a nice house.

Its okay, just save and invest. After retiring you can move to a low cost area with no worries about commute, schools or rooms for your offspring and buy a cute little home.

We're all works in progress, including you, OP - doing the best you can. It's normal to grieve that this isn't going to unfold the way you envisioned it. And now you need to put your plan B together. It's easy to feel some circumstance is keeping you from living the life you really want. In the fantasy, how would your life be different make if you'd gotten the nice house? What parts of that can you actually start to make happen if you let go of the idea of needing the nice house first for it to happen? What diamonds are out there in the rubble, still waiting to be found? It's not about the endpoint but the journey.

Anonymous wrote:Middle aged first time buyer and I am practically suicidal over mistakes I made by not buying at what turned out to be the last possible time I could have afforded a nice house.

What were the mistakes that stopped you from buying before?

It’s frustrating for sure.

We compromised and moved to an exurb. Best decision we ever made.

Leave the area, work remotely. What's keeping you tied to this area anyways?

Completely understand. We are in the same boat. No rich parents to help and no equity or appreciation from previous houses. Not interested in a starter home at this age either.

Op, the most constructive thing you can do now is adjusting your expectations and expanding h your search scope to get a house you can afford as soon as possible. Otherwise you will always miss the boat and feel worse and worse looking back.

No, because I got a good rental price and my stocks are finally going back up.One account grew $70k in June alone.
I'm going to have so much extra to throw into market the next two years. At some point, it should surpass the housing price increase. It's like a snowball. I would have never been able to do it just saving money.

But I'm trapped.

Live long apartment renter here saved my whole life now I'm old and wanted to buy a house and now I can't bc no inventory. Apartment neighbors are extremely loud and my complex won't do anything about it. I can't live like this for another second.

Same. I have been outbid seven or eight times in the last year. All my offers were cash over ask with no inspection and no contingencies.

Yep right there with you. We sold in DC in Fall 2021 and should've bought immediately in our new area. We've been renting almost 2 years and prices and interest rates have just gone up (while the equity from our house sale has been static). We've been outbid a number of times. I feel like giving up.

I hope you are not actually suicidal though. This sucks -- but its not worth your life. Really.

Ew. Why are you making a punchline out of mental health problems?

Middle aged first time buyer and I am practically suicidal over mistakes I made by not buying at what turned out to be the last possible time I could have afforded a nice house.