We saved up 100K in 3-4 years on about 8000 a month income after taxes. We were in a 2 bedroom condo with 2 kids, paying about $2600 a month in mortgage plus condo fee. We had no help, and larger student loan payments than yours. The thing I noticed in your budget was tuition - why do you need that and daycare? That was one expense we did not have. We also did not have the credit card debt (how long till that is gone?), and your gas/fuel bill seems really high. What doesn't add up to me is that some of these expenses seem like they come from living close-in (2K a month daycare) but you also seem to spend a lot on transportation. Can you move further out, and find a cheaper apt/daycare? Or are you close-in and can get rid of a car? I think you can easily chip away at $100 on the cell, $200 on the rent, $400 on the daycare, and maybe $100 on the food, $200 on the other stuff? That requires a move further out likely, but it would get you to $1K a month...

I think that if realtor commissions went WAY down that people would buy and sell houses more. Or if there was an easier way for homeowners to sell their own houses. 6% is a lot of money when housing prices aren't increasing that much. It doesn't make sense to buy every 5 years if you have to pay $$$ just to realtors to sell.

PMI

Live in a low cost area of the country for a while before moving to a high cost area of the country.

Anonymous wrote:Saving money for a down payment from middle class salary is an exercise in futility in this market. How much could you possibly save compared to asset appreciation? A $600K house appreciating at, let's say, 3% is $18K per year, or $1500 per month. That means that the first $1,500 of down payment saving you're doing each month (after making a crushing rent payment, of course) is being gobbled up by appreciation. Many are paddling toward a horizon which is never getting any closer. OP, the fact is you are competing with others who are getting serious cash infusions from elsewhere which does not make this game a fair fight!

Everybody knows there are seven paths to DC-area homeownership:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/344167.page

If the house price increases by 1,500/month, even the 20% DP goes up by just $ 300/month.
With that kind of math, no surprise you can't save for DP.

Anonymous wrote:
Money can be earned without college education. It's insane to spend 200k on college education that kids will need decades to save again.

In any case, there is plenty of cheap decent college education around the world, no need whatsoever to pay US prices.

It is insane to NOT invest 200 K for a lifetime return of several million, not even counting the intangibles.
But you would not buy just any stock (or any house, for that matter) at any price, same here.

We bought a 500k house in 2008 with 3% down, we had no kids at that time, we figured we had wasted enough in rent. That was also the time when housing market had hit the bottom, 8yrs later we have 150k in equity and we are moving to a better school district with 30%down. My point here is that sometimes we plan and analyze a lot and blow up tons on rent with nothing to show for. Even if you don't have 20% down, buy something with 10% (only if you can manage the monthly payment), in the long run you will come ahead.

Pre-kids I worked three jobs- my full time career, babysitting, and a freelance gig. I babysat almost every weekend and made an extra $500-$1000 a month just doing that.

My DH worked two jobs as well.

We lived in a small one bedroom and saved like crazy for three years.

We bought our house in Fall 2015. Even with all the savings, we didn't have enough for 20% down so we ended up going with FHA. We aggressively paid our mortgage and, combined with lucky appreciation, we were just able to refinance to a conventional loan.

We had no family financial support. We got lucky with being able to refinance as quickly as we did, but we worked very hard to get to a place where we had anything for a down payment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From ages 22-24 we both worked two jobs and saved every penny from second jobs. We saved $15k this way. At 24 when we were making $65k/year combined, we put 5% down on a house in a terrible neighborhood that cost $250k. It was tight, but we did it. Then we each went to grad school and increased our income. The neighborhood has improved, and so have our careers. Now we make $155k/year and have a house worth $500k.

We had no family help. Our advanced degrees are in social work and education. Our salaries are mostly topped out now.

Forgot to add: we didn't have children when we bought the house but we do now.

Yah, except this doesn't exist anymore. You got lucky with timing. My DH and I scrimp and save but it feels fruitless in this area, when a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood is 400k+.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My fiance just bought a condo in DC (20016) after saving for a year. We have 2 children and fit fine in 888 sq feet condo.
We are hoping to buy a bigger place in 6-10 years.
Why not buy smaller pace? Put down 5% at least. FHA is a rip-off.

Wow. That's a small condo for 4 people. I will stop complaining about my little house now.

We had 2 kids in a condo with 900 square feet too. It was perfectly fine when they're little and probably easier, because we didn't have to deal with the extra housework of having a bigger home. It's just outside of the norm of DCUM where people talk about their 8000 square foot homes as they're average.

Yup so strange how the concept of a starter home and trading up is lost on people on DCUM. Its like everyone wants stuff handed to them damn millennials :-p.

We're expecting baby #2 in a <550 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment, so that we can 1) save on rent and 2) send DC #1 to free preschool (and save on preschool costs). With those savings, we'll be able to put 20%+ down on a small condo. Anything with 800+ sq ft feels HUGE now! By the time our little ones turn into preteens and start getting smelly, we should be able to comfortably trade up to something a bit bigger.

900 square foot condo parent here. I felt like my apartment was super spacious in comparison to other friends in the area (ex: we also had a friend with 2 kids in a 1BR of 550 square feet--baby slept in the living room with mom going in and out as needed, and toddler with the parents in the bedroom). It's all about your perspective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My fiance just bought a condo in DC (20016) after saving for a year. We have 2 children and fit fine in 888 sq feet condo.
We are hoping to buy a bigger place in 6-10 years.
Why not buy smaller pace? Put down 5% at least. FHA is a rip-off.

Wow. That's a small condo for 4 people. I will stop complaining about my little house now.

We had 2 kids in a condo with 900 square feet too. It was perfectly fine when they're little and probably easier, because we didn't have to deal with the extra housework of having a bigger home. It's just outside of the norm of DCUM where people talk about their 8000 square foot homes as they're average.

Yup so strange how the concept of a starter home and trading up is lost on people on DCUM. Its like everyone wants stuff handed to them damn millennials :-p.

Starter homes don't work anymore. Cheaper home in poor school districts don't appreciate anywhere near as fast as homes zoned for good schools. And if all you can afford is a condo (which are the only things starter home priced) you are likely to be screwed as they have not recovered in price and with fees and depreciation can be a worse deal than renting.

Starter homes made sense when an actual starter home was a 40s britbox with good schools but was small and old. But now THOSE homes cost over $500k, and the condos and town homes don't appreciate so you can be stuck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My fiance just bought a condo in DC (20016) after saving for a year. We have 2 children and fit fine in 888 sq feet condo.
We are hoping to buy a bigger place in 6-10 years.
Why not buy smaller pace? Put down 5% at least. FHA is a rip-off.

Wow. That's a small condo for 4 people. I will stop complaining about my little house now.

We had 2 kids in a condo with 900 square feet too. It was perfectly fine when they're little and probably easier, because we didn't have to deal with the extra housework of having a bigger home. It's just outside of the norm of DCUM where people talk about their 8000 square foot homes as they're average.

Yup so strange how the concept of a starter home and trading up is lost on people on DCUM. Its like everyone wants stuff handed to them damn millennials :-p.

We're expecting baby #2 in a <550 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment, so that we can 1) save on rent and 2) send DC #1 to free preschool (and save on preschool costs). With those savings, we'll be able to put 20%+ down on a small condo. Anything with 800+ sq ft feels HUGE now! By the time our little ones turn into preteens and start getting smelly, we should be able to comfortably trade up to something a bit bigger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My fiance just bought a condo in DC (20016) after saving for a year. We have 2 children and fit fine in 888 sq feet condo.
We are hoping to buy a bigger place in 6-10 years.
Why not buy smaller pace? Put down 5% at least. FHA is a rip-off.

Wow. That's a small condo for 4 people. I will stop complaining about my little house now.

We had 2 kids in a condo with 900 square feet too. It was perfectly fine when they're little and probably easier, because we didn't have to deal with the extra housework of having a bigger home. It's just outside of the norm of DCUM where people talk about their 8000 square foot homes as they're average.

Yup so strange how the concept of a starter home and trading up is lost on people on DCUM. Its like everyone wants stuff handed to them damn millennials :-p.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My fiance just bought a condo in DC (20016) after saving for a year. We have 2 children and fit fine in 888 sq feet condo.
We are hoping to buy a bigger place in 6-10 years.
Why not buy smaller pace? Put down 5% at least. FHA is a rip-off.

Wow. That's a small condo for 4 people. I will stop complaining about my little house now.

We had 2 kids in a condo with 900 square feet too. It was perfectly fine when they're little and probably easier, because we didn't have to deal with the extra housework of having a bigger home. It's just outside of the norm of DCUM where people talk about their 8000 square foot homes as they're average.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First home took me till age 37 to save up required down payment (1994). Also had to pay off school loans, car, CCs, etc., before I could qualify, but once I was "in," was able to roll over to better homes over the next 20 years.

I think purchasing your own property is more important than a college education (I have an advanced degree) - at least in this area.

How so? I don't get this. Renting isn't evil; I hate that attitude.

Agreed. I would actually disagree with the original quoted PP - in this area, housing is SO expensive that it may not be worth it to buy. Especially right now, when we are inching back up to early 2000s bubble prices.

+1

This. We lived in a teeny apartment for years (with kids), and saved to buy our home, but that was a preference. Given the higher mortgage cost and the amount of maintenance costs we pay on the older home we could afford, we would have been much better off renting (and using the extra $ to go out on vacation when our home felt cramped).