Here are a few paths -

1. Help from parents
2. Bought a condo at 25, sold it when they got married and bought a townhouse at 30, sold the TH with kid #2 on the way, bought a $800k SFM at 35, did some nice renovations, sold at a good time, bought with significant equity
3. Bought a $800k home at 28-33, got used to paying $3000/mo + in childcare. Youngest goes to kindergarten and money saved gets applied to a larger mortgage.
4. Bought a condo/TH/SFH by living with roommates and eating ramen. Sold at a good time. Combine with hitting the career point where people are promoted to VP, Partner, Director. MD specialists are finishing residency and fellowships.

I’m 36. No one I know has climbed the property ladder. All of my friends and acquaintances went from renting to buying these homes in one of two ways 1. Family help 2. Two high incomes, and most of the couples have one spouse at a hedge fund or similar type of finance job

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.

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

We are in medical industry and current income without weekend work is $310,000. I bought my condo at 22 after 4 years in the Navy and my husband bought his condo at age 24 after 7 years in the Navy.

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.

- 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

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"plus the equity from a TH we bought 10 years ago."

Starting just after the bust is really a big part of the answer.

There are many GenXers who first lost in the dot com bust and then again in the great recession.

Agreed!

I'm a millennial who bought during the bust. There were a lot of foreclosures and cheap houses in 08-10

Where did you buy around here with lots of foreclosures that has now risen? We were looking in Arlington and prices barely dipped.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are three young families on my block who bought in that price range on my block. They all had help from their parents.

+1 Lots of generational wealth from the ones I know who bought so young.

+2 Most of the ones I know are candid that they had significant help from one or both set of parents. I know others who may not have had it on this purchase, but were able to leverage gains on a smaller property that their parents helped them with in their very early 20s.

A 40 year old isn't a millenial

Anonymous wrote:"plus the equity from a TH we bought 10 years ago."

Starting just after the bust is really a big part of the answer.

There are many GenXers who first lost in the dot com bust and then again in the great recession.

Agreed!

I'm a millennial who bought during the bust. There were a lot of foreclosures and cheap houses in 08-10

"plus the equity from a TH we bought 10 years ago."

Starting just after the bust is really a big part of the answer.

There are many GenXers who first lost in the dot com bust and then again in the great recession.

Two high incomes, buying in mid-30s in our case. No family money, although one of us did graduate college with no debt which I think counts. We snowballed the other's SL-debt and lived cheap while we paid it off and then after to save downpayment.

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?

2.5-3 bedroom condos. DH did sleep in the den of his condo because it had a balcony he preferred. hah

We had savings from college graduation money and savings from working, so there was equity. (I saved 8k my first year on the job only making 40k in DC).

I’m sorry... if someone can’t afford a million dollar house by 40, they’re never going too?