I have been exceptionally lucky by being in the military because our housing allowance matches the local area (generally slightly behind big market changes, though) or am just given housing with utilities paid and they take the allowance away. Also, VA loans allow for 0% down loans, which means for the same as (or in my experience, less than) rent, you pay mortgage. And the house I bought in 2017 for 180k sold for 300k in 2022 and I did little more than live in it.
Now I’m buying a house where I will be retiring, and it’s 750k. Vicious, but doable. I don’t know how other people live here (VERY high cost of living location in Alaska).
Edit: forgot to add, I’m 41, so working on buying my second house. Hopefully I’ll still be able to afford it in 4 years when I retire.
The current gen coming into the market will mostly never own a home. That’s just how it is. Watch for increased anger toward the system. Unfortunately, predators will reshape the anger toward marginalized groups rather than oligarchs. Make no mistake: the system is rigged and we’re all getting boned by the elite.
– and most will unwittingly help in the bone-ing process by unkowingly repeating american propaganda and buying into manufactured consent.
Yup - had the ability (and even tried last downturn) to buy but was consistantly outbid by overseas (and domestic) cash, after 10+ years of trying I finally decided to buy land and go through all the red-tape and expense of buiding something new. Turning houses into financial instruments was a real mistake.
Was building new worth it?
I’m interested in this but I have no idea what all is required.
I’ll let you know when it’s all done lol - it’s a long and expensive process!
Also interested in updates on your saga, as I am also on the wrong side of 35 and in similar straits 🥲
Building something myself is something I’ve thought a bit about. Most things I read try to talk me out of it but when there’s no decent home inventory there’s no decent home inventory. There are also advantages of being able to customize stuff.
Do you have an expectation of how much it will cost relative to existing homes in the area you’re building in? Of course one of the things you’re supposed to plan for is cost overruns lol but I’m still curious how expensive you expect it to end up being.
Some of the gotchas I’ve encountered:
- Land is very hard to finance, I ended up saving until I could buy cash
- Building ‘on-grid’ would have saved a lot in permitting and setup (luckily I had electric service at the road). If you are going off-grid, I would check the permitting requirements for sewage/water and the average depth of wells near your spot, this can get expensive quick if you have to drill deep.
- I’m working with an architect atm but we’ve pivoted to using ICF blocks for wall construction as they are made in the USA and tariffs would have killed me otherwise.
I would expect the cost of the building, using the highest quality materials (not luxury) to still beat (by like 100k) the cost of buying an equivalant old home in the area I purchased; however, if we are talking pre-housing-price-explosion of the last few years, I would say building would be more expensive.
Millennial here pushing 40.
It took 4 years of savings, some CC debt and assistance from my family to get into my first home…
And that’s with dual income, no kids.
Good luck everybody. I’m with you when you start burning shit. I have not forgotten what a damn racket the rental market has been for the last 6 years.
Millennials are pushing 40
I HAD a house.
Now my bullshit never worked a full-time job in her life ex has it. Just wait, 3 years she won’t be able to afford it, then BOOM we:re both renting again.
Wait in vain
Lmfao it’s not in vain if we don’t expect it to ever happen is it?
My retirement plan is to _____ a Blackrock board meeting
Let’s play hangman!
Can I get an L?
We’re all getting L’s rn
I’m tired bro.
Can confirm. Bought a house in my late 30s.
First time buyer at 52 here… all it took was a heart attack forcing work from home a year before the global pandemic, then 2 more years WFH to bank $30K in cash for the minimal down on a $390K house.
Mortgage is just over $2K a month, while the rent on our last apartment had been $1,800, is now $2,300.
Where are houses so cheap?
Portland. Filter capped at $450K.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Portland_OR/price-na-450000
that’s kind of pricy near me and I live near a huge college town.
Probably really down south… not enough jobs.
I’m already 46 and we kind of have the money, but not for a house in a reasonable area.
In my 30s
At this point my wife and I are considering buying property we can put a well and septic on, and park an rv.
I really expect the market to dip, and trump to force low interest rates.
Redfin and the entire housing industry has a large financial incentive to avoid a crash tho, so people waiting for lower prices is bad, they want people panic buying now instead.
Low interest rates aren’t coming and if they do institional investors are going to be better positioned to buy.
If interest rates go down prices will come up, there’s no world where house prices go down without massive economic pain for everyone.
A depression would bring house prices down, but then nobody could afford them, especially not those who don’t have the capital already.
With the way Trump is fucking up the economy lower rates are looking increasingly unlikely. There’s still two predicted for this year but the tariff chaos is pushing things in the wrong direction for them to safely lower rates and increasing the likelihood that rate increases will become necessary. If he forces rates down it will blow the whole thing up, the independence of the Fed is integral to maintaining faith in the US economy and Trump imposing artificially low rates will cause serious problems very quickly.
You’re talking about if it would make rational sense to lower them…
I’m thinking it’s more likely trump somehow seizes power of the fed
If that happens the economy will break and buying a house will become even more difficult rather than easier. There’s no scenario where Trump seizing the Fed makes housing more affordable.
It wouldn’t.
But a crash in real estate would make him want low interest rates for him to capitalize with.
Like, you’re still acting like we’re talking about if it should happen.
We’re talking about if trump will do something, and he mostly does dumb shit that’s the opposite of what he should be doing
I wonder at what point Powell decides he should raise rates. Trump has already been publicly stating he wants them lowered faster and how he also wants to fire Powell but it’s not clear if he will be (legally) able to.
Last I saw there was a court case making it’s way up the courts to overturn a legal precedent regarding the executives power to oust members of independent boards so it’s technically possible he will be able to legally oust Powell and install a lackey if the supreme court decides to throw out existing precedent. I think you’re right and both global markets and the dollar will reel if that happens. The fed is supposed to be independent and that obviously is not the case if Trump can fire anyone who doesn’t do whatever he asks.
The supreme court seemed to grow a spine on the Kilmar case so maybe they’ll continue to have one when this case makes its way up.
I feel there must be a correlation between houses, bitcoin, and meme stocks like Tesla. But it could be anything.
Yep. I hate it and everyday i think about just bailing to somewhere
