Buying a house????

[DMickey28]

Seriously, how do young couples afford to buy a house these days? In order to make decent money, most people need to be near a big city (at least in my husbands field). I do not know how we will afford to buy a house. We make good money, above that 5% mark some one mentioned on another thread, and I can't figure out how we will be able to buy a house. Everything in our area under 300K is either a shack or in a track subdivision were you need to count down from the beginning of the street just to figure out which house is yours. You share your backyard with four other homes, no trees. We are looking into moving in the next year, hopefully NC, someplace more affordable. We are lucky that DH salary doesn't change no matter where he is. We are hoping to start our family this year and I have decided if we waited until we buy a house we will be starting our family in 2010....

Just a vent... it's really difficult for couples nowadays. We will probably buy a condo in this area if we stay, can't afford a house.....

 

[Mandabella]

I hear and feel your pain. We're in the same boat, although the homes prices aren't as steep here as you are facing.

It's very disheartening when the homes we can afford are in notoriously bad areas.

 

[kpm76]

It is tough for young people. We bought a condo the year before we were married and sold it a year later for quite a profit, allowing us to buy the house we are in now. The real estate market is nuts around here so we consider ourselves very lucky to have been able to do what we did.....

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

I am one of those young people...I can't afford a house. Me and DBF were just talking about this and realized that it is pretty much impossible right now. My job is a good steady job and they are actually paying me a lot more than other jobs offered. The average price for a house here is $480,000. And these are not even nice houses. These houses have next to no land and need work. My house now (well my parents house) is small, old, and in dire need of repairs but it could still sell for well over $300,000. I think my parents bought it for like $80,000. Me and DBF are even looking for a total fixer upper. Even those are ridicuously priced. We would love to be able to buy a house in the next 5 years but unless the bubble bursts hard and fast it won't happen.

 

[kerrynic78]

While living in CT my DH and I lived in a condo because there was nothing we could afford. We moved down here and are in the process of building a great house that we never could have afforded in CT. What is really sad though is that if we had come down to Orlando just a little earlier, we could have paid a lot less but the prices started to skyrocket when we got down here!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Just a vent... it's really difficult for couples nowadays. We will probably buy a condo in this area if we stay, can't afford a house.....

We went from apts., to cheap house, to another house, and now we are in the 300,000 house.
It is called house hopping. You take a gamble and buy, and hope you build equity and sell for a profit.

Of course I do not share your expensive zip code. You will get there one day & it will fall into place! Just have to keep yours eyes peeled, keep tabs on the market and have some luck.

 

[TDC Nala]

I am not a couple, but I bought a condo five years ago that will sell for nearly three times what I paid for it. It will soon get me a good down payment on a townhouse.

 

[tiggerlover]

I certainly understand where you are coming from, the housing market has been booming the last couple of years and I do not envy young couples just starting out.

DH and I bought our first house just before our 19th wedding anniversary. Granted the main reason for that is because he was career military and we wanted to wait until he retired from active duty, but in the current housing market it is hard to find affordable housing for the younger, just out of college, just starting out folks. We are from the Hudson River Valley in NY State, we had always dreamed of serving DH's military time and retiring at home.....not possible when the decent homes are selling for $400,000 plus taxes that are $8,000 plus. Our solution was to retire in VA, housing is more affordable and taxes are much lower.

 

[ntburns22]

I think it really has to depends on where you live. Dh and I both 27 bought our first home at 22. It was 1000sqft and 82,000. A little over a year ago we sold it and bought our new home 2300 sqft on a little over an acre for 127,000.

 

[DMickey28]

Winterville, NC that is were we need to move!!! Affordable, nice weather and Greenville is nearby for the airport for DH.

HA!!

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I bought a condo in the Chicago area (Suburbs) 2 years ago for $116,000 and the new ones that are being built in the same area with the same style and floor plan are going for $210,000. I figure in 3 or 4 more years I will move out, sell the place and get a house, but right now I'm happy with my investment.

 

[Aimeedyan]

It depends on where you live - I know you're in an expensive area. Thankfully, we are in a low cost area and were able to buy a very large, new house for $150k. Near a city with ample jobs =)

I can't imagine being in the NE or Southern CA. DH and I would likely consider moving, however, when you have your whole life in one place that's not always the easier option to take. Most of the people I know in those areas buy small, make money off selling that, buy a little larger, make money off selling that, etc.

Good luck to you =)

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

We bought a house two years ago in Mississippi and some amazing things have started happening price-wise in our area. We expect to make between $50 and $70K profit on this house when we sell later in the year.

I might add that the house had lots of space and a few good qualities when we bought it...but things like the light fixtures and cabinet knobs were all very dated. With these small changes, some paint, and a few upgrades, we'll compete with a new market of houses.

 

[princess pooh]

We started looking recently and the prices are just crazy. In the area of town we'd like to live in, a starter home is around $400 000. We might have to compromise and move farther from the city (we're already in the suburbs) where you can get a huge house for 100 grand less. I love my apartment and we're in no rush to leave so we may wait it out until the market is better for buyers.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

We could only afford what we have now because we bought our first home in 1999 for $115,000. A fixer upper, but we put alot of work into and sold it three years later for $175,000. We took the money from that sale and bought our second house for $250,000, and sold it last year for $445,000. The house we live in now cost $463,000. Had it not been for all the equity in our last two homes, we wouldn't have been able to afford it.

 

[icebrat001]

I am 22 and my SO is 21. We live in Northern California and can't afford to buy a house here. So we decided to purchase a house in Florida, we can get a nice house for $200,000 in Florida, so in April, we will purchase our very first home or townhouse and we will move in June.

I never imagined buying a house this young, I'll be 23 in May, but when we thought about what we've paid in rent for our small 500 square foot condo, it made is sick and we decided to buy a house. It's the best investment ever! We've paid $56,000 in rent in 36 months (3 years), that could've been towards a house.

 

[staci]

I agree it is all about the area and savings.

We bought our first home at 22 with dh making 10.50 an hour at the time and I was a full time student. Fortunately, we had both worked full time for about 2 years prior to that and saved so we could have a nice down payment.

We were able to fix that one up, sell it for a nice profit, and get a bigger house without spending any more out of pocket this last summer, two years later.

Our first home was only 90,000 though and with a good down payment, our house payments were almost exactly what our rent payments had been.

 

[barkley]

alot of younger people (and just first time buyers) are currently doing zero down, interest only loans-which will be insane for them if their income drasticly drops or they HAVE to move (they will be lucky if they can cover their original mortgage). we also have areas near by where the norm is for multiple families to pool together and buy a single family home-12 people in a 2 bedroom house-but they sit on it for a couple of years and build up enough equity for each of the families to have a downpayment on another home.

our house was built in 1999 and sold for $192,000.00-the same house now sells for close to $600,000.00 and is considered a bargain in northern california. we have lots of neighbors who commute 3 or more hours each way to work because that $600,000.00 would buy them a shack of a house in the area they need to work in to afford a house at this price.

when our neighborhood was built (started around 1997 finished around end of 2000) most of the buyers were retired government or military, law enforcement and pilots who wanted to be in close proximity to work/have a home they could leave for several days and feel safe about it. these owners were around, took care of their homes, monitored/supervised their kids. their intent was to stay put for awhile. those homes that have sold have largly gone to married w/kids, both parents work outrageous hours and leave the kids unsupervised and will likely move within 2-3 years to a "better house"-there is no longer a neighborhood feel to it (more of a place you come home to sleep after a long commute).

just heard a news report on a bay area radio station the other day-realtors are getting worried that if the california market flattens or drops existing home owners who want to sell (and have the zero down loans) won't be able to cover even a minimal sales commission.

 

[FreshTressa]

It stinks.

We could not afford the house we live in now if we had to buy it without our equity.

 

[mickman1962]

Not saying housing is not overpriced right now, but younger people seem different now then when I bought my first house 20 years ago. My nephews are constantly complaining how they can't afford to buy a house. They can however afford to buy $30K+ new cars for them and their wives. They have High Def. plasma TV's, go on vacation 2 times a year etc. etc. etc... When we bought our first house we both drove older cars with no car payment. We literally ate Kraft mac and cheese every day for the first 2 years. It took us 5 years just to furnish the house. We made huge sacrifices, we drove older cars, we didn't buy each other presents, no big vacations, no eating out. Again not saying it's all younger people, but most that I know want to have it all right away without willing to give things up. My advice is do whatever you have to do to buy that first house no matter how small it is, sell the SUV, you don't need the $1200 skis/ $1000 golf clubs $4000 TV's (again my nephews). Then as someone said start house hopping your way up and with patience and perseverance you will be rewarded.