S/O: How old were you when you purchased your first house?

[SKL]

4 minutes ago, Clarita said:

This is an interesting sentiment to me because when DH and I were deciding on a house we were looking for something for the rest of our lives. The reasoning being that it costs a lot to buy and sell a home, with commissions, fees and potential remodeling. It doesn't seem to make financial sense (especially since we were/are planning on staying in the area), so our first house is sized for the 4-6 person family we planned to have (ended up with 2 kids). We spent the first few years when children didn't happen yet in a house that was a bit big for the two of us. 

If big homes aren't for normal couples looking to start families. I'm not understanding who big homes are suppose to be for. 

I guess different people are looking for different things.  I didn't get the impression that most of the young adults looking to leave their parents' homes were expecting to move straight to their forever home, though some may be.

I also think that in general, most young people aren't planning to have lot of kids, so even if they're looking for their lifelong single-family house, it wouldn't need to be big.

Why is my house bigger?  Because 3 independent adults own it, and we run a number of businesses out of it (which was intended when we bought it 29 years ago).

[Heartstrings]

17 minutes ago, SKL said:

I guess different people are looking for different things.  I didn't get the impression that most of the young adults looking to leave their parents' homes were expecting to move straight to their forever home, though some may be.

I also think that in general, most young people aren't planning to have lot of kids, so even if they're looking for their lifelong single-family house, it wouldn't need to be big.

Why is my house bigger?  Because 3 independent adults own it, and we run a number of businesses out of it (which was intended when we bought it 29 years ago).

I don’t think it’s possible to generalize about an entire generational cohort.  Some of them still want families.  More are choosing to have no children, but there are still plenty with 2-3 or more kids.  Honestly, I’m seeing more 5-7 kid households because of blending families.  You have 3, hubby has 3, you marry and have 1 together, bam 7 kids in the house at least part time.  

Some want city life, some want to homestead. Some want no kids but have 1 anyway, or have 1 or 2 much later.    I really think over all they aren’t much different than any other generation in terms of desires.  

[Faith-manor]

One thing that comes to kind for us when considering the kids' position is the fact that our really nice, middle class family home that we loved so much was purchased in 1990 and it cost 1.5 times Mark's salary, we only had to have 5% down, and the interest rate was 3% lower than the going rate at present.

Dd and hubby cannot get a bank who will loan them on less than 10% down, and many want 15-20%, and a comparable house in an area whose COL is not considered "high" is 5 times son in law's salary. Sil salary is not 5 times, not even close, to Mark's salary at the time we bought our 1990 house.

It is so discouraging for them. We bought the house they currently live on, and they are renting it at about slightly less than half the mortgage payment. If we need to sell it, we will make money on it. Due to Mark's income level and our credit rating, the interest rate is bizarrely low and we put 20% down so it has built equity quickly. We don't see our kids having the opportunity to do this for their own children unless something drastically changes in this country.

My sister and brother in law in France paid a bundle for a very middle class no frills apartment 2 years ago. The payment was scary to my sister. However, with universal healthcare, public transportation which she uses so they only need one car, and other kinds of community services, it is very doable for them because they do not have the risk of other large bills. So the housing is very high, and yet, not a burden.

Our bachelor sons pay $1300 a month for a not well maintained apartment because the company that owns the complex doesn't give a crap, and the city allows it. But that is what is affordable. Mark fixes something every single time we visit them. The rent includes water and garbage. 

[SKL]

11 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

I don’t think it’s possible to generalize about an entire generational cohort.  Some of them still want families.  More are choosing to have no children, but there are still plenty with 2-3 or more kids.  Honestly, I’m seeing more 5-7 kid households because of blending families.  You have 3, hubby has 3, you marry and have 1 together, bam 7 kids in the house at least part time.  

Some want city life, some want to homestead. Some want no kids but have 1 anyway, or have 1 or 2 much later.    I really think over all they aren’t much different than any other generation in terms of desires.  

 

Well I did specifically say "small families," and I still think a house the size of mine isn't a need or necessarily best for a small family, whether short-term or long-term.

I'm not sure how I feel about needing all that room for part-time blended families.  Not trying to be Greta Thunberg, but it feels like a lot of undue stress on both the environment and the housing market.

[SKL]

I thought 20% down has usually been the norm when buying a house.  When we bought ours, we didn't have 20%, so they let us put down 10% but charged us PMI until we hit that 20% in equity.

[teachermom2834]

We just bought our fourth house. The first two we didn’t put much down and the sellers paid closing costs and/or we financed closing costs. So while I am unsure of the exact amount we brought to the table we did not put anything close to 20% down twice. I know there still are programs because even on our recent purchase we could have put less than 20% down. 
 

A huge pile of cash really wasn’t a barrier in 2000 or 2005 when we bought our first two. Of course it would have been better terms if we had it but it didn’t keep us out of ownership.

[Heartstrings]

45 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

We just bought our fourth house. The first two we didn’t put much down and the sellers paid closing costs and/or we financed closing costs. So while I am unsure of the exact amount we brought to the table we did not put anything close to 20% down twice. I know there still are programs because even on our recent purchase we could have put less than 20% down. 
 

A huge pile of cash really wasn’t a barrier in 2000 or 2005 when we bought our first two. Of course it would have been better terms if we had it but it didn’t keep us out of ownership.

We bought our 3rd house 2 years ago and didn’t have 20% down, I think it was 10 or 15%. With ok credit.  We rolled everything we got from the last house into this one.  We had no problems at all.  We pay PMI but that’s it.  Maybe because we bought a house that was very within our means.  They approved us for $800k and I just about fell out.  There was NO way that was going to happen.  We financed a bit more than a quarter of that.  
 

I think 20% is a recommendation but not requirement most of the time.  It’s always a good idea to actually chat with a loan officer in person just to see.  

[teachermom2834]

1 minute ago, Heartstrings said:

We bought our 3rd house 2 years ago and didn’t have 20% down, I think it was 10 or 15%. With ok credit.  We rolled everything we got from the last house into this one.  We had no problems at all.  We pay PMI but that’s it.  Maybe because we bought a house that was very within our means.  They approved us for $800k and I just about fell out.  There was NO way that was going to happen.  We financed a bit more than a quarter of that.  
 

I think 20% is a recommendation but not requirement most of the time.  It’s always a good idea to actually chat with a loan officer in person just to see.  

Right. I know 20% is not a requirement. I was just responding to previous posters suggesting it has been a long standing requirement. We have bought houses over 25 years now in much different circumstances each time and it has never been required. It’s usually ideal as in it gets you a better rate and avoids pmi but I often think just getting in at the right time for you personally is more important than a small difference in rate or the PMI payment. 
 

We’ve been able to do 20% the last two times and I wouldn’t want to do less again but I don’t regret doing what we had to do to get started with the lower down payments when we did. 

[Heartstrings]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

 

Well I did specifically say "small families," and I still think a house the size of mine isn't a need or necessarily best for a small family, whether short-term or long-term.

I'm not sure how I feel about needing all that room for part-time blended families.  Not trying to be Greta Thunberg, but it feels like a lot of undue stress on both the environment and the housing market.

Almost everyone I know does 50/50, 1 week on, one week off.  Each parent tries to make their house feel like home not just a place to visit, it’s supposed to be better psychologically for the kids to feel like part of both families.  Having adequate room space helps with that.  Most end up with shared bedrooms still, but reasonably shared, not cramming everyone into 1 room for a week at a time.  

[Heartstrings]

2 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

It’s usually ideal as in it gets you a better rate and avoids pmi but I often think just getting in at the right time for you personally is more important than a small difference in rate or the PMI payment. 

I agree with this, especially with house prices going up so much.  PMI is likely to be much less than the increase in house price by waiting 2 or 3 years.  
 

I was just agreeing with you on 20% not being a requirement.   People who are waiting to save that a magic number should see if it’s really necessary.  

[Melissa in Australia]

I got married just before turning 19. DH was in his early 30s and already had some land.

 We lived in a canvas sided pop up caravan for the first 12 months while DH worked full time, I worked part time and DH started building a cottage.

We rented for one year when we  had our first child

Then moved into our house when it was just plastered , 2 children then

We lived without electricity for the next year while we saved up to get it connected

We owned the house completely. Just put every cent we could towards building it .Never had a mortgage. it was a very small cottage for the first few years, we did a big extension 10 years later, doubling the size of the house 

Edited January 24 by Melissa in Australia
Spell checker keeps changing things

[Arcadia]

On 1/22/2024 at 6:08 PM, Ausmumof3 said:

Yes, looking back it was ridiculously risky for me to help pay a loan without my name being on the title.

In my country of origin and here in the states, we were able to get mortgages with one name and have both our names on the title. Since you were not of legal age yet, your name would have to be legally added to the title later. Paperwork would need to be filed but it’s not tedious. 

[Ausmumof3]

2 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

In my country of origin and here in the states, we were able to get mortgages with one name and have both our names on the title. Since you were not of legal age yet, your name would have to be legally added to the title later. Paperwork would need to be filed but it’s not tedious. 

Hmm interesting. I feel like that wouldn’t work here with the risk of default or something but I don’t really know.

[Arcadia]

20 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Hmm interesting. I feel like that wouldn’t work here with the risk of default or something but I don’t really know.

FYI 

E.g. https://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/siteassets/documents/pdf/how-to-guide/how-to-guide-adding-a-partner.pdf

[Miguelsmom]

Never, longest I stayed in one place was 7 years. I've lived in NY, FL, OH, WV, FL again (different part) and MA. We'll see where life takes me next. I would like to own something one day. When we were younger we'd move every two years or so up until my daughter was 12 then we stayed one place for 7 years, now we're on the move again. hoping one day we like where we are to stay.

[Bootsie]

I was 24 and married when I bought my first house. We were just out of grad school with two professional jobs. Interestingly, my two younger sisters have never bought a condo or house.   

[Hyacinth]

25 and single. I had a friend who knew a guy who had access to these special HUD house listings (this was pre-internet). I put a low offer on one in a great neighborhood and it turned out to be the only offer. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[Ausmumof3]

16 hours ago, Arcadia said:

FYI 

E.g. https://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/siteassets/documents/pdf/how-to-guide/how-to-guide-adding-a-partner.pdf

Thanks 

I feel like it was something to do with the bank/mortgage side of things that was the issue. But we have long since sold and I’m official with the current house so it’s all good. 

[lanabug]

I was 20, DH was 22. We were newly graduated from college, both working full time. Our first house was 3 BR, 2 BA, 1500 square feet in a suburb of Oklahoma City. We paid $83k for it and sold it 5 years later for $103k.

[lmrich]

we were both 23 when we put the contract on it and 24 when we moved in. DH graduated with his masters and got a job and three weeks later we put a contract on a house. We contined to live off my salary and put every bit of his in savings to afford the down payment. 

My dd and her finance bought a house at 22 - it was a house of his grandfather's friend and need so much work. They spend 5 months fixing it up - living at home before they moved in. They sold it in 10 months, made a nice profit and bought a home much closer and much nicer. 

[Scarlett]

10 hours ago, lanabug said:

I was 20, DH was 22. We were newly graduated from college, both working full time. Our first house was 3 BR, 2 BA, 1500 square feet in a suburb of Oklahoma City. We paid $83k for it and sold it 5 years later for $103k.

Wow.  What year was that?  Also have you looked that house up recently on realtor dot com to see what it 8s valued at now?

[Kassia]

11 hours ago, lanabug said:

I was 20, DH was 22. We were newly graduated from college, both working full time. Our first house was 3 BR, 2 BA, 1500 square feet in a suburb of Oklahoma City. We paid $83k for it and sold it 5 years later for $103k.

very similar to our experience.  We paid $87k and I think we sold for $122k 8 years later.  I was 20 and DH was 23.  

Because of this thread, I looked up the house I grew up in.  It was tiny and I think my parents paid around $25k in 1972 and sold it for around $57k in 1990.  It sold for $450k in 2022!  I am shocked and they would be too if they were still alive! 

[Scarlett]

I keep looking up our first house but they have never sold it. She was a mid 20s single who worked at Petco as a groomer.  Her parents were in education. So she has lived there for 22 years.

[lanabug]

On 1/25/2024 at 8:34 AM, Scarlett said:

Wow.  What year was that?  Also have you looked that house up recently on realtor dot com to see what it 8s valued at now?

1999. Zillow and Realtor.com say it's worth 211-213k now.

[TexasProud]

On 1/25/2024 at 5:34 PM, Scarlett said:

Wow.  What year was that?  Also have you looked that house up recently on realtor dot com to see what it 8s valued at now?

I know I am not the person you asked. But we bought our first house  in Edmond Oklahoma while he was in residency.  We bought it in 1994 for 95,000 or something (It was a brand new home. 3 bedroom 1600 square feet) and sold it for 102,000 or so in 1996 in 3 days.  I just looked it up on Zillow and it is now worth 240,000. 

[Scarlett]

44 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

I know I am not the person you asked. But we bought our first house  in Edmond Oklahoma while he was in residency.  We bought it in 1994 for 95,000 or something (It was a brand new home. 3 bedroom 1600 square feet) and sold it for 102,000 or so in 1996 in 3 days.  I just looked it up on Zillow and it is now worth 240,000. 

Thank you. 

Pretty much @lanabug’s experience. 
 

[Murphy101]

 

On 1/23/2024 at 12:57 PM, Condessa said:

I'm amazed at how many were able to purchase homes directly out of school or shortly thereafter.  How did you not need time to save up first?  

This definitely sheds some light for me onto the perspective of the folks on the living paycheck-to paycheck thread who feel that getting started in life is so much harder on today's young people than it was in the past.  I just didn't see it.  Sure, inflation and housing prices make things tough, but it doesn't seem all that different.  But it seems that our experience wasn't typical to this group.  

The kids I know buying houses straight out of school are also kids who had parents never make them pay for anything ever AND they just so happened to be the kind of kid who would save for investments. So. Not the norm. 

On 1/23/2024 at 6:13 PM, Clarita said:

This is an interesting sentiment to me because when DH and I were deciding on a house we were looking for something for the rest of our lives. The reasoning being that it costs a lot to buy and sell a home, with commissions, fees and potential remodeling. It doesn't seem to make financial sense (especially since we were/are planning on staying in the area), so our first house is sized for the 4-6 person family we planned to have (ended up with 2 kids). We spent the first few years when children didn't happen yet in a house that was a bit big for the two of us. 

If big homes aren't for normal couples looking to start families. I'm not understanding who big homes are suppose to be for. 

We never sought to own more than we actually truly needed at the time. We had a 1 bedroom loft apt until I was 3 days from delivery with our 2nd. Then we rented a 3 bdrm house and we stayed in it until after our 5th was born and the landlady didn’t want to rent to that big a family anymore. And no one else did in our low budget price range either. So we bought a 3bd 1100sq house 30-40 out of town for $67k. 7 years and 3 more kids later we sold it for $138k and bought a 2800sq ft house for $168k. (Went looking for the first time ever and that house last sold for $171k. Supposedly my current house is worth $250k) We will probably die here simply bc the housing prices are nuts and it would be terrifying to me start a new mortgage in our older years. 

IME this is what most people my age have done. Get a starter home, stay until you’ve got some investment built up in it, use that profit to upgrade to better.

Most young people are not interested in buying houses. They have zero expectation that any job will last long enough to provide stable housing and they already feel crushed by debts. And they all work long or uncertain schedules to get by so there’s no time for ownership maintenance. This is something that you get as a bonus in marriage. Two hands make for lighter work and incentive to better material life standards. Without that incentive most feel no interest.

Edited January 27 by Murphy101

[Corraleno]

My mother sold the house I mostly grew up in (a very dated 1350 sq' 3 BR bungalow) for $270K in 2010 and the value is currently listed as $650K. 

My father and stepmother bought a run-down 2750 sq' house in the early 1970s for very little money; it was originally built as a summer home for people from NYC, so it was uninsulated and only had an outdoor shower. They sold it in the early 80s for not much more than they paid for it, then the next owners fixed it up and added more bathrooms, and sold it in 2012 for $620K. Currently valued at $1.8 million.

Both houses are in NJ. Only two of my relatives continue to live in NJ, and both bought their homes at least 40 years ago and have not moved. 

[gardenmom5]

Dh was contracting with a builder when we started dating and were engaged.

1dd was 30? when she bought her house in our HCOL area.  (she'd been living at home to save money for a downpayment.)
2dd was similar age and had recently gotten married.  (in a much lower COL area.)  At that time, she made more and they were also paying for him to get his MBA (reimbursed by employer after graduation.)

it's going to be a lot longer for 1&2 dss. House prices have more than tripled+ since 1dd bought her house.

Edited January 29 by gardenmom5

[Elizabeth86]

Technically I was a homeowner at 19, but I mean it was all dh paying for it and such. 

[TravelingChris]

On 1/23/2024 at 8:36 AM, SKL said:

As I see how many were young AND married when they bought a first house, it reminds me how big the salary/wage differential has historically been between men and women.  So many men could afford a house and car on a "single income" ... but it was a single male income.  I like to think the sex differential is not as pronounced today, but there still is one, especially between the trades that typically attract males vs. females.

Right before we bought the house, I was making more than dh because military pay was super low back then and they hadn't instituted cost of living raises for those of us who kept getting stationed in high cost areas.

Anyway, I was 29, dh was 28 and my son was a pre-schooler.  We had tried buying a home when he first joined but it was too expensive for us.  

[TravelingChris]

Now my two daughters bought houses at earlier ages than we did.  Not sure what age dd1, but probably around 24 or so.  She was married.  They are on their second house now and have been for about 5 or 6 years.  They bought house 2 w/ a bit of help from us and more help from his parents.

Dd2 and dsil2 bought their house when she was 24, I think.  We did help them w closing costs.

[lynn]

We were 25 and 28.

[Lady Florida.]

On 1/22/2024 at 9:05 PM, Lady Florida. said:

33 and single.

Quoting myself to clarify a bit. At that time I didn't think I would meet anyone and expected to be always single (I met future dh 3 years later). I was tired of renting and thought I should consider buying. I bought a townhouse which was the only affordable option on my teacher's salary. The interest rate I got was 10% in 1988 and I thought that was amazing, especially for a first time homebuyer like me. People nearly faint today at 10% interest but back then it was considered decent.

[Lawyer&Mom]

30 and I bought a 900 square foot condo.  It was 2010 and prices were still down from the market crash.  I had been a lawyer for four years at that point so my income was good but I didn’t have much savings.  FHA had just raised the maximum loan amount to support the housing market which was great.  The previous limit made FHA loans impossible in my HCOL metro.  I paid 5% down on $380,000.  Almost immediately met and married my husband and we ended up selling the condo when we moved out of state.  I loved that place and wish I still had it, but the hassle of being a remote landlord wouldn’t have been worth it.  The unit has at least doubled in value…

[Sneezyone]

We were 21/25 and got a push and some help from my dad. I still wish we had that house. It’s worth almost as much as the one we live in now and is 40% smaller.