Someone Asked Millennials And Gen Z How Hard It Is To Buy A House, And They Did Not Hold Back
Owning a home is a big dream for many young people, but unfortunately, it's getting harder than ever to make that dream come true.
NBC / Via giphy.com
Recently, redditor u/hsat17 asked millennials and Gen Z'ers on Reddit to share how hard it is for us to buy a house, and people responded with personal stories and plenty of dark humor. Here's what they had to say:
1."Millennial here. It was easy. All I had to do was buy a foreclosure in 2013 under the perfect circumstances, using my inheritance from my late grandmother and my perfect credit from my mother having me as an authorized user on her credit since I was a kid. Ya know, the stuff most people have working to their advantage."
"No, seriously, that’s the only way I was able to buy my house, and I have no clue how the average working young adult could ever afford to own property now. This is a huge problem and will only snowball if we don’t do something about it immediately."
2."In 2019, I could afford the mortgage but not the down payment. Now, I can just barely afford the down payment, but list prices and loan rates have shot up so much that I can't really afford the monthly payments anymore unless I go for an absolutely unlivable property (the sort that includes phrases like 'bring your tools!' and 'investment opportunity!' and 'calling all contractors!' in the listing)."
3."Gen Z here, and I barely can afford rent at most places. And that’s with me and my two roommates splitting rent three ways. Mortgages might be 'cheaper' to some but not once you add in the property taxes and maintenance and other things that aren’t covered when buying."
"On the bright side, we’re doing better than most other people I went to school with around my age. We live in Phoenix where inflation is everywhere, and very few people in Gen Z are able to move out of their parents' place at all. I consider myself lucky to have an apartment."
4."For me at least (and probably others), the bigger problem was listening to boomers telling me I needed 20% down in cash to even think about buying a place. Once I actually talked to a banker and figured out what my actual options are, I realized that 3% down was all I needed. That wasn't too hard to save up; it just took a little time."
5."Millennial here. All I had to do was marry a girl, buy her a car, help her get her license back, and turn her loose on the streets to get t-boned by a DoorDash driver. DoorDash insurance paid out $1,000,000. Profit."
6."I pay $2,300 a month in rent. For houses around me, the mortgage payment is about $1,400-$1,600. I wish I could afford a down payment."
7."The only way I can afford to have a home at this point is if I buy raw land and harvest and process the trees to build it myself."
8."Elder Gen Z here. It’s not even close to being a thought. I’m barely getting my current bills paid on time."
9."We've been in our house about five and a half years. An FHA loan and two down-payment assistance programs through the city got us into it for almost nothing out of pocket. I don't recall exact numbers now, but we had to put down earnest money, pay inspection, and, like, $250 at closing. It was under $1,000 all told. The problem was finding a house we could afford."
"We got lucky there, because my best friend has a friend who at the time was working for the city. After a million dollars worth of grants to a developer, all he had to do was sell one home to a low-income family. My best friend had made sure all his contacts knew what we were trying to do, so his friend referred us, and they sold us the house for what we could afford."
10."I'm an old millennial in a nowhere state. Buying our home was so easy, they were giving them away. Two months later, the national housing market began to crash. This was 2007. We're still here with 13 years to go. I think if we were 25 today, starting over, it would be extremely, extremely tough."
11."My fiancé and I both work full-time jobs, making about the same. We had to scrape and save for our wedding that's coming up soon. We want to own a home, but it's looking less and less like we ever will with the cost of living steadily climbing. Two years ago, my paycheck would cover our bills and then some. Now, it's only bills. It's getting steadily harder, very quickly, with no reprieve in sight."
12."I can afford to pay $10,000 a year on rent but the bank doesn’t think I can afford a $7,000 a year mortgage."
13."Old millennial here. The only reason I own a house is because my mom and I went in together on a duplex. We decided that this financially made the most sense. She’s getting older, so this way I can keep an eye on her, too."
14."I'm incredibly lucky to have an apartment."
15."My partner and I both make over six figures in Seattle, and we had to look outside the county we both work in to find somewhere we could afford. Got a 5% down payment by using our life savings and borrowing from 401(k). I still feel lucky to be an owner with a relatively good loan rate. But it sickens me to think how hard it is for most, when for us as a privileged couple, it felt like a risky stretch to get into a $500k starter home."
16."I make $20k a year. It's hard for me to do anything other than struggle."
17."My wife (40F) and I (38M) bought our first home last year. It took 20 years together of building credit, building careers, saving cash, and then borrowing $5K to round out our down payment. Oh, and we had to move from central Texas to rural eastern New Mexico. Our new property is awesome, though. We're thrilled."
18."I got an FHA loan and put maybe $5k down? Can’t remember. This was right before COVID destroyed interest rates, so I got locked in at 3.25%. Current monthly payment on a $203k home is about $1,600."
19."I make a little under $100k per year, and have $70k in the bank. In the middle of searching for a home, and feel like everything decent is outside of my range. Really sucks TBH, especially given that I'm in the Midwest where it's already cheap compared to most of the country."
"I realize I'm speaking from a place of serious privilege. Not trying to downplay those in a worse position, it just took a long time and a lot of work/dedication and living below my means to get here, and I feel like affordability slipped out underneath me, like I chose one of the worst times in American history to get my act together."
20."1993 millennial here, and it was super easy! Just had to become disabled and move in with the folks, and now, they consider their house our house. But before my health was this bad, there was still no way I'd ever be able to come up with a down payment or get approved for a loan thanks to my student debt."
21."I have a good job in the trades so it's not hard for me in my country and city, fortunately."
22."Elder Millennial here. I bought in 2018. Had no cash in hand. Utilized a program from my lender for low/moderate income buyers (not me) or those buying in low/moderate income zones (me), that required only 5% down. Took a 401(k) loan for the down payment/closing costs on a $160k Philly townhome. Mortgage payment even with PMI is less than the rent on my previous two-bedroom apartment in the same neighborhood."
"The process was easy, but then again, I’m familiar with it working in banking for 15+ years. I’d wager the biggest struggle for most millennials and Gen Z is the cash for down payment and closing. To that end, ask about low down payment programs from your lender and/or hope to god you have some of those money bags boomer relatives that can gift you cash."
"The whole buying in 2018 thing is the real trick here."
23."Every time I feel like I'm getting close to having enough for a down payment, something wild in the world happens and the prices skyrocket, rates increase, or I need to drop a few grand on fixing something else. It's like being a mule chasing after a carrot on a rod."
24."I’m 36, and we get the keys to our first house tomorrow. Our saving grace was a VA loan and finding a house that had zero offers in three months."
25."I can barely afford rent. Actually owning a house seems near impossible. My parents owned a house by the time they were 27, and I’m 25."
26."I think I hit a streak of luck. Out of college in 2008, I got an entry level job at a bank. Worked for six months before I was laid off due to the banking crisis. Due to the volume of layoffs, everyone was given a minimum of six months severance. I immediately got a job in Nashville and used my severance as a down payment. Then, Nashville became the 'it' city. I sold my condo there after 10 years, and my home value had tripled. I used those proceeds to buy a 5,000-square-foot family home I have now in Ohio. Literally, just a string of good luck on my part. My husband jokes if he hadn’t met me, he’d still be saving for a house, and he’s 38 making $110k."
27."I was only able to through luck more than anything else. My parents let me move back home so I was paying less rent than I had been privately renting. I also live in an area where housing is considerably cheaper than most of the country. But even with all that, I had to buy a total project and live in it while I did it up which meant several months without a functional kitchen or any heating system, and I did as much of the work as I could myself to keep costs down (thank god for YouTube)."
28."Gen Z here. I plan on buying a house within the next couple years. It shouldn’t be super difficult, but I’m also in a relatively high paying field (which really shouldn’t be what is required to be a home owner)."
29."I am turning 32 next week and just bought an apartment last September with my partner. We couldn't afford a house, and we needed help from my dad to meet the down payment, but we managed to put down 25%! That being said, we spent close to all of our money, but the way rent is in our city, coupled with the fact that we were being forced to move (our landlords were selling the building we were living in), moving into another rental would have ended up costing half of the down payment we just made. Luckily, we have no debt except for our mortgage."
30."25-year-old here. Bought my apartment a year ago or so. Just took on some more work for a year or so, and the costs are equal to the rent I paid earlier."
31."Got approved for $350k. Anything we bought above $240k would've left us with a $2k monthly mortgage. We tried for a year and lost over 20 homes to cash offers. We are renting now."
32."I was able to buy a townhome (April of 2021) because my credit union offers 100% financing with no PMI with a low interest rate. And I got lucky. Six months after I bought my place, similar units were selling outside of my price range."
33.And finally, "I prefer a realistic dream, like going to Narnia through my closet."
CBC / Via giphy.com
