32 Potentially Traumatizing Stories About How People Managed To Buy Their Houses That Have Left Me Terrified For The Future

Recently, I was taking a walk around my lovely little LA neighborhood, and as I passed a "SOLD" sign on a $4-million house, I couldn't help but wonder: Who is buying all of these freaking houses?!

We all know the housing market is, well, f—ked; and yet, (some) normal people are still managing to buy normal houses. I wanted to know, plainly, how: So, I asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell me how they did it. Here are some of the best answers.

1."My parents put up a down payment, and we got a 30-year mortgage. This was with the understanding that this was my inheritance; there will be no money for me when they pass, which I totally understand. We could afford something in the $100k range. I work retail, and I've paid every mortgage and utility bill ever since. BUT I live in a small town, and this was seven years ago."

2."I bought my house when I was 36 and had been saving since I turned 18. I lived with a roommate until I bought the house. I used my car, phones, TV, everything until they literally died (I didn't even get a flatscreen until, like, 2010). The only things I would splurge on would be the random vacation (usually to visit a friend somewhere, and I didn't have hotel expenses) or concerts. I have an associate's degree, so no loans, but have worked in retail for over 25 years, and at the time, had worked my way up to store manager of a large clothing store and made pretty good money."

3."I got a brain injury in the military. Without it there's no way I could afford a home. I was homeless for a few years afterward, so it feels good to have stability now."

—ykaye

4."My husband and I were both in the military and used his VA home loan. We knew it would allow us to skip the down payment, so we didn’t need to save a ton before we decided to buy. We also both have high credit scores so we’re able to get a low interest rate. The rest was pure luck. We got the first house we bid on, which I know it's not the case for most people, and we bought two months before anyone had heard of COVID so the market was still good. We were able to refinance during COVID, which brought our interest rate down below 2%. I look around at our non-military neighbors and have no idea how they did it."

5."We are currently purchasing our first home; it’s a modest apartment in a decent area in NYC. My in-laws are giving us the down payment, and we are dipping into my husband's savings to do renovations."

6."We worked for it. We had no leg up from family, and we are the only people we know personally who did not receive help or inherit money. I work in human resources, and my husband owns his own business, which he started after being laid off multiple times. We don't have especially high paying jobs; our household income is about £80k in GBP."

7."I was a single mom living in total fear of being unable to give my kids the basics, yet too determined to remarry someone for security or disclose how dire my situation was to family or friends. Then, one fateful day on my way to work, I was T-boned by a gravel truck that ran a red light."

8."I bought a condo in 2021. In March 2017, there were rumored layoffs where I worked, and I was scared I would lose my job; I had zero dollars in savings. I immediately stopped going out and stopped buying anything that wasn’t a necessity, so that I could save enough to pay rent if anything happened. I didn’t lose my job. I got into the habit of saving, and by the summer of 2021, I had saved enough for a down payment, even though that wasn’t the purpose of saving when I started. I’m lucky that I make a decent enough salary to also save, but it really was four years of absolutely nothing nice or fun (obviously, 2020 wasn’t fun for anyone)."

9."When my husband and I were engaged, his parents offered us X amount of money for either a wedding or a down payment on a house. I wanted a house."

10."We bought our house 18 years ago. It's a very old house with lots of 'quirks.' We'd been renting it for four years, and the owners wanted to get rid of it; they got a divorce not long after. It was appraised by the city at an extremely low value, and we were able to haggle down the price because of that appraisal value. We can never sell it or move, because we would never get approved again. We love it, though."

11."My husband died. I got life insurance money. There’s no other way I could’ve afforded a house. I would trade it in a heartbeat to have him back."

—gracers

12."I live in the North West, in England. Our house cost £90,000 almost 20 years ago. My husband had already owned a flat and had made a good profit on it, and my dad downsized after I moved out to a house worth half of the value. (He went from a £166,000 three bedroom to a £80,000 two bedroom bungalow.) My dad gave me £15,000 so I could contribute half of the deposit on our house. My mum had passed away when I was a teen, and I had contributed to the household and maintained the house while working and at university, so it didn’t seem unreasonable to accept this from my dad."

13."The only reason we own a home is because my boyfriend was run over by a truck, and we used the settlement money to put 20% down on a 30-year conventional loan."

14."My partner and I were a year into our marriage and moved into my parents' basement for two and a half years to save money and pay down debt. We all get along really well, so it worked great for us."

—jessicasheridanphoto

15."I had a nervous breakdown about renting forever (don’t do the math, it’ll haunt you), cried to my parents, and they bought me half a house. Lucky? Absolutely. My dad said the money he was going to leave me would do me no good in 20 years if I had to struggle until then. What a guy."

16."Honestly, it was mostly lucky timing. After never thinking we would be able to afford to buy in our area, we were able to benefit from others' misfortune in 2010, when prices were very low due to foreclosures. It took 18 months of looking at hundreds of houses (online and in person), offers and outbids in the double digits, and paying $65K more than we originally intended, but we were able to buy a house with a low interest rate with 3.5% down (FHA loan) that we pulled out of a 401K."

17."My wife and I are retired and in our 70s. Over the years, we've bought four houses with minimal down payments and lost them in economic downturns. We've paid a lot of rent over the years, and just bought a house last year when my mom passed away and left us a small inheritance. Without that we'd still be renting and dreading the next rent increase."

18."My husband’s grandma died."

—randocalrissian

19."I live in eastern Montana. I saved for nearly a year for the down payment. It’s a three bedroom, two bathroom house. I purchased it in 2016, renovations were done two years prior, and I’ve done a few things myself. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to afford a house anywhere but a small town in the Northern plains region of the US on what I make a year."

20."I was able to afford a down payment because my grandpa passed away a few months earlier. After a very negative experience mixing finances with an ex, I'd spent years repairing my credit. I have a union job with some seniority. I purchased as a first-time home buyer and was eligible for a bunch of programs. And I bought a very small home in an 'up-and-coming' neighborhood. I was lucky enough to have my deal made shortly before interest rates went way up."

—tharris2962

21."I live in Iowa, that's my secret. My partner and I got married at 22, bought our first house at 25 using the first-time home buyers loan and zero down, and had no family assistance. We were working as an interior designer and a groundskeeper with two kids. The mortgage was about $900; really boring story, and no secrets. We had student loans but cheap cars and no other debt."

22."I got hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Spent five years going through a lawsuit. Finally settled and used that as a down payment."

—jessimorris1

23."My husband and I consistently rented the cheapest apartments we could find for several years even if our incomes increased. During COVID, we saved all the government checks that came and saved aggressively for two years. It kind of helped that we couldn’t eat out as much, and we implemented a 'pay yourself first' mentality — our paychecks went to bills first, about 25–50% of them went into savings, and whatever was left was for fun activities."

24."An MLB player got me pregnant, and I used the settlement as a down payment on my house. 😬"

—Anonymous

25."I was lucky enough to not have student loans. My grandparents paid for my dad’s college, so he did the same for me. I am a speech language pathologist working in a hospital, so I make an average salary. However, I live in a smaller city in a mostly rural state where house prices aren’t obscene. It just so happened that I timed the purchase of my first home during the time of SUPER low interest rates. It was a mix of privilege, fortunate timing, and location: circumstances that I recognize most people, especially other millennials, don’t have."

26."My husband got a job with AirTouch (Verizon) when the cellphone just was taking off. He was a salesman on commission, and that Christmas everyone was buying cellphones for presents. His commission was $10,000. Nice down payment. Our rate was high because he worked on commission. He switched jobs, and after a year, we refinanced at a lower rate."

27."My parents were lucky, and then kind. They bought a plot of land with no building permission back in the 1980s. It was very cheap (about £1,000), and they kept chickens on it. When they decided to sell, it was worth £100,000! It was a totally unexpected amount of money so they split it between me and my siblings so that we could have a deposit for our own homes."

28."When I got married at 24, I sold my truck and everything else I owned to get enough for a down payment. In 1994 the small three bedroom/one bath we got was $100k. We were scared about how we were going to pay such a large loan. We sold it 10 years later for $300k and used that money to buy another house outright that is worth $1.3 million today. I feel bad for young people nowadays; buying a home is out of reach because of government regulations associated with homebuilding."

29."I got my house in 2012 for $100,000. An old woman died, and her family was looking to sell quickly. It's only 700 square feet, and I had to put some work into it, but it's good for just me. I guess, in simple terms, I got lucky."

—Anonymous

30."It's a condo, not a house, but my husband just makes more money than I do. He could afford the down payment, and we split the monthly mortgage and bills. We also live in a relatively affordable city. But I am nervous about affording it once our interest rates go up."

31."I didn't have anything saved for a down payment, and I had just started a new job making less than $50K in Nashville. But, in 2019, I happened upon a townhouse I thought was cute and scheduled a showing on a whim. I had very little debt, so I qualified for a conventional loan with no down payment — the trade was a slightly higher interest rate (4%). I didn't even know that was a possibility before it happened to me. I refinanced in 2021, got a lower interest rate, and my mortgage insurance dropped off. Voila! But my bestie does live with me and splits the mortgage, which is a lifesaver!"

32.And finally: "After getting clean, I beefed up a new résumé, lied about my having a degree, and bullshitted my way through entry level job contracts. I didn't have time to go back to school and right my wrongs, and I definitely didn't have the money, but fortunately, I'm a good bullshitter. After enough entry level experience, I was interviewed for an IT Analyst II role making six figures. I was offered the job, and then they did some digging and asked for my college transcripts. I won't say what happened next, but I got the job, and long story short, I make good enough money now that I got approved for a $500k house."

...Whew. Some of this was traumatic, some of it was inspiring, and some of it was both... As for me, I simply labor under the happy delusion that I WILL be winning the lottery, and by next summer will be happily residing in my Brentwood mansion. Cheers!