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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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My 5 direct reports are all younger millennials or older Gen z. Of those the highest paid are in the $90-100k range, all are living in Seattle apartments. With good credit they could afford about a $500k mortgage, but there are no $500k homes in a decent area of Seattle. The median home is $850k, condo is $610.
There's an often expectation that the first home needs to be what their parents owned... more square footage in a great neighborhood/school district. When many of us older generation bought our first home is was humble, smaller, not in the top neighborhoods, and usually needed work (aka fixer-upper). We took our time, taught ourselves how to fix up our own homes to not only make them better but upping it's value (nowadays YouTube is king for this), then in time sold and bought another in a better neighborhood we could afford.
A lot of good suggestions in this post. I would say this is how things often work for most first time homebuyers. You have to start near the bottom and work your way up.
Not everybody gets to live in their dream home fresh out of school or college.
A lot of good suggestions in this post. I would say this is how things often work for most first time homebuyers. You have to start near the bottom and work your way up.
Not everybody gets to live in their dream home fresh out of school or college.
This is a good point. Many first time home buyers and younger buyers don't want to start at the bottom and work their way up the real estate ladder. Many want a home at the market average or higher.
My 5 direct reports are all younger millennials or older Gen z. Of those the highest paid are in the $90-100k range, all are living in Seattle apartments. With good credit they could afford about a $500k mortgage, but there are no $500k homes in a decent area of Seattle. The median home is $850k, condo is $610.
Even 100k won’t get you $500k mortgage here. Maybe it’s different in the US, but that would get you more like $400k-450k. A lot of mortgage fraud right now because no one qualifies otherwise
Why do we have so many pesky Canadians here? Things are completely different there. OP is US. Do we care about Canada? They won't let us in; but, they are welcome here. We have our own problems and we should not concern ourselves with the pesky Canadians! LOL... ...like, who cares?
Why do we have so many pesky Canadians here? Things are completely different there. OP is US. Do we care about Canada? They won't let us in; but, they are welcome here. We have our own problems and we should not concern ourselves with the pesky Canadians! LOL... ...like, who cares?
This isn’t a US local forum. I can’t imagine things are that drastically different. Comments like assuming the reason young people aren’t buying homes is because they want turnkey 4 bedroom houses as their first purchase comes off as incredibly out of touch. Go look up the first house you ever purchased on Zillow and see what it last sold for. 2 bedroom bungalows that need major Renos often sell for $1M+ in major metropolitan areas like NYC, LA, Washington DC, etc. it’s not just a Canada problem
Edit: just out of curiosity, I looked it up. Currently in the US, 100k annual income qualifies you for $363,645 as a loan. That means for a $500k home you need $137k down payment.
This isn’t a US local forum. I can’t imagine things are that drastically different. Comments like assuming the reason young people aren’t buying homes is because they want turnkey 4 bedroom houses as their first purchase comes off as incredibly out of touch. Go look up the first house you ever purchased on Zillow and see what it last sold for. 2 bedroom bungalows that need major Renos often sell for $1M+ in major metropolitan areas like NYC, LA, Washington DC, etc. it’s not just a Canada problem
Edit: just out of curiosity, I looked it up. Currently in the US, 100k annual income qualifies you for $363,645 as a loan. That means for a $500k home you need $137k down payment.
Well, I bought my first house at 40 and I had a VA loan on account of the fact that I served my country. A lot of financial weirdness is temporary so people will have to prepare and have patience. I am still living in my first house so I don't need to look anything up.
Here you go. Very affordable, but can't be uglier ... Don't know who approved this eyesore - 350 sqft for $130K. You don't even get a tree with that home. Who needs two bathrooms with one bedroom and where are the windows?
The ugliest neighborhood I ever saw...
Not to mention that Lennar homes are of a very poor quality. They probably start to fall apart before last payment.
I use to say that until my toilet leaked and I couldn't use it. I was so glad I had another toilet. Plus I had cats and that extra bathroom came in handy for them too.
I would have liked to see the inside of those tiny houses. They were not wide but looked long. The other site with that tiny apartment reminded me of the tiny shoe box apartments in China I saw on TV.
I use to say that until my toilet leaked and I couldn't use it. I was so glad I had another toilet. Plus I had cats and that extra bathroom came in handy for them too.
I have two cats and three bathrooms and I will never live somewhere I do not have at least 1.5 bathrooms. It is best to have one working toilet at all times -- LOL.
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