You can easily find a home in South Carolina for under $50,000 if you don't mind dirt roads and hour plus commutes to buy groceries and such.
“Say goodbye to the 20% down payment. Zillow says you’ll need to put down roughly 35%, or almost $128,000, to afford a typical U.S home”
- Thread starter RBH
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The article is how much you need to put down to afford monthly payments, something most first time homebuyers will not be able to do only putting down 3.5%.
We were selling our home and noticed that for sample numbers a mortgage broker was sharing, we could not even afford our own place if we were just getting in the market now. Even with 35% down. We would have had to put more like 60% down to have affordable payments.
Even re-sale condo suites go for like 400k+. Beyond me how people who are just getting started can even find the downpayment for a condo, let alone a house.
Even re-sale condo suites go for like 400k+. Beyond me how people who are just getting started can even find the downpayment for a condo, let alone a house.
Yea this is what I did as well, literally had only 1000 EUR on my bank account left, everything else went into the down payment.
Totally worth it, though. New construction, finished building in early 2023. Nice and clean. I have never been more at peace. Renting in those awful 1960s buildings was destroying me mentally.
Oh JFC I didn't even notice it was fortune.
Fortune strictly publishes algorithm bait. They're the one that always publishes some AI written article about people making $400k a year and unable to afford candles.
Man I wish new construction was common here. Here means you're paying 2 million for a 1960s house.
That's what I've been telling the clients that they need a minimum of $70k which includes down payment and closing costs for $600k house if doing the 3.5% down payment.
There's about to be a bunch of housing stock freed up from tens of millions of boomers downsizing/retiring.
Probably will get worse when climate change gets even worse and home owners get even more protective and the government won't care as long as the stock market does well.
The wife and I bought a house last year and it took 7 months of constant searching to find something. We were constantly outbid and had to change our strategy to looking for a cheaper that we were comfortable going 30k above asking to meet the max we were willing to pay to be successful.
It also helped that the owners at the time refused to sell to investors. We got extremely lucky.
It also helped that the owners at the time refused to sell to investors. We got extremely lucky.
I'm just happy we live in an area that hasn't had too crazy of a rise in house prices (relatively speaking). We bought our first home last year for $235k. Only put 5% down and our monthly housing costs are about 25% of our income. No idea how people are supposed to buy their first home in some states where the average house price is at least double that or more
I think I put 8 percent down and I can easily afford my mortgage. It's still cheaper than rent in my area. 🤷
I suppose it's a case by case basis really.
What's your interest rate though and how long ago did you buy your house?
This and inflation is where the democrats are getting hammered a lot -- housing, military spending, and cost of living and healthcare are all out of control in the USA. Sadly I don't think its gonna be a priority for democrats if they get re-elected, even sweeping congress and presidency. Republicans don't give a fuck and will be happy if corporations own every house and rent them out.
No one is putting down 3% and affording the monthly payments on anything near median home pricing at current interest rates.
Respectfully, I'm in San Diego and my 20% down was more than some in this thread have said their whole house cost. My wife and I did not have the benefit of inheritance or "family money" but just saved for the first 10+ years of our marriage. SD is home and always where we intended to raise our family. Took a lot of sacrifices over the years. Just our experience, not reflective of anyone else's.
-department of justice literally sued one of those price fixing companies less than a month ago
-Biden admin work: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...boost-housing-supply-and-lower-housing-costs/
-it's honestly not even a federal or state problem, it's the local level, cities and counties make it a pain to build.
So what's the end game here? People who aren't exceptionally rich won't be able to afford housing? Then what? Millions of houses sit empty because no one can afford them? You can't milk people from housing prices if the majority can't fucking afford it. At what point is there going to be any federal opposition to this shit?
I couldn't even imagine trying to live in a dystopian world like Toronto. I'm an hour east and it's still hard enough.
You've got it wrong. The prices are high because enough can with low inventory on the market.
The end game is that everyone rents. And investors pass around houses by the dozens (or thousands). Which necessitates rent increases regularly. Until they win capitalism.
Many older people are keeping their homes once they find out that they'll basically make nothing selling their home in it's current state and then buying into a smaller home that's basically the same price. The promise of their home paying for the gap in their retirement funds is fading fast with the way prices are going unless they move to the middle of nowhere.
The gov't is going to have to start building actual starter homes/housing that isn't immediately eaten up by investors if things are going to change.
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We put down $150k on. $540k house back in 2022, It was the profit we had from selling our house in NY.
Even with the 4.5 % interest our mortgage is stupid high. Mid 3's.
If we could have gotten a cheaper 5 bedroom in a good school district we would have but that was the inventory at the time.
Even with the 4.5 % interest our mortgage is stupid high. Mid 3's.
If we could have gotten a cheaper 5 bedroom in a good school district we would have but that was the inventory at the time.
A loan of 300-325k will put you damn near 3k a month for mortgage 😵💫
I've been looking for places around 250-300k and all I could find were townhomes, for-closured fixer-upers, and auction homes. Makes me wonder how people are snagging these 500k houses and with what careers 😅
I've been looking for places around 250-300k and all I could find were townhomes, for-closured fixer-upers, and auction homes. Makes me wonder how people are snagging these 500k houses and with what careers 😅
These prices are creating really weird situations where the people buying into neighborhoods might be making 2-3x as much as their neighbors that bought when prices and interest rates weren't stupid. Like I'm wondering if this is going to end up gentrifying even the 20-30 year old working class suburbs as things turnover instead of the typical much older inner suburbs.
The government really does need to intervene sooner rather than later though. Policies that drastically reduce property values are political poison. So taking measures that might slow the value growth or hopefully even freeze prices for an extended amount of time so wages can catch up is probably the best we'll get. Doesn't change the fact that demand must be more equalized so steps have to be taken to increase inventory.
The government really does need to intervene sooner rather than later though. Policies that drastically reduce property values are political poison. So taking measures that might slow the value growth or hopefully even freeze prices for an extended amount of time so wages can catch up is probably the best we'll get. Doesn't change the fact that demand must be more equalized so steps have to be taken to increase inventory.
Most here would consider where I live just that. Bought a "starter" house in 2016. Pretty confident I could get a good 75% more than what we paid.
Still cheaper than in a big city for sure. But, this starter home is probably out of a LOT of peoples price range any more. Especially combined with higher interest rates.
We're sorry mute, we need you to return to our office in Big Metro.
I know married people in California that get a 3rd on the mortgage like a sibling or parent to make ends meet
I did something similar. It's like you said: case-by-case. If I were looking to buy my house today, with its market value and interest rates being what they are, it'd be a shock to the finances.
But, my definition of "afford" might be a bit more conservative than other folks. Like, I'm not looking to have my ass beat by a mortgage to the point that I'm scrutinizing every other bill/expense I have, and forgoing savings/retirement in order to make it work. Throw in the prospect of having kids one day, and there's nothing less appealing to me than a 3k+ mortgage payment.
Toronto itself is fucked. And people asked me why I am now 2 hours outside Toronto.
I only see commercials when watching local news these days, which I know is a somewhat Baby Boomer-associated behavior in the first place, but I will say that the Biden Campaign's recent ads highlighting the IRA have been VERY good, IMO here in Madison, WI. It basically comes across as "I HAVE in fact been working to address inflation, and I have a plan to address it further in my second term (even if those plans are very vague right now and honestly probably slightly too late with where inflation levels are at)." We need more of this recontextualization for lower information voters of Biden being a president of action, and as a champion fighting inflation.
I live in a neighborhood that is mostly older tract housing, small yards, decent but nothing special about it at all. 20 minutes from the city. A house on my street went up for sale late last year, first time a house on this street has been available since the market went nuts.
The folks who moved into that house obviously have way more money than anyone else on the street, and they immediately spearheaded the old HOA management company being terminated and the hiring of a new, much stricter one. It fucking sucks
3% down and sky high monthly payments. It doesn't matter if you can put down a low % as a first time home buyer, if you can't afford the monthly payments, it's redundant.
I bought a condo just a couple months ago and feel kinda lucky and kind of not about the whole thing.
Kind of lucky because I was able to live with my parents until my mid-30s. I had enough in savings that I could drop over 50% down on the place, and I have a 15 year mortgage with a total payment of "only" 1.2K a month before property tax, insurance, and HOA fees.
Kind of not lucky, because if I had bought three or four years ago, I could have gotten a similar place for around 100 thousand dollars less, with a much lower interest rate.
Kind of lucky because I was able to live with my parents until my mid-30s. I had enough in savings that I could drop over 50% down on the place, and I have a 15 year mortgage with a total payment of "only" 1.2K a month before property tax, insurance, and HOA fees.
Kind of not lucky, because if I had bought three or four years ago, I could have gotten a similar place for around 100 thousand dollars less, with a much lower interest rate.
My down payment in Taiwan ended up being 22% on a house that after currency conversion was 666k. This was very lucky for us because several banks turned us down because I am a foreigner, or would want 40-50% down payments.
My parents were able to help with the final 25K we needed for everything. We're lucky that interest rates for mortgages are still very low here (2.02% and that was considered high, also seen as a foreigner tax). We never could have afforded this place with the higher rates in the US.
My parents were able to help with the final 25K we needed for everything. We're lucky that interest rates for mortgages are still very low here (2.02% and that was considered high, also seen as a foreigner tax). We never could have afforded this place with the higher rates in the US.
And demand. How many want to move out in the middle of nowhere, crappy satellite internet with long commutes. So everyone is trying for the same general area so sellers can charge crazy amounts and still sell their homes. Probably someone paying all 💰 on top of that.