This post might as well be titled "Make me feel better about renting for longer" haha!
Also, how did you decide beforehand what your goals were or did everything just fall into place?
This post might as well be titled "Make me feel better about renting for longer" haha!
Also, how did you decide beforehand what your goals were or did everything just fall into place?
138 votes
pomelo / 5129 posts
I thought I was done with school at the time (I didn't plan to get a master's...but work also paid for my master's). And I wasn't married.
It was sort of like magic...in that the market crashed, things became affordable, and my grandmother left my mom an inheritance she wanted to pass on to us. So while I didn't save up a down payment, I had one.
But I also searched for about a year until I found something that I could afford, enjoy, and that was a good investment. During that year, I worked on saving, paying debt, and improving my credit (I didn't get the inheritance until the day I bought the house. There was no option to use it for anything else)
pomelo / 5509 posts
So, we didn't set these specific goals beforehand, but when we bought earlier this year (ages 32 and 31) we had: finished schooling, had no debt at all, and I was pregnant with our first. DH had just gotten his "career" job (he went back to school for his master's after working other jobs for a while) and since we needed more space, the timing just made sense.
pomelo / 5129 posts
When we bought our second house, we found out I was pregnant, I graduated from grad school, and we moved in all in about one month.
We do major life changes in multiples a lot of the time.
pomegranate / 3244 posts
The only things that I wanted to make sure was the following:
1. Paid off all major CC debt
2. Working in my job for at least one year
3. Hit a certain $$ in the bank account
We started looking a bit before items 1 & 3 were taken care of, but by the time we closed we had hit both goals. I'm glad we no longer have that CC debt, but it will be a looong time before I see that balance in our bank account again
pomegranate / 3658 posts
We were super young and the market was a totally different world back then. We were debt-free just as our natural state, had finished all higher ed, and that's about it. No kids (we weren't even married yet), just getting started in our careers, and downpayment was not really huge - we were buying at the start of the recession so lucked into a development where the builder had hoped to price the homes a LOT higher. These days it's hard to even imagine being in that situation.
honeydew / 7235 posts
We just wanted to stop paying rent since we knew we could get into a mortgage payment for less than our monthly rent and start earning some equity. We were out of college and recently married when we bought our first home, a townhouse. We def had some debt. But I had a good steady job. DH didn't, but we knew he would eventually haha.
nectarine / 2951 posts
Married, no kids, good downpayment (with family help), steady job, done with school, anticipated starting a family.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Our first purchased home did kind of fall into our lap! We were married and had saved up about 20% and I was pregnant with our first, when we started looking for a condo to buy. We couldn't find anything that was right or got out of, so we found a good rental that worked well. A year later the landlord told us he was going to sell and basically made us an offer to buy it before he put it on the market. We already knew we liked it, price was fair, and it was a good investment so things just fell into place. We were 33 at the time.
Bought our first house after we had the second baby and the condo was just way too small. Again We had steady income and down payment, had to find the right house.
pear / 1955 posts
We bought when we'd been married around 5 years - we paid off student loans by aggressively saving (one car, cheap apartment, eat out once a month, etc.), then continued to live the same lifestyle and put all the money we had been putting toward debt into a down payment. Buying a house was actually one of the bucket list items I wanted to check off before having kids.
grapefruit / 4988 posts
We were married, both finished grad school and in good full-time jobs, and we saved 15% for a down payment. The market had bottomed and we wanted to get in while prices were still (relatively) low in this crazy area.
nectarine / 2521 posts
We didn't hit any major goals except school and finding jobs. But in our area the cost of housing was so cheap it was actually cheaper to buy than rent! So it made sense for us since we knew we were staying in the same place for a long period of time.
If we lived in a higher cost area or there was a possibility of moving, we would definitely still be renting.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
I finished grad school and got married before buying a house for the first time.
If I could do it all over and convince my husband of the same I would rent forever...in a spacious garden apartment.
persimmon / 1196 posts
We just sort of fell into it. Our mortgage is less than half of what we'd have to pay in rent, so it just made more sense when we moved back to my home state. I was still in grad school at the time, we both have student loan balances, and we took money out of a retirement account for a down payment.
pomegranate / 3113 posts
We had finished our schooling, started careers, moved to a new city for other jobs, and were in an apartment we hated. The lease was going to be up in a few months so we started looking, and ended up getting one of the houses we saw the very first day we went out looking. The market here was already tight but wasn't yet as insane as it is now, but we were super lucky to get this house as quickly and easily as we did. Still, if we hadn't had 20% to put down, we definitely would have lost out to another buyer who did!
pineapple / 12566 posts
We haven't bought yet and won't anytime soon (and we are mid to late 30s). We are waiting to live in our forever country and we don't know when, or even where, that will be.
pomelo / 5678 posts
Have changed my views on this. I now have much less desire to own. The convenience and affordability and freedom of renting near downtown (townhouse) make sense for us. If we ever purchase it'll be further down the road, kids lil older, us lil more established. Cannot even imagine yardwork right now. Our rental is newer, nicer than what we could buy.
pineapple / 12566 posts
@Greentea: agree! We couldn't afford to buy in our current, very central location.
pomegranate / 3355 posts
We bought after we were married, DH cleaned up his credit score and we were planning to start a family.
honeydew / 7504 posts
We weren't even married yet when we bought our first house. We actually broke up, I moved out, then moved back in before we even got engaged, let alone got married. But we were both done with school and pretty well settled into our careers.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
I bought a town house when I was 29, and single. DH bought his first house when we were dating and we lived together there until just after our wedding. We bought our first house together the day after I found out I was pregnant with our first, right after our wedding.
cantaloupe / 6171 posts
We have not yet bought a home and won't for a couple more years/ until I have a tenure track academic job/in our forever location /done having kids/in our mid 30s at least. Dh's job is flexible in that he can work from home, which gives us stability which is great because my field requires a transient kind of lifestyle for a few years with increasingly contingent job contracts
kiwi / 698 posts
Still renting
We are married, have (almost) 2 kids, are settled into our careers, have very minimal debt and have a decent amount of savings for a down payment, but we live in an extremely expensive city with high taxes and cost of living. The house that we rent is massive compared to what we could afford to buy. We can very comfortably afford to rent this home and enjoy life. As soon as we buy, we will see our expenses climb astronomically, so I keep saying to my husband that I'm happy to rent long-term, especially while we continue to have child care payments taking up a huge chunk of our income. I love that I can just call my landlord and say "Hey! The sink is leaking!" and he foots the bill for the repair. Lol.
persimmon / 1467 posts
We got married, payed off all debt, had one kid, another kid just barely on the way. The only reason we were able to buy was DH got a raise and we figured we should start putting money into a house instead of rent. In-laws helped with the down payment though we had some saved. And with#2 in the works we were really outgrowing our one bedroom apartment!
pear / 1728 posts
We bought a house about a year and a half after we got married. We were out of school, no student loan debt, settled careers, but only put down 3.5%. We were relatively young when we bought (25 and 24) but we live in an affordable housing market. Oh and I was pregnant (barely).
pineapple / 12793 posts
We were married, 32, parents of one with one on the way, we had more than 20% saved, and had long out grown our rental.
We looked off and on for three years and after 12 offers finally came out on top.
I'm so glad we bought when we did. Our house had gone up ~$350k in price and we wouldn't be able to buy our house now if we were still looking.
eggplant / 11716 posts
haha, I voted "The house just plopped into our laps like magic", because that's kiiiind of what happened.
I bought my first house basically on a whim and it all happened very quickly. I was probably having a quarter life crisis, too. haha. But I'd had a very long term dating relationship all through my 20's and we broke up about 6 months before I turned 30. I think I was starting to feel ready for home ownership and kids, but knew that relationship wasn't "the one" and didn't want to have to "settle" for the wrong guy to make those things happen.
Anyway, right after our break up, I read an article in the local paper about a state grant program for first-time homebuyers that were police officers, teachers, or firefighters. The grant program gave 3.5% for a downpayment--free--to people in those professions who met the requirements of the grant (good credit, money for closing costs, income requirements, etc). I googled and found the grant program and called--and they said there were limited funds each year and all the grants had already been given out. Then they asked if I wanted to be added to an email list that would update me IF grant funds ever became available again. I added myself to the email list.
Right after that, then-president Obama announced the stimulus package for first-time homeowners--first time home owners would get an $8k tax rebate if they had an FHA loan.
Just a few months later, I got an email saying more funds were available for the grant. Then I started reading the fine print of the grant application--you had to have an FHA loan, and FHA-loan approved house that you already wanted to buy. The submission deadline was in less than a month, and the Obama stimulus deadline was in only 5 weeks.
I called a realtor immediately, just to see if anything in my price range was on the market. In 1 weekend, I found a place that I loved, that fit all the grant requirements for an FHA loan, and I made an offer and submitted the grant application. Within a week, I found out I got the grant and they paid for my down payment. I closed within 4 weeks and literally the day I closed, I went from my closing to the tax office and submitted my tax amendment to apply for the Obama stimulus program. I got the 8k in direct deposit just 10 days later.
TL:DR: Basically out of nowhere in a period of 5 weeks, I found a house, got a grant program to pay the down payment, closed, and got 8k free from the government. All by myself. With basically no money down of my own.
Eta: I didn't have kids, wasn't married, worked full time but was also in part time grad school and was paying for grad school without loans. So I basically met - milestones before buying.
eggplant / 11716 posts
Comparing my 1st home buying experience to my husband's 1st home buying experience, in terms of Milestones:
I met no milestones. DH waited until he finished grad school, had saved more than 20%, until after he got married, and until we had our first baby on the way. He had 0 debt of any kind--no car loans, no school loans, no credit card debt. Then he decided he was ready to buy, and we bought the place we currently live in.
pomegranate / 3231 posts
I live in an expensive area, and I was always afraid to get a mortgage on my own. I wanted a second income from a partner so that in case I ever lost my job there would be some "insurance". But I had most of a downpayment saved.
I didn't get married til I was 34. We bought our condo about a year later. My husband had some residual student loans that he finished paying off around the time that we got married. We used a combination of my savings and our shared savings account for a downpayment.
olive / 61 posts
We got married and lived with my parents for a year until we had enough saved up to qualify for an FHA loan..I worked two jobs and we literally never left the house for "fun" expenses during that entire time but I don't regret it at all. Finally after putting in 30 + offers on properties we snagged our current home for an impossibly low amount in our area (so cal). Had we started looking now there's no way we could ever afford to buy in this area..and while this isn't our forever home, it's good for us to live somewhere way more affordable than renting and it's our own space. Also the market here is awful so it'll probably take another recession for us to be able to afford to move again.
clementine / 955 posts
I didn't vote because our situation is a little different. DH and I lived on family property (12acers)in an old 1970's trailer rent free and saved all our money for 4 years to pay cash for our modular home. So technically our big milestone was save up ALL the money so we'd never have a mortgage. The original plan was to build a barndominium, but unlike the rest of the housing market, in this areas they are very popular and had almost doubled in price per sq. Ft. we know that where we are is where we will live for the rest of our lives. The land is paid off, my MIL and fIL live next door and my SIL and BIL and thier kids live across the dirt road. I should mention I got pregnant the month we moved into our home . So I'm sure y'all can guess what the milestone was I wanted to hit before having kids.
coconut / 8483 posts
We finished university and 2 days later dh and I (boyfriend at the time!) moved 3 hours away from our family for dhs job offer. After being there for 5 months we bought a new build. It was ready 6 months later. We had 5% saved and were done school. Dh had a great job. I had two semi crappy part time jobs. The day we moved in I got the phone call that I got my job that was my "career" for 3 years before I had kids.
After we lived there for a few months we got engaged. Married the next year. Baby 2 years later... now we moved on to our second home where we had all those goals checked off plus 20% down.
Neither of us had any debt or student loan debt.
nectarine / 2242 posts
Ours was magic / fell in our lap / we weren't planning for it or accomplishing any goals! We'd planned to wait to buy until I was 30 (I'm 31 now) and actually bought when I was 26. We weren't seriously looking or ready to buy AT ALL but I always looked at the houses in our town just for fun, and found one that had an open house that looked great. We went to the open house because we were bored that day and fell in love with it, called a realtor and put an offer in within a couple of days (while scrambling to find enough for a 5% down payment). Luckily we live in a market where the seller paid closing costs and we got an FHA loan so didn't need a huge down payment, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to swing it!
persimmon / 1316 posts
We moved from a very expensive area across the country to an affordable place to live so we could buy a home and I could work less. We were settled in our careers, no debt except student loans and had 20% down. If we hadn't moved we would probably still be renting and I would still be working full time.
honeydew / 7463 posts
We live in NYC and don't plan on buying in the city, we'll buy in the burbs eventually. But we also don't plan on leaving any time soon.
We have/will probably meet almost every milestone imaginable before buying a home and it doesn't bother me at all. We are financially able to buy whatever we want at this point. It's just not a desire we have right now.
We are passively looking at buying a 2nd/vacation home at the shore though. But I'm not sure if that counts.
grapefruit / 4545 posts
I said done with school and 3-5% saved for DP.
I also checked "it fell into our laps"...
DH and I were testing the waters when the market was perfect (Summer 2010) so our first house was just too good of a deal to pass up...
pomelo / 5866 posts
DH and I were newly engaged, had no debt, and steady jobs. We had Obama's $8000 rebate coming and I tapped a small Roth with enough to get started on 3% down FHA. We got our house within a few months and had just enough. It happened quickly and it is definitely a blessing but no magic!
olive / 72 posts
Ha! We're both 33, have long since finished school (grad school in my husband's case), settled in our careers, married, had one kid, paid off all debt but one student loan, and saved up a down payment...then we decided to start a business with that down payment. So more than likely by the time we buy a house we'll have had a second kid too. We've only ever lived in crazy expensive areas, though - we just moved out of San Francisco, where I'm not sure we'd ever have been able to buy, but we'd be living high on the hog a lot of places.
apricot / 360 posts
The only milestone we really hit was that we saved enough for a 20% down payment. We started looking at houses 5 months after we got married since I was so sick of living in the city and wanted to go back to the suburbs.
We've been in our house for 1.5 years now. We both work full time and have stable jobs, but my husband is getting his PhD and I'm getting my master's. He still has student loans as well. We both wanted to wait to start trying for a baby until after we were settled into our house.
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