Current Events > I have no idea how I'm supposed to save enough to buy a house

(+) Yeah! (+)

Even if I save 10% on an ample salary it still takes ~4 years of uninterrupted saving to have a down payment, let alone closing costs. System is broken.

same. right now the only way i can actually buy a house in the next 20 years is to take out a loan on my 401k

then i got mortgage AND that loan to pay back.

dont forget about home owners insurance, and that stupid mortgage insurance bullshit

WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT IF IT DOESNT BENEFIT ME, BUT THE BANK. THEY SHOULD PAY IT

Look into low/no down payment programs through different banks. That's what I did through Key Bank. No down payment, and part of the purchase included asking the sellers to cover closing costs, which they did. All in all, I had to put down like $1,000 in earnest money to show I was serious about the offer, as well as pay for the home inspection and appraisal. I think altogether I paid about $2,000 to get in.

And somehow I don't have PMI, but I'm not sure why and I've always been scared to ask in case it was a mistake. >_>

We did a 5% down payment and paid off the mortgage insurance at closing.

I've already accepted years ago that I'll never be able to afford a home where I live.

Even a small 1 story, 3 bedroom house is damn near a million dollars these days.

If I can do it then anyone can

Spoilers, you're not supposed to. Only landlords can own houses and you rent from them like the fucking peasant you are.

Save more than you spend
Stack up, and do it again

It might sound like a while, but 4 years isn't too crazy if you're staying from scratch. At least you know you have something to aim for. And if you get a pay rise at some point over those 4 years, you can put more away.

Trying to buy a house on one salary is definitely tough. With me and my wife combined, we were able to get enough money after a couple years. We were saving a lot more than 10% of our salary, but it was more just like we lived relatively cheaply for a few years and had a nice amount saved up by the time we were ready for a house.

Move somewhere cheaper, and save money. My parents let me stay with them, rent free, and I was working for walmart at $7.95 an hr at the time. I ended up saving $20K while staying with them, which I used as my down payment on a $269K house, in a rich surburb area, 30 miles from Dallas. It's now worth $410K.

I have a Roth IRA and index fund now, too, and eventually I want to build my own apartment complex but that'll be 10 - 15 years from now.

warlock7735 posted...

Even if I save 10% on an ample salary

Maybe I'm dumb but isn't 10% like...not a lot to be saving?

Have a combined income of 300k with someone and live with your parents for 2-5 years

Xette33 posted...

Maybe I'm dumb but isn't 10% like...not a lot to be saving?

Let's say you make 40k a year. You're supposed to save like 4k a year.

Xette33 posted...

Maybe I'm dumb but isn't 10% like...not a lot to be saving?

Think about how many Americans have 0 savings

10% is a lot, yes

10% isn't going to secure a house in a lot of places, since others can put up more.

Oh I was confused... But yeah you need to save like 800k.

10% is bullshit to be saving, but yes compared to most people sadly it's "a lot"

Not to mention you'll never save money faster than houses went up the last 2-3 years. I basically just watched them sprint away from my ability to buy them.

Ive pretty much given up. A house is like $700,000 in my city and the cost of living eats up like 110% of most peoples money unless they have multiple roommates, which means no privacy.

I hope the housing market takes a massive hit and suddenly houses are like $150,000 again (which they should be).

I'm never going to be able to afford to live independently, period.

VeggetaX posted...

Let's say you make 40k a year. You're supposed to save like 4k a year.

I'm not even careful with my money and I don't spend 36k a year. >_>

Maybe it's because I'm not counting some tax/insurance shit because that's deducted from my pay automatically and Americans have to do it themselves? Idk

You aren't.

We're trying to kill the middle class here, homeownership puts way too much capital in the hands of the poors.

Depending on ones location most people's only hope is by moving to a less competitive area. Fortunately my states housing market isn't crazy, I've stayed with relatives to save and afford a down payment. And the last bit is just finding a decent house to my liking somewhat near my workplace and city/things of convenience.

Sadly that last part is proving hard because I'm to damn picky and can't seem to settle for anything :/

Four years to save up a downpayment is not bad

Inherit it from your family that owns a house already.

To be fair, the whole 10% saving thing is in addition to retirement, loan payoffs, rent, etc. I just took a new job with a substantial raise, I make way more than the median in my area, but because I'm trying to do this on one income it's slow as hell.