That seems about right, I'm an elder millennial and the only reason I own a home is because I was able to take out a VA loan back in 2009. If I had to put 20% down, even back then, it would have never happened. These days you're talking down payments of $100,000 which is ludicrous.
Older millennial here. Been saving since I started my career in 2008. Purchased in 2020. The only reason I was able to was because my girlfriend received a 10 year retroactive compensation for being paid less than her make colleagues and her employer offered compensation. The amount was incredible. It was like winning a fairly good amount in a lottery.
Just as an FYI, most first time homebuyers don't have to put down 20%. Talk to a professional and discover what your options are. There's tons of assistance programs for first time home buyers that varies from state to state.
I know housing is insane, but a starter home to get your foot in the door may not be out of reach.
5% down loans come with all sorts of strings attached, typically requiring private mortgage insurance that can add hundreds to your monthly payment. Add to that the increased interest on the additional principle, and the cost of a low-money-down mortgage can be two or three times as expensive.
I live in Cali, one of the HCOL areas that people bitch about. My first home was 400k in 2019 at age 24. My wife and I made a little over 100k combined and the first time homebuyer program in Cali made it so that we could buy whatever home we wanted as long as it passed inspection. The state kicked in the 20k down and we just covered closing costs. We refinanced a year later and dissolved any state loans. The state gave us a loan that had 0% interest and only required that we simply pay it back or it dissolved after 20 years. Being poor isn’t cheap, but a lot of expensive states actually have help. You pay taxes in those states for a reason, use it. There was no increased interest, PMI is minuscule by comparison, my mortgage is still hundreds under friends apartment rent and I have 4 times the bedrooms, double the bathrooms and actual land.
That's not a HCOL area, unless you're talking about a 2 bed, 1 bath condo in a shitty school district.
And most states won't give you $20k and 0% loans unless it's a farm or VA loan.
Lastly, mortgage rates were 4% in 2019. Today, it's 7.5%. Getting 0% over twenty years is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but just the difference between rates then and rates now is almost $1,000 a month.
Elder millennial, conditionally 100% with the VA. Bought in 2016 and with an increase recently to pay it off at 50 my payment is ~$630. I'm not going anywhere.
Hell yeah dude. I need to get to patching mine up but my ex was shitty about getting things done and now I've got a whole damn complex about doing anything myself. Lmfao