Buying a house | Imamother

amother

Thu, May 16 2024, 9:56 pm

With the housing market as insane as it is, (prices through the roof, mortgage rates crazy high etc.) people are still buying houses non stop. There are still bidding wars going on and people are offering way over asking price. Can people really afford these prices and rates??
Why do I feel like I’m the only one who can’t afford to buy a house?! What am I doing wrong if everyone else can do it??

amother

Lemonchiffon

Thu, May 16 2024, 11:03 pm

There are a lot of rich people, even in this economy. We live in very dense neighborhoods where even if the majority are poor/middle class, the 1% of rich people is still quite a lot of people.

amother

DarkCyan

Thu, May 16 2024, 11:04 pm

amother Lemonchiffon wrote:

There are a lot of rich people, even in this economy. We live in very dense neighborhoods where even if the majority are poor/middle class, the 1% of rich people is still quite a lot of people.

That's true but plenty of the people buying are not rich.

amother

Azalea

Thu, May 16 2024, 11:05 pm

Same boat. It really makes no sense to me.
A financial advisor told me that most people buying can't really afford it.
Either yerusha, family help, borrowing money or putting the minimum needed for down payment and their monthly payments are through the roof.

amother

Thu, May 16 2024, 11:40 pm

Even if people have money for down payments, their monthly mortgage payments must be insane

amother DarkCyan wrote:

It literally makes no sense. I'm sure plenty of people are borrowing money for their down payment with no way to pay it back.

amother

Teal

Thu, May 16 2024, 11:55 pm

amother Azalea wrote:

That’s just to make you feel better. It’s not factual

I just bought for over a mil. No yerusha no help at all. We put down 30% and our monthly payments are 5500.
I know quite a few others like me, many of my neighbors bought also recently. Bh we have solid parnassah. It exists

amother

Oldlace

Fri, May 17 2024, 12:03 am

amother Teal wrote:

I was going to say the same. I happen to be poor but there are plenty of people who are doing awesome financially , and can afford expensive houses with high interest rates.
Those saying “they must not be able to afford it”’or “they got a yerusha or family help”- are convincing themselves that anyone buying a house right now can’t afford it.
But let’s be real, when was the last time someone in any of our communities actually lost their house ? By the house going into foreclosure , or having to sell it and downsize because they fell behind in payments ?
It’s practically unheard of, at least where I live.
I say every day that it’s a nes I scraped together a down payment for a small house several years ago, and got locked in a good mortgage rate during a refi in 2020 when interest dropped.
I could never afford a house today.

amother

Chestnut

Fri, May 17 2024, 1:46 pm

We bought a small house recently. We're not rich but we have a decent income. Most would be surprised to hear how much we make.
So although we could afford it, we're putting less away for the future than we would have if we had bought when the prices were cheaper. It eats me every day, but we didn't see the prices getting any better anytime soon and we wanted to live in a house already. We're also more conscious about large purchases and limit how much of that we do every month.
We're saving enough for retirement and simchas, but not for major construction or house upgrading. Iyh hashem will help if the need for that arises.

amother

DarkCyan

Fri, May 17 2024, 1:49 pm

amother Teal wrote:

There's definitely people like you out there. I'm talking about the couples in their mid 20s who we know don't make a ton of money. Normal jobs and salaries. And not a lot of time to have saved up hundreds of thousands for a down payment.

amother

Teal

Fri, May 17 2024, 2:13 pm

amother DarkCyan wrote:

You don’t know how much money they make. There’s no way for you to know. I don’t think people think we make a lot either. We live pretty quiet lives. I run a very niche business that not many people know about but bh brings in about a half a mil and my husband also does his hustle which brings in 250k. I’m in my mid 20s…

amother

DarkCyan

Fri, May 17 2024, 2:36 pm

amother Teal wrote:

That's amazing but you're definitely the minority. It is true that most people are working normal jobs and normal salaries. Anyone making 100k-200k can't really afford a house comfortably right now. Most people are for sure stretching themselves beyond their means.
I'm not talking from a jealousy perspective. Bh we own a house. I'm just stating the facts...

amother

Wallflower

Fri, May 17 2024, 2:40 pm

amother Oldlace wrote:

How do you know the bolded? People wouldnt be announcing it if it happened. They would just say theyre moving

amother

Oldlace

Fri, May 17 2024, 7:01 pm

amother DarkCyan wrote:

You have no clue what people make or what they have in their bank account, how they got it etc , what their jobs pay, or if they seem to be SAHM but like the above poster , has a side hussle that most people don’t know about. I know someone who invested bar mitzvah money that grew , and as a 20 year old bought a property and didn’t tell anyone . He got married a couple of years later and sold the property for a huge profit, think almost 500k, and used the profit to buy a house for 1.3 million in Jackson. He’s 26 and still on kollel. No money from parents or in laws , it was simply a smart investment that his older sibling helped him out with and he had tremendous Mazel that the house ended up being in a neighborhood that ended up turning into an incredible neighborhood over the few years he owned it. What I’m saying is none of us have any idea what really goes on.

amother

Oldlace

Fri, May 17 2024, 7:04 pm

amother Wallflower wrote:

How do you know the bolded? People wouldnt be announcing it if it happened. They would just say theyre moving

Do you know people who moved from a house to a rental? Or from one house to another where it’s obviously downsizing ?
People move all the time but I don’t know of a single person in this situation. Someone who loses their house doesn’t need to announce anything , it’s an obvious circumstance when someone moves to upgrade or downgrade. (Or do a different area )

amother

Junglegreen

Fri, May 17 2024, 7:10 pm

There’s no secret here OP. Finances are logical not magical. Either they’re making enough that they can afford it, or they are getting significant help from parents or a yerusha.

Many are also taking on mortgages that are a much higher percentage of their income than they would ideally be comfortable with, simply because for most people that is the only way to buy these days. For example, when we were scared to take on a monthly mortgage payment that was about 33% of our net monthly income, our mortgage broker laughed at us and said virtually all frum couples are taking on mortgages that are a way higher percentage of their income.