How long did it take you to save for a house if you didn't

bsimcharabba

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 1:12 pm

get any help? Did you have any specific strategies? DH and I won't be getting any help, as far as we know - Hashem may have other plans?, and we try to save as much as we can, but curious if there are things people did that they saw a lot of success with?

amother

Lavender

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 1:22 pm

About 7 years. We did end up getting help which was appreciated!

Nothing too major about our strategies. We invested our wedding money, it was about $7,000 and we doubled it on a really good stock opportunity.

I was single and saved up a lot of money.

We lived very very frugally in the beginning. We still do actually. Everyone around us was buying homes after 2 years of marriage when they were pregnant with their second and looked at us like we were crazy because we had 4 kids in a 2 bedroom aptmnt. My MIL would make mean comments because she expected my children to be dressed in European fashions and I was buying cheap clothes at the mall. It was hard sometimes, if I'm being honest. But we were able to buy a large home eventually and I consider ourselves fortunate.

amother

Jean

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 1:30 pm

We won't be getting any help and still have not bought a house. I honestly doubt it's ever going to happen at this point. We live so frugally, spend the bare minimum on everything (food, clothing etc) but the amount needed for a house is just so astronomically high. It really scares me to think we will be renting forever

amother

Plum

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 1:42 pm

2 years both working full time.

new business we started: anther 10K.

down payment was 200K and renovations was 15K.

It all boils down what your daily expenses are. We are happy with little. We live in a small apt and dont spend on random stuff..

amother

Chocolate

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 1:56 pm

How much do you have saved up already? How long did it take to get that amount?
we bought after being married for 7 years.
My husband was out of kollel for 5 years at that point.

Our down payment was $70K plus another 25K for closing fees.

#BestBubby

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 2:02 pm

amother Jean wrote:

Hashem should help you get a house.

Someone I knew was tenants of an old lady with no children.

They helped care for their landlady, and she left them her house.

Gashem has lots of ways.

amother

Lightblue

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 2:09 pm

amother Jean wrote:

Same here

amother

Mauve

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 2:10 pm

also looking for advice...
im a slp but really dont make much (I made 45k last year Sad

) didnt even start paying back loans yet. have only about 14k in savings ....
we live frugally also

amother

Pistachio

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 2:19 pm

I don’t know if I want to buy a home to live in - might just rent and own properties as an investment.

amother

Peach

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 2:28 pm

It took us about 10 years.
Here are some caveats:
- we were also doing fertility treatments
- it took us a number of years to find something off and on
- we wanted our mortgage to be as high/low as our rent approximately
- we live in a place of expensive real estate.
If we moved to a cheaper place and we're willing to have renters and weren't spending money on treatments, it probably would be around 4 years.

amother

Jean

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 3:41 pm

amother Peach wrote:

I'm married almost 10 years. I could probably win the award for frugal living. I'm not picky and don't need anything huge or glamorous. A nice, basic, small house would be fine. But even that is beyond our reach and probably always will be.

amother

Springgreen

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 3:43 pm

amother Jean wrote:

Same.
5 years ago when houses where I live were around $300k-$400k it would have been attaintable, but now even starter homes are at least $600k....

amother

Lime

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 3:58 pm

I bought a house very cheap when we were first married and the down payment was money I had from before I got married plus our wedding presents.
But about 8 to 10 years later we knocked it down and built so I can tell you how I saved up for that.
I made a budget. A real budget, including putting aside for things like yt, & every penny we spent was written down so that at the end of the month I could see where we spent and where we could cut and how much money we really have extra.
I then put aside the money that was extra whether it was a few hundred or a few thousand and I tracked it for over 3 years.
That was how I knew how much we could really afford and also how I was able to save.

amother

Offwhite

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 4:06 pm

amother Plum wrote:

You had a 200k down payment tor a small apartment? Surprised

amother

NeonOrange

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 4:29 pm

About 11 years. Down payment was 250k. No one handed us money but my kids school allowed us to attend tuition free because my husband worked there. I had four in school at that point, grades 4-K. I was a SAHM with babies. Hashem helps.
We lived and still live frugally. And my children have all graduated from that school so we have been paying plenty of tuition in recent years.

#BestBubby

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 4:39 pm

amother Springgreen wrote:

Same.
5 years ago when houses where I live were around $300k-$400k it would have been attaintable, but now even starter homes are at least $600k....

Buy ONE lottery ticket once a month.

amother

Wine

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 4:39 pm

We only had a 20k down payment- I was working full time 5 years before we got married so had a decent amount of money saved up

amother

Seashell

Mon, Feb 06 2023, 4:39 pm

We bought our house 15 years ago when I was pregnant with our oldest. We were married 3 years at the time. We began our married lives in a studio apartment in student housing with rent under $500 a month. That allowed us to save quite a bit. We also lived very frugally on a fraction of DH's salary. We didn't go to Israel or on any other fancy vacations. We very rarely went out to eat or bought takeout. We saved all our wedding money and DH's annual bonuses. Eventually we saved enough to put $100,000 down and now we're close to paying off our mortgage.

It's much easier to save as newlyweds, before you have all the expenses that come with children. It's also a good time to set a budget before you can get used to more lavish spending.

amother

Clematis

Tue, Feb 07 2023, 1:08 am

We bought after 10 years. Both of us worked full time and lived relatively frugal (not crazy frugal) and BH able to save 100k. we got a surprise unexpected gift of 10k from my grandmother which was nice but not factored into the equation since we didnt know we were getting it until the day we closed.
My only regret was not buying sooner, even if we wouldn't have had the money- I wish we borrowed the money to get something cheaper and better, and paid back later.