Millennials Who Managed To Afford A House Share How They Did It—Usually With Help

@JoshKrugerPHL/Twitter

September 25, 2021, 11:58 am

Millennials as a generation are notoriously broke. Most of them graduated into the crash of 2009, when jobs and opportunities were taking a downturn. Now, here we are, aging every day, and COVID-19 is decimating jobs as prices for housing skyrocket. It’s rough out here and a lot of millennials are skeptical they’ll ever get to do stuff older generations took for granted, like buying a home. And if you read the thread started by writer Josh Kruger, you would be freaked out for them, too.

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Kruger started quite a thread when he tweeted, “If you are a Millennial or younger homeowner talking about homeownership, you have an ethical duty to disclose the source of your down payment and closing costs.”

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If you are a Millennial or younger homeowner talking about homeownership, you have an ethical duty to disclose the source of your down payment and closing costs.

— Josh Kruger (@JoshKrugerPHL) September 16, 2021

He shared his own story, saying he was able to buy a home because of his dad’s secret life insurance policies he found at his death. His point was that just saving $10-$30k over a number of years while living a normal life and paying your bills is pretty difficult, if not impossible:

In my case, the only reason I could afford the upfront costs was a modest, unexpected inheritance. My dad secretly kept several life insurance policies, leaving them in a file I was to open only in the event of his death. It covered the downpayment and closing costs for an FHA.

— Josh Kruger (@JoshKrugerPHL) September 16, 2021

In an interview with Bored Panda, Kruger said he wasn’t surprised by the answers from the honest people in the thread.

“My primary goal was to confirm my suspicion that, anecdotally, I’d see a bunch of middle and upper-class white people and few people of color and even fewer people who saved up for their downpayment and closing costs while working,” he said. “Sure enough, the vast majority of responses were from middle and upper-class white people who got a bailout from their parents, either by way of a loan, gift, or inheritance.”

He added, “Personally, I blame Republican policies hostile to public programs and supply-side economics that have been debunked as junk economics repeatedly for 40 solid years. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget is, adjusted for inflation, about 25% what it was in 1978. What happened? Ronald Reagan.””

Well, Ronald, look at what you have wrought below:

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1.

The only way I was able to afford my house was because my grandfather gifted me $10,000 for the downpayment, my mom cosigned my mortgage, and I had an awesome realtor who took me seriously at my bottom-of-the-barrel budget. I paid the closing costs which were about $2500?. https://t.co/EeNMJfKP8d

— Fully-Vaxed Megan (@MeganLinMoore) September 24, 2021

2.

The only reason why I was able to buy a house was bc my parents gifted me $50k. Hard work had nothing to do with it. Just sheer luck of what family I was born into. Those who say that you just gotta work harder are fucking lying. https://t.co/Yh9xIQS4YX

— Lu Romero (@wutdafrenchcat) September 19, 2021

3.

Asking price was $100k. Seller and I agreed on $90k. I qualified for a RD loan so no money down. Seller agreed to pay closing costs so I actually financed $95k. My escrowed payment is less than $500/mo. pic.twitter.com/w51h87YFhk

— Brittany Crase (@brittanycrase) September 17, 2021

4.

That was $5-900 below market in West LA area, allowing us to save roughly $15K extra over the 2.5 years we lived there.

Also had nothing to do with being fortunate enough to live with my in-laws for 6 months after moving back to Ohio completely rent free

— Mattttt (@M_Hargrove) September 17, 2021

5.

Honestly, if I had to summarize?

-Buy a fixer upper/starter home. With some work, my little fixer upper is now prettt swanky, and worth twice what I bought it for.

-Don’t take student loans.

— Sean CW Korsgaard (@SCWKorsgaard) September 17, 2021

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For me it meant joining the military, CLEP testing, starting at community college, picking an in-state school based on tuition, avoiding every cost I could, living off campus, and taking every gig I could, from bouncing to photojournalism.

It’s a minefield but it can be done.

— Sean CW Korsgaard (@SCWKorsgaard) September 17, 2021

The Army paid for my husband’s advanced degree and his service helped us purchase our first home. 3 deployments to combat zones and missing the birth of his first born—experiences which will effect him the rest of his life. It’s an option, but hardly lower risk than a loan.

— Annie Quinn (@falatimbe) September 17, 2021

6.

The fact that you lived at home for free while making that salary shows your privilege.

— Rachel Danielle (she/her) (@Rach_Danielle_) September 18, 2021

7.

I did it through a first time homeowners program in Georgia and then a grant in atlanta specifically for first time owners that qualify which covered the down payment and most of the closing costs

— within and without (@Guavah_Go) September 17, 2021

8.

Same. We qualified for Obama’s first time home buyers tax credit of $8k (had to buy before may of 2010). Borrowed the $8k from 1 grandma, 2 moms, and 1 dad. Paid them back when we got our tax return the next year. 1978 house in Austin. W/out tax credit not sure we’d own anything.

— FollowMeTubing (@FollowMeTubing) September 17, 2021

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9.

You need to be able to qualify credit and income wise for mortgages, which is a huge piece people forget. You said “we” in your statement which implies it wasn’t just you and your sole income. Even if it is “only 3-5%” it’s a real task to be able to qualify for anything alone.

— AM Pines (@AM_Pines) September 17, 2021

10.

Between the GI Bill and a VA loan, enlisting is probably the biggest factor in helping a lot of people into a better life. It definitely got my ass out of poverty.

— Ray, a Wizzard (@notsofamousray) September 17, 2021

11.

I’m Gen X and I too am only going to be able to buy a house with my inheritance that I just received. I never would have been able to otherwise.

— JyneeB (@theJyneeB) September 21, 2021

12.

it’s funny, the only reason I tried to get a mortgage was my last landlord gave me some annoying BS when I asked his permission to adopt a cat (Russ!) I had a friend who was a mortgage guy specializing in ppl banks often reject. 3 years of gov work on tax returns was key.

— Josh Kruger (@JoshKrugerPHL) September 16, 2021

13.

People are living longer on average every single time we check. Every year we’re breaking new ground. So they really have no idea when they are gonna die, makes it hard to budget.

— Funkopedia (@Funkopedia) September 17, 2021

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14.

You’re also in Canada, and you’re not paying thousands out of pocket for health care. My family would easily have an extra $15k in our pockets if not for yearly health care costs. Boy, I just did that math. And it sucks.

— Rachel McChattypants (@RASnyder7) September 17, 2021

15.

First time homebuyers program gave us an $8,100 “grant”. Came to the table with $1,800. Husband was working two jobs at the time. Bought a 70’s fixer upper.

— Emily (@E_Fish) September 17, 2021

16.

Bought home in Ypsilanti, MI for $200k in Sept 2020. FHA so $7k down which my partner covered by taking a loan against his 401k. I’m not on our mortgage at all because I have too much student debt, despite still being in grace AND having excellent credit.

— The Dr. Amber Cathey (@cathey__amber) September 17, 2021

17.

I almost failed out of high school while living on my own, escaped my small town, got a few degrees and internships, worked in tech, and even then was only able to buy a home (in another state, where I work remotely) because my company’s stock price exploded over those years.

— Erich Owens (@erich_owens) September 17, 2021

18.

We qualified for a low-income grant, paid all closing costs and we put nothing down. 10 years later, we sold and bought a larger house w/ profit. We found out about the grant from a real estate agent. We met the agent b/c friends said she’d buy us free nachos if we met with her.

— Randy LoBasso (@RandyLoBasso) September 16, 2021

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19.

I spent my first four years out of college working for a startup at a below-average salary, but they offered stock options. Years later, the company was bought by IBM, and I used the money from that buy-out to buy my house. Even then, still had to go in with my brother to afford.

— Jason Godesky (@jefgodesky) September 17, 2021

20.

I used @NACA_Official to get a really low APR, no PMI, no closing costs, and didn’t have to put any money down. The modest amount I had saved to buy a home I instead used to pay off my student loans. I highly recommend ppl look into the NACA program.

— Carrie Grogan (@AtCarrieG) September 17, 2021

21.

I have a modest trust fund and I co own the (tiny) condo with my father.

100% because of generational wealth. My husband and I are in the arts and services and couldn’t afford it on our own.

— Rebecca Overholt (@Julephenia) September 17, 2021

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*First Published: September 25, 2021, 11:58 am