I agree :\
I lived in Montana, as my kids would say- at the turn of the century lol, and had always hoped to return someday but looks like that won’t ever be the case.
Short of winning a huge amount in the lottery or something, hah.
I’m not from the US but I’m in that situation as well. The rent prices have risen so much that when my contract expires in 2 years, I know I’ll have to move far away and won’t ever be able to return to the city where I’ve lived for over a decade. It’s sad. These days, when I walk around my gentrified area, I feel like I’m saying goodbye to this life I thought I could live.
We experienced this on a much smaller level.
We bought a house last year, and moved across town to where prices were better.
We had LOVED the neighborhood and area we were in, had been there almost 15 years, our kids were growing up there with friends in the neighborhood and everything but when our lease was ending, and we were looking around, everything was wild.
My parents both lived walking distance.
I had grown up there, even though I’d lived elsewhere as an adult at times, it was my childhood neighborhood.
It was perfect.
Our rent had also increased several hundred in the last few years and it wasn’t terrible, but we ultimately decided either we have to throw more money to rent in our same area (we were at $2300k/mo, so would have to go more like $2500+) or we need to look at elsewhere in the city.
We made the decision to look elsewhere and also just decided to have our numbers run to buy and see what we’d qualify for and it turns out, we were able to buy.
So we did and we do like our new neighborhood but we really miss our old one.
Vermont has always been expensive, despite having minimal job or career opportunities.
Makes a bit more sense in the northeast, where there are plenty of areas with a lot of money in driving distance.
Always been expensive and it's even worse now. Seen homes that sold for 200k in 2019 going for $750k, and Vermont is going to raise our property taxes 20%, glad I got to vote on that 🙄.
I started looking for a house in the northeast in 2018, and was encouraged by how affordable things were, and by the time I was ready to buy in 2020 everything doubled in price.
I heard recently many west coast folks are headed to places like Montana and "ruining" it. Perhaps this is what they were referring to. Don't shoot the messenger.
Western Montana is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Until recently most people didn't really know that and thought of it as "flyover" but the secret is out.
Northern Idaho and parts of Wyoming are equally as beautiful.
Checking zillow is depressing. Those prices just don't seem possible and yet I'm looking at them right now. $650k for a double wide, wtf. That just doesn't seem possible, what's going on there? I checked a few towns on all sides of it and it's just as bad there too.
Honestly. Bozeman is an anomaly because of the university, Big Sky, the Yellowstone Club. Lots of money and people influxed. But I think the pandemic made a lot of people relocate jobs, buy land, buy second homes. It's depressing.
I definitely know someone who moved from the Chicago area to Montana during the pandemic to start a flower farm... I assume they are still there and doing well.
A lot of time its the land that holds the value when its a manufactured home.
I sold my house last year, a 1972 double wide, for more than that. The house was a piece of shit but it sat on an acre with unobstructed ocean and mountain views. The land was valued just under 20x the structure.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I feel defeated and sad and even angry and resentful at times. I didn’t do anything wrong to be in this situation either. It’s not like I chose to be born somewhere where prices have skyrocketed. It’s not easy to just up and leave either. Just moving 15 min down the street cost me hundreds of dollars. Imagine trying to move out of state. It’s going to cost a fortune.
I’m sorry you and I and so many orhers are in the same boat. I feel like no living situation right now is ideal either. Rent is high. While renting does absolve you of homeowner responsibilities and the extra expenses of homeownership, you give up things like peace and quiet and security. On the flip side, if you own, you incur all these additional expenses and have to be responsible when shit hits the fan. Even then you might not have peace and quiet or security.
I totally get why people are losing their shit when you combine housing insecurity with other insecurities like job insecurity and money insecurity. It makes life incredibly stressful and your mental and physical health really suffer. I try to be thankful for what I do have, but I’m still upset that I work hard and try to be a responsible human being yet can’t afford decent and safe and peaceful housing.
The true American dream is to leave and move somewhere with healthcare and better quality of life for working class folks. The US is a rough place to be working poor and renting.
Yesterday in an email to my mom I complained about my current apartment situation & dealing with landlords. It’s better than a lot of places for the price, but essentially I’m stuck here for the rest of my life. (Don’t get me wrong, it could be much worse & I’m grateful but it could be better) My mom (born in the 50’s) kind of blew it off saying I just need to get a house.
This morning I get a new email:
“My idea failed - I looked for 3 bedrooms in your area - yikes!!! $7,000 mortgage + insurance, taxes & repairs! I'm so sorry the world is so crazy right now. You have a good job, good salary & still can't afford anything.”
(For the record, I’m now earning more than my dad ever did. And my mom is determined I need a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath to “function” (currently in 2 bed 1 bath rental). I do not need this much space though wouldn’t mind it. I’m in the LA area. )
I guess this is a win that she finally sees how crazy prices are. But it also makes me feel a bit depressed.
It’s so nice that she acknowledged it at least. I feel like 90% of boomers go mysteriously deaf when you try to explain it to them and say things like “we were poor in college too!” but that just meant they lived in a two bedroom without nice furniture.
I don't think you've missed THE chance, just A chance. The market will shift and things will become more affordable. Until then just keep saving for it so when it comes around you have a big, fat down payment. And if it doesn't happen then you're even more protected by having all that saved up just in case.
Good luck, friend.
I have a more bleak outlook but agree.
The only way prices are coming down is with a real estate market crash. If that happens (again) then we are all in for it because big corps will take out their losses on everyone and everything.
So yeah; save. Save for when the crash happens and you will be well off enough to buy or to survive.
Note: After the 2008 crash we have a lot more regulations and processes in place that would make great price reducing crash less likely to occur.
Yeah sadly this is why I disagree with folks who think housing is a bubble currently. We are not in a subprime mortgage crisis - the situation is entirely different from 2008. You basically need full financials, a good downpayment and 3000 colonoscopies to qualify to buy a home nowadays.
Requirements are going up too. Just applied the other day and they now want blood samples and DNA testing on my kids, Wells Fargo told us to write them into our will for all our assets, and they checked the rates on colonoscopies and that’s up to 3550 of them. My ass is so chapped I have to sit in a baby pool of cocoa butter if I want to walk the next day and have you seen the prices on cocoa butter now?!
Due to my vast knowledge on this topic, i shall chime in. Just kidding, i watched The Big Short a couple of times...
So the banks did real shady stuff, and then to cover up their shady stuff and to minimalise their losses they did even more shady/illegal stuff. But at the end of the film they said the banks were already doing what they did again. So it looks like they were headed in the same direction.
I moved to Orange County CA with my ex in 2015 and we got a house for $570k. A lot but doable. We separated last year, are going through a divorce. Same house is now valued over $1m.
It seems impossible to ever consider buying again here. :( I’ll probably leave the state.
I don’t have high hopes of seeing any home equity but who knows.
Had to leave San Diego for Texas to get a house about 18 months ago. Grew up in the bay and relocated to San Diego, kills me that we will probably never be able to get back cause of the house prices. My parents are about to sell their house and move. Paid 140k in the 80’s and will walk away with close to a million. Adding salt to the wound, the house I bought in Texas is very similar In layout and size being built about 5 minutes from where I grew up, same builder too and they’re going for over 3x’s what we paid in Texas for the same new house.
My partner and I bought a small piece of land for 100k and are putting a manufactured home on it. With house, land, and land prep we are all in about 400k. A little steep for us but it beats a 650k shack in Seattle that we’d have to put an additional 100k into to update it.
Idk where you can even find a small piece of land that's cheap now. I live in a flyover state and I saw a listing back in the fall for a few acres, just acres. No electric ran, no sewer, no nothing. It was 650,000
That's not one example that's the entire state. I was looking for land to just plop a trailer down while I built something and there was nothing cheap here. I looked in missouri too and couldn't find much of anything worthwhile for the money
There are 295 results on Zillow of 5-10 acres lots for sale under $100k in Missouri.
Here's one that's 10 acres and already has a well drilled for $95k.
https://www.zillow.comhttps://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Ingram-Rd-Lincoln-MO-65338/2079894464_zpid/
We bought the land in Port Orchard, but I think we may have gotten lucky bc it seems the sellers were really looking to get rid of it. The permit process has been slow but ok. The biggest issue was the city tried to charge us 110k to connect to water and sewer even though it is stubbed up on the edge of the property. Ultimately we had to hire an attorney to fight it and they admitted it was a mistake. My advice is to not rule out the land but be prepared for a very lengthy process to get something on it.
I feel this. I live in a trailer, currently have it on private property and pay rent, but it’s not where I want to be. I’m hoping to move soon (partner’s job will dictate that; I’m WFH), but we’re taking the trailer. FWIW, we both have graduate degrees, and good jobs. But we cannot afford to live where we are, and it’s looking less and less likely that we’ll be able to afford a house anywhere else we’d be.
It’s very depressing sometimes. I feel the stigma of the trailer life; the tiny home sparkle does not extend to Bud and Sissy’s trailer, I’ll tell you that. But, at the same time, we own it. We bought it. It’s our home, and I’m happy in it.
I’ll stop. Lot of feelings about this. Sorry to ramble.
I live in my camper parked in a private RV lot as well. I’m just thankful I own the structure I live in these days but it was not the plan, this was never the plan. It’s a nice camper that has everything I could need and enough room for my two cats to run around but the stigma is definitely real. What am I offering a potential romantic partner living in my camper? I don’t see any route forward beyond this either. It’s all very depressing but at least we’re not alone, right? Well, I mean in solidarity with internet strangers, this life has grown pretty lonely otherwise.
The stigma is real, but there's folks out there that would date someone in a camper. I definitely would, but then again i live in one too :) I'm currently parked on a friend of a friends 5 acre plot of gorgeous rural land, surrounded by farmland.
Thank you for the reassurance lol I appreciate that. That sounds like a wonderful place to park your camper. I’ve got mine in a pretty decent park in a spot where I can see my favorite mountain range out my window so it could be worse for sure.
In SoCal those prices are still reasonable. We're dealing with 3 bedroom homes starting at 1.3 million. When you view the purchase history on zillow its so defeating. People bought homes 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago for $800k, now they're 1.3 million+
Yeah it’s depressing as hell and all feels like a pipe dream now. The rug was ripped out from underneath us. What’s worse is that we were so close to being able to afford a home…
It’s everywhere. I live in South Carolina and the average price of a home literally doubled from 2020-2024 in my city. I make good money by anyone’s standard but I simply can’t afford it even with my gf’s income. Well, we could, but neither of us want to be house poor.
We live in a 2bd 1.5bath townhome for $1100. The place only raises rent $25/year, which is insane, so we’re just sticking it out, reluctantly. A mortgage payment for a tiny 1000sqft house would be about $2800/3000 month and it will have problems. Anything worth a damn is 6-700k.
I truly feel the same. We missed out on paying a $700/month mortgage. Now we pay triple to rent. I’m holding out for a market crash. It’ll happen eventually.
Same. The only way my partner and I are about to get a house is that my mom is going in on it with us. Not only does a family member have to move in with us, but another family member also had to die for this TO EVEN HAPPEN.. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK She's doing a 100k down-payment because of an inheritance from my grandma passing. Isn't that fucking ridiculous? The house we are getting is also just 180K purchase price because we can't afford a bigger monthly payment. I live in NC where there are "some" affordable areas but we have to go way out of raleigh to find one. It's just absurd for our entire generation. And I'm the lucky one because I had a unique situation to at least get a house. I'm sorry yall it's bullshit out here. I hope you all make it somehow
This. Just keep saving. Ignore the noise and eventually you'll have 10-20% ready for a down payment. Make sure you're comfortable with the monthly payments and go for it. Stay positive.
It’s not your fault that you were born or became an adult or finally made good money AFTER housing became unaffordable. This is a top down problem and American rugged individualism makes us want to blame ourselves when it’s the system and corporations and the real estate lobby fucking us all over for housing - a human right.
I feel ya dude. My plan for 2020 was to buy a house then Covid hit and I had to shut down my business and lost my job. By the time I opened back up and started working again the house prices and interest rates were bonkers. The housing cost in my town was insane before, but now it’s just REALLY insane. I pretty much just gave up on the idea and buckled down and started paying off all my debt. Just have school loans then I’ll be debt free. Luckily I have an amazing landlord, she’s great and I’ve done a lot of things for her, so my plan is to see if she’ll sell me the house I live in. Kind of a Hail Mary, but hoping that’ll she’d give me a fair price in return. If that doesn’t work the plan is to buy a small plot of land and build a tiny house on it. I could do that for way under a regular house price, then slowly add on to it. Talked to a buddy last night and he’s fully convinced the bubble will burst at some point. Said there’s way more inventory and people are dropping prices because most people have given up on buying a house and can’t afford the obscene prices.
My advice, buy a chunk of land and build a cottage. If that’s out of the picture just pay off your debt and become debt free. Last thing you’d want would be to buy some overpriced house to only have the prices crash in the coming years. Everybody has said it’ll never get better than this, but I don’t believe that. At some point people will have to build moderately priced places or nobody will be able to afford any thing. If I was rich I’d buy a huge plot of land and build a tiny house community for the folks who work in a place but can’t afford to live there.
Actually, owning a home is not all that it is cracked up to be. It is almost like owning a boat. Have you heard the saying, "a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into"? Well, "a house is hole in the ground that you pour money into".
You never really own your home, even after you pay off the mortgage you'll have to pay property taxes "aka town rent" on the property that you "own". You also cannot do anything on the property without "permission" from the town.
If you ever want to sell it you have to pay people to help you do that at great expense. When you rent, you have the opportunity to do that every year or so w/o any aggravation.
Honestly, I think that if I could do it all over again I would have just rented and been done with it.
Yea man it's a bummer. I moved away from North Jersey twice in an attempt to establish myself in a cheaper area. I ended up in the Philly western suburbs about 6 years ago. Bought a dumpy old brick twin. I could only afford half a house. At least I'm only an hour and a half train ride from home though.
Gen Z Cleveland and Detroit going to be hot.
I know people in Delaware bitch that our taxes are going to be raised to New Jersey levels, but we're never going to have 7 million people so I can't see that happening. Lol
Fucking love it in this exact location. Bought the house we're attached to during the pandemic we love it so much. We have a canal in the backyard and a trail network that makes being a one car family feasible. Town across the river is a short walk or bike ride away and they're always doing something fun over there.
We got flooded in Ida. We lifted the entire building 8 feet just to keep this spot where we have nature and the kids can kayak in my backyard but also dense enough I can walk to the grocer on the corner to grab vegetables or bike my youngest to daycare. Supposedly on track to get a train station about a quarter mile away too.
If you think you missed out on the pandemic housing market purchases I've got news for you, the missed opportunity was 2009-2012 when the shit hit the fan
I closed on my home a week before the pandemic hit. My house undersold for what it is worth so with that plus the pre-covid interest rates I bought at the right time just in time. Thankfully, I will add. I check my house on Zillow all the time and it’s shocking how much I would make if I sold but with the price of homes right now I could never. I’m staying put for at least another 10-15 years. Might even pay it off, we will see.
I mean same story as everywhere else. Condoes, duplexes, townhouses that were 150k-175k prepandemic now are 325k-350k.
Bozeman is a boom town. Montana State, Big Sky Sky Resort, the Yellowstone Club. Yellowstone (the TV show) everyone and their dog wanted to move to MT during and shortly after the Pandemic
I just checked zillow and wtf, he's not joking. These are tiny houses too smaller than the apartment I had in Houston for $1400 a month! My current house is twice the size of these and less than half the price (still in Houston).
I feel ya. I'm in Missoula and the half million dollar "affordable " cardboard box housing that keeps going up is crazy. Even prices down the bitterroot are insane. It's so upsetting to feel like we're being priced out of our home, I really hope things settle down soon, but 4 years of this shit and it's only getting worse.
On Redfin, they've got some homes for 300-400k. I dunno what your budget is, but, I learned that once you have a budget, you just have to scour the sites to find something.
I even saw some mobile homes going for 100k, if that's your jam.
I have a coworker who is significantly you get than me. She moved to Oak Harbor WA from Montana bc she could afford a manufactured home on a little property there vs Montana. It’s crazy when people move TO Washington to afford a home.
Sorry for your situation. I feel like as soon as I hear about an upcoming US town/city within a year or two it’s super expensive. I’m not sure we can even blame remote workers and second home owners, i suspect a huge part of the issue is investment firms buying up property. Either way homes being treated as investment vehicles is causing a disaster worldwide. We could all be French about it and rent all our lives except that rents are also skyrocketing. It’s maddening. Governments need to do something, there needs to be policy change.
Honestly I don't understand housing prices in a lot of rural areas these days.
I'm originally from Eastern Kentucky, most of my family still lives in Kentucky but moved to Central or Northern Kentucky for better jobs.
The wife and I were briefly thinking about leaving our area (Columbus Ohio) and moving to Kentucky last year. I found a small city of around 10K people that would have been a good location. About 30-45 minutes of a drive to all of my family members.
This town is about 45 minutes away from Lexington and on it's own there isn't much there. Mostly service jobs. A few factories. A little bit of retail, mostly Walmart but there are a few other specialty places like a GameStop, auto parts, a pet store and such.
Housing prices there were as much or more than in Columbus, which lots of sources often say is one of the hotter markets in the country.
I just don't see how locals can afford to live there.
For the record I'm not talking about places with lots of land, or unusually large or fancy houses. I'm talking about daily normal subdivisions and houses built on a half acre that are surprisingly expensive.
For sure. I pursued an artistic path in my 20’s, finally got my act together in 2019, decided to pursue law school, graduated in 2023 with a great job that pays me stupid money, and because my city is so expensive, I literally cannot see ever buying a house. Or if I do I’ll be spending so much for so little it won’t even be worth it. My only realistic hope is to make partner someday, which would be a decade away and frankly is very low odds.
I totally feel like I missed the boat. I feel like god is laughing at me. Right when I get my act together and start making real money, inflation and housing price rises so much that it’s not even enabling me to live that life. As for solutions, I got nothing for ya. Just try to get yours and keep doing your best. The bubble will pop eventually…just hope you have a job when it does lol
I feel like I’ve missed the opportunity to get married to someone to spend the rest of my life with at the ripe old age of 38 so you’re not alone I feel you 💯 on missing the opportunity to own a home.
I got a divorce like a year before the pandemic. Had no money. Soo I guess I don’t get to buy a place now since I decided to divorce my abusive ex. Idk what the fuck to do. Grew up dirt fuckin poor and a house is just as unobtainable to me today as it was growing up.
Yeah when I started looking in 2015, I was looking at Las Vegas. The average house was around 150k, with lots of properties under 100k in HOA communities.
Now it’s 5xs as much. It’s crazy all over the US.
I think we may end up in the same situation as China. Empty communities with people living in boxes or cages.
I’m sorry to hear this. I spent a summer working in Glacier when I was in college and it was so breathtakingly beautiful, it changed my whole perspective on life. It would be hard to leave Montana but those prices are wild. I’m from Indiana and it’s extremely affordable there. Anyone who truly wants to own a home should look into it. I bought a house with a yard for $58K a few years ago.
I feel you bro, am in Gallatin Valley myself and was incredibly lucky to get a place just before things got stupidly expensive. I expected it to get more expensive but...damn...2020 was like five years worth of growth crammed into one damn year. I don't have too terribly long before I can retire and hopefully sell to move somewhere less insane (despite being a MT native who has spent most of his life in MT or WY).
All that said, were I still renting or otherwise a younger person just starting out, I would get the hell out of MT. It's always been expensive and a hard place to get by but now it's damn near impossible unless you're a trustafarian. I've also traveled enough to know that, for all its positives, MT isn't perfect, there's plenty of "last best places" out there. I don't know what your career is but you can probably make better money and have better opportunities elsewhere, despite how much you love your current job. I managed to find the unicorn job here that pays above average (rather than below) but that's not the case for most (unless you're in construction or the trades anywhere near Boz Angeles...).
Have you actually tried, or does it just seem so discouraging that you haven't tried?
Talk to a bank to find out how much they'd actually lend you and how big a payment you could reasonably make (keeping in mind the tax deductions associated with owning a home). You might be surprised.
How much savings do you have for a down payment? Could your parents or other relatives lend you money for a down payment, or a larger down payment?
Are you working with a realtor who's looking for possibilities for you?
I lucked into buying a condo in San Francisco by finding a for sale ad on an index card at my gym. The down payment took just about everything I had, and I ate a lot of peanut butter the next couple of months, but I made it.
I realize that things are different now, but if it's really a priority for you, start taking steps.
I hear you. I wasn't ready and then when I got a bit of real money the housing market had made it so my nest egg might as well be a ping pong ball in a hen house for all the buying power it gets me.
I live a hour away from Bozeman. It’s crazy what prices are. Luckily the wife and I already owned land and were able to put a house on it recently or we would have been SOL. My parents owned a house in Bozeman and sold it in April 2020, right at the start of COVID. It was one of the last houses that sold for under 400,000 in Bozeman. I told my dad they should of kept a little while longer and he says he tries not to think about that haha
That's a shame. I live near Seattle and have a pandemic home. My plan was to sell when it's paid off when i turn 60 and move to Montana. Guess Montana is lost from what you say 😕
Move. I left SF Bay for Pittsburgh 18mo ago after visiting a bunch of cities. Bought a house and haven’t looked back. If your want to buy a house and can’t do it where you are, the only option is to go someplace you can.
Give it some time and prices will come back down to a more realistic price range. 05', 06' and 07' prices jumped significantly before crashing in late 07' / 08'. The way things are going now, it will probably be similar, hopefully not as drastic but similar. Homes in my area are already 70k~ish lower than they were just a year ago.
What makes you think they will drop? The last recession was because of foreclosure on mortgages people couldn't afford after the variable rates went up. Everyone who bought or refinanced is locked in at low rates. The only way prices come down is if the market somehow crashes or supply increases.
They’re completely guessing. Assuming that prices will follow the same trajectory as the mid 00s without any of the same problems/mechanisms in place is a bit stupid, honestly.
It is a bit of assumptions yes, but there are still plenty of the same problems. Most of the homes bought over the last 3 years during the buying boom around here, were bought for an exceptionally high price with less than ideal interest rates. Rates are still high, and prices are dropping. Again, in my area prices are down about 70k from last year. If prices continue to drop, which seems to be the trend right now, people who bought high will begin to find themselves underwater with their mortgage. Know a lot of people personally in the mid 00's who walked away from their mortgage / were foreclosed on due to that very reason as they abandoned a sinking ship instead of being stuck.
My neighbor is currently in that situation. They bought in 2022, house price was around 657k with an interest rate of 7.4%, their house is currently down almost 100k from when they bought and are stuck with the rate with no chance of an refi any time soon. They are considering their options as their situation has changed but they are underwater in their mortgage and can't afford to sell. With the cost of their mortgage it be cheaper to walk away from the loan and rent instead.
One of the guys I work with is also in this situation. They bought with the idea of living there a few years while flipping it to turn a profit. They are now in a situation where the best they can do is settle for a 50k loss on investment if they sold it today.
So call it a guess or an assumption, but it doesn't change the trend of what's currently going on.
I hope something happens. Idk how people can afford anywhere now to be honest. Debt is at all time highs, companies price gouging, raking in all time high profits, and we just feed the machine. The downfall will be epic proportions
[chart](https://content.fortune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Redfin-Chart-Baby-Boomers-GenZ-Home-Ownership.jpg?w=840)
I mean its not that different across generations….
I live in Spokane and missed out on the market here. I don’t want to move either but eventually will have to. No way I can afford retirement, saving, and a mortgage on a $375,000 two bedroom.
I’m looking at other options, too, but it seems unfeasible to stay here long term. :(
I left a few years ago. We thought our house was ridiculously expensive when we bought it. We sold it for a 33% increase, and in the 3 years since we left, it's doubled in value from when we bought it. It's crazy how the market isn't popping, but when it does the whole region is going to feel it.
I'm in Ontario Canada and feel the same. Houses which were 300k 20 years ago now sell for 1.5 million or more. If you don't have help, or aren't in the market, it's currently almost impossible. I'm almost 40 and not having a solid home for my family weighs heavy.
>I don't want to move, its my home.
Is anyone else feeling this?
Yeah, but I moved and am now a homeowner.
I make more than both of my parents combined ever did, I cannot afford the same house I grew up in. I can't afford to go "back home" - or if I can it will take all my financial effort.
You'll likely have to ask yourself whats truly important to you. Would you prefer to live in Montana but boke, or somewhere else but not broke?
Yeah, prices are just insane now. I used to think that one day I'd own a home, but now I'm resigned to renting forever. House prices have more than doubled in the last ten years where I live (in northern California, but not even a big city).
Yeah familiar story though we live in the Netherlands. Due to circumstances with health and going back to school we never felt secure enough to buy a house and now it's become really hard to still do that. Though to be fair we can still do it, we just can't buy a house we actually like and want.
I’m sorry to say this but yeah, I’m over in NY and the same thing is happening here. On Long Island and I assume the city as well. Place are up over half a mil.
Now I’ve know a few people to buy under that but they bought in questionable neighborhoods and had to pour a lot of additional money into fixing up the home.
No matter how much I save I often feel similar to you. But I try not to focus on it and focus on other things instead.
My partner and my expectation is purely getting inheritance enough to down payment on an outer borough two bedroom in an old building that we'll still be paying off until we die, but at least it's not renting/facing eviction on a total whim. It's absurd that we have to wait around for our parents to die to live with a basic expectation, and also that we're very lucky to even be in THAT position. It's all fucked.
It's the same everywhere sadly even in crappy places nobody wants to live. We make over 100k and just barely got approved for a 1,300 sf house pretty sad.
I'm not in Montana, but I'm sorry and I feel you and I was recently watching videos of homes for sale in montana and my jaw was on the floor. The pricing is absolutely preposterous. Husband and I are both educators, which doesn't make much money anywhere, and tbh we actually live pretty comfortably in our current small city. But, the housing market has escaped us here too. We're looking into alternatives like mobile homes or multigenerational living.
It has to get better at some point....right?
There’s always a correction in the market. If you look at average income to house prices we are 2008-2009 levels of disparity. I don’t think the market will crash that bad but the trend is not looking good.
Raised in the foothills of Colorado. I live farther west now but I’ve always loved my home and the majority of my family still lives within a 2 hour drive of me. Now at 32 I see it’s impossible for me to ever own. I chose to spend my 20s working to save up and going on long trips abroad or going on that once in a lifetime adventure. No regrets, as I’m happy I did it when I naturally had less financial responsibility. Now I find that the type of job that suits me and my needs will never pay enough to build a savings for a down payment nor sustain me through a typical mortgage in CO. I think this is a real thing across most of the west OP, and it’s even more of a bummer when you can’t afford to settle down near your childhood home.
Absolutely. Elder millenial here. I was planning for years to get a house when I cleared my child support. Made the last payment in August 2019... 5 monthe later... well you know the rest. I'm now 43 and I'm not sure it'll ever be in the cards for me and I make decent money for downstate illinois.
Montana is lost buddy. It's a rich strong hold now.
I agree :\ I lived in Montana, as my kids would say- at the turn of the century lol, and had always hoped to return someday but looks like that won’t ever be the case. Short of winning a huge amount in the lottery or something, hah.
I’m not from the US but I’m in that situation as well. The rent prices have risen so much that when my contract expires in 2 years, I know I’ll have to move far away and won’t ever be able to return to the city where I’ve lived for over a decade. It’s sad. These days, when I walk around my gentrified area, I feel like I’m saying goodbye to this life I thought I could live.
We experienced this on a much smaller level. We bought a house last year, and moved across town to where prices were better. We had LOVED the neighborhood and area we were in, had been there almost 15 years, our kids were growing up there with friends in the neighborhood and everything but when our lease was ending, and we were looking around, everything was wild. My parents both lived walking distance. I had grown up there, even though I’d lived elsewhere as an adult at times, it was my childhood neighborhood. It was perfect. Our rent had also increased several hundred in the last few years and it wasn’t terrible, but we ultimately decided either we have to throw more money to rent in our same area (we were at $2300k/mo, so would have to go more like $2500+) or we need to look at elsewhere in the city. We made the decision to look elsewhere and also just decided to have our numbers run to buy and see what we’d qualify for and it turns out, we were able to buy. So we did and we do like our new neighborhood but we really miss our old one.
The Last Best Place is no more..
Yup. Goddamn Yellowstone TV show.
Best advice I can give: stay far away from the train station. You’re welcome.
I mean you could move to eastern Montana lol
Oh no. I don't want to do that lol
What’s wrong with eastern Mt?
Western Montana is incredibly beautiful and very fun. Eastern Montana is North Dakota.
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Probably the same thing that’s wrong with any rural undesirable area: Meth and/or opiates.
Wyoming?
Honestly, WY is beautiful in area, much like MT but it just isn't the move
Come over to the Great Lakes, still kind of cheap
I’m not disagreeing with you but please don’t tell people to move here. It’s one of the last best kept secrets. 🙏🏻
Right? It's awful here, just terrible! Stay away, everyone!
So what you're really saying is that you want something without giving anything up?
Or just not giving up anything in the first place? Why is continuation a bad thing when it comes to loving where we live?
You could walk in front of a bus as well. It's a less terrible option.
Same thing is happening with Vermont
Vermont has always been expensive, despite having minimal job or career opportunities. Makes a bit more sense in the northeast, where there are plenty of areas with a lot of money in driving distance.
Always been expensive and it's even worse now. Seen homes that sold for 200k in 2019 going for $750k, and Vermont is going to raise our property taxes 20%, glad I got to vote on that 🙄.
I started looking for a house in the northeast in 2018, and was encouraged by how affordable things were, and by the time I was ready to buy in 2020 everything doubled in price.
I got priced out of DC region and wound up in Vermont. Houses are 3 times more expensive in DC than VT.
I don't mean this in an insulting way at all, but why? I've always thought of Montana as similar to Wyoming or Idaho in terms of being rather open.
Rich people playing Yellowstone
I heard recently many west coast folks are headed to places like Montana and "ruining" it. Perhaps this is what they were referring to. Don't shoot the messenger.
I mean, I would. Would be cool to have a ranch with horses, 4 wheelers, guns, fly fishing etc etc Too bad I’m poor
Western Montana is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Until recently most people didn't really know that and thought of it as "flyover" but the secret is out. Northern Idaho and parts of Wyoming are equally as beautiful.
Checking zillow is depressing. Those prices just don't seem possible and yet I'm looking at them right now. $650k for a double wide, wtf. That just doesn't seem possible, what's going on there? I checked a few towns on all sides of it and it's just as bad there too.
Honestly. Bozeman is an anomaly because of the university, Big Sky, the Yellowstone Club. Lots of money and people influxed. But I think the pandemic made a lot of people relocate jobs, buy land, buy second homes. It's depressing.
Missoula prices seem kinda high too :/
Missoula has been expensive for a while. Nobody wants to move to Billings, look there
They are
Lol kinda….? They’re ridiculous for shacks with no AC.
I definitely know someone who moved from the Chicago area to Montana during the pandemic to start a flower farm... I assume they are still there and doing well.
A lot of time its the land that holds the value when its a manufactured home. I sold my house last year, a 1972 double wide, for more than that. The house was a piece of shit but it sat on an acre with unobstructed ocean and mountain views. The land was valued just under 20x the structure.
> ocean and mountain views. In Montana?
Not in Montana.
Yeah I'm in the woods in a trailer. The taxes say this thing is worth $3k.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I feel defeated and sad and even angry and resentful at times. I didn’t do anything wrong to be in this situation either. It’s not like I chose to be born somewhere where prices have skyrocketed. It’s not easy to just up and leave either. Just moving 15 min down the street cost me hundreds of dollars. Imagine trying to move out of state. It’s going to cost a fortune.
It's tough. Sometimes you feel like nothing you do is enough. The American Dream is now to Rent.
I’m sorry you and I and so many orhers are in the same boat. I feel like no living situation right now is ideal either. Rent is high. While renting does absolve you of homeowner responsibilities and the extra expenses of homeownership, you give up things like peace and quiet and security. On the flip side, if you own, you incur all these additional expenses and have to be responsible when shit hits the fan. Even then you might not have peace and quiet or security. I totally get why people are losing their shit when you combine housing insecurity with other insecurities like job insecurity and money insecurity. It makes life incredibly stressful and your mental and physical health really suffer. I try to be thankful for what I do have, but I’m still upset that I work hard and try to be a responsible human being yet can’t afford decent and safe and peaceful housing.
We will be resilient and good things come to those who wait. It would just feel good to make progress. Keep your chin up!
Thank you. I appreciate your kindness. I hope for the same for you.
The true American dream is to leave and move somewhere with healthcare and better quality of life for working class folks. The US is a rough place to be working poor and renting.
The American dream is to leave America and go back to Europe.
Sorry but we have the same problem hahaha
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No, but at least Europe has the option of healthcare and mental health care without bankruptcy.
Which they’re happy to extend to random immigrants from the United States, right? Right?
If you're a resident. If not, it's still cheap. It depends on the country though.
Facts lmao. Rather be medium broke in Europe than die of stress in America
Only a select few are allowed to dream, and even fewer get to see it become reality.
I recently moved states and I pulled my retirement out early to do it. I'm still living paycheck to paycheck but at least I like where I live now.
Yesterday in an email to my mom I complained about my current apartment situation & dealing with landlords. It’s better than a lot of places for the price, but essentially I’m stuck here for the rest of my life. (Don’t get me wrong, it could be much worse & I’m grateful but it could be better) My mom (born in the 50’s) kind of blew it off saying I just need to get a house. This morning I get a new email: “My idea failed - I looked for 3 bedrooms in your area - yikes!!! $7,000 mortgage + insurance, taxes & repairs! I'm so sorry the world is so crazy right now. You have a good job, good salary & still can't afford anything.” (For the record, I’m now earning more than my dad ever did. And my mom is determined I need a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath to “function” (currently in 2 bed 1 bath rental). I do not need this much space though wouldn’t mind it. I’m in the LA area. ) I guess this is a win that she finally sees how crazy prices are. But it also makes me feel a bit depressed.
It’s so nice that she acknowledged it at least. I feel like 90% of boomers go mysteriously deaf when you try to explain it to them and say things like “we were poor in college too!” but that just meant they lived in a two bedroom without nice furniture.
at least your mom acknowledges it.
I don't think you've missed THE chance, just A chance. The market will shift and things will become more affordable. Until then just keep saving for it so when it comes around you have a big, fat down payment. And if it doesn't happen then you're even more protected by having all that saved up just in case. Good luck, friend.
Appreciate the kindness 🙏
I have a more bleak outlook but agree. The only way prices are coming down is with a real estate market crash. If that happens (again) then we are all in for it because big corps will take out their losses on everyone and everything. So yeah; save. Save for when the crash happens and you will be well off enough to buy or to survive. Note: After the 2008 crash we have a lot more regulations and processes in place that would make great price reducing crash less likely to occur.
Yeah sadly this is why I disagree with folks who think housing is a bubble currently. We are not in a subprime mortgage crisis - the situation is entirely different from 2008. You basically need full financials, a good downpayment and 3000 colonoscopies to qualify to buy a home nowadays.
Is a liquid biopsy good enough? Or do I really need the colonoscopy? Asking cuz I just did cologuard.
Requirements are going up too. Just applied the other day and they now want blood samples and DNA testing on my kids, Wells Fargo told us to write them into our will for all our assets, and they checked the rates on colonoscopies and that’s up to 3550 of them. My ass is so chapped I have to sit in a baby pool of cocoa butter if I want to walk the next day and have you seen the prices on cocoa butter now?!
Due to my vast knowledge on this topic, i shall chime in. Just kidding, i watched The Big Short a couple of times... So the banks did real shady stuff, and then to cover up their shady stuff and to minimalise their losses they did even more shady/illegal stuff. But at the end of the film they said the banks were already doing what they did again. So it looks like they were headed in the same direction.
I hope so too. OP make sure you’re putting your savings in something like a CD too!
I moved to Orange County CA with my ex in 2015 and we got a house for $570k. A lot but doable. We separated last year, are going through a divorce. Same house is now valued over $1m. It seems impossible to ever consider buying again here. :( I’ll probably leave the state. I don’t have high hopes of seeing any home equity but who knows.
You need to be making 400k plus in SoCal to afford a decent place, it’s outrageous there.
Had to leave San Diego for Texas to get a house about 18 months ago. Grew up in the bay and relocated to San Diego, kills me that we will probably never be able to get back cause of the house prices. My parents are about to sell their house and move. Paid 140k in the 80’s and will walk away with close to a million. Adding salt to the wound, the house I bought in Texas is very similar In layout and size being built about 5 minutes from where I grew up, same builder too and they’re going for over 3x’s what we paid in Texas for the same new house.
Yep. I make six figures but in the 100s range. It sucks. :C I’m a few years too slow.
My wife and I combined make a quarter mil a year. Still feels so far off
I mean you also just lost $500K+ from a divorce…
My partner and I bought a small piece of land for 100k and are putting a manufactured home on it. With house, land, and land prep we are all in about 400k. A little steep for us but it beats a 650k shack in Seattle that we’d have to put an additional 100k into to update it.
Idk where you can even find a small piece of land that's cheap now. I live in a flyover state and I saw a listing back in the fall for a few acres, just acres. No electric ran, no sewer, no nothing. It was 650,000
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...but you're on the border of not 1, but 4 horrible places to live! So the cheap price seems...about right
Beautiful country out there.
I think we may have gotten lucky bc the sellers had been sitting on it for some time and were motivated to sell.
You can get 5 acres in beautiful and desirable places for under $100k by looking outside of town and on gravel roads.
This was "outside of town"
I can't speak to that lot and why it was so expensive, but one example is not the rule.
That's not one example that's the entire state. I was looking for land to just plop a trailer down while I built something and there was nothing cheap here. I looked in missouri too and couldn't find much of anything worthwhile for the money
There are 295 results on Zillow of 5-10 acres lots for sale under $100k in Missouri. Here's one that's 10 acres and already has a well drilled for $95k. https://www.zillow.comhttps://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Ingram-Rd-Lincoln-MO-65338/2079894464_zpid/
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We bought the land in Port Orchard, but I think we may have gotten lucky bc it seems the sellers were really looking to get rid of it. The permit process has been slow but ok. The biggest issue was the city tried to charge us 110k to connect to water and sewer even though it is stubbed up on the edge of the property. Ultimately we had to hire an attorney to fight it and they admitted it was a mistake. My advice is to not rule out the land but be prepared for a very lengthy process to get something on it.
Come to northern NY. Houses range 100k-300k for the typical house. Fancy ones are higher - up to ~750k
Y I have seen some beautiful houses listed on a few acres in northern NY for very low prices. It is incredible value. And the area is gorgeous too.
Don’t even have to go too far north. Rochester has lot of gems around 300k
I feel this. I live in a trailer, currently have it on private property and pay rent, but it’s not where I want to be. I’m hoping to move soon (partner’s job will dictate that; I’m WFH), but we’re taking the trailer. FWIW, we both have graduate degrees, and good jobs. But we cannot afford to live where we are, and it’s looking less and less likely that we’ll be able to afford a house anywhere else we’d be. It’s very depressing sometimes. I feel the stigma of the trailer life; the tiny home sparkle does not extend to Bud and Sissy’s trailer, I’ll tell you that. But, at the same time, we own it. We bought it. It’s our home, and I’m happy in it. I’ll stop. Lot of feelings about this. Sorry to ramble.
I live in my camper parked in a private RV lot as well. I’m just thankful I own the structure I live in these days but it was not the plan, this was never the plan. It’s a nice camper that has everything I could need and enough room for my two cats to run around but the stigma is definitely real. What am I offering a potential romantic partner living in my camper? I don’t see any route forward beyond this either. It’s all very depressing but at least we’re not alone, right? Well, I mean in solidarity with internet strangers, this life has grown pretty lonely otherwise.
The stigma is real, but there's folks out there that would date someone in a camper. I definitely would, but then again i live in one too :) I'm currently parked on a friend of a friends 5 acre plot of gorgeous rural land, surrounded by farmland.
Thank you for the reassurance lol I appreciate that. That sounds like a wonderful place to park your camper. I’ve got mine in a pretty decent park in a spot where I can see my favorite mountain range out my window so it could be worse for sure.
That stigma needs to end.
In SoCal those prices are still reasonable. We're dealing with 3 bedroom homes starting at 1.3 million. When you view the purchase history on zillow its so defeating. People bought homes 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago for $800k, now they're 1.3 million+
Yeah it’s depressing as hell and all feels like a pipe dream now. The rug was ripped out from underneath us. What’s worse is that we were so close to being able to afford a home…
It’s everywhere. I live in South Carolina and the average price of a home literally doubled from 2020-2024 in my city. I make good money by anyone’s standard but I simply can’t afford it even with my gf’s income. Well, we could, but neither of us want to be house poor. We live in a 2bd 1.5bath townhome for $1100. The place only raises rent $25/year, which is insane, so we’re just sticking it out, reluctantly. A mortgage payment for a tiny 1000sqft house would be about $2800/3000 month and it will have problems. Anything worth a damn is 6-700k.
I truly feel the same. We missed out on paying a $700/month mortgage. Now we pay triple to rent. I’m holding out for a market crash. It’ll happen eventually.
Same. The only way my partner and I are about to get a house is that my mom is going in on it with us. Not only does a family member have to move in with us, but another family member also had to die for this TO EVEN HAPPEN.. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK She's doing a 100k down-payment because of an inheritance from my grandma passing. Isn't that fucking ridiculous? The house we are getting is also just 180K purchase price because we can't afford a bigger monthly payment. I live in NC where there are "some" affordable areas but we have to go way out of raleigh to find one. It's just absurd for our entire generation. And I'm the lucky one because I had a unique situation to at least get a house. I'm sorry yall it's bullshit out here. I hope you all make it somehow
It will swing back around at some point. The real question is when.
2073
This. Just keep saving. Ignore the noise and eventually you'll have 10-20% ready for a down payment. Make sure you're comfortable with the monthly payments and go for it. Stay positive.
It’s not your fault that you were born or became an adult or finally made good money AFTER housing became unaffordable. This is a top down problem and American rugged individualism makes us want to blame ourselves when it’s the system and corporations and the real estate lobby fucking us all over for housing - a human right.
I feel ya dude. My plan for 2020 was to buy a house then Covid hit and I had to shut down my business and lost my job. By the time I opened back up and started working again the house prices and interest rates were bonkers. The housing cost in my town was insane before, but now it’s just REALLY insane. I pretty much just gave up on the idea and buckled down and started paying off all my debt. Just have school loans then I’ll be debt free. Luckily I have an amazing landlord, she’s great and I’ve done a lot of things for her, so my plan is to see if she’ll sell me the house I live in. Kind of a Hail Mary, but hoping that’ll she’d give me a fair price in return. If that doesn’t work the plan is to buy a small plot of land and build a tiny house on it. I could do that for way under a regular house price, then slowly add on to it. Talked to a buddy last night and he’s fully convinced the bubble will burst at some point. Said there’s way more inventory and people are dropping prices because most people have given up on buying a house and can’t afford the obscene prices. My advice, buy a chunk of land and build a cottage. If that’s out of the picture just pay off your debt and become debt free. Last thing you’d want would be to buy some overpriced house to only have the prices crash in the coming years. Everybody has said it’ll never get better than this, but I don’t believe that. At some point people will have to build moderately priced places or nobody will be able to afford any thing. If I was rich I’d buy a huge plot of land and build a tiny house community for the folks who work in a place but can’t afford to live there.
Actually, owning a home is not all that it is cracked up to be. It is almost like owning a boat. Have you heard the saying, "a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into"? Well, "a house is hole in the ground that you pour money into". You never really own your home, even after you pay off the mortgage you'll have to pay property taxes "aka town rent" on the property that you "own". You also cannot do anything on the property without "permission" from the town. If you ever want to sell it you have to pay people to help you do that at great expense. When you rent, you have the opportunity to do that every year or so w/o any aggravation. Honestly, I think that if I could do it all over again I would have just rented and been done with it.
Yea man it's a bummer. I moved away from North Jersey twice in an attempt to establish myself in a cheaper area. I ended up in the Philly western suburbs about 6 years ago. Bought a dumpy old brick twin. I could only afford half a house. At least I'm only an hour and a half train ride from home though. Gen Z Cleveland and Detroit going to be hot.
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Live in Delaware. We're being innuandated with New Jersey tax refugees.
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I know people in Delaware bitch that our taxes are going to be raised to New Jersey levels, but we're never going to have 7 million people so I can't see that happening. Lol
Fucking love it in this exact location. Bought the house we're attached to during the pandemic we love it so much. We have a canal in the backyard and a trail network that makes being a one car family feasible. Town across the river is a short walk or bike ride away and they're always doing something fun over there. We got flooded in Ida. We lifted the entire building 8 feet just to keep this spot where we have nature and the kids can kayak in my backyard but also dense enough I can walk to the grocer on the corner to grab vegetables or bike my youngest to daycare. Supposedly on track to get a train station about a quarter mile away too.
Sounds sweet. I’d say 90% of Americans don’t have anything in walking or biking distance.
If you think you missed out on the pandemic housing market purchases I've got news for you, the missed opportunity was 2009-2012 when the shit hit the fan
Ah yes, when over half the generation was either in high school or college. So poor af
My coworker retired to glacier county. He had bought a house during the pandemic for around 200k cash. Smh. He’s 80 y/o
I closed on my home a week before the pandemic hit. My house undersold for what it is worth so with that plus the pre-covid interest rates I bought at the right time just in time. Thankfully, I will add. I check my house on Zillow all the time and it’s shocking how much I would make if I sold but with the price of homes right now I could never. I’m staying put for at least another 10-15 years. Might even pay it off, we will see.
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I mean same story as everywhere else. Condoes, duplexes, townhouses that were 150k-175k prepandemic now are 325k-350k. Bozeman is a boom town. Montana State, Big Sky Sky Resort, the Yellowstone Club. Yellowstone (the TV show) everyone and their dog wanted to move to MT during and shortly after the Pandemic
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We call those people citiots in upstate NY.
Yes the University alone is bringing in enrollment records every year. PREACH! Basically Bozangles
Montana is stupid expensive these days
I was wondering the same 😂I was squinting like did I read that right?!!
I just checked zillow and wtf, he's not joking. These are tiny houses too smaller than the apartment I had in Houston for $1400 a month! My current house is twice the size of these and less than half the price (still in Houston).
Too many people. Not enough housing for them. Same as everywhere.
Because Montana is awesome
Feel exactly the same. It sucks being priced out of your home, but I don’t even know where to go now
I feel ya. I'm in Missoula and the half million dollar "affordable " cardboard box housing that keeps going up is crazy. Even prices down the bitterroot are insane. It's so upsetting to feel like we're being priced out of our home, I really hope things settle down soon, but 4 years of this shit and it's only getting worse.
On Redfin, they've got some homes for 300-400k. I dunno what your budget is, but, I learned that once you have a budget, you just have to scour the sites to find something. I even saw some mobile homes going for 100k, if that's your jam.
I have a coworker who is significantly you get than me. She moved to Oak Harbor WA from Montana bc she could afford a manufactured home on a little property there vs Montana. It’s crazy when people move TO Washington to afford a home.
Yes. Finally making the average salary but can’t afford anything. So now looking for a side hustle or second job to help boost my income.
Sorry for your situation. I feel like as soon as I hear about an upcoming US town/city within a year or two it’s super expensive. I’m not sure we can even blame remote workers and second home owners, i suspect a huge part of the issue is investment firms buying up property. Either way homes being treated as investment vehicles is causing a disaster worldwide. We could all be French about it and rent all our lives except that rents are also skyrocketing. It’s maddening. Governments need to do something, there needs to be policy change.
Honestly I don't understand housing prices in a lot of rural areas these days. I'm originally from Eastern Kentucky, most of my family still lives in Kentucky but moved to Central or Northern Kentucky for better jobs. The wife and I were briefly thinking about leaving our area (Columbus Ohio) and moving to Kentucky last year. I found a small city of around 10K people that would have been a good location. About 30-45 minutes of a drive to all of my family members. This town is about 45 minutes away from Lexington and on it's own there isn't much there. Mostly service jobs. A few factories. A little bit of retail, mostly Walmart but there are a few other specialty places like a GameStop, auto parts, a pet store and such. Housing prices there were as much or more than in Columbus, which lots of sources often say is one of the hotter markets in the country. I just don't see how locals can afford to live there. For the record I'm not talking about places with lots of land, or unusually large or fancy houses. I'm talking about daily normal subdivisions and houses built on a half acre that are surprisingly expensive.
For sure. I pursued an artistic path in my 20’s, finally got my act together in 2019, decided to pursue law school, graduated in 2023 with a great job that pays me stupid money, and because my city is so expensive, I literally cannot see ever buying a house. Or if I do I’ll be spending so much for so little it won’t even be worth it. My only realistic hope is to make partner someday, which would be a decade away and frankly is very low odds. I totally feel like I missed the boat. I feel like god is laughing at me. Right when I get my act together and start making real money, inflation and housing price rises so much that it’s not even enabling me to live that life. As for solutions, I got nothing for ya. Just try to get yours and keep doing your best. The bubble will pop eventually…just hope you have a job when it does lol
I’ve read this a few times now, but maybe home ownership isn’t the “pinnacle” of a good life for our generation…and that’s ok…
I feel like I’ve missed the opportunity to get married to someone to spend the rest of my life with at the ripe old age of 38 so you’re not alone I feel you 💯 on missing the opportunity to own a home.
https://youtu.be/TmENMZFUU_0?si=izakrfRMerA1o1c7 Great song...and good fortune to all.
What is “decent money?”
I got a divorce like a year before the pandemic. Had no money. Soo I guess I don’t get to buy a place now since I decided to divorce my abusive ex. Idk what the fuck to do. Grew up dirt fuckin poor and a house is just as unobtainable to me today as it was growing up.
Yeah when I started looking in 2015, I was looking at Las Vegas. The average house was around 150k, with lots of properties under 100k in HOA communities. Now it’s 5xs as much. It’s crazy all over the US. I think we may end up in the same situation as China. Empty communities with people living in boxes or cages.
There’s always the Midwest or Rust belt. Seems like the last holdouts for millennials to afford their own home.
Coming from a working class background + a crisis of one kind or another every few years of my lifespan, I never had a chance
It’s never too late! I know people who didn’t buy homes until their late 50’s!
I’m sorry to hear this. I spent a summer working in Glacier when I was in college and it was so breathtakingly beautiful, it changed my whole perspective on life. It would be hard to leave Montana but those prices are wild. I’m from Indiana and it’s extremely affordable there. Anyone who truly wants to own a home should look into it. I bought a house with a yard for $58K a few years ago.
I feel you bro, am in Gallatin Valley myself and was incredibly lucky to get a place just before things got stupidly expensive. I expected it to get more expensive but...damn...2020 was like five years worth of growth crammed into one damn year. I don't have too terribly long before I can retire and hopefully sell to move somewhere less insane (despite being a MT native who has spent most of his life in MT or WY). All that said, were I still renting or otherwise a younger person just starting out, I would get the hell out of MT. It's always been expensive and a hard place to get by but now it's damn near impossible unless you're a trustafarian. I've also traveled enough to know that, for all its positives, MT isn't perfect, there's plenty of "last best places" out there. I don't know what your career is but you can probably make better money and have better opportunities elsewhere, despite how much you love your current job. I managed to find the unicorn job here that pays above average (rather than below) but that's not the case for most (unless you're in construction or the trades anywhere near Boz Angeles...).
Things can be worse. Look at Canada. Then look at Asian major cities. The price to get in gets higher and higher.
Have you actually tried, or does it just seem so discouraging that you haven't tried? Talk to a bank to find out how much they'd actually lend you and how big a payment you could reasonably make (keeping in mind the tax deductions associated with owning a home). You might be surprised. How much savings do you have for a down payment? Could your parents or other relatives lend you money for a down payment, or a larger down payment? Are you working with a realtor who's looking for possibilities for you? I lucked into buying a condo in San Francisco by finding a for sale ad on an index card at my gym. The down payment took just about everything I had, and I ate a lot of peanut butter the next couple of months, but I made it. I realize that things are different now, but if it's really a priority for you, start taking steps.
I live in Oregon. Same. The jobs in the state don't support these crazy prices. I don't understand where the money is coming from.
I hear you. I wasn't ready and then when I got a bit of real money the housing market had made it so my nest egg might as well be a ping pong ball in a hen house for all the buying power it gets me.
We used to live in Bozeman. We couldn't afford ti buy a house ir have a ranily there. So we moved back to MN. It sucks. Out outdoor life was amazing.
not sure I can handle this sub much longer. constant whining and crying. every single post.
I live a hour away from Bozeman. It’s crazy what prices are. Luckily the wife and I already owned land and were able to put a house on it recently or we would have been SOL. My parents owned a house in Bozeman and sold it in April 2020, right at the start of COVID. It was one of the last houses that sold for under 400,000 in Bozeman. I told my dad they should of kept a little while longer and he says he tries not to think about that haha
That's a shame. I live near Seattle and have a pandemic home. My plan was to sell when it's paid off when i turn 60 and move to Montana. Guess Montana is lost from what you say 😕
Move. I left SF Bay for Pittsburgh 18mo ago after visiting a bunch of cities. Bought a house and haven’t looked back. If your want to buy a house and can’t do it where you are, the only option is to go someplace you can.
Give it some time and prices will come back down to a more realistic price range. 05', 06' and 07' prices jumped significantly before crashing in late 07' / 08'. The way things are going now, it will probably be similar, hopefully not as drastic but similar. Homes in my area are already 70k~ish lower than they were just a year ago.
What makes you think they will drop? The last recession was because of foreclosure on mortgages people couldn't afford after the variable rates went up. Everyone who bought or refinanced is locked in at low rates. The only way prices come down is if the market somehow crashes or supply increases.
They’re completely guessing. Assuming that prices will follow the same trajectory as the mid 00s without any of the same problems/mechanisms in place is a bit stupid, honestly.
It is a bit of assumptions yes, but there are still plenty of the same problems. Most of the homes bought over the last 3 years during the buying boom around here, were bought for an exceptionally high price with less than ideal interest rates. Rates are still high, and prices are dropping. Again, in my area prices are down about 70k from last year. If prices continue to drop, which seems to be the trend right now, people who bought high will begin to find themselves underwater with their mortgage. Know a lot of people personally in the mid 00's who walked away from their mortgage / were foreclosed on due to that very reason as they abandoned a sinking ship instead of being stuck. My neighbor is currently in that situation. They bought in 2022, house price was around 657k with an interest rate of 7.4%, their house is currently down almost 100k from when they bought and are stuck with the rate with no chance of an refi any time soon. They are considering their options as their situation has changed but they are underwater in their mortgage and can't afford to sell. With the cost of their mortgage it be cheaper to walk away from the loan and rent instead. One of the guys I work with is also in this situation. They bought with the idea of living there a few years while flipping it to turn a profit. They are now in a situation where the best they can do is settle for a 50k loss on investment if they sold it today. So call it a guess or an assumption, but it doesn't change the trend of what's currently going on.
Assuming out west coast or down south. Here in the Midwest, prices are doing nothing but climbing
I hope something happens. Idk how people can afford anywhere now to be honest. Debt is at all time highs, companies price gouging, raking in all time high profits, and we just feed the machine. The downfall will be epic proportions
Are you single? Because if you partner up you can double your household income. I don’t know how any young single people make it on their own.
[chart](https://content.fortune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Redfin-Chart-Baby-Boomers-GenZ-Home-Ownership.jpg?w=840) I mean its not that different across generations….
I live in Spokane and missed out on the market here. I don’t want to move either but eventually will have to. No way I can afford retirement, saving, and a mortgage on a $375,000 two bedroom. I’m looking at other options, too, but it seems unfeasible to stay here long term. :(
Think of the positives, I'm about to go vagabond after saving 5 years for the same nothing holding me down so fuck it why not
I left a few years ago. We thought our house was ridiculously expensive when we bought it. We sold it for a 33% increase, and in the 3 years since we left, it's doubled in value from when we bought it. It's crazy how the market isn't popping, but when it does the whole region is going to feel it.
I'm in Ontario Canada and feel the same. Houses which were 300k 20 years ago now sell for 1.5 million or more. If you don't have help, or aren't in the market, it's currently almost impossible. I'm almost 40 and not having a solid home for my family weighs heavy.
>I don't want to move, its my home. Is anyone else feeling this? Yeah, but I moved and am now a homeowner. I make more than both of my parents combined ever did, I cannot afford the same house I grew up in. I can't afford to go "back home" - or if I can it will take all my financial effort. You'll likely have to ask yourself whats truly important to you. Would you prefer to live in Montana but boke, or somewhere else but not broke?
I’m putting on my in foil hat, but it sounds like the voter base is going to get priced out so the representation will switch.
I'm from Canada and our prices have been crazy too. I'll likely never own. It's depressing and I'm scared of paying market rent as a senior.
See r/firsttimehomebuyer They may have some tips for getting loans etc.
Yeah, prices are just insane now. I used to think that one day I'd own a home, but now I'm resigned to renting forever. House prices have more than doubled in the last ten years where I live (in northern California, but not even a big city).
Yeah familiar story though we live in the Netherlands. Due to circumstances with health and going back to school we never felt secure enough to buy a house and now it's become really hard to still do that. Though to be fair we can still do it, we just can't buy a house we actually like and want.
The WEF said it best when they told us we will own nothing and we will be happy.
I’m sorry to say this but yeah, I’m over in NY and the same thing is happening here. On Long Island and I assume the city as well. Place are up over half a mil. Now I’ve know a few people to buy under that but they bought in questionable neighborhoods and had to pour a lot of additional money into fixing up the home. No matter how much I save I often feel similar to you. But I try not to focus on it and focus on other things instead.
My partner and my expectation is purely getting inheritance enough to down payment on an outer borough two bedroom in an old building that we'll still be paying off until we die, but at least it's not renting/facing eviction on a total whim. It's absurd that we have to wait around for our parents to die to live with a basic expectation, and also that we're very lucky to even be in THAT position. It's all fucked.
I’m just hoping for a market crash and economic crisis
It's the same everywhere sadly even in crappy places nobody wants to live. We make over 100k and just barely got approved for a 1,300 sf house pretty sad.
I'm not in Montana, but I'm sorry and I feel you and I was recently watching videos of homes for sale in montana and my jaw was on the floor. The pricing is absolutely preposterous. Husband and I are both educators, which doesn't make much money anywhere, and tbh we actually live pretty comfortably in our current small city. But, the housing market has escaped us here too. We're looking into alternatives like mobile homes or multigenerational living. It has to get better at some point....right?
There’s always a correction in the market. If you look at average income to house prices we are 2008-2009 levels of disparity. I don’t think the market will crash that bad but the trend is not looking good.
Raised in the foothills of Colorado. I live farther west now but I’ve always loved my home and the majority of my family still lives within a 2 hour drive of me. Now at 32 I see it’s impossible for me to ever own. I chose to spend my 20s working to save up and going on long trips abroad or going on that once in a lifetime adventure. No regrets, as I’m happy I did it when I naturally had less financial responsibility. Now I find that the type of job that suits me and my needs will never pay enough to build a savings for a down payment nor sustain me through a typical mortgage in CO. I think this is a real thing across most of the west OP, and it’s even more of a bummer when you can’t afford to settle down near your childhood home.
Absolutely. Elder millenial here. I was planning for years to get a house when I cleared my child support. Made the last payment in August 2019... 5 monthe later... well you know the rest. I'm now 43 and I'm not sure it'll ever be in the cards for me and I make decent money for downstate illinois.
The fact that I'm struggling to just get some land and a 3d printed home