I max my 401k, I have an emergency fund, no credit card debt, no car payment and no student loans. Grew up in Austin. My parents bought their house in 1991 for $87,000 on a single teacher’s salary. That same house sold last year for $610,000. The neighborhood hasn’t changed that much with most facilities and infrastructure staying the same. What changed is that money from somewhere else decided Austin was a good place to park itself and now the people who are actually from here can’t afford to stay. I have some money saved up from slots on jackpotdaily, with around $34,000 set aside specifically for a down payment. On paper that sounds like progress until you open Zillow and realize $34,000 gets you about halfway to a down payment on the median home here which is sitting just overhalf a mil. Not to mention that’s before you look at what a mortgage at current rates does to a monthly payment.
I was on my phone a few weeks ago and pulled up a mortgage calculator. A $480,000 home with 10% down at today’s rates comes out around $3,400 a month before taxes and insurance. I take home about $5,800 a month. Thats a decision that restructures your entire financial life around one asset.
Like I know $94k is a good salary but Im tired of the framing that this is a personal failure. That if people just saved harder or moved further out or skipped enough lattes they could make it work. The math does not work and it does not work for a lot of people making decent money and living the legal way. I think we should be honest about that instead of pretending it’s a character issue
My parents didn’t do anything extraordinary. They bought a house when buying a house was a thing a working person could do.