Homeowernship in CA

How much down payment $ do you plan to contribute for your children's home?

  • 10% of home price

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • 20% of home price

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • 30% of home price

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 40% of home price

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 50%+ of home price

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • 0 - they will get our house when we die

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    5
NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
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PSForever

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According to the National Association of Realtors and research conducted by UC Berkley, the current median age of homeowners is 56 and the median first time home buyer age is 38.

Sadly, the majority of people don't own a home until age 49. Imagine getting a 30 year mortgage at almost 50, you pay it off by 80 or die trying. 😱

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Most young people will probably not be able to buy a home unless they get family help.
 
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Home prices and rates will both be going down in the near term, so that will help. Over the long run, there is a structural imbalance where not enough young people of prime home buying age will be entering the market to scoop up homes being liquidated by Boomers or their estates. This will also put downward pressure on prices/rates for our children, especially heading into the 2030's.
 
OCtoSV said:
How sad that your kids can’t attain sufficient employment to do it on their own, but then again OC ain’t Silicon Valley
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I don't for a second believe that a young person today can work just as hard as I did and likely achieve what I achieved financially, any more than I could have worked just as hard as my father and have a house and a family on a single salary like he had, with a golden lifetime pension to boot. Things get more and more competitive over time and life is more and more difficult. My parents easily recognized they had it easy compared to me. I easily recognize that I had it easy compared to my daughter. I will demand a lot of hard work from her, to be a good person, to be kind, considerate and frugal, and to have a positive contribution to society. More than anything I want her to be happy. I don't plan to help her financially, but I won't rule it out either. She can pay rent on a cheap studio in a gritty neighborhood while laying her foundations, just like her parents did. Hopefully, for my wife's and my sake, she won't be inheriting anything for many decades. But when that time comes, it's shaping up to be a decent windfall, and I want her to continue to be wise and frugal.
 
daedalus said:
I don't for a second believe that a young person today can work just as hard as I did and likely achieve what I achieved financially, any more than I could have worked just as hard as my father and have a house and a family on a single salary like he had, with a golden lifetime pension to boot. Things get more and more competitive over time and life is more and more difficult. My parents easily recognized they had it easy compared to me. I easily recognize that I had it easy compared to my daughter. I will demand a lot of hard work from her, to be a good person, to be kind, considerate and frugal, and to have a positive contribution to society. More than anything I want her to be happy. I don't plan to help her financially, but I won't rule it out either. She can pay rent on a cheap studio in a gritty neighborhood while laying her foundations, just like her parents did. Hopefully, for my wife's and my sake, she won't be inheriting anything for many decades. But when that time comes, it's shaping up to be a decent windfall, and I want her to continue to be wise and frugal.
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While I agree somewhat on what you said, I also disagree and here is why. The previous generations will always have it harder than the current generations. My parents immigrated to America without understanding a single word of English and managed to find a way to raise two kids and a stay at home wife. He didn't have a home but eventually bought one and almost got foreclosed due to the 2008 crisis. We lived off food stamps and all as well.

With that said, I don't think buying a home in the US is impossible. I would argue financial literacy is the main issue that prevents individuals from achieving financial milestones. Simple things like understanding investing, interests, taxes, and understanding wants vs needs when spending goes a long way. Sometimes it's also social pressure that puts people in positions to have the latest iPhone or finance a car that they can't afford. I don't come from a rich family but having a sense of how to invest and living below my means when raises happen got me to where I am. It wasn't easy, but it's not impossible. Our next door neighbor in Canada is a complete different story....
 
sleepy5136 said:
While I agree somewhat on what you said, I also disagree and here is why. The previous generations will always have it harder than the current generations. My parents immigrated to America without understanding a single word of English and managed to find a way to raise two kids and a stay at home wife. He didn't have a home but eventually bought one and almost got foreclosed due to the 2008 crisis. We lived off food stamps and all as well.
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My point was more about the rising difficulty with making it in the world overall vs an individual's particular situation. If anything your parents probably support my point. Even ignoring political immigration barriers, could your parents have gotten as far if they immigrated here today, not knowing English, with 2 kids and a stay-at-home parent? Like my parents, they had opportunities then that are not as plentiful today. Try buying a 2500 sq ft home today in a desirable city with good schools on 1 govt salary a few years out of college, and then retiring at 55 with a lifetime tax exempt pension with annual COLA uppers, and amazing health insurance. That's my dad's story. Yes there are still opportunities, and good jobs out there. But it takes more work and/or more luck and/or more personal attributes now to get to the same place that our parents got to.

Similarly, I had opportunities that my daughter will never have. My 1st semester's tuition for 3 classes at my 4-year state school: $284. It's about 50x that today at that same school. I waited tables at night and on weekends and graduated with money in the bank. Many could say the same then. How many can say the same now?

sleepy5136 said:
With that said, I don't think buying a home in the US is impossible. I would argue financial literacy is the main issue that prevents individuals from achieving financial milestones. Simple things like understanding investing, interests, taxes, and understanding wants vs needs when spending goes a long way. Sometimes it's also social pressure that puts people in positions to have the latest iPhone or finance a car that they can't afford. I don't come from a rich family but having a sense of how to invest and living below my means when raises happen got me to where I am. It wasn't easy, but it's not impossible. Our next door neighbor in Canada is a complete different story....
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I didn't say it's impossible to buy a home anywhere in this country. Again, I said it's much more challenging to be as successful today as it was in the past. I worked my ass off to be able to live where I do because I really didn't want to live in a cheaper home in another city; that's a measure of success. A trifecta of fierce savings, frugality and investing got us where we are today as well, but even with that I'm not sure we could buy our own home today. Even with our bank accounts and salaries being 2 or 3x what they were 14 years ago, a 30-yr mortgage payment on this place today would be about 3x our current payments (after a 250% larger down payment)...and we'll have it paid off 18 years after purchase, not 30. Even if we could afford it, it would be more of a stretch and we would have to run our budget tighter to do so. It also amazes me that our mortgage payment today is now about 1/4 less than the rent on the house next door, despite it being roughly 1/3 smaller and not at all nicer.
 
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OCtoSV said:
How sad that your kids can’t attain sufficient employment to do it on their own, but then again OC ain’t Silicon Valley
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Well my kids are under 12 :)

But like Daedalus said, they will have it much harder, I’m in my 40s and college is more way more competitive than it was for me. House prices are so disconnected from incomes that I don’t see how a regular person will be able to buy a house under the old traditional time frame.
 
qwerty said:
Well my kids are under 12 :)

But like Daedalus said, they will have it much harder, I’m in my 40s and college is more way more competitive than it was for me. House prices are so disconnected from incomes that I don’t see how a regular person will be able to buy a house under the old traditional time frame.
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Martin helped us sell our San Jose house to a young couple , late 20s/early 30s where his single income qualified them (barely). Their Mom was their agent so donated her commission and I think helped a bit on the DP so they got a little help, but he was able to qualify for the $8K+ payment. Why? Because Silicon Valley compensation is bonkers. It’s common for a young person up there to make $300K+. So push your kids to pursue careers in the Valley in the new age of agentic AI and you won’t have to worry about them.
 
Why wouldn’t parents help their kids? I mean everything we have will eventually be theirs, right? People talk about what they will leave their children but why not share it all with them now?
 
Imnotmoving said:
Why wouldn’t parents help their kids? I mean everything we have will eventually be theirs, right? People talk about what they will leave their children but why not share it all with them now?
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This view probably varies based on how well heeled the parents are. One person I know does pretty well but concerned about having enough during retirement so they don’t plan on dialing back their expenses for the sole purpose of leaving their kids something. And they will only pay a certain amount for college as they want the kids to have some skin in the game.

We have been pretty fortunate so we don’t have concerns about retirement and can help them along the way with no issues. We just always try to walk the fine line of not spoiling them and teaching them the value of money.
 
The question touches on the paradox of family wealth. Poor parents raise hungry kids who do well and then have kids of their own who are never hungry, and then they or their kids go broke. Often there's a middle class generation too between poor and rich. Can you truly teach someone the value of a dollar, or do they have to learn it on their own? I had to wash dishes for 6 months after flunking out of college (on my parents' dime) before my fire was lit. Dark times and a personal low point. I was able to see first hand the opportunities available if I didn't get a degree.

I want my daughter to struggle. I tell her frequently to be frugal, and how lucky we are. She nods her head and she agrees, and she "knows" she needs to save x cents of every dollar. But she doesn't really know why. I think someone has to do the weekly/monthly math of making ends meet while paying themselves first before they really get it. Ideally I want my daughter to have the same pride that we have that we made it on our own. No gifts, no down payments, nothing. A close 2nd is I just want to see her working at least as hard as her parents did, and I would probably be OK with helping her out if she needed it, as long as she has her shit together. It would sadden me to no end if I thought that all we worked for was going to eventually be squandered by a spendthrift child. It's not like I ever run out of wants of my own.

I recall seeing a 20-something comedienne on TV who joked that "I'm from the generation whose parents worked really hard so that we wouldn't have to and, well, we don't!". Lots of truth in that.
 
OCtoSV said:
2 teachers with a Masters combine for close to $300K so should be doable somewhere
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I don’t think they make that much, at least not in their 30s. Maybe after 20 years of reaching. I looked up a principal in TUSD recently out of curiosity and they made $185,000 as their base. No bonus.
 
qwerty said:
I don’t think they make that much, at least not in their 30s. Maybe after 20 years of reaching. I looked up a principal in TUSD recently out of curiosity and they made $185,000 as their base. No bonus.
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To be fair, who is making much more than that in their 20’s or 30’s?
 
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