At what age did you buy your first home ?

[dannomanno]

Good question, intriguing answers. Just as important as how much you earn is how much you spend. I worked since high school as much as possible and have always been a big saver, staying with my parents until about 28. At that point I could move out and buy myself a property. I paid off the mortgage aggressively (in less than 10 years) upon realizing bank interest was (and still is) near nothing I had little incentive to keep saving. I'd like a second/investment property but prices in my area (USA, Washington DC) are very high so instead I use my earnings to benefit my many siblings and their families. Life is good, and software development is a fine career.

[maze3]

im sure that counts as some criminal behaviour of lotting and property damage in which police can be involved?

[agolddog]

28. I assume you're in IT and make a better-than-average wage. Don't necessarily buy all the house you can, buy the house you need. My first house was a 50-year-old, 800-square-foot little place in a blue-collar neighborhood. I was able to pay ahead to gain equity and still have money left for other things. After a few years, you can move up if you desire. Another piece of advice is to have at least $5k (USD) extra laying about. Things just come up--whether it's painting before you move in, buying appliances, whatever. If you end up not using that, great, but it's nice to have just in case. It is nice to have that part of your finances at a (relatively) stable cost. As others have pointed out though, there are risks involved, both financial (something breaks, it's on you to fix) or mental (bad neighbors, etc).

[jgakenhe]

I've been taking pictures.

[AndrewDavie]

Early 30s. I simply looked at the price for rent and price for mortgage and went with the mortgage because it was cheaper. The Buy-to-Let thing was huge and if you weren't paying your mortgage, you were paying someone elses.

[maze3]

ah, uncontrolled laughter :wtf: in open space office. When only thing in my email I saw was

jgakenhe wrote:

I've been taking pictures.

Whos taking what pictures :omg: ?

[Kirk 10389821]

I was 28. Here in the states, you can put down a bit less. The key things are the Ratios of Income to payments. We have a Front end Ratio (usually the monthly payment is about 28% or less of monthly income), and the Back end Ratio (usually the monthly payment is about 35% or less of monthly income - other monthly payments). The concept is rather sound. You need Food+Shelter+Clothing(etc). Assign 1/3 of your income to each. Saving up 20%, even if it takes years is good exercise. Dave Ramsey books are great for helping to get a handle on your expenses and learning how to save. I have been to Sydney recently. Kinda shocked at the prices. Typically here, the buying of a house takes about 7 years to break even against. So if you plan to move in 3-5 years, the rule of thumb is not to do it (of course, recent explosions in real estate prices before the crash not withstanding). Honestly, a $500,000 house, with a 20% down payment = $100,000.00 down. But a 500K house implies about 5,000/month in a payment (1% is an easy guesstimate). [Keep in mind, you have PITI: Principle+Interest+Taxes+Insurance] So, 20 months to save up your down payment. And REALITY is that if you can afford the payment, you should have SOME savings already, and you should be able to save about 10% above this. If you cannot, you are buying too much house. That can get you down to 18 months. The bright side is that it usually takes MONTHS to buy your first house, and find what you are looking for. Buy a book about First Time Home Buying, and learn what to be aware of. What immediate expenses you will have, like appliances. You should have 6 months of expenses in the bank AFTER the purchase (goal). If you are a single guy, get a gal pal to look at the house with you. A friend bought a house in which the bedrooms were renovated, and the closets were removed!!! LOL. He had NO Closets in his bedrooms. He never noticed. I bought a house with no sidewalks on either side of the street. I did not even notice. Buying a New House vs. Used is probably not an issue. I can't imagine you being able to afford a new place in Australia as a first home. The place we stayed in was over 100 years old. But nice. (Although the windows were original custom made sliding wood frames with "wavy" glass) except for the new windows that faced the Opera House (Cremone Point area). The limitation in mobility is a huge issue. The people we stayed with bought the house, and 3 months later, his job relocated. He now takes the tr

[ttennebb]

34. Paid cash. Of course in one of the smallest towns in Iowa.

[Lost User]

Scraping the initial down payment together is the hardest (10% down); most need a hand from relatives. But after that, you're set... As long as you can keep interest below say 10%. Figure on PIT of about 30% of your gross. (Bought my first place in my mid-twenties; always had one since then).

[SeattleC]

I was 28. My situation was different to that of an average American, but relatively typical of the software types who read this page. * My wife and I were both professionals, so our income was somewhat above the median. * We lived frugally, essentially spending one income and saving the other. * We bought our first house outside the big city of Seattle. * We made extra payments to pay off a larger part of the mortgage. * We refinanced when interest rates went down. We lived in our first house for 10 years. During this time its value doubled in nominal dollars. We bought our second home in a somewhat depressed Seattle neighborhood near the university. The sale of our old home funded half the price of the second home, and our increased income funded the payments. We lived in that second house for 12 years, eventually moving to a big house in the desirable Capitol Hill neighborhood. Again, the sale of our second house funded half the purchase price of the next house, and our income was adequate to make the payments. This was the first time that we needed both incomes to live on. This was actually a mistake, as the Great Recession plus a devastating accident cut off both our incomes. But we made it through. We had good neighbors and bad neighbors. We had maintenance costs in addition to the mortgage, like putting new roofs on two houses. We substantially remodeled the third house. Some things we learned: * When you own your home, your payments stay the same for 30 years. No surprise rent increases, no getting kicked out because the landlord wants to turn the building into a condo. No getting kicked out because the landlord sells the building to Amazon who wants to raze it and put up a 12-storey office building. Large maintenance costs can be scheduled years in advance if you need to. It's very rare to have a significant maintenance expense you have to pay right away. * The monthly mortgage payment on a house is about the same as the monthly rent on the same sized dwelling. If you rent, that money's gone, but if you buy, some of that money goes into principal, which you may eventually get back. The financial computation is a no-brainer. * You can buy nice appliances, instead of the cheap ones they put in apartments. In fact everything you do in a house you own will be nice and new and you get to use it for years. * Crappy neighbors of your hose are separated by 30 feet and a six foot fence. This air-gap is really important. Crappy neighbors in an apartment are banging on your walls or c

[George Tourtsinakis]

Neighbors from hell lol.I laughed a lot.

[Fabio Franco]

So true, and everything else.

To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

[Fabio Franco]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Yeah, I'm 33 now and I am learning that. I no longer choose the clothes I buy or wear, it saves me time and argument. Lucky for me my lady picked our apartment, so also no argument with that. She also picked the furniture and kitchen appliances and... everything else. So true and I don't care :)

To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

[xiecsuk]

You have certainly started the right way for a long and happy marriage. Long may it last, my friend.

[Fabio Franco]

Thank you my friend.

To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

[DerekT P]

25, in 1984. Like many other respondents to this question, there's a "but"... I bought it from some acquaintances, no estate agents involved, and we split the resultant savings between us. Cost about £43K and I put down a 10% deposit, and got in two lodgers whose rent covered most of the mortgage costs. On the outskirts of London.

[Mike Baldini]

I was 24 and married with a 6 month old. We bought the house because it was $200/month cheaper than our apartment, was 1,000 sq.ft bigger and had a 2 car garage. Our immediate neighbors were great, but the others.... no so much. There ended up being a gun-fight between rival gangs on the corner (we were the corner house), which was about 50-60 feet from my two kids windows.... and that led me to look elsewhere. That was a year ago, and have since moved from southern California to Seattle, where I bought my 2nd house in December. Just turned 32.

Senior Software Engineer / Automotive Hacker "the fabric is down again...."