How old were you when you bought your first home?

[bunker]

27 & Married

 

[Ornery]

Rented for three years in an apartment on the 12th floor overlooking Lake Erie for $237.00 per month including heat! At 23yo, my wife and I bought our first house. At the time interests rates were above 15%. We got it by using a land contract. Still in the same house 21 years later.

We maxed ourselves out on the mortgage when we first bought it, but as my income increased and interest rates fell, the monthly bill steadily became more tolerable. We waited till we could afford to have her stop working to have our first baby 7 years later. She stayed out of the workforce for 11 years to raise 2 boys, spaced five years apart. She's getting antsy to buy another place, but I'm unemployed right now. Good thing we kept our overhead down. I owe that to never purchasing a new car in all these years... NEVER. That's what made the initial purchase possible too!

 

[Beau]

21 & single, just bought it 3 months ago for $175,000.

 

[Sundog]

Over 30.....and we close on it next Wednesday

 

[squirrel dog]

I was about 20 yrs old.The house cost 22,500.I sold it 9 yrs later for 69,9000.The year was 1973 when I bought it.I got some help from my folks for the down payment.Yes you should be moving in that direction,and no it dosent have to be a new house.
Just find an area you are comfortable with.The best deal is a fsbo fixer upper.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

The best deal is a fsbo fixer upper.

Very very hard to find. Most people know by now that they can make alot more selling their house if they throw a few K into some cheap enhancments. They get cheap double pane windows, paint the house beige and white, put ceramic or laminate in the kitchen, and throw up some plywood cabinets and bump the price another 20K.

 

[T2T III]

I was 23 - that was 15 years ago. House price: $90K.

 

[BoberFett]

22

 

[CPA]

My houses were/will be purchased in a suburb of Houston. Houston has very, very affordable house prices.

 

[waggy]

I was 19 and single. ahh it was great.

granted it was a starter home (around 75k). since im now married and have a kid we need a larger one. around here $150k will get us a nice 3 bedroom with basement and a good size yard.

granted i live in hickville USA. so the cost of liveing is low. i fi moved 20 miles farther west they would be even cheaper!

 

[Que-TiP]

I'm 24 and I am closing on my first condo at the end of this month. W00H00!!!!!

edit: i'm single for anyone who cares, having only one income sucks

 

[AreaCode707]

I misread the thread title... "How old were you when you brought your first home?" Brought home my first what, bf? Kid?

 

[thedarkwolf]

It was just last year and I was 26 and single. I am still single if any of the ladies out there are interested in a home owner .

I live in Huntington Wv which for us is a pretty big city and its a nice little 2 bedroom house, large fenced yard, and 1 1/2 car garage all for $42,000. There are a few advantages to living in this state.

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: WarSong

Originally posted by: RishiS
I'm more curious about who here owns a home in a major city, such as New York or Los Angeles, and at what age? Heck, my cousin just bought his first house last year (Was 29 yrs. old then, married, 2 kids), and he + wife make over $100k (before taxes), and they don't even live in that great a neighborhood. (My car got keyed in front of their house). I don' t think I'll ever be able to afford a house in NYC or Long Island.

I'm was wondering that myself. Do people in big cities tend to purchase homes later in life? Two of my ~21 year old cousins are buying their own huge homes (4-5 bedroom, 1 arcre) in Apple Valley, CA (desert) for about half my apartment's rent a month.

Do you mean LA suburbs or surrounding cities like Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc? I bought a home in Rowland Heights (just outside of Los Angeles) back in May. I bought it when I was 24 single, but I am 25 now and still single

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
It was just last year and I was 26 and single. I am still single if any of the ladies out there are interested in a home owner .

I live in Huntington Wv which for us is a pretty big city and its a nice little 2 bedroom house, large fenced yard, and 1 1/2 car garage all for $42,000. There are a few advantages to living in this state.

Damn, my down payment alone was more than that.

 

[Hoober]

Originally posted by: kt

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
It was just last year and I was 26 and single. I am still single if any of the ladies out there are interested in a home owner .

I live in Huntington Wv which for us is a pretty big city and its a nice little 2 bedroom house, large fenced yard, and 1 1/2 car garage all for $42,000. There are a few advantages to living in this state.

Damn, my down payment alone was more than that.

Yeah, the market here isn't any better. I can't imagine the house I could buy in WV if that's what you get for 42 grand.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: CurtCold
22 whhooo hooo, just signed the papers 2 months ago, nice knowing that I'm not renting anymore, and now my payment goes to something that I'll be able to call my own....

yeah the interst is soo tanagible! lol just playin congrats.

 

[Stallion]

We bought our house in June of 1994. She lived in it till we got married in Sept of 94. Sold it in late March of 1999 and then bought a new house. We did for sale by owner so we were able to negotiate it so we went from old to new over a weekend. Had our first kid 3 weeks later.

Needless to say wife didn't do a lot of moving.

We were both 28 when we bought the first one and 33 when we bought the second one.

 

[Johnnie]

i was 22..not yet married.
stayed in that house for 8yrs...sold it for $30k profit...moved into my mountain chalet now been here for almost 3yrs

 

[FoBoT]

married
26

 

[Ornery]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

The best deal is a fsbo fixer upper.

Very very hard to find. Most people know by now that they can make alot more selling their house if they throw a few K into some cheap enhancments. They get cheap double pane windows, paint the house beige and white, put ceramic or laminate in the kitchen, and throw up some plywood cabinets and bump the price another 20K.

Man, that's quite a bit of material and labor for that small price bump.

There are still quite a few houses that can be had for a deal. Sometimes a house won't move because of landscaping or decorating boo-boos. Sometimes, removing a lame addition or converting a "family room" back into the garage it once was, is the ticket. Widows die, leaving unkempt dwellings behind. Keep your eyes open and keep on top of real estate in your area.

 

[mithrandir2001]

28 and single when I bought my townhouse.

It makes a big difference where you live. Metropolitan areas often have much higher housing costs than secondary/rural areas. I probably could have bought a house several years sooner if I lived in Scranton, PA rather than outside of Philly. But it's my choice to live closer to "civilization".

You shouldn't buy a house just to say you've bought a house by age [xx]. Transfering property is very expensive so when you decide to buy make sure you plan to stay there a few years to somewhat recoup all those closing costs and taxes. During the late 90's boom, it was fashionable to brag about how young you were when you bought your first house. Now what if your dotcom income dried up and you had your property foreclosed?

I do think that by the time you are in your mid-30s you should own a house, unless your lifestyle requires renting a condo downtown or something.

 

[JC]

37, single guy.

Real estate is DAMNED expensive here in Cali

JC

 

[creektech]

24 and single. Now in my third.

 

[Eli]

I want to buy a house sometime soon.

There's not much point in renting, when that money could be going towards your own place.


Anybody know anything about that No Down Payment house buying plan by Carlton Sheets?