6 ms·

If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t until I was 30 that my wife and I had enough for a downpayment for a house. When I graduated, my salary was $40k. And

by afpx 8y ago

If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t until I was 30 that my wife and I had enough for a downpayment for a house. When I graduated, my salary was $40k. And, 3-bedroom houses, in my economically-attractive, but not extravagent, area were around $300k. Rent for a 2br was about $1000 / month, so saving $60k took quite a few years. Of course, several co-workers had well-off parents who bought them their first house (lucky them), but for many of us, we just had to pay off debt, and save, and save, and be confident that it would work out. It took a while, especially considering the two recessions, and it felt like it would never get better. But, it eventually did. So, although I don’t know your particular situation, I’m confident that people in their 20s today will eventually prevail. The difference is that the younger generation is enormous, and all of those people buying houses at the same time puts demand pressure on prices. But, it will work out.

tjr225 8y ago
Lol. My wife and I are 30 and we've still got 50k worth of student loans...
Aloha 8y ago
It does, I can afford about 300-350k, which buys me a postage stamp size condo. I'm 35, the nearest house I can afford is about 30-40 miles away - I cant touch something for less than 500k, in that radius.
CalRobert 8y ago
This comment kind of illustrates the knowledge assymetry. We're talking about people in their thirties. People who graduated in 2008 and were amazing candidates but couldn't get a job because there _were none_. People who were then passed up for internships in 2013 as things got better because every hiring manager who graduated in 2006 (with maybe 20 grand in debt easily paid off) or boomer (who had no student debt but even if they did could gasp discharge it in bankruptcy) reviewing CV's thinks "wtf has this idiot been doing the last 4 years; hire that fresh grad". Maybe they'll be able to afford a house when they're 50. Because paying off a mountain of student loans AND paying insane rent AND saving for a deposit (and god help you if you want children) has gotten to be basically impossible for a huge chunk of the population. And yeah, there are lower cost of living places. Hope your partner and yourself can find work in the same one. And that somehow they magically make your student loans cheaper.
- afpx 8y ago
  Thanks for taking the time to educate. I had no idea.
bla2 8y ago
> it wasn’t until I was 30 that my wife and I had enough for a downpayment for a house. Not sure if that's meant to evoke sympathy, but to me that sounds extremely entitled. I'd be grateful if I had a house at 30. Is it common for people around you to feel they deserve to own a house?
- afpx 8y ago
  Entitled to a house? No - I grew up poor, man. My single mom of 4 made less than $8,000 many years (Bet you didn’t know that, as recent as 25 years ago, some Americans still didn’t have bathrooms and full electricity). No, in my family, it was unusual to own a real house (as opposed to a mobile house). I had no entitlement. But, I also grew up in a place where real houses cost $25-40k. So, I’m a way, yes, I had some expectation that if I got a STEM degree, I’d be able to afford a house. But, a $300k house? No - where I grew up, that wasn’t even a thing.
  - bla2 8y ago
    Thanks for sharing!
- Aloha 8y ago
  there is a point when you realize rent is just a treadmill that keeps going faster.
  - tjr225 8y ago
    I live in a high rent area much like yourself and I don't necessarily agree. It's pretty affordable for couples like my wife and I- and we aren't running the risk of having to sell our house at a major loss if and when the housing market falls out due to whatever reasons. We're saving for a house while pretty aggressively paying off our student loans... but the flexibility of renting has been great.
    - Aloha 8y ago
      The issue that I have, is cost of living has been going up higher than wages
ataturk 8y ago
Oh man, I read this and realize how fortunate I was to never move to California! I've had it so good in the Mid-Atlantic and now the Midwest. My take on all things like this is if your plan is putting you through hell, make a new plan. Ageism is a thing here, too, but there are now so many Boomers retiring that suddenly companies have been eager to hire in a fashion I have not seen in quite awhile. I'm about to start at a Fortune 10 company and I'll be a Tech Lead at age 45 and we'll see where that goes. I've never been much for being a ladder climber as I'm fairly well off (not quite confident enough to FIRE yet) but working a lot of hours has never really appealed to me because of that. In five more years I'm going to go do something completely different with my life. One thing that 20+ years of working in tech has taught me is that the industry as a whole is a giant boondoggle--it's at least 80% hype. It's about greasy MBAs finding ways to make loads of money using the talents of techies while heaping on mountains of bs. I did work at a couple of startups in past years, they were okay, but one folded and another got bought out by Carl Icahn and I left soon after that as I was not part of the inner circle of people who made out well on that deal. I also tried my hand at starting my own business a couple of different times, but found that it's not for me--my ideas weren't that great and the stress of putting in all that work just ate me up. I'm not a Steve Jobs type of character and not good at lying to people. There were other issues, too: Patents. The world of IP is a minefield, and I won't say anymore than that. One of my colleagues from a past job made out very well with his startup, he created a DevOps tool that is very well known right now. I'm very happy for him and to have known someone who made it.
wonderbear 8y ago
The cost of college is going up dramatically. The younger engineers I've worked with recently often have six figures in debt starting out, and a lot of them went to state schools. They'll be paying that well past the traditional home buying age. Yeah, they could have made some different choices and only been, say, $60k in debt, but "it gets better" comes with some pretty big caveats for a lot of people right now.

by afpx 8y ago

tjr225 8y ago

Lol. My wife and I are 30 and we've still got 50k worth of student loans...

Aloha 8y ago

It does, I can afford about 300-350k, which buys me a postage stamp size condo. I'm 35, the nearest house I can afford is about 30-40 miles away - I cant touch something for less than 500k, in that radius.

CalRobert 8y ago

This comment kind of illustrates the knowledge assymetry. We're talking about people in their thirties. People who graduated in 2008 and were amazing candidates but couldn't get a job because there _were none_. People who were then passed up for internships in 2013 as things got better because every hiring manager who graduated in 2006 (with maybe 20 grand in debt easily paid off) or boomer (who had no student debt but even if they did could gasp discharge it in bankruptcy) reviewing CV's thinks "wtf has this idiot been doing the last 4 years; hire that fresh grad". Maybe they'll be able to afford a house when they're 50. Because paying off a mountain of student loans AND paying insane rent AND saving for a deposit (and god help you if you want children) has gotten to be basically impossible for a huge chunk of the population. And yeah, there are lower cost of living places. Hope your partner and yourself can find work in the same one. And that somehow they magically make your student loans cheaper.

afpx 8y ago
Thanks for taking the time to educate. I had no idea.

bla2 8y ago

> it wasn’t until I was 30 that my wife and I had enough for a downpayment for a house. Not sure if that's meant to evoke sympathy, but to me that sounds extremely entitled. I'd be grateful if I had a house at 30. Is it common for people around you to feel they deserve to own a house?

afpx 8y ago
Entitled to a house? No - I grew up poor, man. My single mom of 4 made less than $8,000 many years (Bet you didn’t know that, as recent as 25 years ago, some Americans still didn’t have bathrooms and full electricity). No, in my family, it was unusual to own a real house (as opposed to a mobile house). I had no entitlement. But, I also grew up in a place where real houses cost $25-40k. So, I’m a way, yes, I had some expectation that if I got a STEM degree, I’d be able to afford a house. But, a $300k house? No - where I grew up, that wasn’t even a thing.
- bla2 8y ago
  Thanks for sharing!
Aloha 8y ago
there is a point when you realize rent is just a treadmill that keeps going faster.
- tjr225 8y ago
  I live in a high rent area much like yourself and I don't necessarily agree. It's pretty affordable for couples like my wife and I- and we aren't running the risk of having to sell our house at a major loss if and when the housing market falls out due to whatever reasons. We're saving for a house while pretty aggressively paying off our student loans... but the flexibility of renting has been great.
  - Aloha 8y ago
    The issue that I have, is cost of living has been going up higher than wages

ataturk 8y ago

Oh man, I read this and realize how fortunate I was to never move to California! I've had it so good in the Mid-Atlantic and now the Midwest. My take on all things like this is if your plan is putting you through hell, make a new plan. Ageism is a thing here, too, but there are now so many Boomers retiring that suddenly companies have been eager to hire in a fashion I have not seen in quite awhile. I'm about to start at a Fortune 10 company and I'll be a Tech Lead at age 45 and we'll see where that goes. I've never been much for being a ladder climber as I'm fairly well off (not quite confident enough to FIRE yet) but working a lot of hours has never really appealed to me because of that. In five more years I'm going to go do something completely different with my life. One thing that 20+ years of working in tech has taught me is that the industry as a whole is a giant boondoggle--it's at least 80% hype. It's about greasy MBAs finding ways to make loads of money using the talents of techies while heaping on mountains of bs. I did work at a couple of startups in past years, they were okay, but one folded and another got bought out by Carl Icahn and I left soon after that as I was not part of the inner circle of people who made out well on that deal. I also tried my hand at starting my own business a couple of different times, but found that it's not for me--my ideas weren't that great and the stress of putting in all that work just ate me up. I'm not a Steve Jobs type of character and not good at lying to people. There were other issues, too: Patents. The world of IP is a minefield, and I won't say anymore than that. One of my colleagues from a past job made out very well with his startup, he created a DevOps tool that is very well known right now. I'm very happy for him and to have known someone who made it.

wonderbear 8y ago

The cost of college is going up dramatically. The younger engineers I've worked with recently often have six figures in debt starting out, and a lot of them went to state schools. They'll be paying that well past the traditional home buying age. Yeah, they could have made some different choices and only been, say, $60k in debt, but "it gets better" comes with some pretty big caveats for a lot of people right now.