You'll be fine if you keep your head. I'm 41 years old. When I was 23 years old in 2004, my first full time job was as a software quality assurance engineer, a

You'll be fine if you keep your head. I'm 41 years old. When I was 23 years old in 2004, my first full time job was as a software quality assurance engineer, and with that salary I bought a 2 bedroom house in an "undesirable" suburb right outside of a major population center. During the 2008-2010 recession I kicked myself everyday for not waiting to buy when I watched my equity go inverse by at least 33%. Today, a decade later, I have 3 kids, and this suburb has become a haven for young families with professional incomes. During all this time I very slowly built a 3rd bedroom and 2nd bathroom myself with nothing but 19.2v Craftsman tools. The building inspector was impressed. There's less than 5 years left on my mortgage.