In other news (apolitical thread)...

[847badgerfan]

I bought my first townhouse before I went to Madison, sold it, and then bought a condo while I was still in Madison.

Hard work and determination go a long way.

[847badgerfan]

Indianapolis anecdote.

356 homes <$200K.

[847badgerfan]

Anaheim, CA anecdote.

90 homes <$200K.

[847badgerfan]

Gonna run out of anecdotes.

218 in Tampa <$200K.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Do folks really expect to come out of college and immediately buy a starter home?  No doubt some day, perhaps with parental aid.

Obviously, some factors beyond just salary are relevant.  If I'm a single male, I probably prefer to live in an apartment for a while.  If I have a nice salary, I may save up some and fix and credit problems and get a downpayment, and enjoy some time living in a nicer area than I did in school. 

What the data show is that folks are buying at an older age than 20-30-40 years back.

I'd say many don't want to immediately. I think a lot of them, unless they've got a fiancee or long-time SO, would prefer to live in a shared space with friends right out of school. I can see going and buying your own starter being incredibly lonely. 

But desire isn't the question. OAM is all doom-and-gloom that the deck is just stacked against everyone, and that there's no "entry level" available. 

Thus I think the question asked is, is it impossible? And just looking at one location (Phoenix), an average new college grad can afford to buy a starter property.

Obv they'd need to get a down payment together, but an FHA loan can be obtained with as little as 3.5%. That's $7,000 on a $200K home, and assuming no parental aid, if you find some sort of cheap living arrangement (cheap apt with roommates, just find any "room for rent" available, etc) and live cheaply you can put that together on a $55K salary fairly quickly. But while the search I had was bounded on the high end at $200K, there were a lot of units well under $200K, making it even more attainable. 

[FearlessF]

Jesus fucking christ.  I give up. 

Individual, personal experiences > meta data of millions of examples

yes, a single personal experience actually happened it's real >>>>>
that's way better than meta data that's pulled from somewhere down there to support someone's argument - it's not real

[bayareabadger]

Anaheim, CA anecdote.

90 homes <$200K.

Well now I’m curious, what’s the filter set to here?

[FearlessF]

I'd say many don't want to immediately. I think a lot of them, unless they've got a fiancee or long-time SO, would prefer to live in a shared space with friends right out of school. I can see going and buying your own starter being incredibly lonely.

But desire isn't the question. OAM is all doom-and-gloom that the deck is just stacked against everyone, and that there's no "entry level" available.

Thus I think the question asked is, is it impossible? And just looking at one location (Phoenix), an average new college grad can afford to buy a starter property.

Obv they'd need to get a down payment together, but an FHA loan can be obtained with as little as 3.5%. That's $7,000 on a $200K home, and assuming no parental aid, if you find some sort of cheap living arrangement (cheap apt with roommates, just find any "room for rent" available, etc) and live cheaply you can put that together on a $55K salary fairly quickly. But while the search I had was bounded on the high end at $200K, there were a lot of units well under $200K, making it even more attainable.

buy the stater home and get a roommate or two to pay you rent
then you're not lonely 

[847badgerfan]

Well now I’m curious, what’s the filter set to here?

[betarhoalphadelta]

Anaheim, CA anecdote.

90 homes <$200K.

Admittedly you have to be careful with those, Badge...

Those look like mostly manufactured homes on leased land. I did the same search and randomly clicked on three of them and the land leases ranged from $1600/mo to over $2100/mo. So the "effective cost" of those houses is several hundred thousand dollars higher, so even with higher starting salaries in the Anaheim area, they might not be attainable. And IMHO these are a much worse deal than buying a house/condo several hundred thousand dollars higher, as I don't know what the terms of the leased land are (is it fixed or can it go up?), and the money spent on the lease won't accrue you any equity. 

It's possible that some of the much lower cost ones I found in Phoenix are similar; I didn't look.

[847badgerfan]

I'd say many don't want to immediately. I think a lot of them, unless they've got a fiancee or long-time SO, would prefer to live in a shared space with friends right out of school. I can see going and buying your own starter being incredibly lonely.

To me it was the opposite. Girls and friends liked to come to my place because I didn't have any PIA roommates.

Another anecdote...

[FearlessF]

yup, roommates for the most part area a pain in the arse

[847badgerfan]

Admittedly you have to be careful with those, Badge...

Those look like mostly manufactured homes on leased land. I did the same search and randomly clicked on three of them and the land leases ranged from $1600/mo to over $2100/mo. So the "effective cost" of those houses is several hundred thousand dollars higher, so even with higher starting salaries in the Anaheim area, they might not be attainable. And IMHO these are a much worse deal than buying a house/condo several hundred thousand dollars higher, as I don't know what the terms of the leased land are (is it fixed or can it go up?), and the money spent on the lease won't accrue you any equity.

It's possible that some of the much lower cost ones I found in Phoenix are similar; I didn't look.

I looked into them. The stated "leases" for the manufactured homes are yearly and not much different than an HOA.

[jgvol]

buy the stater home and get a roommate or two to pay you rent
then you're not lonely

This is what I did.  Bought my first house in 1999 at 24 years old.  Paid 86k for a 1300 sqft, 3 bed, 2 bath, in a mediocre, but fairly nice area of town.  

Now, in honesty, the area went downhill kind of quick after Memphis annexed it after a few years. 

Bought a significantly larger, nicer home in 2006, and rented the starter home.