re: The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage rises to 7.62%, the highest since 2000

Data

Starting salary for a teacher in GA around $24k late nineties.

There wasn’t a huge difference in starting job offers…it’s just as you grew in your career the upside in the private sector was higher.

My whole point is - yeah we can look at how mom and dads first house cost $25,000….but you also have to look at dad made $15k per year.

Understood although there is obviously a difference in salary from a new grad to a 10 year veteran.

That said, I agree that the top end of the pay scale has outraced the bottom end and has affected the cost of housing. However the potential to earn more now is a lot higher than it used to be as well.

I don’t know that it was EVER easy to buy a house as an individual fresh out of the gate in a single salary.

quote:

---

The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage rises to 7.62%, the highest since 2000

---

Punch a dem voter in the mouth any chance you have.

quote:

---

a vast majority of college grads can't afford to buy a house right away...that has always been the case...in my case, my wife and lived with parents for our first two years out of college and rented for two years after that...saved enough for a 20% down payment for a new cookie cutter home in the Dallas suburbs (Plano)...it wasn't an idea location (friends were mostly renting on the M streets and wife's job required 45+ minute commute) but that was sacrifice required to own a home.

I am not a financial planner but I do know that it take discipline and sacrifice to put away enough money for an adequate down payment and to spend wisely from month to month to afford mortgage payments (plus property tax and home insurance).

Expecting to buy a house right out of college is far fetched...and when you do buy, you may not live in the area you want to live in...

---

But don't you know that a college grad today deserves to be able to buy a 2,500 square foot house in a nice neighborhood right away! I mean that is what they think past graduates did, when that was simply not the case for almost all of us.

I'm in my late 40s and am just now starting to be able to breathe a little financially and I've been pretty disciplined my entire adult life.

quote:

---

It's all about income vs interest rate vs loan principal (cost of the home). Whatever happened over twenty years ago has to be reconciled to today's economy.

---

You think I was making in ‘97 is close to what I’m making today?

Yeah, housing was much cheaper, but it’s all relevant.

Definitely easier than now. Back then you mostly had one big monthly expense, mortgage. Now you have a mortgage, a car note, health insurance, and 17 kinds of mandatory insurance that are all mortgage sized expenses.

I did make those up…not sure what he made….but that first house was a stretch.

First house was closer to $35k and mom and dad both worked for the state. Of course that house was also after living in a trailer for a few years.

quote:

---

Your first home was a brand new 3000 squarefoot McMansion in one of the hottest suburbs in the country. How old were you when you bought it? 27?

---

28...six years of saving money. I wouldn't call Plano hot in 1998...there was a lot of empty land around us and further north in Frisco.

My point is that I waited six years to buy...and bought something far away from friends and job site...I bet people complaining about not being able to afford homes could afford homes further away than they want...is that fair?

quote:

---

I wouldn't call Plano hot in 1998

---

8th fastest growing city in the country in 1998. Over 200k people. Damn baw, be aware of your surroundings.

quote:

---

My point is that I waited six years to buy...

---

Is it reasonable for a 28 year old, even with aggressive savings, to believe they should be able to buy a 4 or 5 bedroom suburban mansion on a big lot?

trump sucks