how do yall save up for houses?

I'll just throw in my .02 cents worth.
Join the military for a 3-4 years and get out honorably. Get a VA loan that gives you 0% down, no PMI, and good rates. You only pay closing costs which can run anywhere between 5-10k depending on what kind of options you choose.
You're tax return should be as close to zero as possible. The goal should be for you to be in control of your own money gaining interest instead of the gov't having control of it throughout the year. You should be the one putting money aside....not the gov't.
I hear what everyone is saying about saving $100 per paycheck and all, but the reality is unless you're buying something that's under $100k in value....you'll never get there soon.
Everything depends on your place in life...to pay off, not to pay off, retirement, etc. The bottom line is, a home is a LONG TERM INVESTMENT!! it's not something you flip (as a first time home buyer) if you don't have the available funding to support it.

 

I disagree with the tax return part , Uncle Sam gets his money one way or another . It was nice for me to get the one big chunk , cause I don't think I would of saved as much if I split it into my paychecks .


And 100 is the minimum you should saving per week , if you have a girl friend or spouse she should be doing the same . Depending how fast you want to do it more then 100 each will defiantly speed up the process . Depends what your current situation is .

 

The idea that your tax return should be as close to zero as possible is correct, assuming you have self control with money. The Gov't is essentially getting a 0% loan from you when you could be using your own money to make money.

 

I have done what many here claim to have done themselves and I feel is the only way to own a home or own anything for that matter.

I had a goal I wanted to reach, which was to have enough for a down payment, enough to have a bit of cash in savings, and also enough to pay for some of the big items needed when moving into a new place (furniture, tvs, bedroom set, etc.)

I sold my then truck and purchase a single cab for ranger that i paid for cash and stopped going out for about a year or so. and by going out i mean No bars, clubs, and dinners.

I managed to put aside a good chunk of change for the area I live in.
I also sold my toys - a custom minitruck and a honda cbr.

I put my down payments on my house over 20% so i didnt have to pay PMI.
I paid for everything in my house cash - Washer dryer, tv- furniture - bedroom set etc.
I still had enough to have some in savings.
I bought when the $8k government refund check came so since I have an extra $8k to spend i decided to sale my ranger and buy myself my Tacoma.

throughout this whole life experience of saving and buying a house I got married and have had 2 kids. both additional expenses.

So at this point I have equity in my house and in my truck. So if anything in my life changes I can at least get out of the truck or house in the worst case scenario.

Sacrifice for what you want in life and you will get it - guaranteed.
I lost a few friends(not really friends) throughut this process and make some new ones.Life works itself out.
It does feel alot better knowing that you did it by yourself and with the help of your spouse versus being handed something.
I have had many friends ask me how I did it and I explained it to them as I just did. A few actually listed other just heard what i was saying and those are the people that are still not homeowners.

Best of Luck.....

 

Moved into my parents house after college. save up 15,000 in a year. I put it down on a 170,000 condo. The condo is now worth 330,000 after 2 years. Now Im going to sell the condo and use the equity to put down on a house. I bought at the right time. Stepping stone houses are a way to save the money.

 

i also live in the bay area, california. i saved as a kid. not willingly. my mom took every cash gift i got and wisked it off into (What i thought) was oblivion. i never saw it.

i got my job, and just started saving. my coworkers saw me in a BMW dealership and the very next day, sat me down and lectured me. (they were old chinese guys)..i didnt buy the M3 of my dreams and kept saving. my rent in SF was cheap. when i thought i was never going to get ready, my mom pulled out this savings account..

we got there rather quickly after that. i bought a friggen shack!! no McMansion for me. slow and steady wins the race. my starter home is turning out to be more of a long term thing. this real estate market is insane.

i love my mom. she saved my ass..wish she had told me what she was doing.

 

Cutting yourself off of TW should be the first thing for most

 

I bought a foreclosure, used the new homebuyers tax credit from the gubment as the dp. Now, through paying down my loan with a 15 year morgage and the increase in the value of the home, I have about 20k in equity, which happened in about 4 years time. Patience is key. 15 year > than 30 year.

 

Agreed, best financial decision you can make other than paying cash.

 

I was in the same boat as you. I was about to purchase a new motorcycle along with a new car after I graduated and my parents sat me down and put everything into perspective. It also helped that I received the $8k first time home buyer credit and put $12k down on a $78k home. All you need is patience and to purchase at the right time.

 

We got luck b/c my wife and I had ZERO debt out of college, she went to TX tech, I went to UNT. Both got jobs that pay okay and so before out son was born, we had paid off our vehicles and began saving for a house. We bought our first house in 2008, very small, nice safe neihborhood, had our son in 2012, moved earlier this year into a house that has room to grow into. Yes, it was a little too much house wise, but rates here were liike 3.25%, and the house itself was already on the market a full year so it was reduced alot. With rates at low as 4%, I wouldn't worry much about putting a ton down....that rate is worth borrowing as much as you can.

 

Some great advice on here.....the foreclosure idea is a great one if you have the patience and timing down. I'm not big on not putting 20% down since anything less than that gets you into PMI which is lost money. Saving money is the big part and I understand as a young person your first time out in the real world you want a new dream car and want independence....I just think living at home for 1 year (if you happen to land a good job near home) and driving that "10 yr old corolla" for the next couple years and not going out all the time could be a major starter for any young person.
I want you all to know how much respect I have for those who have posted on here, hearing the accomplishments of owning your own home or working towards it. It IS the american dream.

 

Live below you means, and make educated financial decisions.

I got my first full time job in 2005, I purchased my house in 2008. I knew I didn't want to be strapped for cash all the time, and be on edge financially. So while trying to learn and educate myself the ins and outs of home buying, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to buy a house only if I could have it payed off in five years.

After running some number I found that if I purchased a house with a 30 year mortgage and payed 2.5 times the house payment each month, I would have the house payed off in a little over five years after factoring in my savings.

My biggest factor in wanting to do this was the amount of interest I would end up paying over the period of a 30 year loan. I was looking at a homes for 225,000 with a 5.375 interest rate at the time. Over the life of a 30 year loan I would have ended up giving the bank 228,000 in interest.

By paying 2.5 times the normal payment each month I would move the final payment date from 2038 to 2015 and reduce the interest paid from 228,000 to just 46,000.

My wife and I lived like college students for 4.5 years but we are now financially free as Dave Ramsey would put it.

For anyone interested,
Bankrate.com has awesome tools, this was my favorite
http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/amortization-calculator.aspx

And bogleheads forum gave me some of the best information.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php

 

I have a 2003 Nissan Maxima that was the first car I ever bought 1 month out of college with 14k miles on it....now has 145k and going pretty strong. I figure instead of a super nice car, I'll keep her and booya, got me a TACO What's funny is even after almost 10 years, I absolutely love driving the Maxima around, 6 speed still has some gittyup.

 

War.

 

Rent a cheap apt in a bad neighbourhood but you'll need street cred or if you have the option to rent or live with family is another way to save. Single family detached houses in Toronto is seriously overpriced since 2008. In 2010 the ON province harmonizes the tax and as a result add 8% tax to all new homes and increase the demand for resale homes which then also increase those home prices too. There is no way I could've buy a new det house for my family with my income now and to make thing worse lots of multi-family are moving into these single family detached houses. Well that's another way to afford a house move in with another family.