Buying a house at a young age and how to buy a house at a young age is a topic I am often asked. Whether you are planning on buying a house at 18, buying a house at 19, buying a house at 21, or any other age, it is a big deal.
We bought a house at the age of 20 – there I said it. Most people think we are crazy and either think the house is something dumpy, that someone in my family pays for it, or that I’m lying (yes, I’ve been told that). I am often asked how I bought a house so young and what I learned from it.
I am especially asked a lot of questions now about what I learned from it since a lot of my friends are buying their first homes right now.
So, I’ll start off with a little background: Why did we buy our house at the age of 20? I was still in college, and we both didn’t have the greatest jobs. However, we were both working full-time and made slightly enough money. There are sooo many things to learn and know about before you buy a house.
We started living together straight out of high school (yes, I know I will be judged by some for this, but oh well, I am happy 🙂 ) and had lived together for a little over 2 years when we finally started looking at houses.
Now, why were we in a rush to buy a house? Well, we were really outgrowing the house that we were renting. The rent was super cheap since we were renting it from one of Wes’ relatives.
The house wasn’t bad and there was a huge backyard for our dog (we had just one at the time, but now we have two). However, the house was super small (there was no legitimate bedroom, our bed was in the basement) and then of course our neighbor turned out to be a psychopath.
Long story short, we moved just in time. Sadly, the person who rented the house after us ended up being murdered by the psychopath (our old landlord is Wes’ cousin, and he told us this). Probably too much information to put on the blog so I won’t say too much more. I will just say that we moved out at the perfect time.
We left the rental house as soon as we could because things were getting out of hand with the neighbor. We moved in with Wes’ brother and sister-in-law. We couldn’t live with them for too long, though, mainly because they had two kids (they have three now), and we had a dog with us! We just wanted to find a house quickly, and moving into an apartment and signing a lease didn’t seem worth it.
We gave his brother and his wife a couple hundred in rent, so we weren’t freeloading (we lived in the basement bedroom).
So there we were, on the hunt for a house. We knew we didn’t want to rent anymore, and at the time we kept being told that the housing market had bottomed and that prices would never be this cheap (oh boy they were wrong!). So, we found great deals on houses and there were a lot that we loved.
We found a house. It was a little above our budget, but still well below what we were approved for.
How to buy a house in your 20s.
Should you buy a house in your early 20s?
Not everyone is the same, but if you are interested in buying a house in your 20s, it is possible.
In fact, many of my friends bought their first house in their 20s as well.
Granted, we did live in a more affordable area (the midwest), so it was easier there.
I recommend reading Home Buying Tips You Need To Know Before You Buy so that you can be more informed with your first home purchase.
What is the best age to buy a house?
I don’t know if there’s a best age to buy a house – it all depends on you and your individual circumstances.
Related: What is the fastest way to save for a house?
Should you buy a cheap house first?
Some say that your first house should be a “starter home” but again, I think this is different for each person. Your whole life can change in just a year, so it’s hard to decide from Day 1 that you will be moving into a bigger house in a few years.
You may end up living in your “starter home” your whole life!
Is it smart to buy a house in your 20s?
Just like with any age, it can be smart of dumb, haha. You’ll simply want to be smart with your decision and all of the factors that go along with your decision (such as, can you afford the house!?).
Here’s what I would have changed with our home purchase and how to buy a house in your 20s:
1. The timing of buying a house young.
Even though everything worked out great for us, I’m not sure if I would have bought a house so young. We probably should have found another rental house so that we could have saved money.
Also, even though we are still together, I do realize that a TON of relationships at the age of 20 do not last, I am happy that ours is still going strong, of course.
2. Being more realistic.
I’m definitely not going to say that I made NO mistakes. We bought our house with the thinking that I would get a job straight out of college (I graduated with my undergraduate degrees around 7 months later, still at the age of 20).
However, what if I WOULDN’T have gotten this job? We most likely would have not been able to afford it forever. We had enough saved to hold us over for awhile, but we definitely couldn’t enjoy ourselves on the income that we were making (we had enough for expenses, but not if we wanted to hang out with friends or buy clothes).
3. Waited so that I could travel.
This isn’t a huge regret of mine, but I do always have this little inkling that maybe I would have traveled extensively if I wouldn’t have been tied down to a house.
Related: Mistakes I Made When I Bought My First House At The Age of 20
What decisions would you have changed with your house purchase? Tips? Do you already have a second house in mind like I do?
Living Free says
I’m totally inspired by your blog and what you are doing. We are planning to purchase an apartment and get the rental cash flow going. Remarkable blog!
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
Thanks!
Deanna Castro says
Thank God you got out of there! You did the right thing buying the house, especially now looking back because you are getting to travel anyway.
Young and Finance says
Definitely a good idea to buy young and it looks like it paid off for you in the end. Instead of paying a landlord’s mortgage, you paid your own…smart way to go!
Ashley Williams says
i appreciate your confidence which took you very high in young age. its really difficult to take 1st step which is your final decision then fulfill it as you want. Home buying process not so easy but your better research or knowledge can make it easy no matter in what age you have i have read your article which inspires me a lot
Ella says
Congratulations on buying a house so early. I bought mine when I was 21. Like you, I sometimes wonder if I should have travelled first as travelling is something I definitely want to pursue more of 🙂
Ari says
My question is in what city and state did you buy your first home? And where do you guys reside now?
I think this is doable based on the following:
1.) Live with relatives or rent a room from one(like you did). It will be less than what most pay for in the rental market
2.) If you are making above minimum wage, it is easier to save money if step no.1 is happening
3.) You are buying a home that’s not in LA,NY,SF or any other expensive metropolitan place.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
Our house was in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. We have since sold it and we now travel full-time.
Burt Silver says
I like what you said about the timing of buying your house and how you may be a bit young. I’m turning 20 soon and already thinking of buying my own house. I’m not entirely sure yet, but I’m looking into getting a real estate agent that could help me to find something within my budget that I can realistically afford this large investment.
Jon Wegner says
Michelle,
My name is Jon “Scooterjon” Wegner from North Dakota. I am a disabled guy with progressive Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed in 1991. My MS made me a paraplegic six years ago hence my nickname. Nothing works below my waist anymore but I still have my head, arms and hands working. I’m reading your makingsenseofcents and I’m so glad to hear people can make money blogging. I have a blog at scooterjons.blogspot.com. I’ve had that site for awhile and what a piece of crap but I didn’t know any better. I’m joining Bluehost.com later this week under your link.
My blog is about Multiple Sclerosis and I have alot of personal information. MS affects cognitive thinking in some people. In me, I have the attention span of a 3rd grader and sometimes I’ll have trouble figuring something out. I was trying to figure out some moneymaking ways today for my blog but I have a couple of questions.
1. What I would like to do is get paid for people clicking on a link or filling out a capture page. Do I want to put CPA, CPL, PPA or PPL on my blog? 2. Is MaxBounty a good spot to look at for potential moneymakers? If you have any suggestions I’m all ears.
Thanks alot,
Scooterjon
Paul says
maybe my reading comprehension skills are declining but. . . how did you buy the house at 20?
how much down? how did you get that together? how much mortgage? did you have a co-signer?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
We both had jobs. We only put around 5% down – so we paid PMI. No cosigner.
Leena says
For me the average age of when you should buy your own house is somewhere around 27-30 years. However, it is also dependent upon your financial strength, family size, and mostly importantly state the real estate market, if there is a boom in the market the prices would be extremely high then it would not suitable invest in real estate at that time.
Kat Carney says
Wait, how are more people not asking for more details about the murder?!?! What the heck, dropping bombs and then not giving more details! That’s legitimately insane that you moved out and the next person who lived there was murdered by your neighbor. Did you know they were crazy or did you find out when the person was murdered? Were you surprised? I have so many questions!!
Mariswari says
WOW! I wondering about this “Sadly, the person who rented the house after us ended up being murdered by the psychopath” is it TRUE ? it’s just like in a movie!!