Introducing: Millennial Housing Diaries, A Series about Young People Buying Homes

A $3.2 million beauty in Dallas over which I lust and long, unlikely to ever afford. Optimism!

*The first profile feature will be next week, but I decided there was enough background and "takeaway"-style high points to warrant an introduction.*

I was convinced when I implored my Facebook and Twitter network for accounts of Millennial home ownership that it would take me weeks to find a couple. 
 
Much to my shock and delight, I received approximately 15 responses in the first afternoon. Not only could I not believe so many people my age have homes, but so many of them were willing and eager to share all their most intimate financial details with me. #juicy
 
For obvious reasons, the names of those featured won’t be included, but…just about EVERYTHING else will be. Here’s what I asked people to start:
 
Age and location?
 
Gender?
 
Do you have student debt?
 
How much money do you make? (If you’re married, answer for both incomes separately.)
 
How much did you put down on the home? (As a percentage, a total, or both.)
 
How much of the down payment was a gift from family and/or residual college fund money?
 
What was the cost of the home?
 
How much is your mortgage?
 
Interest rate (if you know it)?
 
What about taxes, insurance, and HOA fees?
 
What type? (Single-family, condo, townhome, etc.)
 
TOTAL MONTHLY PAYMENT = ?
 
As you can see, we really got into the details. After going through the process of buying and not pulling the trigger, I wanted to hear about those who DID--and how they did it.
 
A few major trends emerged, as you’ll see over the next few weeks of entries. For now, my plan is to highlight two different cases per article, paired in a way to show a contrast and illustrate different key points about the process.
 
One that struck me quickly was that every male who volunteered his answers was single and purchased the home by himself. Every female (except one!) was married or doing so in a committed relationship. It got me wondering… do men place more value in home ownership than women? Is there something else at play here?
 
Maybe single women who buy homes just don’t care if their experience is showcased on some rinky-dink blog. Imploring your Facebook friends to tell you how much money they earn and how much they’ve sunk into a home isn’t exactly a scientific polling method, but the contrast does bear noting.
 
Interestingly, here are a few other high points:

• Only two people of the 12 who answered made/makes more than $100,000 (in one case, both individuals in the couple made $100,000+, and in the other case, a single male made close to $150,000).
• The vast majority had help from family with the down payment (in most cases, at least half the down payment was gifted). 
• Pretty much nobody who bought a home had student loan debt, except for a few standouts who (a) had debt and (b) bought the home without help. Those profiles are my favorite.

Aside from satisfying your curiosity about how your peers are faring financially, you'll probably gain a lot of tangible takeaways. A lot of helpful details and advice came out of this, so selfishly, I feel it was worth it.

We’re going to kick off next week with our first Millennial Housing Diary about a single 24-year-old male who lives in San Antonio, Texas and a 25-year-old female who purchased a home with her boyfriend in Washington, D.C. 

See you later—same time next week.

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