Op thinks we can afford a house by 30 if we go to college.
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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42 and counting… I actually have some small hope of trying to buy a house next year though. Not in my home of America though, it’ll be as an expat, and contingent on a foreign bank extending me credit. Not a sure thing at all, but… I’m hoping? There might actually be a path forward? Maybe?
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At least 3 years of only saving my pay to afford a shack. Still better than what Americans get.
Going to college doesnt allow you to buy a house at 30 either lol
It did the opposite for me!
NOT IF YOU DRINK THE STARBUCKS EVERY DAY.
I found a blurb that Americans spend an average of $22/week at coffee shops. That's nearly $1200 per year!
With a median US home price of $410,000 and a minimum FHA loan down payment of 3.5%, all you need to do it save that for twelve years and never have anything go seriously wrong in the meantime. Then you too can pay about $3300 per month for 30 years, ultimately spending nearly $900,000 for your $410,000 loan.
That's ignoring that the house prices are going up by more than $1,200 per year. If you save everything, you'll still be further away from owning a house every year.
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I CAN LIVE WITH THAT AS LONG AS YOU I CAN STILL HAVE MY AVOCADO TOAST.
Rather, it puts you in debt. And now you have even less power. We should normalize everyone being able to live and not force college on everyone. But also make it free/super cheap so people can attend if they want without having to suffer financially
you used to be able to afford a house on a single minimum wage job
maybe 60 years ago.
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This is why we need tiny houses, trailer homes, etc! We also need to get rid of these real estate corporations that are manipulating the prices of everything we need to live with, especially housing!!! :-(
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People have gone to college and still can't even afford a single home, much less, a suitable apartment spot.
It took an MS for me, a BS for my partner, choosing to not adopt children, five years of saving, a minor inheritance from an unexpected death, and the housing market cratering due to the pandemic for us to be able to afford a house that we absolutely could not afford now without making 150% of our current income.
All it took was accruing nearly $100k in combined school loan debt, plus over three times that much in mortgage debt. That's freedom debt! Murica!
or the job field is soo dismal , catch 22.
I went to college, I'm way over 30. Buying a house is a vague dream.
I got lucky and bought a house in 2015 at 28, I barely pulled it off with roommates, barely pulling it off now with a fiancé. There's no way I could buy a house now. I'm not even sure we could upgrade if we needed to.
something similar happened to my recently moved in neighbor, he thought it was because he had achild, no your PARENTS chipped for the house and renovations, you arnt paying for that almost 1.5-2mil hours on your own.
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going to college isnt a guaranteed anymore, at least not in the last 10years. unless your in tech,starting at 22yo yea you would be able to, but only if you did in the last 10years. maybe engineering, other stems not so much, let alone a job in that field entry level. most universities have very little resources devoted to lab work which are usually exclusively limited to specific PI of those schools, and they have thier own requirements. gatekeeped jobs for many stem fields, higher degree requirement despite what the job listing says, and the same goes for experience, honestly its mostly nepo hiring for half of the jobs anyways. Maybe NURSING, especially if you are going as a travllening nursing. MS/PHD puts you into too much financial hole. MD/LAWYer, well off people can afford it , because thier parents are usally well off to do it. hence why alot of mds and lawyers are often coming from wealthy families.
as most lower tier schools either dont spend resources or dont have any dedicated to developing peoples career track in the form lab/volunteer work.
I think this post should be home that you own. I'm going to say something controversial in that, in the US, I actually think houses should be expensive. I think a single family dwelling >1500sqft on a half acre or more of land is a luxury, and most people don't need to have that much land and space all to themselves. The problem is that that's ALL that's available for most regions in the US. The US is suffering from foolish post-war suburban centric zoning codes that prohibit building medium density housing ("the missing middle"). We need to change zoning codes across the country to encourage building up "gentle density" and mixed use areas, even in rural regions, because they use land and infrastructure much more effectively and efficiently. They raise more revenue for towns while bringing down home prices. If everyone had the option to buy a place of their own <1000sqft with a small land footprint, I don't think there would be as much dissatisfaction with not being able to afford a "house".
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You shouldn't have to work to be able to live, period.
The right to live with dignity should not be dependent on productivity.
Anyone working full time should always be able to easily provide for themselves and a "reasonable size" family.
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You don't need to. All you really need is to go for a walk in your desired neighbourhood, find a house you love, knock on the door and introduce yourself. Ask any questions you have about the property, then kill the occupants, flay them and wear their skin as your own as you lead your new charmed life, for as long as you can.
if you go to college you can't even afford to pay for it by 30.
Im glad i bought my home 20 years ago..... no way i could afford a 3-2 at todays going rate.
I blame all the house flipping shows. Made everyone think they could buy a house, paint it, then resell for 100k more.
Shit, I'd agree if companies like Blackrock didn't exist.
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Exactly! Learn a good profession like electrician, woodworker, furniture making… any kind of profession where you can create beautiful products and services customers love.
When we're at school the teachers never actually take the time to talk about:
- what non-university educated careers
- what they involve
- how to pursue trades based jobs
And it's weird, because I'm sure everyone would love to at least dabble in woodworking or some other form of craftsmanship. But they don't get the chance to.
The school-university pipeline works for a lot of people, but I don't think uni straight after school is the ideal situation for most people. It means we lose sight of what education is actually for, outside of progression to further qualifications
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You don't. None of my highly educated friends own a house while the ones working in trades do.
Where they give you houses for going to college? Did I missed a promotion?
if you a rich person yea, you can guaranteed to have a house because your parents are paying.
Since you said "house" I'm going to push back a little bit. Housing is unaffordable and we should address it but single-family homes are not a feasible solution for a lot of places and situations.
The only people I know with houses are the ones with rich parents and it doesn’t matter if they went to college or not.
Should go to trade school instead.
And build your own shelter with the results.
we shouldnt have to afford a house