• SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I didn’t have issues. Saved for about a year, nothing crazy, and asked for a loan. Now I own a nice two-story house about a 15 minute walk from the city center. I don’t really get this “buying a home is impossible” -meme, I believed that too before I actually tried and was surprised how easy it was.

    • travysh@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      When was that? Where?

      The house I bought in my 20s (for $275k, inflation adjusted) is now worth $475k.

      The house I bought in my 30s ($480k, inflation adjusted) is now worth $800k

      In my area at least, home prices are far outpacing inflation. I literally couldn’t afford to buy the house I’m in today at its current value.

      • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        Don’t forget, mortgage rates (at least in the US) are still the highest they’ve been since 9/11/2001.

        That makes it even harder to buy the now more expensive house.

      • The_v@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I bought my first house back in 2009.

        My monthly mortgage payments have been flat for 15 years now. I pay less than 1/4 per month that someone buying my house today would.

        Even though we make 2X what we did back when we purchased the first house (graduate degrees), we would still struggle to make the payments on our current place if I had to pay the market price today.

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The small city I work for in Texas has a median home price of nearly $3,000,000. The cheapest home currently available in the city is 1.8 million.

          The median income doesn’t support those numbers. How does that work? Those same houses were 1/5 the price 10 years ago, and 1/3td the price in early 2021.

          Areas with historically cheap housing are seeing house prices double annually, but wages aren’t keeping up because people who already opened a house 3-4 years ago still have a cheap house with 2-3% interest.

          A 400ft 1br studio apartment in the town I work costs $2,300/month. That would have gotten you a hell of a house 5 years ago.

          • marron12@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            A 400ft 1br studio apartment in the town I work costs $2,300/month.

            That’s insane. Not even 20 years ago, you could throw a stone and find an apartment for like $500-$800 in that general part of the country (TX/OK). Not a slum or a hovel, and not in the sticks. Just a normal apartment.

        • theuberwalrus@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not calling you a liar, but my parents’ house is half that size, pretty far from the nearest small city, also in the Midwest, and is worth almost 600k.

          Also, just saying people can just move if they want to own a home is pretty stupid.

      • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        A couple years back during covid, in Finland. House prices here have been creeping up as well but not as aggressively as where you have lived. I doubt that’s the case in all of the US, there must be places with more modest prices. I “downgraded” to a smaller city when I went from renter to owner, couldn’t have bought a home to my liking in Helsinki due to the prices.

        • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          in Finland.

          Well there’s the issue. Finland isn’t experiencing anywhere near the level of housing cost inflation of the US, Canada, and Australia.

          And cheaper areas in these countries are cheaper for very good reasons (they suck to live in/have no jobs available).

            • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              “Social services” can hold a wide range of stuff and arguably every country does have social services, but yeah it’s one of the nordic social democracies with an extensive social safety net in place. I’m extremely grateful for it, even though I personally don’t use those services (apart from you know, like roads and shit) and they get funded through my income.

              • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                Which means you are not spending monstrous amounts each month for private health insurance which shall only cover things after you’ve spent 10K

        • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Sure, just move to a place whose best restaurant is McDonalds, the available job market is K-Mart or construction, internet is satellite at best, and 4/5ths of the people think the gays are coming to steal their guns.

          • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I get what you mean, but cutting the hyperbolics out, it doesn’t sound too bad. You can’t have it all and I had to make concessions about a thing or two.

            As an amusing sidenote, the second worst thing about the town I moved to was the lack of mickey Ds. I have to resort to the Finnish off-brand trash version instead.

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                1 year ago

                This dude and the people upvoting him are braindead, just stop, they are never going to get that things are different in other parts of the world, obviously everyone just needs to move to Finland to solve all issues.

            • Lightor@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              That’s not hyperbole, that’s people’s reality. You are just so privileged and out of touch that it seems crazy to you. You have to make concessions about a thing or two? Well in the US those concession are not going to the doctor so you can afford rent. It’s not like people are just blowing money on BS.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            More importantly, there are no jobs in Cuntass, so you can’t even afford to live in that shithole unless you work remote

            • CurlyMoustache@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              To change the subject completely. I hope my country embraces the work from home option. Especially the public sector should experiment with this form of hiring. People living in all parts of our country is a political goal.

              • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I don’t know why southern or “cheaper” states haven’t embraced legislation guaranteeing a right to work from home when available. It seems like it would only be a boon to low-COL states to have a larger number of well-paying professionals in the state.

        • Lightor@lemmy.world
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          So when you said it’s possible to buy a house in your 20s you meant in Finland. Then you make a wild assumption about the US to try to justify what you said? Wut? Dude you are misrepresenting the situation left and right.

        • ironhydroxide@partizle.com
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          1 year ago

          Sure there are places houses aren’t insanely expensive, but they are generally many hundreds of miles away from where there are jobs available that may pay enough to purchase said house.

          Having lived in Europe it amazes me how many Europeans believe that because it’s still in the country, it’s not all that far. But if you compare directly a few hundred miles is usually in another country in Europe, where in the USA it’s more often still in the same state.

    • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      And you’re what’s called an outlier.

      I applied for a loan. I was told I don’t have a high enough credit score by the bank. So now I’m paying rent instead of a mortgage.

      • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Imma be honest, I’m not from the US so I have only a superficial knowledge of what a credit score is, but I’d reckon that’s something you can affect, no?

        • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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          Then why tf are you commenting at all???

          That’s like jumping into a support group and being like “damn that sucks have you tried not having that happen to you?”

          If it doesn’t apply to you why tf are you even here?

          • jmanes@lemmy.world
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            Seems like a humble-brag / flex / punching down to me. I don’t buy that they are totally ignorant to what they are saying.

          • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Just saying that despite the memes it’s completely possible for a normal dude to buy themselves a home. I believed the meme until I tried. The more people I get to try buying a house, the more people get to buy a house, making their lives better and landlords lives worse which is a great win-win in my books.

            Why fall into despair when there are things you can do to help your situation is what I’d ask you, knowing full well you didn’t answer the question I laid.

            • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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              The problem is that you’re being extremely naive and ignorant of the rapidly worsening material conditions the majority of people in the west are experiencing. Your suggestion that “there must be something you can do to improve things, why are you whining?” comes across as tone deaf and dismissive.

              People are struggling to keep their bills paid, and most are doing everything they possibly can to try and improve their situation, yet are still failing to keep their heads above water. It’s like someone is screaming “Help!! Help!! I’m drowning!!” and you’re screaming back “I’m swimming just fine, isn’t there something you can do to stay afloat? Why are you panicking?”

              • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                “there must be something you can do to improve things, why are you whining?”

                If the “why are you whining” part is how it came across that’s on me. I meant it more like, “there are always possibilities to improve upon your situation and that is always a better option than falling into hopeless despair which merely keeps you misery”. And no I don’t mean just get a fifth job lmaoo, but literally anything that’s reasonable and realistic.

                Nipping off anything off your budget so you can get 20 bucks saved a month is a better option than giving up on the dream of owning a house.

                Unionizing for a better pay to get 20 bucks saved a month is perhaps a bit more provocative option but an extremely healthy one at that.

                You get the jist. Like I said to the other fella in this comment tree, I’ve been reading into credit rating system during this convo and yeah I start to understand where the high emotions come from.

                • Lightor@lemmy.world
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                  That $20 a month you’re saving up dries up really quick when you get sick or hurt and have medical bills that can lead to debt. Most people in America can barley survive month to month, there is no saving. Not to mention saving $20 a month would take you 500 years to afford a cheap 120k house. You sound like someone who has never faced actual financial hardship beyond “I should eat out a little less”.

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  there are always possibilities to improve upon your situation

                  This is the fundamental thing you’re not getting: sometimes there’s just not.

            • Lightor@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You just said you don’t know the US housing market or what a credit score is but you feel confident in saying people can just buy themselves a home.

              Also the more people that buy houses the less supply there is, which means there’s more demand, so house prices go up even more.

              Yes, people can just fix it. And depressed people should just be happy. And sick people should just eat healthy and work out. You are beyond naive.

                  • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    You just said you don’t know the US housing market

                    Sources on this claim. Or, do you not find it hilarious that you base your opinions on stuff you literally made up? Like actual headcanon

              • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                You just said you don’t know the US housing market

                In this comment you state you’ve read my every comment, yet I missed this one, care to point it out for me? Throughout the convo I was looking for dope houses on the market, many of which were totally in the range of around 150k. That one guy bought a big lot for less than 50k.

                Anyway you sent like 100 comments over the night, mostly with points I’ve already addressed so I’m not gonna reply to most of them. I am perplexed about the perceived hostility towards me, surely your landlord is happy knowing full well their walking-talking rainy day fund is out there defending them and making sure the situation never changes. Buying into this doomer-propaganda is exactly what lets your Lord to live a happy and fulfilling life. Make no attempt to change it.

                But in all seriousness, I know how nice it is to crawl into misery and feel defensive when someone tries to nudge you out. I’ve never felt THAT defensive but despair is very addictive. I’m just saying that if there are things to do to improve you life and reach your goals, you are probably better off doing them rather than sperging out on randoms online.

                • AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  You’re being a cheerleader at the edge of rapids butthurt because your chant of “be aggressive” isn’t actually helping the drowning people feel better.

                  • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    a cheerleader at the edge of rapids butthurt

                    This reference flew right over me mate. Also, I never intended anyone to “feel” better, but to do better. A concerning amount of pro-landlord hysteria out here to be quenched, how people perceive it is really not my prerogative.

                • Lightor@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago
                  1. Never said I read every comment you made, I said “reading all these comments” which is very diffent.

                  2. I didn’t send 100, it was like 3. Yes you addressed them, just extremely poorly, so I called them out again.

                  3. I’m not defending any landlord, I’m just calling out your naive and uninformed statements. You even admit to ignorance on topics you’re speaking to. I own a house guy, I don’t know what angle you’re trying to play lol.

                  4. I’m not in any sense of despair, like I said I own a house I love. You’re problem is you assume, just like you assumed I have a land lord and don’t own a house. You assume people have just given up, you can’t even fathom the concept that it is unattainable. You have this boomer mindset of “if you work hard enough anything and everything is possible” which ignore reality and the very real obstacles it has.

                  • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago
                    1. Lmao keep dodging boy
                    2. I mean, considering you are literally making up claims, it’s hard to address anything without resorting to same
                    3. You’re only defending the stuff landlords want you to defend
                    4. I’d ask for sources on that too, but knowing you, you’d just say I said it without backing it up with a source.
            • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              knowing full well you didn’t answer the question I laid.

              They never answer the question you asked them, instead they just yell at you, telling you how bad you are for asking the question.

        • ironhydroxide@partizle.com
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          1 year ago

          Affect, sure. In the same way that one can affect having rich parents who support you, thus making it easy to be rich yourself.

          Being poor is fucking expensive, and the credit score system is a big part of that.

          • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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            The credit score system is the yoke upon which the millennial/zennial generation has been shackled while Gen X and Boomers ride the wagon of home ownership and comfortable living due to not having to deal with that bullshit in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.

            • Duranie@lemmy.film
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              I was born in 1971. I can’t speak for all of Gen X, but my experience growing up in the 80s is that I was presented with “everything’s fine, you just need to get a job and it’ll all work out.” So that’s what I did, and got nowhere fast. Married too early to the wrong person because pooling our resources seemed to be the only way out, then still struggled to get anywhere. Everything pointed to “I guess we’re just not trying hard enough.” Follow this with depression, divorce, working multiple jobs at a time to keep a roof over my head…

              I think plenty of Gen X were just on the the earlier edge of the wave that became what it is today.

          • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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            Idk if that’s a passive or active you, but anyway that level of effect sounds quite large, maybe folk should find ways to make their credit rating better.

            But I restate I have no clues as to the inner workings of this “credit rate” and if it’s indeed impossible or otherwise unrealistic to effect, I’m willing to grab an implied L on that one.

            • AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You positively affect your credit rating over long periods of time by taking out loans and paying them back. If no one will loan you anything, you can’t affect your score. If you can’t pay the loans back, it damages your score.

              • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                What happens if you don’t take loans at all before applying for a mortgage/house loan? You’re just at like a N/A rating?

                  • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                    That’s just kind of nonsensical, isn’t it better for someone to not have needed a loan before? To me that seems like the more mature creditor compared to someone who’s pulling credit constantly, regardless how well they pay it back.

                    That indeed does seem to suck, apologies for having to deal with a system as shit as that sounds.

                • braxy29@lemmy.world
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                  if you never take loans or use credit cards, your score won’t be very good. you have to prove that you can take on debt and repay it, not just that you can be responsible with your money (by, for example, never taking debt).

                  • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                    That sounds unfathomably stupid.

                    Yuh we need you to take these small credit loans constantly, to build your way up to bigger loans. Having to take small loans all the time is actually a sign of a healthy financial situation lmaoo

                    I mean if I’d have to choose between giving money to someone who’s never before had to take a loan vs someone who lives from credit to credit, I’d choose the first guy any day.

                • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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                  You have to take loans and make financially risky maneuvers to prove you can pay back the bank (which incidentally is covered by FDIC, unlike the average person).

    • Lightor@lemmy.world
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      I didn’t have issues so why would anyone have issues? Isn’t everyone’s life, opportunities, and circumstances just like mine? Jesus dude, really?

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      How much did you save in that year and what are your monthly costs?

      I plugged my numbers into a mortgage calculator while back and I’d have to save like 20% of the total cost to get the monthly payments low enough. I have an okay salary and I’m still not making enough to do that in a year.

      • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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        I can’t remember the exact figure, it was around 10k I had saved up, so roughly a third of what I had made that year. This was during covids lockdown phase, so I didn’t really have anything to spend my money on other than a savings account. My monthly loan payment is between 700-800€, I was smart enough to get a fixed interest rate which was ridiculous at the time but a literal moneyprinter now.

        • Taigagaai@lemmy.world
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          You might be interested to know that in the European country where I live this is completely impossible. No bank here will give a loan to a single person with that income and only 10k euro saved.

        • AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I know this may be difficult for you to understand, but a whole lot of people lost their jobs during Covid, and had even less to spend. That is why it was relatively easy for those with money to buy housing.

          Saving isn’t an option when your entire wage is spent before you make it, just to exist. Or when you aren’t allowed to work because of external circumstances.

        • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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          So you boght during a housing crisis where people were losing their jobs and the economy was in shambles.

          The average rent in America is $1700. Congrats on finding a house where the mortgage is half of the average American’s rent.

          • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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            Yes, but I missed your point unfortunately. Price of houses soared during Covid, I thought it was common knowledge. If anything I bought it at the wrong time.

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          Yeah, that’s about what the figure I came up with was. Oh well I’ll keep throwing money away on rent I guess.

          • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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            Alright mate, I hope for you to someday pass the obstacles in your way. Wishing all the best to you!

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                You didn’t mate, it’s all good, and I don’t consider myself successful for saving money for a year. It appears to have been on a bit of an easy-mode.

                Feel like emotions are high here, and I’ve been looking into this credit rating system during this convo and I kinda start to understand the emotions coming off.