Realizing the Dream of Homeownership
So Melinda over at Anything Said just waxed eloquent about the financial challenges we secure-but-not-rich-or-anywhere-close-to-rich twentysomethings face. Melinda, unlike me, balances her checkbook on a regular basis. I haven't balanced my checkbook since the fourth grade, when we did a banking unit in math class, and did a simulation with fake checks and checkbooks.
Now, when I write a check, I (usually--but not always) scrawl the check number and the expense on the back cover of the checkbook. When I make a deposit, I save the receipt and then stuff it into my wallet in moments of faux-fiscal-responsibility, until I do a purge and tear up the receipt along with grocery store coupons. I have a Roth IRA and some kind of mutual fund thing, but I recycle the statement every month and haven't got the faintest notion of how much--or whether--the funds are growing--or, perhaps--plummeting into the depths of wherever mutual funds plummet. I really have no idea. And yes, I have an MBA, and yes, by some miracle I got a B in Corporate Finance, but it was taught by a very inept professor and it was so mind-numbing that I didn't pay attention.
I do, however, have a point, which is that, despite my financial disorganization, I have a long-term asset-building goal, which is to Realize the Dream of Homeownership. I am taking a homebuying class, in order to work towards this goal and qualify for special first-time homebuyer financing. The class is inconveniently located, and lasts from 6-9:30 once a week, which is a long time to talk about PMI and Points, especially if you're working at Houseware Heaven two other nights a week and your "real" job is kicking your ass. I am still completely mystified by pretty much all the course content, even though I've attended the first class and other workshops, and even though my co-worker, who is a realtor, talks about homebuying all the time.
In fact, he sends me daily e-alerts about homes for sale in my area. Most of the 1BR homes are going for around $300K, and the one take-home message from pretty much everything I've learned about homeownership is that it's really, really expensive.
I make a decent living. I have no credit-card or other debt. I live pretty simply. And yet there is no way--no way--that I can afford to buy even a crappy condo in the Cool Area where I reside. Even with special first time homebuyer financing, and a soft second mortgage, and even if some Swiss bank account materialized to fund a hard-core down payment, my monthly payments would still be obscene.
I have several friends who are homeowners, and a handful that are "looking to buy." I absolutely can't fathom how they manage ... until I consider that they, like everyone on the planet except me, are in committed relationships, and therefore have twice the buying power that I have. If I had met my husband already, and he earned as much or more than I do, we could swing a crappy condo in the Cool Area where I reside. Either way, it would be an obscene amount of money to spend on housing, because Boston's is the single most expensive housing market in the country.
But it would be possible, as are many good things that come with committed relationships, things that are out of reach for bitter-but-hopeful-and-wistful single people like me.
So they should just be real on the first day of the homebuying class. They should send home all the single people, or have a special class for them so they can meet each other, get married, and have a shot in hell at realizing the Dream.
Posted by Dori at 7:46 AM
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