There is only so many times someone can open a property app, look at the prices, close it again, and pretend that did not ruin their mood a little. Because yeah, homeownership sounds lovely in theory, but the actual numbers can feel ridiculous. You know it, you hear it all the time, but tiny starter homes are like in the hundreds of thousands when they seriously should not be. These are not nice and fancy luxury apartments, but small, barebones homes people tend to get when starting up, and now they are too expensive.
But even when it comes to renting, well, even the downpayment for a home, the deposit alone can look like something made up to humble people personally, and that is before the mortgage calculator starts asking questions that even then feel hard to scary to answer. It all just hits hard; it all just feels like a giant punch to the gut, too.
And the worst part is that renters are usually already trying. They are not all out there throwing money around and wondering why a house has not appeared. They are paying rent every month, dealing with bills, cutting back where they can, watching grocery prices climb, skipping little luxuries, and still somehow feeling like the goal keeps moving further away. Just talk to anyone, or even just reflect on yourself and your choices here.
Since this whole idea of getting a house of your own just sounds way too far out of reach, is it though? Is there anything you can do to actually make this a reality?
Yes, It Goes Beyond “Just Save More”
People love saying “just save more,” like rent is not already sitting there taking the biggest bite out of the month. Which, yes, yes, it is, it used to not be this way, but now it is like that. People are giving lazy advice; well, boomers in particular are. Most older people assume that younger generations just lack discipline.
A person can be careful with money and still struggle to save a deposit. They can cook at home, avoid big purchases, share subscriptions, take lunch to work, and still watch their savings move at a painfully slow pace. Literally does not make a difference, groceries are getting more expensive, rent is getting more expensive, who knows what else could get expensive on the horizon?
The Whole Goal Needs To Be Made Smaller
So, it is best to just go ahead and say this: “buy a home” is too big to carry around as one giant task. It starts to feel impossible, because it is being treated like one huge leap from renting to owning, when really, the next step might be much smaller. Sure, Boomers had it easy, maybe Gen X did too, maybe Millennials in the early 2000s did, but that is probably as far as it goes, though. Basically, after that recession, it got hard, and then with COVID, it only got harder and more impossible.
But there are still some small things that you can do. It could be checking a credit report without spiralling. It could be finding out what monthly payment would actually feel manageable. It could be working out what deposit range is realistic. It could be researching shared ownership homes or other buying routes that do not require someone to have a perfect full-price deposit sitting there ready to go.
You might have to go the non-traditional route with homeownership, which might not be ideal for some people, but it is better than nothing, right?
The First Home Might Not Match The Fantasy Version
Which was just mentioned above, but it does not hurt to bring it up again here. You might not have the traditional route that you would want, which is fair. But maybe with the second home, you can have that fantasy version. For now, the goal needs to be just getting out of the rental market.
