[quote author="roundcorners" date=1237799532][quote author="kwong7" date=1237592341][quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1237582441][quote author="kwong7" date=1237563401][quote author="bkshopr" date=1237539285][quote author="kwong7" date=1237537925]Interesting opinions. My sister explained to me that in the old school Chinese philosophy (pre gen-x), one doesn't own a house unless it's paid off. I can't help but feel like things would have ended up better for people if they factored their financial positions based on cash/assets, rather than credit/leveraging. I agree that there was a good amount of peer pressure for folks to buy a home (or several) rather than rent. I personally know people of all ages who got in over their heads overextending during this housing/credit mess. For my co-workers (age 24-40), they felt like they had to buy a condo/house just to keep up with everyone else. On the other hand, my parents-in-law saw it as a means to retire and got greedy trying to hold onto 3 properties using the appraised equity from one to buy the other.
I think a lot of people got their hands burned and are hesitant to get in line for another mortgage. Others saw people getting burned and want to stay the hell away. My wife and I had the option to buy with a NINJA loan (Lennar rep literally said to make up an income), but we decided to rent and pay off some of her $240,000 student loans first.
I don't know which age group of current renters will make the first move to purchase, but we might make the move in the fall...when our lease expires. Unfortunately, we don't qualify for the tax credit on the stimulus package. I guess Uncle Sam will be getting a little more than we planned. BTW, we're in the age 25-30 group.</blockquote>
Did she just finished her residency? Why were you interested in CityPlace?</blockquote>
Nice guess, but the debt is from UCR (undergrad ~5%), USC (law school ~75%), and LSE (LL.M ~20%). She's all done and this will be her first full year of work. My wife and I both grew up in and around Huntington Beach. I've become very comfortable with OC, but my wife loves the city. In her 25 years, she's found programs and internships that led her to DC, NYC, SF, and London. Coming back to OC and getting married entertained the idea of buying a live/work loft or something sort of like it, hence CityPlace. Unfortunately when we house hunt, there always seems to be at least 3 major things wrong with either the build quality/design/neighborhood/HOA that has kept us from loving any particular property. Over the past 3 years, we've considered Lennar's Santiago Street Lofts, Olson's SOCO Walk, Olson's Depot Walk, Harbor Lofts, and CityPlace.
In the end, we've given up on the idea of the new sub-"urban" style and will likely go with a single-family home in the South Coast Metro area or Costa Mesa. As long as I have a garage, big kitchen, and garden I'll be happy. My wife wants a dog friendly home, steam shower, and a huge live-in closet. Of all the above properties, CityPlace came the closest.</blockquote>
Which part of HB did you guys grow up in? I grew up in HB off Bushard/Atlanta for about 20 years and went to Edison HS before I got shipped off to Mater Dei.</blockquote>
I grew up in the harbor, my wife grew up right by the old Huntington Center. I went to Marina and she went to Ocean View. As juvenile as it sounds, we first met at the mall ten years ago! To humor ourselves, we went back to the Westminster Mall to have our 10 year date anniversary mall date...yes, we did go to Cinnabon.
Now to stay somewhat on topic with the original theme, I'd like to comment on most of my peers (me included) are neither professionally nor academically where we'd like to be. Half of our friends are in grad school and the other half are trying to work their way up. This definitely impacts their decision and ability to buy a home. Honestly with the relatively low wages, high cost of living, and expense of lifestyle choices, I don't see how most in the 25-30 age bracket can own a home without help. I can only think of ONE friend who owns a house in Lake Forest who didn't receive any help from family (she's cut all ties with all relatives since high school) nor has any housemates to help with the mortgage...but then most 28 year olds don't make $240K a year and live a relatively frugal lifestyle.</blockquote>
kwong7, hello there welcome... You touched upon something I've been interested in lately which is parental help... How many of your peers recieved parental help to buy their primary residence? How much would be appreciated if you know! Good luck...</blockquote>
Three friends (ages 26-32) have received help from their parents/grandparents in varying amounts from 10-25% of the downpayment. All three pairs of parents strongly encouraged their offspring into homeownership; one mother sounds like she's using her son's house (whom she helped) as a means of tax avoidance. Two friends have housemates paying rent to help hedge the mortgage payments (these friends are smart to refuse to be burdened by a cash sucking mortgage). Most of my peers are renters with roommates and half would like to be homeowners in the next 10 years; the other half are completely content with renting.
*Interesting situation
One friend received an interest-free loan for 15% of her downpayment last year from her half-billionaire ex-boyfriend (he offered to pay for the whole thing, but she didn't like the principle of it). She makes good money as a CPA but decided not to sacrifice a dent to her lifestyle so she found a condomate to split the monthly mortgage (yep she totally wins since she's gaining equity and gets the tax deduction).
*On the other hand
One thing to note, I have 2 friends who are married and chose to move back home with their parents to help their parents from losing their homes. One friend's parents separated a year before my friends married. Their dad/father-in-law was left with a refinanced house with just about zero equity and lost half of his steady income (his ex-wife). My wife and I will likely take in her parents and her sister as a consequence of their overexposure to the real estate crisis. Since last fall, my wife and I have been helping them with cash each month under the condition that they cut-and-run from all properties except their live-in property.
So to sum it up, about 4/7ths of my homeowning friends received help from their parents/grandparents (the one who didn't is completely estranged with all her relatives). One friend got help from her wealthy ex. A married couple decided to sacrifice their plans and chose to help support their dad. My wife and I rent but might purchase a large home to share with her family. Most of my friends are renters and half would like to own by 2019. Reluctantly profiling our local friends, 65% are from various asian descent, 15% european/middle eastern descent, 15% hispanic descent, and 5% black. In fear of being a bad friend, I hope I didn't leave anyone out.
