Nah because they can’t afford a down payment.
This. I was only able to get my first house after college because I did one of those “down payment side loans” and my folks gave me a couple grand as a kickstart.
Nowadays the only way I can afford a house that’s not smaller or on true shit condition is because I had 17 years worth of equity in my previous house and put a huuuge DP down.
It’s all a predatory vicious cycle.
First time homebuyers don’t need a down-payment in the US. But payments will be much higher so it’s usually out of reach regardless.
You do need a down payment, it’s just much smaller, like 3.5%.
Mortgage payments are typically significantly larger than rent for the first ten years. It takes a long time for a mortgage to start making sense, unless you bought in 2019, then it took like a year to double your equity.
Or if you bought in 2009, that was also a pretty good time to buy. (My mortgage was cheaper than my previous apartment rent on day 1, too.)
True. I have a friend who bought in 08, and it took ten years for him to not be upside down. He still lives in that house though, and it’s worth way more than he paid for it now.
I have another friend who bought in like 2016, and when the market exploded in 2020, he was able to get out from under his PMI.
No, the bank will not give me a mortgage because I have no car nor anything of value, don’t have enough cash, and they don’t want to take a risk. So I’m stuck renting apartments the price of a house. Capitalism is a wonderful system!
Here in Denmark it’s normal to pay 6 months rent before getting the key. (3 months rent plus deposit equivalent to another 3 months.)
However, the market here is very different.
1: I believe it’s very easy to get a bank loan for this. If they say no, it’s because you can’t afford the rent. (I could be wrong here.)
2: The contract isn’t locked for 12 months or so at a time. You can cancel the contract at any time, effective from the last day of next month. Also the contract doesn’t expire after 12 months, generally you live there as long as you pay for it.
3: Many other details that means that landlords aren’t the enemy, they provide a service for people who can’t or doesn’t want to own and maintain their own property.
That all sounds reasonable. Alas, such notions are not within my grasp. Still, good to know some pockets of humanity have adopted a semblance of “the needs of the many”.
