Posted on 03/15/2016 7:38:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
According to personal finance site SmartAsset, fewer than 35% of adults under age 35 own a home. But owning a home doesn't have to be a far-off dream, even if you're still in your 20s or early 30s.
In a recent report, SmartAsset determined the best cities in the US for first-time homebuyers by looking at data on the affordability, mortgage availability, and stability of the housing market in every city with a population over 300,000.
For millennials in search of their first home, Oklahoma and Texas are going to be the best buys — five of the top ten cities are located in these two states. Read on to see which other cities made the cut, the average price per square foot of home in each city (from Zillow), and the percentage of loans that get approved in each city (from the Mortgage Bankers Association). For reference, the average loan funding ratio for major US cities is 69%.
We also included the median home prices for each city's metropolitan area, from the National Association of Realtors.
10. Fort Worth, Texas (TIE)
Loan funding rate: 73%
Average price per square foot: $76
Median home price: $206,200
10. Dallas, Texas (TIE)
Loan funding rate: 70%
Average price per square foot: $91
Median home price: $206,200
9. Louisville, Kentucky
Loan funding rate: 74%
Average price per square foot: $88
Median home price: $153,400
8. San Antonio, Texas
Loan funding rate: 62%
Average price per square foot: $81
Median home price: $192,100
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“For millennials in search of their first home, Oklahoma and Texas are going to be the best buys”
Ha, ha. You get all the Bernie supporters.
That's the first thing I noticed.
New York - The Vampire State
“What couple, let alone single person, under 30?? . . . . “
A single millenial who earned an engineering degree from an excellent public university with scholarships, some family support, and always a part-time job.
Graduated with little or no debt. Got the first job, started saving, bought that first house with excellent credit.
Happened three times recently in my own family. Watched it happened, applauded each time. Texas values.
Go there. Please.
Unless they own the land free and clear, nobody owns a home. The bank owns it, and can take it anytime they choose. I know people who have experienced it.
VERY HIGH. The neighbors on the left of us can't retire because of the high property taxes and they are very wealthy (a very mixed neighborhood of dirt poor and rich). The neighbors on the right side had to put her salary straight into an account specifically for the taxes. We have been hanging on for dear life the past few years because taxes take over 3 months of income. We live in an old small crappy house that's falling in on itself because after taxes, we can't afford simple repairs. I haven't had a dishwasher for years and am using a second hand washer and dryer that we've had to learn to repair ourselves. The A/C is on it's last leg and a BIL is, knock on wood, keeping it on life support. Every penny spent is squeezed and debated because the property taxes come first.
My part of Texas can beat that. I can’t find the numbers by counties but going individually off the tax records for down my street, most are around $9k to $12k. Thankfully, mine is one of the exceptions but it keeps going up the max 10% every year so it won’t be long. But we’ll have already had to move out before that. When we moved in, taxes cost 2 weeks of income. Today, they’re over 3 months thanks to all the Californians moving in.
But NJ has (relatively) cheap, full-service gas. So there’s that!
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