Expectations vs. Reality of Homeownership

Is homeownership still the American dream?

Photo by Rowan Heuvel on Unsplash

I am a Millennial. I am 35 years old born in 1986. My parents are baby boomers — the generation of people who could buy a house right out of college and support a family of 4 on one full-time income.

I feel like my entire life, homeownership was sold to me as the ultimate “American dream.”

So, I spent my after-college adulthood saving money aggressively to be able to do the ultimate adult-y thing — buy a house.

I didn’t sacrifice everything. I still went on vacation now and then and hung out with friends and grabbed a drink.

But every time I checked my savings account, I would recalculate how long it would be until I hit that magical, mystical 20% number. The magical down payment number where you don’t need to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) and look strong when making an offer on a home.

Buying That Home

Two years ago, my husband and I bought our very first home. It’s a 3 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, NY. It has pretty much everything on our must-have list, including parking space, dishwasher, A/C, low-ish maintenance costs, and 2 bathrooms.