Why You Shouldn’t Buy a House in Your 20s (Pros & Cons)

My husband and I purchased our first house at the age of twenty-four. When we signed the loan papers, the closing agent looked me straight in the eye and said, “You are the youngest couple to ever sit across the table from me. You should be very proud of this accomplishment.”

I remember feeling a rush of emotions as I sat there with loan papers in one hand and a pen in the other. It felt like we were jumping hurdles in a race that hadn’t started. We were buying a house in our early 20s, well before our peers.

As I signed those mortgage papers, I never questioned my decision. I thought about the financial impact of buying a home but didn’t consider much else.

I believed without a shadow of a doubt that buying a house in my 20s was a good idea. I found a mortgage calculator and ran all the numbers. Then I searched for the best mortgage rates and jumped in with two feet.

Two years after graduating from college, I signed the paperwork to buy my first home while grinning from ear to ear.

Buying a House In Your 20s

Five days after turning twenty-four, I signed a thirty-year mortgage on a detached, single-family home in a well-established neighborhood. It seemed like the right time to buy. I had an excellent credit score, perfect credit history, and a clean credit report.

Why wouldn’t I become a first-time home buyer? Buying a house in my 20s felt like a no-brainer.

It’s been two decades since I made that decision, and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the pros and cons of buying a house at such an early age.

Buying your first home in your 20s may seem like a great idea, but is it?

Why You Shouldn’t Buy a House in Your 20s

As a forty-year-old, what would I tell my twenty-year-old self? Should you buy a house in your 20s?

Would I make the same decision again? The answer is definitely no. For me the cons outweigh the pros. Here’s why:

1. It Limits Your Options

Should you buy a house in your 20s? It depends on the answers to the following questions:

• Do you intend to keep the same job or live in the same geographic area?
• What if a better opportunity arises elsewhere?
• What if you meet someone who urges you to move?
• Have you ever wanted to live in a different place?
• Are you in an advanced degree or Ph.D. program that might require moving to another country or state?

In other words, will you stay in the same place for a while?

If you want flexibility, renting is a better option than buying. This is especially true early in your career when you might switch jobs or careers.

Are your current goals in line with your future objectives? Ask yourself if this is where you want to live for the next three to five years. If it isn’t, then you should wait to buy.

Think long and hard about where you work and where you might want to work in the future. Long commutes can suck the life out of you. Make sure you don’t tie yourself to a house that keeps you stuck in your car.

2. Owning a Home Is a Huge Responsibility

Why shouldn’t you buy a house in your 20s? Owning a home is a huge responsibility, and it’s also incredibly expensive and time-consuming. As a first-time homeowner, I was unprepared for the home-buying experience.

Before buying a house, you should ask yourself one crucial question. Do you enjoy home maintenance tasks?

My husband and I bought a fifty-year-old house that required a lot of work and maintenance. Before buying our home, I lived in a group house. Back then, I was responsible for cleaning my 9-by-9 room and taking out the trash.

In my early 20s, I was unprepared for the work involved in cleaning an entire house. Buying a house might not have been so bad if we had purchased an updated home with new features. Instead, we bought an old house that felt dirty even after I cleaned it. The more I cleaned, the more I resented cleaning it.

In addition to interior chores, we spent time pulling down wallpaper, painting walls, mowing the lawn, pruning flowers, raking leaves, and shoveling snow. We worked crazy hours in our early 20s, and I hated facing a weekend full of chores on Friday evenings.

Reflecting on those years, I yearn for the carefree life I gave up. My friends called their landlords when problems arose. My husband and I investigated issues, tinkered with solutions, and brought reinforcements when problems popped up.

I wish someone had talked to me about the work involved in owning a house, the constant cleaning, straightening, organizing, and repairing. The sheer number of hours spent gardening, mowing, and raking. 

Looking back, I now realize I bought too much house. If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve skipped the big yard and flowering plants.

3. Mortgage Payments Don’t Provide Immediate Equity

Before we bought our home, relatives kept telling us real estate is always a wise investment. “You don’t want to rent,” they told us, “renting is just throwing money right out the window. Just swap your rent check for your monthly mortgage payment.”

In my early 20s, I believed them. 

But owning a house can be incredibly expensive. We couldn’t afford a twenty-percent down payment when we bought our house, so we paid PMI each month. We also spent $12,000 on closing costs. 

We threw tons of money towards our mortgage payments, but most of the money went towards interest. In the first few years, we were barely making a dent towards owning our home. Making those mortgage payments didn’t feel much different than paying rent.

Our home loan stressed our financial options, and we couldn’t spend money on travel or experiences. People say you build wealth when you purchase a property, but it’s a slow trickle to building equity, and those first few years barely make a dent. 

4. Owning a Home is Expensive

Do you have the money to pay for unexpected expenses?

My well-meaning relatives duped me. You can’t just calculate the difference between mortgage and rent. You must factor in property taxes, mortgage interest, homeowners insurance, and maintenance.

Maintenance costs add up over time. When you own, you are responsible for everything inside your house. When that broken dishwasher needs replacing, you’ll need to pay for it.

Before buying a house in your 20s, you’ll want to dig into your finances.

• Do you have an emergency fund?
• Do you have credit card or student loan debt?
• How much take-home pay can you reserve for your mortgage, escrow payments, and maintenance costs?

Run these calculations before you start looking for houses. If money seems tight, it’s probably best to wait to shore up your bank accounts before searching for homes. You’ll need to prepare for unexpected maintenance costs.

5. Closing Costs Add Up

Buying and selling a home isn’t cheap, and closing costs eat away at a large chunk of money before you even move in.

You often pay the first and last month’s rent when you rent a place, but that’s very different from plunking down a big wad of cash for closing costs that you’ll never see again.

If you choose to sell your house, you’ll also pay closing costs and real estate agent fees to get rid of it.

Those closing costs can force you to stay locked into your home. It’s tough to walk away from a house after you’ve thrown thousands of dollars into it. If housing prices rise, you can sell your house and recoup the money you put into it, but if prices are falling, you’ll have to take a loss.

5. You Can Choose the Wrong Location

Ask yourself where you want to live and what you enjoy.

My husband and I prevented ourselves from enjoying city life by purchasing a house in the suburbs. We could no longer stumble home from the metro or walk to nearby bars and restaurants.

I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed living in the city until I moved away from it. Instead of hanging out with coworkers after work, I spent a lot of time, stress, and money on our house, and I found myself paying a hefty mortgage on a lifestyle I didn’t love.

I craved a greater sense of community. I wanted to live in a place with block parties and backyard barbecues, but there weren’t any young people in our neighborhood. Our closest neighbors were in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. They are all lovely people, but in our early 20s, we didn’t have much in common with them.

Looking back, I wish I had thought more about location. Buying a house wasn’t bad, but buying a home in an older, well-established community was a terrible decision for me.

6. You May Not Pay Attention to School Ratings and Reviews

When we purchased our house, I was way too young to think about having children. At the time, we didn’t research the local school or read about its rankings.

Home prices rise in communities with good school districts. Even if you don’t intend to have children, it is wise to investigate local schools in your area. Remember that school ratings often fall over time, and once they decline, they rarely rise again.

7. Rising Home Prices Are Not A Guarantee

Despite what some people might tell you, increasing real estate value is not a guarantee. Please don’t assume that your house will continue to appreciate in the first few years after you buy it.

Historically, housing prices have risen, but that doesn’t mean they will increase when you wish or need to offload them. We lucked out in the timing of our first home purchase. Had we bought our house just a few years later, the price would have dipped below the price we paid.

What if we had lost our jobs or chosen to move to pursue new work opportunities? In my early 20s, I thought it would be easy to sell a house we didn’t want anymore. After living through the great recession, I know prices aren’t constantly rising.

Buying a House at a Young Age

As a forty-year-old with children, I’ve come to love my home, but I could have done without it as a twenty-year-old with other priorities.

My neighborhood is full of gorgeous old oak trees that provide a shady reprieve during long walks and bike rides. We live within a mile of three different playgrounds, and just a bit farther out is a robust public library.

My children attended a magical preschool a few blocks from our home, and our neighborhood lies in the backyard of a prestigious university. My children grow up watching football and basketball games at our alma mater.

What matters to me now didn’t matter to me in my youth. Looking back, I wish I had asked myself what mattered to me in my twenties.

The Benefits of Buying a House In Your 20s

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are benefits to buying a house in your 20s. Eventually, you can build equity, learn how to maintain your property and live mortgage free.

If you don’t mind housemates, you can rent a room and permit your new roommate to help pay your mortgage. If housing prices rise, you might even be able to sell your house for a profit one day.

Those are all valuable benefits of buying a house in your 20s, but I would encourage you to weigh the pros and cons before signing on the dotted line.

Buying a House In Your Early 20s

If I could go back in time, I would reverse my decision to buy the house we purchased. I might still buy a place, but I would choose a townhouse or small condo in the city.

I didn’t need a large, single-family house with three bedrooms and four bathrooms in my early 20s. I should have focused more on where I wanted to live and what type of neighbors I wanted to live around.

Buying Your First Home in Your 20s

I don’t think I made a mistake in buying young, but I wish I had thought more about what I valued. In my early twenties, I only worried about whether or not I could afford my first home. I didn’t realize how many other factors I should have considered.

I ran the numbers based on what relatives told me, but I didn’t perform enough due diligence on my own. Buying a house in my early 20s was a wise financial decision, but I don’t know if I would purchase a home that young again.

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