Why I Don’t Think First-Time Buyers Should Rush to Catch Up
Every few months a new stat comes out about first-time buyers, and my phone lights up. The share of the market keeps shrinking... The average first-time buyer keeps getting older… Somebody reposts it, somebody else sends it to me, and the question is always the same one worded five different ways.
Am I behind?
You're not behind. There isn't a line to be behind.
I say that as someone who sits at closing tables all year. The buyers who do well are not the ones who moved the fastest. They're the ones who were ready. Ready is boring and it's specific. It looks like a down payment you didn't have to scramble for, a job you expect to still have in two years, and enough left over after closing that a dying water heater in January is annoying instead of catastrophic.
The buyers who have a hard time are usually the ones who bought because they felt late.
Rushing is expensive in ways that don't show up until later. It looks like stretching to the top of your approval and then having no room when the condo fee goes up or the assessment lands. It looks like buying the wrong unit in the right neighborhood, then selling in two years and eating the transaction costs on both ends. None of that shows up in the headline about buyer age. It shows up in your actual life.
And the milestone everybody is measuring against is not a real thing. The age of the average first-time buyer moved because prices moved, rates moved, student loan balances moved, and people are marrying and having kids later than they used to.
Comparing yourself to your parents at 28 is comparing yourself to a completely different market with completely different math. It tells you nothing about whether this is your year.
Here's what I'd rather you pay attention to instead:
Can you cover the down payment, the closing costs, and still have a cushion after you move in?
Is your income steady, and do you expect to stay put for at least three to five years?
Do you actually want this, or do you want to stop feeling behind?
That third one matters more than people admit.
If you and I sit down and I think you should wait a year, I'm going to tell you to wait a year. I would much rather give you that answer now and work with you when you're ready than put you in something that owns you instead of the other way around.
Being financially ready is the milestone. Everything else is just a headline.
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