I feel bad for Boy trying to start his life out right now with the housing market here in Austin being as crazy as it is. He does have some potential for growth and that is going to be a lifesaver, but what about the majority of people, how are they going to get along? I started looking around, I hadn't paid attention, mostly because I am happy in my house, other than wanting some waterfront retreat, and wow, even regular neighborhood houses are starting to head into outlandish territory.
First off, he just started his first professional job and because he is still taking classes, he is not making a full engineer's salary, but he is up around $50k I believe, when multiplying his hourly rate times 40 and stuff. He looked into it and that qualifies him for a house of about $200,000. This sounds good and five years ago would have given him choice to almost any part of town. Nowadays, I am really not seeing many houses under $300,000. The one neighborhood on Zillow that advertises houses in the $210,000 range is in Buda, near Cabela's so we went last week and the realtor lady simply said "Zillow is off..", their starting prices for the cheaper builder was $275,000 and that is before adding any options, so really $300,000 is more real.
The only real solution I see is to either go farther out from Austin or look for something older that needs some fixing up. He has seen an occasional house here and there, in San Marcos or in Lockhart, but even those have gotten picked up quickly. He still needs to save money and we are in no rush for him to move out, we like having him close by, we get to see him even if he doesn't hang out with us. The longer he waits though, is only going to be met with even higher housing prices, I am afraid though.
His friend is building a "tiny house" on his parent's property, they live out in the country, so that is his solution. DD and his new wife said they were going to look into getting a mobile home after they live in an apartment for awhile. I think it would be cheaper for him to save money and stay with us for another few months, but they want to live married life alone, so more power to him. I don't know what else people can do. Last I talked to Girlie, she is looking at getting an apartment with a girlfriend of hers, but whew, paying $1200-$1600 for a two bedroom is way too much and that probably doesn't include utilities, internet, washer/dryer. Life is expensive, but I guess we all have to find a way to function by ourselves.
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