כ״א אלול ה׳תשפ״ו | September 2, 2026
Five Years of Saving, and We’re Still Nowhere Near a House
“My husband and I have been renting since we got married, saving up to buy a house the way everyone tells you to. Five years in, we sat down and counted what we have. $50,000. It’s not even a real down payment.”
By Bracha Cohen
My husband and I have been renting since we got married, saving up to buy a house the way everyone tells you to. Five years in, we sat down and counted what we have. $50,000. The house we’re looking at, a normal house, nothing fancy, is $600,000.
$50,000 sounds like a lot until you try to use it. It’s not even a real down payment on a $600,000 house. And the mortgage on what’s left would cost more every month than our rent, and our rent is already more than we’re comfortable paying.
So somebody explain that gap to me, because I did everything I was told and I still feel like I’m missing a step.
No vacations. No eating out, not even a slice on Kingston that we pretend counts as going out. Same car for six years, the one with the door that only opens from the outside if you know the trick. We did all of it, and we still landed on $50,000. I was almost proud for a second. Until I looked up what houses cost.
Last week, at a wedding, someone who’s owned his house about two years came over by the smorgasbord and told me I should really try to buy before prices go up more. He said it like he was telling me to take the highway instead of local streets. A little tip. On the house.
With what money?
Nobody who says that line ever explains the next part. They say it, feel like they’ve done their good deed for the day, and go back to the smorgasbord.
The Rebbe was clear that a family should buy, not rent, and that going into a normal amount of debt for a home is nothing to be ashamed of. Fine. I believe that. I will never argue with what the Rebbe said.
But what did “a normal amount of debt” mean back when five years of saving got you a down payment? Because $50,000 against $600,000 is not a normal amount of debt. That’s a mortgage broker calling it “a great start” with a straight face.
A great start toward what? Another decade of saving, while tuition goes up every year, rent goes up every year, and everything else goes up every year, a little faster than our raises do.
Nobody sat the community down and said, listen, home prices are about to double and salaries aren’t, so maybe we should update the save-and-buy speech we give every couple under the chuppah. It just happened, quietly, over about fifteen years, while we kept handing the next couple the exact same script like nothing had changed.
We tell people this is a discipline problem. Save more. Cut more. Wait longer. As if the thing standing between us and a $600,000 house is one less iced coffee run.
I’m not asking anyone to feel bad for me. I’m asking a real question, not another wedding tip: we’re still telling young families to save for a house the way people saved a generation ago. Their five years got a down payment. Ours got $50,000 and a house that costs twelve times that.
So what exactly are we expecting young families to do?
COMMENTS
Crown heights is not in the price range for someone like tou.
Sorry to say it, but someone with your budget will do much better elsewhere, like Kingston, monsey or even Florida.
Your kids will have a much better quality of life than in a shoe box in crown heights
funny joke
Brownsville is your answer the community is small, but the house prices are decent.
Unfortunately you are not the only one. There are many families that have the struggle as you. Unfortunately we live in a community where greedy real estate brokers have inflated the prices.
As a first time home buyer $50,000 can be more than enough if you can prove that you have a debt to income ratio to comfortably cover the mortgage. You may need an investment loan where you rent out a basement to help that debt to income ratio. You may also need to explore passive streams of income to help that debt to income ratio. Or like the other comment said, you may need to look in a market that your income can afford. You are also able to shop for brokers/lending companies search for foreclosures etc. I’m not sure if there’s any podcasts or books you read but there’s a plethora of information to improve financial literacy. People make it work in a million ways, but it takes creativity and consistency past savings. I’m sure the discipline you’ve built saving that sum will stand you in very good stead for the next steps.
I’m so impressed you saved up $50k in 5 years. That’s incredible!
With such determination, I really believe a $600k home isn’t too far away. Before you go to mortgage brokers, I think someone who has been there and done it in your bracket will be able to give you realistic plans how to purchase and manage beH.
Hatzlacha Raba!!
Amazing what you have saved! I’ve learned that big things happen from consistent small steps over many years.
I’ve also learned that all the good things in life come through Nissim and Brachos from above. Yes, we continue trying and working towards the goal, but calmly and patiently because all good comes from Hashem not from teva or from things that make sense. for Hashem 1+1 does not equall 2. It equally way more.
I’ve found when I look out for the Yad Hashem in my life I see the Nissim constantly and this is what gives me the chizuk to keep going and frankly to also receive the good things that we all daven for.
May you see an open miracle in this thing, as well as in all other parts of your.life.
this is the only way to live that works
What neighborhood are you looking to be in?
You are describing a very inflationary environment. You are saving and saving, yet home prices keep outrunning your savings. You are doing everything right but the Federal Reserve keeps printing more money thus devaluing your blood, sweat and tears.
If you want your savings to maintain (and even grow) it’s original buying power you have to save in Bitcoin.
I wish you much success
-Gil
So volatile and risky for short term savings
When I bought a house I had zero money saved up. Yes- exactly 0. I borrowed and fundraised from family and friends and bought a house BH. I paid off the money I borrowed over a few years with my tax returns. By now my house is worth much more than when I bought it, and my mortgage is much less than rent for a similar house costs.
It’s not an embarrassment to raise funds for buying a house, everyone respects it and I got a lot of support.
Today you must invest. Even in something as simple as the S&P 500. There are many books and classes on this.
Just saving won’t get you very far.
Also try borrow from family and friends for the down payment.