How to cope with insanely high house prices and interest rates
Skyrocketing home prices and high mortgage rates make purchasing property feel unviable and depressing even with a down payment, trapping prospective buyers in endless renting. Without a way to buy, people lose out on gaining equity in an asset they use daily while struggling to find alternative investments that build value over time.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1continuing to rent and investing surplus savingsDid this help you?
- 2moving to a more affordable region or out of stateDid this help you?
- 3buying a less desirable home or a property in a cheaper adjacent townDid this help you?
- 4waiting until later in life to purchaseDid this help you?
- 5Investing in traditional index funds or retirement accounts instead of real estateDid this help you?
- 6Renting and investing the cost savings into alternative wealth-building vehiclesDid this help you?
- 7Focusing entirely on paying down existing credit card debt before building long-term investmentsDid this help you?
- 8Keep living in parents' house for two more years to see what happens with careerDid this help you?
- 9Upskill in other IT areas to gain job securityDid this help you?
- 10Consider buying a house in a preferred location without factoring in nearby job opportunitiesDid this help you?
- 11Invest a small portion of savings in medium-risk stocksDid this help you?
- 12Searching for alternative living spaces or accepting higher costs.Did this help you?
- 13relying on parents to buy a house in cashDid this help you?
- 14moving to other cities that are more affordableDid this help you?
- 15Renting out the current home and becoming landlordsDid this help you?
- 16Renting a co-working space or separate officeDid this help you?
- 17Building an addition or a separate backyard building for a home officeDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Starter homes are suposed to be the small, cheap ones you buy first and grow out of, Now every listing called a starter home is half a million dolars for two bedrooms and a yard the size of a parking spot”source ↗
“if the entry point is 500k, what exactly are people starting with”source ↗
“At this point, I'm old enough that buying doesn't seem like a viable alternative to renting, unless there is some catastrophic meltdown of the housing market in the future I just won't be able to buy, I can't even afford mortgage payments at the current rates.”source ↗
“If I can't buy property, I don't have a way to gain equity in something that I also use every day (housing) and there do not seem to be any real alternatives here.”source ↗
“I don't know of any good investment options that both meet a daily or regular need and gain value over time.”source ↗
“I want to buy a house, but I am scared; what would you do in my situation?”source ↗
“Housing in these two cities is very expensive; we are talking about around 250k for a one-bedroom apartment or 350k for a decent two-bedroom house. I am afraid of not being able to afford the housing soon.”source ↗
“My wife is pregnant and we both work out of our house running our own businesses. We really want more space, which would cost us $650,000 for a 2,000 square foot house, and with today’s nearly 7% interest rate we‘d be doubling our mortgage payment to almost $4k a month.”source ↗
“Should we rent out our current house until the market comes back around and we can get more from the investment, or just sell it and barely make a profit.”source ↗
“I'm asking this cuz the housing search is so tortuous (and of course expensive) and I'd take tiny, clean, and boring over large, comfortable, and unique any day of the week.”source ↗
“My dad passed and I inherited his house, it’s not in an area I’d like to live so I’m going to sell it. I realized I’d have a ton of money for a down payment but after looking at what is available in the price range or even above it just doesn’t even feel good to buy.”source ↗
“Nearly a million for an average sized ranch in decent but not extremely coveted towns. They almost doubled since 2020.”source ↗
“How have others particularly those in MA where it’s outrageous coped?”source ↗
“Don’t need to be flexed on this hard after working 12+ hours every day for the last 5 weeks too afford a room for rent”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Commercial landlord wants a 40 percent rent increase
- 6Why does everything feel so expensive and impossible to keep up with?
- 2How to afford a mortgage payment that more than doubles?
- 17How to pay for expensive structural property repairs
- 9How to pay a mortgage after a sudden drop in income
- 16Why did my small business health insurance go up 200%?