I have given this advice to several people, and posted it once in the forum here.
1) Find a house you would buy and calculate the monthly payment, including prop tax, insurance, additional utilities that you don’t pay now, etc. Say that is $3,000/month.
2) Subtract your current rent cost from that monthly payment and put that amount in the bank every month. Say your rent is $2,000 a month. In this example, you would put $1,000 per month into the bank.
3) When you have saved a down payment of 20% of your house, it will be about time to buy it.
Re-do the calculation every 6 months as prices and interest rates change.
#3 is a rule of thumb I made up, not gospel.
This plan accomplishes several things:
1) Helps you save.
2) Gives you some light at the end of the tunnel and an idea of how long the tunnel is.
3) Teaches you what it is really like to make a big house payment. You may be tired of renting now, but this plan forces you to realize that a downside of buying is you have less money and it isn’t all that fun.
Depending on where you want to buy, you’ll have to rent for another year or four.
