Tyler Jones has been working non-stop since high school and carries no debt, yet owning a home seems like a distant dream reserved for previous generations.
“Every time I get a paycheck, it’s all already spoken for,” said Jones, a 21-year-old working at a deli and a nonprofit in Springfield, Massachusetts. Homeownership is one of his biggest aspirations, and his inability to save for it is a constant source of frustration.
According to an analysis from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 65% of working-age renters cannot cover their monthly expenses after paying for housing. Nearly half of all renters were cost-burdened by rent in 2024, meaning they spent over a third of their income on housing and utilities, based on the most recent census data.
Anxiety Can Create a Vicious Cycle
John Hankins, a certified financial therapist, warns that anxiety about never being able to buy a house can lead people to give up on organizing their finances altogether. “Sometimes anxiety becomes kind of a self-perpetuating cycle,” he said.
If you hope to buy a house in the future but don’t know where to start, here are some expert tips:
1. Get Comfortable Facing Your Finances
Understanding your income and expenses is the first step toward planning and achieving a financial goal. If homeownership feels unattainable, start by tracking how much money you earn, how much you spend, and where you can cut back to begin saving.
For Jones, the fear of eviction due to living paycheck to paycheck has hindered his ability to plan for the future. “I’d want to come back to this anxiety, this sadness that stops him from getting his arms around his finances,” Hankins said. Don’t let anxiety prevent you from addressing your finances—the longer you avoid a financial worry, the longer it will take to resolve.
2. Avoid Debt but Build Credit History
After witnessing his parents struggle with large debts, Jones has avoided all forms of debt, including student loans and credit cards. However, building a credit history is essential for buying a home in the future. Hankins emphasizes finding a middle ground between building credit and falling into debt. “Once you have a credit card, it’s a dangerous thing. So let’s be really understanding how you’re going to manage this so that it doesn’t get out of control,” he said.
3. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
Jones often compares his financial journey to his parents’, who became homeowners in their mid-twenties while working in the restaurant industry. But Hankins says such comparisons are unhelpful. “It’s not a reflection on you that you haven’t been able to achieve what your parents achieved. They were operating under a whole different set of rules,” he explained.
The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.
