Purchasing Florida Real Estate in Your 20s: A Prosperous or Disastrous Move?

For some, the years following college graduation are a time to remain young at heart, find as many keg parties as possible and attempt to stave off any sort of responsibility for as long as possible.

Others, meanwhile, are completing Florida home loan applications.

It’s quite the divide for eople in their 20s. In many ways, owning a piece of Florida real estate is a way to get a sense of stability in at least one area of life, while perhaps building up equity, as well.

But, of course, it involves a heavy commitment - to a mortgage, to a place, to holding a steady job - all of which can limit lifestyle and career choices. What about that six-month trip around the world, that cross-country adventure? Once a deed is signed, it may not be that easy to skip town on a month’s notice.

An influx of younger Florida home loan applicants

People in their 20s are more inclined to buy real estate now than they were 20 years ago, according to annual statistics from the U.S. Census bureau. In 2005, almost 26% of household heads under 25 years old owned their home, up from 17% in 1985. This figure should only rise as programs lead to more and more affordable housing in the state.

But what about the propensity to change jobs and cities in our twenties? How about college and graduate school? Student loan payments to make? In this phase of life, it may be hard to count on an income beyond the most immediate job, which could change. Is it worth taking the risk of committing to Florida home loan payments budgeted around unpredictable conditions?

“I wouldn’t have done it any other way,” says Jaya Manske, 23.

Ms. Manske, a school teacher, bought her first home in Albuquerque, N.M., her first year out of college for $130,000. She was recently laid off and took a lower-paying job at a private school. “I couldn’t move out of state - even though the prospects in any other state would have been much better - because I owned a home here,” she says.

Ms. Manske talked with her boyfriend, whom she lives with, about the possibility of moving out of state and renting the property. “It seemed daunting and expensive,” she says. Her parents had loaned her the $5,000 down payment for the house, and she was making just enough to cover the mortgage and expenses at her former job. Now she’s getting a little help from her boyfriend. If the roof leaks, she says she might have to put the repair cost on her credit card.

In Manske’s view, the economic benefits of building equity trump these concerns. “Each time I pay my own mortgage, I feel like I’m paying myself back for later on rather than paying into someone else’s– a landlord’s - business,” she says.

How the housing market affects these buyers

Phyllis Attebury, a real estate broker who lives in Carmel Valley, Calif., and works with clients on the San Francisco peninsula, says the market is slowing down a little and that buyers should be prepared to keep a house for at least five years to weather market downturns.

“In the long haul, real estate has been a saving grace for many. But for a single person who’s here, there, and everywhere they should probably just think about renting for a couple of years,” she says.

This isn’t the case merely for those immediately following college, however. In the current Florida housing market, buying a home is still a solid investment. Everyone simply ought to be ready to remain there for a few years.