A July 2 Real Estate article said that Michael Halpern had previously helped a friend renovate a house. At the time, that person was Halpern's boyfriend.
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Getting A Head Start on Owning
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Halpern said that even though he had previously helped a friend renovate a home on Capitol Hill, a year ago it would have taken him hours to complete any basic electrical work. One of his tenants helped to change that.
Having roommates has been a "productive tradeoff," Halpern said, taking a break from stripping paint from two French doors on a recent Sunday.
Halpern's knowledge of the home-buying process allowed him to think creatively about the house.
"Having that $5,000 credit is a reason I'm able to put in air conditioning," he said, though he admitted that he has had to take out a loan to complete the $10,000 job.
Still, in an era in which many people in their twenties easily drop $150 on designer jeans, some potential buyers cringe at the change in lifestyle that the purchase of a home, especially one that needs work, can mean.
For Elizabeth Petersen, 24, such a purchase could mean putting graduate school on hold. Petersen, an ACLU field assistant, had been looking at homes with her boyfriend, but the couple decided to wait until fall to assess their desire to buy. She has bought countless books on real estate and has looked "obsessively" at online listings.
"The more I learned, the less rosy the picture became," Petersen said.
Others wind up walking away disillusioned. After seven months of shopping with a number of different real estate agents, Lynne Parrish, 24, did just that.
A congressional staffer, Parrish had been hoping to find something on Capitol Hill. She started looking on the urging of her parents, who had purchased a home in Savannah as an investment while her brother attends school there. They even agreed to help with a down payment.
When Capitol Hill proved too expensive, Parrish expanded her search to Southwest Washington. Now that the anticipated construction of the new Washington Nationals stadium in Southeast has turned nearby areas hot, she is striking out again.
"I found the perfect place--it was $830,000," Parrish said. "I just heard my dad laughing at me when I called him about it. . . . It's definitely a renters market for me."
Young homeowners, such as Potter and Halpern, do tend to make sympathetic landlords.
When Potter learned that a friend was moving to Washington in June, he immediately offered her a room for rent. That meant weeks of scraping and priming walls to prepare the room, but the extra $300 she provides each month--rent will rise to $500 after the kitchen is in place--will speed repair work.
Potter hopes to begin work on the kitchen by August. Not coincidentally, that's about the same time he will plunge into credit card debt for the first time.
Until a new stove arrives, though, dinner means anything that can be heated in the toaster oven he has set up in a makeshift kitchenette in his dining room.
Nonetheless, Potter is happy with his decision to buy.
"I can do whatever I want; no one is going to kick me out," he said. "One of the first things I did, I rode my bike around the house."
There were no obstacles that day; there still aren't.
"I can't afford furniture," he said.
