Only the Good Buy Young

Now she is living in a $425,000 three-bedroom, two-level condo in Falls Church. To keep her monthly payments low, Goldman financed it all with an interest-only mortgage that will balloon in seven years.

For an age group that's highly mobile and not ready to settle down, a house or a condo is an investment more than a home. Many plan to move again within two or three years. Despite the setbacks and frustrations they must often go through to land a place, they seem to have little emotional attachment to their homes.

Indeed, there is little practical difference between living in an apartment and owning a house for longtime friends Casey Patten, 25; Justin Cook, 27; and David Mazza, 27, who all work in commercial real estate and own a $600,000 house in the up-and-coming neighborhood of LeDroit Park. The four-story mansion has five bedrooms, two kitchens and Jacuzzi tubs in all but one of the house's five bathrooms.

"It's not like we're going to live here forever," Cook said. "We're just in it to make some cash."

"And not pay rent," Mazza added.

Mazza and Cook bought a two-bedroom condo together in Old Town Alexandria in 2002 for $149,000. Cook's grandparents lent them the money to pay for it for only 5 percent down. But it wasn't long before that place seemed cramped, and they eventually sold it for nearly $230,000. They brought in Patten, and like a bunch of guys splitting season tickets to the Nationals, they went in on a house together in 2003, splitting the down payment, mortgage and bills three ways.

Now they're moving again. "When your house sale's return is comparable to your day job's salary every one to two years, moving is no big deal," Mazza said in an e-mail.

Not everyone enters the market so painlessly. Some real estate brokers even write off young buyers as not worth the trouble. After all, there are no shortage of clients in Washington's hot housing market, and this demographic comes with several strikes against it. Many young people have small savings, large college debts and short credit histories.

That's partly why Adam Iobst got into the business in the first place.

Iobst made a smart investment on a home in Germantown four years ago when he was just 26 . That's when he realized the potential of the market for young buyers -- and the real estate agents willing to cater to them.

He said his clients typically come with a long wish list of amenities: three bedrooms, a fenced back yard, in Rockville, near a Metro station and close to good schools -- just in case. All for about $1,200 a month.

Iobst said he makes it a practice not to laugh. Instead, he punches the request into a database of available homes so his clients can see what comes up -- usually, it's nothing.