I think I figured out the fundamental miscalculation people are letting pass by unnoticed.
You don't do "average" anything as a beginner.
You don't lift the average bench among weight lifters as your first bench.
You don't earn the average salary at your first job.
You don't pay for an average priced home as your first house.
Unless you're fairly fortunate, you buy a very cheap home as your first, leveraging first time homebuyer advantages, and use the equity from that one to buy your next.
BOOMER: “Just buy a house instead of renting.”
ME: “Average house is $420,000.”
BOOMER: “Get a mortgage then.”
ME: “Rates are at 7%. That’s $2,800 a month.”
BOOMER: “Cut back on expenses.”
ME: “I don’t eat out. I don’t travel. I drive a 2015 Civic.”
BOOMER: “Maybe get a second job.”
Funny how every solution means working more for a system that keeps making the finish line further away.
But nobody ever tells the banks to lower the rates.