How can anyone even afford to live in North Jersey?

People don't generally buy their first home at 25. If they do buy a home in their 20s it's often a smaller home in a cheaper neighborhood. Once you have a family and need more space - or just want a bigger/nicer home - you can move up. But that's after getting some equity in that first home and years of saving and planning.

Yes, this post is a bit of a rant.

I don't want to downplay your struggles, but IMO you're not trying to kickstart your life, you're trying to bypass the kickstart. Few of my friends, family, or co-workers owned a home in their mid 20s - I didn't - even though many of them had pretty good salaries. It takes time, it always has. Home ownership rates are right were they've been for decades, so people are doing it.

I'd recommend expanding your search area a bit, looking at smaller homes or condos. It gets easier after you've done it once - the whole process is difficult the first time you go through it.

/r/newjersey Thread