June Is National Homeownership Month… but What if Homeownership Feels Out of Reach?

Did you know that June is National Homeownership Month?

Probably not. Most people aren’t exactly putting it on the calendar, taking time off work, or gathering friends to celebrate the concept of owning real estate.

For some people, it might actually feel like something worth celebrating. Maybe they already own a home, remember how hard they worked to buy it, and still feel a little spark of pride every time they pull into the driveway.

But for anyone who doesn’t own a home yet, it might be hard to get all that excited about something that feels increasingly out of reach.

Home prices have climbed. Interest rates are higher than they were a few years ago. Inventory has been tight in many areas. And if you spend enough time scrolling online, it can start to feel like there are two groups of people in the world: people who already own homes, and people wondering if they missed their chance.

So it’s understandable if homeownership feels a little like an exclusive club filled with people who bought before prices took off. Who locked in a mortgage rate that now seems like something from a fairy tale. Or who had help from family, made more money, found the perfect deal, or just happened to be ready at the right time.

But they’re not the only stories.

Not every homeowner lucked into the perfect market, the perfect house, or the perfect set of circumstances. For many people, getting there involved years of saving, making tradeoffs, buying something smaller than they imagined, moving farther out than they hoped, fixing up a place that needed work, or taking a first step that looked nothing like the dream home they had in mind.

Which brings us to a story you might find inspiring…

The American Dream Doesn’t Always Start with the Dream Home

Most people know Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bodybuilder, movie star, businessman, and former governor.

But if you asked him how he became a millionaire, his answer might surprise you.

Before Hollywood made him famous, he had already become one through real estate.

He came to the United States from Austria with big ambitions and a love of bodybuilding, which was not exactly a guaranteed path to wealth. But rather than waiting until he could afford some glamorous lifestyle, he used what he had and made strategic decisions with it.

He took money he earned through bodybuilding and other early ventures and put it into income-producing real estate. Instead of simply buying the nicest place he could afford for himself, he bought a multifamily property where he lived in one unit and rented out the others. Then he repeated the process.

Before he was making millions on movies, he had already become a millionaire through real estate.

This isn’t to suggest that his path is the best or only way to become a homeowner, or that buying a multifamily property is some guaranteed path to your first million. Or an acting career, for that matter.

But the lesson is still useful.

The path to homeownership, or real estate ownership in general, does not always look like saving up until you can buy the house you pictured in your head.

Sometimes it starts with buying something that helps create more options later.

The Path to Homeownership Isn’t Always a Straight Line

A lot of people picture the path to homeownership as a pretty straight line.

You save money. You find a house you love. You buy it. You move in and live happily ever after… aside from the occasional broken water heater, surprise repair bill, and eventually learning far more about HVAC systems than you ever planned to.

And for some people, it actually does happen more or less that way.

But for many others, the first step looks different.

It might be buying a condo instead of a single-family home. It might mean choosing a smaller house than originally planned, looking in a different area, buying something that needs updating, or purchasing a home that works well for this stage of life instead of trying to find one that checks every box forever.

Sometimes the dream home is not the first home.

Sometimes the first home is simply the move that helps make the next move possible.

That may not sound as exciting as walking straight into the perfect house, but it can be a lot more realistic. And in some cases, staying open to different paths can actually make the end goal more attainable than spending years waiting for the perfect combination of prices, rates, income, savings, inventory, and timing to magically line up.

That doesn’t mean settling or lowering your standards.

It simply means remembering that there may be more than one way to arrive at the place you ultimately want to be.

The Takeaway:

June is National Homeownership Month, which probably isn’t something you’re making big plans to celebrate even if you are a homeowner. And if you don’t own a home, it’s even more difficult to get all that excited about something that feels increasingly out of reach.

But the path to homeownership may not be as out of reach as it feels. It may simply look different than the path you envisioned for yourself.

If owning a home is one of your goals, it may be worth talking with a knowledgeable real estate agent even if it doesn’t feel realistic right now. They can help you assess where you are today, explore different paths forward, and come up with a plan to help get you from where you are now to where you ultimately want to be.