Lawyer folks: when did you buy a house? (or when do you plan to?) Forum

[gaddockteeg]

Just curious. For me:
When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: 6 years out of law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 40k
Market/location? DC
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? Spouse makes low 100ks
(edit) Purchase price? slightly under 1mm.

[Anonymous User]

Just curious. For me:
When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: 6 years out of law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 40k
Market/location? DC
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? Spouse makes low 100ks

1 year out of law school
Cravath scale
no debt
also DC
Parents helped with downpayment.

[gogu]

Bought my house during my first semester of law school
Cravath scale
No debt
Also dc
My situation was a bit atypical -- I had been working for nearly a decade before law school, spouse makes 100k+ in engineering, attended law school part-time. When I advise younger kids about law school I usually advise them to work for at least a few years first and to go part time for the financial benefits.

[Anonymous User]

Just curious. For me:
When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: 6 years out of law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 40k
Market/location? DC
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? Spouse makes low 100ks

When I bought a house: Six months into first year
Salary: 150k
Student Loan Debt 110k
Market/Location: Secondary one of CLE/PGH/STL
Other factors low COL market. I have some other investment properties as well. I chose to put money into real estate rather than my student loans.

[Anonymous User]

As soon as I move out of New York. Well, may rent for a year in the city I plan to move to first, but soon after that. No debt.

[Anonymous User]

Just bought a house (closed 2 weeks ago!)

6 years out of law school
Salary: $90k
Student loan debt: $110k (PSLF eligible)
Market: very non-major - lowish COL, high property taxes
Other factors: spouse makes $65k (no debt), parents helped with downpayment (I clerked out of school and then this is my second job since then, all in different cities, and spouse’s employment was spotty during that time, so we didn’t have tons of savings. We bought now because spouse and I are now finally happy with our jobs/location)

[Anonymous User]

Just curious. For me:
When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: 6 years out of law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 40k
Market/location? DC
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? Spouse makes low 100ks

When? 1.5 years out of law school
Salary? Cravath Scale
Student Loan debt? $160k
Market? Texas
Other factors? Significant other with saving to cover the entire down payment.

[Anonymous User]

Congratulations to you new buyers! Home ownership can be tough and is not fun for everyone, but I enjoy it and hope you will too.

First house - 2 ish years before law school. Had only worked min wage Jobs through school at that point but saved hard. Spouse (about 40k job, no savings) and I got married and bought one.

Now - 6ish years later and we closed on another investment property (one house we live in and multiple rental properties) last week. Currently I make 60k and spouse about the same (does not include rental income). Loan debt about 100k (mostly undergrad). Medium cost of living (major city, but not ny/sf). High property taxes though.

Edit: cumulative prices around 1mill
2nd edit: age for first purchase - we were around early and mid twenties

[Anonymous User]

When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: During law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 85k
Market/location? DC
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? Spouse makes ~200k[/quote]

[ruski]

When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: 5 years our of law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 0k
Market/location? NYC (not manhattan)
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? No help, spouse stays at home

I think a useful factor to include would have been purchase price

[nealric]

When: 3.5 years post-grad
Salary: In-house with lots of contingent comp, but around Jr. Biglaw levels
Student loan debt: $100k (between self and spouse)
Market: TX
Other factors: spouse was still in school at time but had biglaw offer

[Anonymous User]

Shooting for within the next 3 years or so, which would put me around 10 years out of law school.

Salary--depends but historically close to Cravath scale
Student loan debt--started with around 100k but paid off recently
Market/location--CA, expensive fucking area but not quite as bad as SF
Other factors--(1) Supporting stay at home SO (no kids yet), practically everyone we're related to is poor as hell or saving up for themselves, so we have no financial income or support besides me. (2) While I probably do have enough for a down payment already, we might end up lateraling to another market, so there's no point in buying a house unless/until we're sure we're staying somewhere for a few years.

[Anonymous User]

When: Spring 2018 (~1.5 years out of law school)
Salary: Cravath scale junior
Student loan debt: $150k
Market: SF
Other factors: FIL gave us a large chunk of what will be the downpayment; husband makes ~$120k/year. We already own a place in the peninsula (bought ~3 years ago) and will be selling it to move to the city. We've built a decent amount of equity on it thanks to the crazy market here which we'll put towards the downpayment on our next place.

[Anonymous User]

When: Planning for summer 2019 (2 years out of law school)
Salary: Cravath scale
Student loan debt: $150k
Market: SF/possibly DC
Other factors: Bought my first house 7 years after undergrad (Westside of LA) and sold it when I went to law school. Girlfriend makes $80k for government. Girlfriend and I both have work connections in DC and might consider relocating back there in two years.

[Anonymous User]

When: Planning for winter/spring 2018 (4.5 years out of law school)
Salary: Cravath scale (but with non-lockstep bonuses)
Student loan debt: $0
Market: LA
Other factors: Spouse also is in biglaw and has no debt. Looking to spend around a million.

[Anonymous User]

Anon above who just bought - we paid about $340k and I feel kind of guilty that we spent that much (since we ended up with a big house on 1.6 acres - we could have got something comfortable but smaller for under $300k). Thank GOD I'm not in LA.

[gaddockteeg]

When I bought a house or when I plan to buy a house: 5 years our of law school
Salary? Cravath scale
Student loan debt? 0k
Market/location? NYC (not manhattan)
Other factors (spouse, inheritance, etc)? No help, spouse stays at home

I think a useful factor to include would have been purchase price

agreed. Purchase price is helpful please.

[jkpolk]

obligatory never bro

[Anonymous User]

When: 3 years out of law school.
Salary: 160K<salary<200K (in-house).
Student Loan Debt: $350K (undergrad included).
Market Location: Low COL Secondary.
Price: 300K<house<400K.
Other Factors: We have atypical allowances and expenses that result in us scraping by now, but hoping to end up in a favorable position down the road. I'd advise others to buy a house sooner than I did (even with the irrational debt load out of school), but manage your debt appropriately (with a good job/credit history, lenders will give more than you want or need).

[Anonymous User]

Single female. Two years after LS I lateraled to a warmer part of the country, earning $175k (not including bonus). I bought a house, 575k. Monthly school debt and mortgage combined = $7k. Good news is that my school debt will be paid off in ’18, saving me $3.5k monthly and my home value has supposedly increased by +5%. All in all, I’d do it again.

[kartelite]

When I bought a house: 2 years before law school
Salary? 180k (w/ bonus)
Student loan debt? None
Market/location? SF
Other Factors: Small but nice 1 BR condo that I ended up selling after school to pay off loans. I obviously didn't go to law school at 22.
Purchase price? ~500k

[Anonymous User]

When I bought a house: End of 3rd year
Salary? ~Cravath
Student loan debt? None
Market/location? dc
Other Factors: spouse works p/t; used clerkship bonus as part of downpayment
Purchase price? ~1.14mm

[zhenders]

When I bought a house: End of 2L
Salary? ~$60k during 1L and 2L; $0 now
Student loan debt? ~$120k
Market/location? Chicago
Other Factors: partner works full time; ~$80k; worked prior to law school, and we saved downpayment; rent out rooms to cover the mortgage plus some.
Purchase price? $300k

[nickelanddime]

I think this thread is going to show the difficulties involved in purchasing a house in one's thirties (previously a normal marker of adulthood) if you don't have significant family support either in paying for law school or purchasing the house, or both.

I graduated from LS in 2013 and since I graduated, have paid off all of my student loans (I think I ended up paying back about 150k). But now I work for the government in a relatively high COL area and can't imagine buying a house in the foreseeable future.

[Anonymous User]

Bought house 4 years ago, 2 years out
market: upstate New York / salary 65k (at the time)
Debt: $250k (pslf) working for the government.
Purchase Price: $90k (rural Agra land)
Downpayment: completely government subsidized through federal grant.

We raise egg chickens. I grew up in a major city, and this is a very enjoyable way of life.