During college, myself and friends did the math and found buying a crappy house 20 miles away was vastly cheaper than renting so we did that.

I was the one that actually 'owned' the house. No one paid rent to me, but I was reimbursed for all utilities, food, etc. My only expense was the mortgage.

Since no one paid rent, it wasn't a 'boarding house.'

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portaouflop 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Insane to be able to buy a house in college - I could barely afford rent in a crappy shared flat

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zdragnar 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The monthly mortgage payment on a house in many rural areas in the US is far less than shared rent in dense cities.

A friend of mine was making $20 an hour at a part time manufacturing job while he had classes, and full time plus overtime during breaks. It would have been plenty for a down payment on such a house, if he'd wanted to, but he put the money towards tuition to limit school loans instead. This was 20 years ago, give or take, so very much not the norm, but definitely possible.

To add: I think a minimum down payment for the mortgage probably would have been in the $4 or $5,000 range.

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kyleblarson 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If this was pre 2008 you could get a mortgage if you could fog a mirror.

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coryrc 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I could've bought a house for $20k a few miles from my school. Rust belt.

	▲	FuriouslyAdrift 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yep this place was around $60k for a big three story victorian in a crappy little town (former rail road hub between Indianapolis in Chicago). 4 big bedrooms, 2 small ones and 3 bathrooms. Rent back in 1991 in the college town was around $600 per person and up... we made out like bandits but we did have to share cars.

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spogbiper 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

mortgage payments are often cheaper than rent payments

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glitchc 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

How did you qualify for a mortgage without income?

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FuriouslyAdrift 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

It was 1991 and we pooled money from 10 people. The house was super cheap ($60k) and in a very depressed area (Attica, Indiana). The seller was a person and not a bank.

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glitchc 2 days ago | parent [-]

Ah thanks. So the mortgage was quite small, still, hard to get one without income. Pooled ownership also makes it much more complicated.

	▲	FuriouslyAdrift a day ago \| parent [-]
		I was the 'owner' of record. The others held rights to the house by agreement with me but all the responsibilities were mine. The others could have just stopped paying 'rent' and I would be stuck with the full mortgage...or I could have just sold the place and walked away with everything. Definitely an exercise in trust and mutual self interest.

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mothballed 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

A lot of people have forgotten that between like 2004-2007 you could get a mortgage if you had a pulse.

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potato3732842 3 days ago | parent [-]

They made sure to pull that ladder up real good after 08 though.

The problem wasn't sketchy mortgages, it was the borderline fraudulent financial shenanigans after that.

	▲	conscion 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		> The problem wasn't sketchy mortgages, it was the borderline fraudulent financial shenanigans after that. What do you think was funding the sketchy mortgages? The fraudulent financial shenanigans