Seven myths keeping your generation renting

The 20% figure is about avoiding mortgage insurance, not about being allowed to buy. First-time conventional programs start at 3% down; FHA at 3.5%; VA and USDA at 0% for those who qualify. On a $285,000 home, 3% is $8,550 — and Minnesota DPA loans up to $18,000 can cover it. The 20% myth alone has probably delayed more first homes than interest rates ever did.

Program floors commonly sit around 640, with some loan options lower. "Perfect" isn't on the menu anywhere — clearing a bar is. And the fastest levers (utilization, on-time streaks, error disputes) are learnable in one sitting: the playbook is here.

Lenders look at your monthly payment relative to income, not your loan's scary total. A $40k balance on an income-driven $180/month plan reads very differently to underwriting than the balance alone suggests. Plenty of buyers close with five-figure student debt every week.

Backwards, actually: most Minnesota assistance programs have income ceilings, not floors — many near 80–100% of area median income. Earning a normal salary is often exactly what qualifies you for the best-subsidized programs, including deferred 0% down payment loans.

Minnesota literally built a fund for this. First-generation homebuyer programs — for buyers whose parents never owned (or lost a home to foreclosure) — have offered forgivable assistance in the tens of thousands. The knowledge gap is solved by one free education course and a loan officer who explains as they go. Being first is a qualification here, not a handicap.

The crash has been coming any minute now since roughly 2014. Nobody — including the loudest account on your feed — can time it. What's knowable: your rent's direction, your fixed payment if you buy, and every month of principal you either build or don't. Buy when your numbers work (here's how to run them), not when the algorithm feels bullish.

Median first homes are starter homes: townhome, condo, the small rambler with the weird kitchen. The move isn't marrying a house — it's stopping the $0-equity years. Five years of principal and appreciation in a starter is the down payment engine for the next place.