SoFi Blog

Having lived her entire life in Greensboro, North Carolina, Katie Shank, 26, was ready for a change. After graduating with a bachelor’s in history from University of North Carolina Greensboro, Katie was working an office job at a large clothing corporation, as a liaison between departments. It was paying the bills, but not exactly her dream job.

So when her boyfriend, Jordan, asked if she wanted to quit her job and buy an RV to travel the U.S., Katie jumped at the chance. With the help of a mysterious Craigslist ad and a $9,000 SoFi personal loan, Katie and Jordan now have a mobile home from which they can search for their ideal city. Soon they will be headed west to make a new life for themselves, all within the comfort of their tiny home on wheels.

Buying a home can be a source of new excitement in your life—but it can also be the source of a bunch of new problems. Once you’ve made it through the whole house-hunting process and closed on a home, there’s still plenty to think about, from considering home renovations, to hiring contractors, to dealing with moving expenses. And of course, while you’re handling all of this, you’re still paying your new mortgage every month.

Finding your dream home can be tricky, especially in a tough real estate market. Currently, home sales are falling nationwide due to a housing shortage that’s keeping prices high, making the process especially thorny. That’s why so many people are turning to home renovations to convert an eh, it’ll do house into a dream home. In fact, according to a survey by HomeAdvisor, home renovation spending is expected to continue to rise in 2017, with 80% of homeowners planning projects in the next 12 months.

Kate McKeon was one of those people. After growing up all over, from Sacramento to Europe, McKeon went to the University of Southern California to get her bachelor’s degree. She thought she was ready to become a Midwest girl during law school in Michigan, “then it got to be October,” she joked, and cold. She returned to L.A. in 2009, where she was ready to take another big step: Becoming a foster parent.

Of course, money can be a significant source of stress in long-term relationships. It just comes with the territory of important, but less enjoyable, aspects of combining two lives over time—like meeting the in laws and figuring out how to share a space. As you grow your life together, you also grow your finances together, and inevitably conflict can arise when you’re having heavy talks about things like savings goals and spending habits.

You have to earn the right to call yourself a New Yorker, and one of the ways you can do that is by suffering through the challenge that is finding housing in New York City. It’s a badge of honor you can wear with pride once you do—I mean, New York is one of the only cities in the world where people willingly pay over $1,000 a month for an apartment that has a shower in the kitchen.

But even as one of the most expensive cities in the world, it may make financial sense to buy sooner rather than later in this city. You only need to stay put for three years to make buying in Queens worth the price, four and a half years for Brooklyn, and seven and a half years for Manhattan, according to a study done by StreetEasy.

The desire for space and affordability sends some first-time homebuyers to New Jersey, Long Island, or quaint towns along the Hudson River (all of which still come with steep price tags). But for those committed to staying within the five boroughs, the question remains: Just how the heck do you navigate being a first-time homebuyer in New York City?