Millennials Resort to Questionable Tactics to Buy First Home

An earlier PB Daily Feed story noted that Millennial home buyers were more likely than other generation groups to dip into their retirement account to fund the down payment and/or closing costs.

While most financial experts advise against raiding the 401Ks and the IRAs, some, such as Bankrate mortgage analyst Deborah Kearns, suggests it’s fine for cash-strapped individuals to place greater emphasis on home buying temporarily, as long as they redirect savings to retirement after meeting their house-savings goal.

It’s possible that Millennials, who are now aged 23 to 38, feel that “time is on their side” when it comes to drawing from retirement savings, Kearns said, and are more likely than their older counterparts to feel they can make up the difference over time. And the older a person gets, the less likely he or she is to have parents in a position to help out financially, she said.

Kearns adds that retirement savings still should be the last resource anyone touches and offers tips for saving responsibly for a down payment.

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