<prompt> Human: Hi reddit,Im 21 years old, Im saving up for a down payment on a house. I just recently started saving, so I have a while until I reach my goal. Im trying to put away 500 or more a month, so by the time Im 26 I should have more than 30,000. Ill have that money and my car loan fully paid off. I have a few questionsFirst, around what age are people buying houses? My brothers both recently got their first houses, and theyre in their 30s. Im figuring the earlier the better, but if theres a reason why I should wait what do you think it would it be?Second, do you guys do anything to make extra money outside of work? I work full time, and make 40,000 a year not really because taxes, fuckin taxes. The only thing I do to make extra money is tattoo my friends for cheap at home, but half the money I get from that ends up going back into supplies. Maybe I could find a new hobby?Edit: so far you guys have been super helpful! Thanks for all the advice and info  <response>: A reason why you dont see early 20s buying houses is because of high transience during that period of time. Since buying a home is generally only a good financial move if you plan on staying there for 5 years in order to recoup costs associated with closing, and get to the principalinterest break even point. If you plan on staying in your location for a long period of time, buying early rather than later is a good move. Just be wary of making yourself house poor locking away too much of your money into your house such that you lose the capacity to do much of anything. Other than that take a look at a mortgage calculator My wife and I use Karls Mortgage Calculator and play around with the financials. Ideally you want a loan that will allow you to pay more on principal than interest as soon as possible, but this may not be possible until much later. I hope this has been helpful. 