said. “They know that rather than throw their money away on rent, buying a house is an investment. They know the value of it.” And if they don’t, their parents often do. “I see a lot of millennials who get financial help from their parents,” he said. “They want to help their kids buy a piece of real estate. When they bought their house, interest rates might have been 18 or 19 percent. There’s value in locking in a 30-year mortgage now at 4 percent. They tell their kids, ‘Buy a house now before the interest rate goes up.’” The problem is finding one that’s affordable. In June, Ogle said there were only 35 houses for sale in Kent County for $100,000 or less. “In the popular walkable neighborhoods, prices have shot up to $250,000,” he said, “but a few blocks away from the hot walkable neighborhoods, houses are more affordable. I see millennials buying houses in the city for cheaper and fixing them up.” That’s where Miller and her tool belt come in.
Fixer-upper Miller used to rent an apartment in Holland. She longed to buy a house, but it was too hard to save while paying rent. So, she moved in with her parents for a year to save money. Then, last spring, she bought a 108-year-old house in the Black Hills neighborhood on Grand Rapids’ southwest side. “It’s in a perfect spot,” said Miller, a warehouse scheduler for a West Michigan company. “It’s not far from U.S. 131, and it’s 10 minutes from downtown, which is great for going to restaurants. And it’s close to a park. “I picked a place where I knew families lived, where there were kids playing outside,” she said. Married in August, she and her husband hope to start a family. Bonus: “I’m about a mile from my parents, which comes in handy because I’ve already locked myself out once,” she said with a laugh. “And my dad helps me with yard work.” And because her house needs work, she could afford it. Her mortgage payments are less than she was paying for rent. Miller earned a residential construction certificate at Grand Rapids Community College, so she could buy a fixer-upper and do the work herself, from new siding and drywall to plumbing and tile. When she started ripping out the carpet, “There were spiders everywhere,” she said. That would have sent many new home-
“I care more about where I live now that I own a place. I care about the neighborhood. I want to know more about what’s going on.” — Emilee Ritz owners scurrying. Not Miller. “I figured if there were spiders, that probably meant there weren’t other bugs,” she said. Not exactly. Turns out she also had giant house centipedes, yellowish gray critters with 15 sets of legs. Counting their long antennae, they look three or four inches long. “They’re really creepy and they move fast,” Miller said. A “bug bomb” pesticide fogger evicted the prehistoric-looking pests. Now, Miller’s back to remodeling. “It feels really good after a long day at work to come home and see something that’s yours that you worked hard for,” she said.
Location, location, location Across town, Ritz followed a much different checklist than Miller to answer the question, “Where should I live?” Ritz was renting an apartment on the northeast side, but her job in finance at Amway requires a lot of travel. “I realized I was paying rent every month for a glorified storage unit,” she said. “I thought I might as well buy. Then I’d be gaining equity value, even when I’m not there.” But where? “I wanted to be able to easily walk to restaurants downtown,” she said. She also wanted a place that was move-in ready, as well as off-street parking, too. She considered a house but wanted little maintenance; and she thought about
a condo downtown, but they were out of her price range, she said, at $250,000 or $300,000. “The only people I know who can afford that are in their late 40s and 50s,” Ritz said. Some friends her age bought houses in Fulton Heights near Aquinas College and off Fuller Avenue on the northeast side. Others rent portions of old houses in the Cherry Hill neighborhood. But she finally found a condo she loves in the Heritage Hill district. “I can walk downtown and to places on Wealthy and Cherry,” she said. “It didn’t need any updates. There’s easy access to the highway, so it’s not a long commute to work. It has a small lot, so I don’t have to park on the street.” Her condo already feels like home, she said. “I care more about where I live now that I own a place,” Ritz said. “I care about the neighborhood. I want to know more about what’s going on. “I’ve always been from Grand Rapids, but I feel more pride about it now,” she GR said. “I own something here.”
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