Hope & Hustle How Gen Z Can Still Afford a Home in 2025

In this episode of Hope & Hustle, Zachary Foust joins us to break down why Gen Z struggles to buy a home in 2025 and the real steps you can take to still make it happen. We talk about housing affordability, investor greed, rising prices, and proven ways to start building wealth through real estate. Learn how to improve your credit, choose the right market, and find real estate opportunities that others miss. If you’re serious about buying your first home or investing smart in 2025, this one’s for you.

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Transcript

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I think people under 35 are are definitely feeling the squeeze a lot of people are mentioning you know feeling almost like they're in a boiling point we got updated numbers it's not 27.6% it's now 32.8 wow it seems like it's like a gladiator fight it feels a lot like that in the housing market right now getting beaten in the face by boomers retirees and investors we're not doing anything to untangle the web that we've built that is the commoditization of shelter I think we're seeing some of the late stage effects of calling American dirt the best investment in the world for too long you're dealing with actual people here it's not just a number a statistic or something like that it's it's actual humans trying to get a home and how different get shelter Tim get shelter what are we gonna do when rent and mortgage both are unattainable Zach definitely a pleasure to have you on foreclosure.com podcast today I just wanted to start off by saying thank you for taking the time you know we definitely appreciate having you and uh yeah I'm excited to to learn a little bit about yourself learn a little bit about some of the things that you've been teaching to your your followers and see if you can share some knowledge with our audience as well yeah Tim thanks for creating the Space Brother looking forward to this combo yeah yeah and for people that don't know Zachary he is a real estate agent based in Delaware um he's has a unique perspective on the housing market and I thought they he would be a great person to interview um because there's a lot of noise out there that talks about people not being able to afford to buy homes and there's a lot of reality in that I I think even with my own peers in the 30s and 40s definitely are feeling it as well but I I really think the pinch is on the younger generation um and some of the things I really like about Zachary's content um is that he focuses doesn't focus on the noise and he really tries to create a genuine uh path towards homeownership and I I think that's a very a genuine um every time I've spoken to him and and see his content it it comes from the heart and so I'm hoping you can share some of that knowledge with the rest of us today Zach dude I'd be happy to it's a wild market and you said it yourself my peers are in the same boat yeah the fact is though our peers are just getting the second wave third wave of what's been building and you're right the younger generation Gen Z has been struggling the hardest yeah well you know for I know your audience knows you but for for my audience can you tell a little bit about yourself your your journey to real estate where you are today and how we got here yeah I'll I'll try to speed run it so I got into the military when I was 17 years old I was overseas the very next year Afghanistan did a tour did about six years active within the Army National Guard actually and after that I didn't know what to do lot of military first path is let's go into law enforcement so that's what I did too I got into the department of corrections I was there for a little under a year before a woman by the name of Rosalia uh came to me who was a realtor and said you need to get out of prison you need to go do something with the personality that you have yeah and I ignored her a few times until finally getting my license finally getting in the real estate uh got rookie of the year at Keller Williams back in 2,016 and since was able to build a team No.1 team in southern Delaware I got to speak on stages with the Tom Ferris of the world I've been able to meet the Gary Vainer chucks and interview the Grant Cardones like I've been I I I felt like I got to the end goal of like Capitaler a capitalism influence I had all these connections like Realtor com and Fortune 500 are hitting me up for interviews like whoa I'm like 28 this is crazy and then 2022 hits and I have a bit of an awakening personally that matches with the shift happening in the housing market in the economy nobody can afford a home anymore advice doesn't really work anymore and we have an entire generation that seemingly is being ignored because they do not have financial strength at this point cause it just got started and have no power in politics to make actual palpable change and my goal with this platform now is to grow a large enough platform that we can create a lasting change that will result in the next generation's ability to afford living here in America that's great yeah no I was just watching one of your videos about you know how to buy a house by 2030 and there was some great practical steps in there that I think uh I think the younger generation should really listen to um so you know a lot of people have that that mindset I'm doing everything right but I still can't afford a home what's actually going on right now what's what's causing this affordability crisis from your perspective and what are you seeing in markets like Delaware that might relate to trends across the country as well well the simple answer is greed greed is what's happening we are seeing consistent and constant greed from corporate capitalist and brokers as well as the billionaires and oligarchs that are running our government I won't put it lightly uh from lobbying that's been untethered since 2010 from Citizens United which LED us to a world where we no longer have any say on what's getting passed in our own legislative halls uh to the greed that we saw Point Blank as 2021 2022 2023 and beyond everything's getting obnoxiously more expensive yeah all while wages don't increase yeah all while no laws get passed to help curtail it all while new builds aren't happening that are affordable and we're still only building one out of three homes is being bought by an investor yeah greed is keeping affordable housing off the market because it's the best thing to cash flow it's too uh it's it's much more profitable to build bigger homes and the profit margins are the biggest thing I would point back to look at Dr Horton look at KB Homes look at KB Nania look at Ryan and look up profit margin 2023 profit margin 2024 it was some of the most profitable years of their company's history yeah all while the normal everyday person is getting priced out and they build a shitty home so there's that too yeah no I um I again I think people under 35 are are definitely feeling the squeeze and above 35 I mean it's just a lot of people are mentioning you know feeling almost like they're in a boiling point in some ways right um and and and your article that where you mentioned I think it's called the elephant in the room where you mentioned one in three was it 27% of the people that are purchasing homes are for profit right now yeah and that number's up now once I wrote that that we got updated numbers it's not 27.6% it's not 32.8 wow wow I mean how is that changing the environment for first time home buyers like how can they compete and as a young person like what can they do that's to stay in the game it's a great question yeah I I've I've toiled with that question quite a lot and it seems like it's like a gladiator fight so like in a gladiator dome they had they had this time in history where people were literally enslaved to fight they if they win they get to leave if they lose they stick around until they're either dead or they win it feels a lot like that in the housing market right now where the first time home buyer is just tethered into this country trying to win trying to get ahead and they're going out time and time and time again just getting beaten in the face by boomers retirees and investors and I don't know exactly what the answer is gonna be legitically logistically and realistically I think there's actual solutions that could happen I don't think they're realistically going to happen but when we talk about the ways that we think okay um what if we lowered rates well if we lowered rates that's like somebody walking into your Coliseum room before the fight and saying hey I got this sword for you and you're gonna get pumped up you're like oh my God a sword I've been fighting with my fists I am so winning I'm so getting that win I'm so getting out of here let's get a house and then you walk out into the arena and you realize every single person boomer investor retiree also has that sword everybody gets the lower rates so I don't think that solves it then you look into first time home buyer programs well they're sporadic they're county level state level programs nothing federal and then of course you just look at the legislative build out we don't have any executive orders that are forcing mortgage rates to be lower for first time buyers doing anything to get into the weeds of the building system to get builders incentivized to build more affordable homes we're not doing anything with our intrinsically racist and discriminatory zoning laws put in place in 1971 we're not doing anything to untangle the web that we've built that is the commoditization of shelter and I think we're seeing some of the late stage effects of calling American dirt the best investment in the world for too long wow um that's very real hahaha unfortunately it's dark yeah it it it's yeah I mean we we try to stay light and optimistic as much as we can right and focus on opportunities um you know and I think that's why education and being aware of the data that's out there is so important for people that are that are searching for a home right because some people they really want a home they need a home you know people that have families are getting started um you know starting their careers so I I I get it and and that is a you know the reality I think is pushing a lot of people um away from purchasing a home and you can see that in mortgage applications you can see that in home sales right now when you when you look back at at where they are in comparison I think they're at the same level as they were in 95 or something along those lines so there's got to be a path forward and I like a lot of your content because you are educating people and maybe it's not on the short term horizon but maybe down the horizon a little bit you know I know the video is how to buy a house by 2030 I believe um so what are what are some practical advice that you can that people can start working on now um to find a path towards home ownership you know the first thing is gonna be examining your own finances for a lot of people it's gonna be a math game and and that's the go no go of this scenario and that's where my frustration really bottlenecks is just the go no go of income it used to be do you have Wawas where you're at oh yeah it came in hot love a Wawa yeah love yeah cause you're down yeah they just they just recently started showing up last decade yeah right last 10 years yeah for sure so what's your favorite what's your favorite food item over there a Wawa oh it's a great question I mean I'm I'm um the coffee there I actually love okay you're a coffee guy I'm a coffee guy you know more so than anything but no I mean I've had a lot of the I'm surprised every time I eat there that I'm like this is actually really good it's some of the best gas station food on the planet for sure you know down here in South Florida there's a lot of like uh little old bodegas I don't know what you call them they've just been there forever and you'd be surprised that like around here you can find some great gas station food sandwich dude an old Bodega sandwich sometimes hits heavy yeah sometimes hits real good but with with like Wawa for example it's a gas station deli mm hmm I had four clients in 2020 and 2019 that worked single income at Wawa and I was able to get them a house wow now we have police officers that can't get a house due to their income now we have nurses yeah that can't get a job because of their house because of their income so we're we're we're getting farther and farther down the rabbit hole of the math the simple math of income to qualification The National Association of Realtors said a starter home right now 300&60+ thousand dollars on median in America that takes a hundred and eight thousand dollars in median income a year to afford wow so right there is the big problem but let's assume let's over that hump let's assume we are over that hump and the wage problem isn't the problem for the person listening the four steps are simple you need to have a 6 20 credit score higher I always suggest getting up to a 6 80 so you can qualify for all programs first time home buyer alike as well as your local and state programs I second the the second biggest qualification is going to be your job you have to have been at your job for a year two years step three though is where are you going to buy so if you've been at your job for 2+ years you have decent enough income your credit score is above 6 46 80 you might qualify for a house so now it's about where are you gonna go you know many people commented under my video on how to buy a home by 2030 asking does this advice actually mean anything in California nope sure doesn't you need to leave or or New York City yeah man Southeast Florida Boston you know Boise Idaho like no you need to leave all those pandemic markets where people flooded into and no I I saw it down here firsthand as well so and it's and it's interesting to see it from your side cause you can feel um the passion behind it that you're dealing with actual people here it's not just a number a statistic or something like that it's it's actual humans trying to get a home and how difficult get shelter Tim get shelter yeah what are we gonna do when rent and mortgage both are unattainable yeah no something has to shift here yeah so but but to back to the four steps so again income being the biggest bottleneck we have our credit at a decent amount we're making enough and then we're have we have a job that we're paying taxes on that is going to give us a mortgage from a bank potentially okay now we need to know where we're going to move I love an area like Delaware because we are one of the top 25 affordable states you can look at West Virginia Alabama Mississippi Arkansas to get like into the weeds of affordability good luck with a job but after that it becomes about what kind of home hmm and I truly believe a new construction townhome is the best equitable bet to get into your very first property I too think that distressed properties or closed homes yeah short sales are gonna become a lot more prevalent not a 2008 level prevalent but there's gonna be a lot of people who simply can't afford to upkeep their home anymore Tim how many realtors did you see there's there's a piece of advice that went around from 2020 to 2023 every time I heard it I wanted to choke him with both of my hands politely with God hahaha like a Jesus choke yeah like a nice little yeah like a like a scolding of the Pharisees type anchor okay and the advice was oh marry the home and date the rate that rate will go down yeah get the home and you know how many people are sitting in their homes right now wondering when that day is gonna come yeah struggling no I get it so from our angle as realtors I think we partially created the problem cause we're always looking for a sale we're always looking for commission we'll push somebody into a home I think new construction companies are a bit of the issue because they're building for profit and affordable homes aren't the most affordable thing to build and it's limiting the opportunity of someone to follow the path I just set because even if you get all your ducks in a row you know I talk with people on a weekly basis that make 120 k a year and I gotta get them set up to get ready to buy a home yeah it used to be you could be a financial fool and if you made 120 k we can get you into a house yeah and I'm not saying financial fools should get their way into a house but I do think shelter should be more sustainable where where do you see the opportunity coming from like in the next few years where does it soften well I mean these are all amazing points and it I I I don't know the answers you know I'm I I focus on um you know my side of real estate is is a lot in in building partnerships more so than the actual boots on the ground can you say but I've spoken to enough professionals around the country where I'm starting to see trends all around and and it's definitely the main thing is that real estate is is very hyper local right so you can in Florida uh and for example you look at our market it's still prices are still increasing moderately on in the Southeast Florida from Palm Beach to Miami but if you go directly across to Cape Coral it's one of the worst house crashing in the country it's crashing legit crashing like 20 you know it's it's up there with Austin I think it might you know that Florida has 17% of our country's inventory I did see that levels and it's crazy because it wasn't that long ago where we had a third of the amount of inventory for sale it was like in the 50 and until then was a high number right Florida just is a house you know it's interesting though cause the more I learn about what's going on now the only way that I can understand what's going now is looking backwards right and start to understand what happened in 2008 and before then and in really even in this 70s with the inflation and when rates were you know 16 17 18% right cause that's kind of what it feels like you're competing with or where we might be going if things don't shift um and it's interesting because there are these markets across the country that have very quick I guess high what's the best way to say it um their equity increases very rapidly right Florida we saw a huge boom in the market in from 2020 to 2023 right where the market the rest of the country started to slow down in 2022 but I think people were still flooding into Florida and now you're starting to see that everybody's trying to list their property and people aren't buying at the prices where their neighbor sold two years ago um I I I definitely don't know what's gonna happen I do know that the stress this administration is more pro foreclosure um and is starting to get rid of some of the safety nets that were in place to help people that were dealing with some of the covid issues initially that happened in the the VA as well FHA moratoriums are ending um and I I in some ways I think that might be a good thing to reset the balance but again these are real people these are people that are going through hardships that haven't gotten back on their feet so it's it's challenging you know and that's why I think we always try to focus on the opportunity and try to help people out of a tricky situation um you know people going into foreclosure there's a there's a certain window to where you could potentially help them you know so I know a lot of and yeah and the younger generation is really interested in wholesaling which has been around for a long time and you know we see a lot of people utilize our uh database to find off market distressed properties but no I I don't know the solution um I I I I'm I'm curious to see what happens you know I feel like everyone's holding their breath to kind of see what the next step is um but yeah I mean that is the American Dream for sale right like if we is the American Dream even available yeah yeah no that that's that's scary to think like that right it is and and I I wanna I wanna caution anybody listening there's a difference between realism and naison uh nais was it naisism being being somebody who's just perpetually looking into the dark and only sees darkness yes yes nais naisist naisism is in like those little pads that go in your yeah yeah being a nihilist and being a realist often times look similar in this market and it is difficult to look the facts in the eye like you just brought one up Tim I think that's a lovely point we're getting rid of some older covid regulations some other Freddie Mac regulations and other VA regulations that prevent foreclosure from happening to families okay now argument is that's gonna increase supply it's gonna get people who couldn't afford out and somebody else who can't afford in I understand the Mark uh how that works I understand the math yeah but that same exact veteran or whoever is struggling to pay their mortgage like you said is a human is a person yeah that is facing the higher cost of living just like all of us are and god forbid you're military and your pay doesn't even move you're on a fixed income and has been for the last 5 years all the way everything else around you got more expensive yeah but with that math in place the administration the past administration the administration before that the administration before that had the ability to solve the problem through building hmm we could build more affordable housing yeah yeah no and instead of forcing the people out who barely are holding on to any little bit of the American dream the people who have 80,000 units at their cash flowing are the ones that are making the decisions and that to me is a little jaded when you are talking about the decisions are coming from the people who are viewing and are living in this housing market a lot differently many people view it as this commoditized asset and I know there's investors listen to your podcast and be like screw this guy I'm not anti investor I am anti institutional investor I am anti black Rock Blackstone private equity yeah I am anti 50+ units just cause for the heck of it 4 4 vacation homes just cause you can yeah meanwhile a college grad can't get a job or a home yeah I do think there's an issue with that yeah definitely yeah I it's hard not to see that as an issue when you look at how yeah inventory institutional buyers have now uh in just in since 2,010 really you know if you look at that short period 15 years the yeah increase is just if you look at and why is that why did it start in 2010 Tim why why hasn't this been going on for 50 years 60 years it's because we got rid of regulations allowing them to do it yeah no it's we remove the guardrails that were protecting our population from the evil greedy octopus coming out of the Federal Reserve building you know this crazy crazy little orchestrating billionaire coup whatever you wanna give this crazy cabal name like it's just greedy people they want to have more money set aside for themselves for their next of kin to have security for their kids to be able to put them at a higher bit of education they want to pay for college like not all investing is inherently evil but at a micro scale scaled out it becomes the macro problem hmm in my opinion yeah no these are safety nets are definitely feel like they're getting cut down and I I used to live by a I don't know if it's a philosophy or a how what you would call it but you know I used to live by like leap and let the net appear right but things are changing you can't and that's why I think education and data um and you know really setting yourself up is something that's so important when you are trying to buy a home right because sometimes it doesn't even make financial sense to buy a home right now you know you can look at some markets and where you can what it's costing to rent versus buy you might have to second might have to you know do the math twice you know but I think that's where distressed real estate you mean do the math twice to double check or double your income to see if you qualify then yeah doubling your income that's always double your income given to the next person yeah making more money is always the solution 1 I guess but yes no solution 2 is you're right you're right and not easy making making more money is the solution yeah you're right and that's where I can tell you right now in the next five years we are going to see Gen Z absolutely tear that to shreds because they do not want to side hustle themselves to death yeah it used to be a single income definitely a dual income like you know the term um dink yeah dual income no kids yeah yeah yeah dude like Jealous 2012 2006 1998 yeah you were a dink yeah didn't matter what you did like you were good you were fine and it's different now because people don't make enough alright so you're right making money is the solution but I believe the Gen Z generation is gonna be one of the first that just completely puts a stop to this idea that they need to grind away 60 hours of their week every week to avoid going out and seeing the grass and the sun and their friends yeah to be able to potentially survive like when I got started and Tim I know you too like we're older like when we got started we could run toward a vision it was like they put us at the starting line and we're like oh I can get that if I get up early if I work these weekends sacrifice a holiday or two yeah yeah yeah you know I can get there and now that that running right we were running towards something now it feels like people are running away from something yeah it's like they're being chased by the killer in the park yeah it's a different motivation they're still running but it's a different run like that run for me it was fun like I was getting progress I was getting somewhere I could see the math moving in the direction I needed it to move in for me my family and my future child and now I look into the eyes of my future child I'm like do you need to like get a job or you're gonna be jobs put you to work yeah college like what what what do we do and that's why I'm still clueless as a dad it's just like what's the how do I set them up should I buy a lot of land now and let it appreciate maybe I mean that's that's that's always seems like a good bet right land but no these are great questions uh great thoughts I I you know as a father myself it's it's scary out there you know you don't know exactly what you're prepping your kids for and and you're 100% right you know I'm an older millennial I guess you can call it and you know a lot of the way I grew up as far as the workforce was nobody cares work harder you know uh and I think people are coming to I think really after Covid and people had a chance to really slow down right and think about that and they're like wait a minute this that's wild you know people are working harder and harder and they're still not getting to where they wanna be you know this is not even close yeah and and and that's the scary thing and when and I you know know too many people that I call it FOMO bot in 2021 22 and down here you know there was a huge increase when you when you buy a house that probably was worth 300,000 for 550,000 one thing people don't think about right off the bat is the taxes right and how much that's gonna increase right they don't put that in in that that that that big increase right when they're doing the math and then we start dealing with hurricanes and and um insurance down there in Florida got crazy and it's scary people are are going into debt so you know my friends and and and family are having trouble you know and it's it's interesting um because you look at what is coming next right how do you prepare yourself how do I prepare myself and my for my to set my my kids up with a good foundation and it's it's not easy it's not easy and I you know I worked for a long time and it's have a good job and it's still hard so I I think about people that are working multiple jobs um 50 60 65 hours a week plus you know doing two jobs getting done with their job and then going to do handyman work or getting done with their job and being uh you know doing Uber driving I mean it's right it's it's the reality of today um and it's not saying it's fair but it's the reality and some people you know I I watched your interview with Tom Ferry just because I'm a fan and I I did see his push back a little bit with you know it's always been hard you know uh but I wanted we're gonna get on again I cause I wanted to push him harder I know I know I bet I caught a lot of flack for not pushing on him harder I bet but you know the reality is you know it is there are multiple you know it's always been hard in some way or form but yeah it does feel like it's getting a little bit harder but when that hard work like for example is met with you're working five years hard as you can for a job that isn't paying you anymore that will replace you in a moment's notice it's it's just it seems like the job market and maybe this is me being a bit more woo woo about it maybe I'm using hindsight and seeing a better world in the past but it seemed like the job you worked at it was a bit more like I I want to be involved in this company I I like this company I want to see it genuinely succeed so I'm gonna give my best effort to do that you know with the sidecar of if I put in hard work and do the thing I need to do I'm gonna get promoted and I'll get a better position and I'll make a little bit more maybe I'll have a career with this company now we look at the students like you you mentioned you're an older millennial I'm I'm a zillennial I was like on the two year fringe of being Gen Z OK so I got to grow up all the way to 18 without a smartphone in my hand and then yeah social media yeah so I kind of got a little bit of both yeah the Gen Z Today we have a 10% unemployment for those that don't have a degree that's one of the highest we've ever had and it's catching up if you do have a degree it's 9.4% if you do 51% of people under 30 are underemployed right it's actually under 27 under 27 50% are underemployed meaning they're higher qualified they have more qualifications I should say than what they're being paid yeah and that to me doesn't scream the Gen Z generation's not working hard enough to me it screams they worked really freaking hard and now they're not getting the results they were promised yeah no it it was it's it's interesting I I um when people call millennials lazy I I really think about that cause I'm like when I graduated high school half my friends went and joined the military and served you know cause I graduated around 2002 2004 and you know so a lot of people it was right after 9 11 things were things were you know and it's weird you're absolutely right yeah and it's hard to say when people say that and and it's scary because there's there's not enough um I don't know representation from our age groups that are absolutely right these we should be screaming for the next generation because we've seen it we we understand what they're looking at we feared the same things it's just now their fears coming to realization their fear is very it's real now AI is here jobs are letting people go wages aren't going up home costs are going up and just to walk through like you said you know going through 2001 buying a home I my producer Sean he's not here today he's sick um he and I've walked through a couple times like his come up you know he was born just after 2001 just after the dot com bubble so wow like you said parents are in a bit of a you know it's a weird world yeah odd okay he turns seven during the 2008 housing market crash or I'm sorry six during the 2008 housing market crash then we flash forward to when he is 16 we are now introduced to the political world like it or not being flipped on its head we went from unity and vision to division yeah simply if you agree with that person causing division cause you're on their side that's fine but it's division it is in some way and and we saw now what 12 years of that in the middle of that as they're graduating high school they're told to go home for two weeks and it turned into two and a half years yeah meanwhile everything got more expensive they lost contact with all of their friends lost all social abilities and now they're being told to get out there and just work harder yeah it just it just doesn't seem it's possible for a person who walked through that timeline to not be angry at the scenario yeah no you're like what is this and and and coming now is from a parent right'cause I keep think I think about the producer Sean and that experience right like it was my son right having to go through that but the reality is their parents went through all those stresses trying to figure out what to do right and that internal stress probably went to into Sean in some way or form right because absolutely not knowing what you're gonna do with with housing or a job you know that that puts a lot of strain not on only on the person that's paying the bills but also um everybody in the household you know even if even if they're taking care of the kids they feel that pressure you know as and that's what that's what happens when you create a family is it it does you're a unit right so whatever someone's hurting you're all hurting right so I I feel for Shawn and I feel for that and I have plenty of cousins um and kids who like and they're not kids anymore but yeah like they were graduating the year of Covid and and they couldn't play senior year of football or they couldn't go to prom and you know that was a very hard thing I think the entire world had a face you know so that's the reality and this has happened in history I'm a big fan of Ray Dalio and looking back the changing of the world order I mean it's not just changing the world order that because I just finished that book and it's it's amazing but it's it's it's just it's a history book on economics and if you really want to understand what's happening you have to look further back than not only our lifetimes but our parents lifetimes and our parents parents lifetimes in some situations 100% the last time we had a big pandemic of this level in the States was in 1918 right so um that and a lot of things happened after that right so a fellow history knower no you're right I'm trying you know just before that we have 1913 we get our central bank put into place and and why that came into place is a whole can of worms yeah then we have the globalization of the dollar in 44 then the detethering from it in 71 then the petrodollar in 74 and the deregulation of of food travel everything in the tax bracket ships of Reagan and then we have NAFTA and glasstegal in Clinton I mean you can walk through them all again it's removing of guardrails yeah every single time and you're right we can't just live in the game we're playing right now without going back to see why the game was even created in the first place how is this made to operate how can I win in it how can I play this game of capitalism and win because the the cost of losing is dramatic and what I feel is that there's a mathematically larger portion of individuals who are gonna have to go through the losing before they ever even get a taste of winning and contrary to any boomer take that is not what the past generations went through usually by the age of 30 35 world is kind of financially set if you've made some decent financial moves got your career in place married with two and a half kids and a picket fence now we're seeing the median first time home buyer ages 38 and climbing yeah and we have 12% a number that used to be 50% uh in 1999 51.2% of under 30 year old adults in America were married and had a kid I'm sorry married and had a house married and had a house it's more important than a kid you gotta have a house married and kid is 50% had a house and we're married now it's 12% yeah that 1 out of 2 to 1 out of 8 that's shocking it is it is and I I I want to paint a brighter light around this darker topic of us understanding these truths these facts our history is the start of us being able to have a grounded conversation on what can change everyone wants to say this is the solution this is the solution this is the problem this is the problem we all need to come together to discuss we need to have forms within our administration economic forms that are put together to say housing affordability is a crisis how do we solve it yeah that team needs to be set up yesterday and it's just not being done and it makes me bleaker and it makes me question everything about what's going on when we clearly have problems that aren't being dealt with think logically and question everything yeah ha ha yep mine's love Jesus and question everything but I like yours too oh yeah yeah that's um you know it's easy to focus on everything that's going wrong in the country in the world and our society right but we gotta there's a lot of people here that are probably watching this that that feel you know discouraged and and we gotta figure out that there is some sort of light at the end of the tunnel like what what would you say to people that are are so discouraged like how do you give them a little sign of relief some hope what what silver lining do you see and what's going on like cause you know it it it is a scary reality in some ways for the younger generation but at the same time there have been scary times in the past you know I graduated college in 2008 not really the best time to graduate right and to find a job right in the middle of but and that yeah but devil's advocate then we print money rates drop and home prices are cheap so you had the opportunity after that yeah yeah yeah no but but but I didn't it did yes and I'm not trying to use me but there's always gonna be hard times so we we you gotta focus on what can the next what can you do right cause you don't wanna just curl up in a ball and stay in bed right that's not gonna help any no right so like what's what what can people do and you mentioned a few of these things you know I think uh your acronym acronym uh desk is that right like yeah like I think employment savings and credit yeah I think that's somewhere that people have to focus on and understand right you know is there anything else that you would share with the younger generation that feels discouraged right now yeah there's two things you can do well I'mma caveat both of these things but there's one thing you all need to do and then there's two things you can do from there the first thing that you need to do is understand that everything you know about yourself know about your emotions know about your current place in life is based off of what your parents friends schools and people that were brought up with you told you about yourself so you need to start with your own growth a book think and grow rich is a money one miracle morning morning routine one compound effect habit 1 circle of habit habit 1 you need to start working out you start pushing your body getting your physical body in shape could be yoga could be physical fitness through lifting weights could be kettlebells doesn't matter you go on a walk we need to spiritually get ourselves back to the point where we know we are grounded in a firm foundation and truth about who we are as a person before I think we can make any firm decisions outward if that makes any sense yeah and for me I spent years bullied um I was suicidal at 12 and 14 14 I told my parents and 17 again I tried to take my own life actually wow behind a vehicle and it was because of how little I loved myself because I was convinced by these perpetual bullies every day that I wasn't worth anything breeds into my adult life as this oh well I need to prove them wrong I didn't realize that's what I was doing but in growing my entire business and waking up early and pushing through the grind I was still trying to convince some invisible bully that I was worth it and I had to stop and I had to ground myself and it took years of meditation breathwork podcast of very smart people books written by very smart people the the Mel Robins the Andrew Hubermans of the world that really know their stuff and to to ground myself and when you've gotten to that point in life I think there's only two ways you can go young person listening a you fight like hell to make it you create your business you go into the trade you put in the work you don't consume yourself you invest in yourself you don't just go out and consume dumb stuff all the time you're putting money for you in your accounts not in your belly not in your brain not in the fun I get it it's not as fun to not have Doordash come to your house just make a sandwich like that little stuff doesn't seem to pile up but it's not just the dollar sum it's the mentality of being able to not consume and choose to invest because that builds into your physical fitness choosing to invest in your body versus consume your body goes into your marriage choosing to invest in your marriage instead of consume away your spouse it goes into every bit of life to be an investor not a consumer so I would say your one option after you've grounded yourself is to fight like hell to make it the second option I don't believe you should ever be the person who's just sitting in their bed wallowing cause there's always something that can be done but if you're of the lifestyle that believes that mathematically there's just nothing that can be done I would fight like hell against your local government I would be talking to your local politicians I would be getting with your representatives I would be scheduling meetings with your lawmakers to discuss what's going on you could send them my videos if you want anybody's to to to lay down the facts of what's actually happening and god forbid what the next five years look like from it next 10 years next generation looks like from it so I'd say fight like hell to grow yourself or fight like hell to save the next generation but start with fighting for yourself and getting your brain grounded getting your spirit right getting your body in shape to know that you're coming from a foundation of true self love and not ego cause that to me is is the worst route you can take is anything that's fueled by the ego or greed that comes with capitalism money wow Zach I I'm I'm a little speechless right now I don't know what to say I mean thank you for sharing you know some very intimate things about yourself I I know that can't be easy and uh much respect uh and I'm glad you have fought like hell to get to where you are now and um to have this passion to to to share the you know the knowledge that you're investing in investing in yourself and by learning and and reading and taking care of yourself I think that's so important and and yeah hundred percent agree with you like you you have to you have to be an advocate of your own health your own wealth you know um you have to be an advocate because and and in life it's always gonna be challenging but no those are those are some some great words of wisdom from a younger millennial haha Tim and I wish I wish the words of wisdom could be different to be Frank with you I I wanted to be able to teach others how to do exactly what I've done yeah I I wanted to tell people you can be bullied through high school kicked out of college and be an army brat and get out and still make it as an entrepreneur I wanted to prove that I wanted to show that and unfortunately the ladder that I climbed I didn't realize the the rungs were rotting out behind me I can't tell someone to follow the exact same path I did because it won't work yeah and that's where I get really frustrated with that system I get it I mean we're we're in um a digital based society now right you you look at how much time people spend online in comparison to church or with friends or even at a bar like the amount of time has just dramatically consumed everyone's life I think in all age groups too you know you know what's funny dude every Gen Z individual and future Gen alpha individual wants exactly what we had growing up yeah put the phones away yeah community like let's let's live together in harmony like not everyone was singing Kumbaya I'm not saying that but that's that's that's probably there's the silver lining then you know people want to fight more towards sustainable futures with you know smaller uh yeah you got you got Gen Z couples out creating gardens and yeah getting flip phones like you guys are going backwards they want what we got well it's it's interesting because the younger generation from my perspective has more knowledge than both of our generation than both than our generation and and so on because they're they have so much more the ability right I mean just what AI is doing to them and and how it's what it's doing to everyone but I think they understand it better than let's just say a a boomer or Gen X you know like or a millennial I even a millennial yeah no I'm more I'm learning from that generation all the time no and you can feel it you can tell that you represent that too because you're in that close net age I think you know and I think that there are those crossovers between generations and where people want to I I equate it to like have you seen an action movie obviously like have you seen a one of those movies where they go to rob the bank okay right couple of you have been thinking of few almost almost every single time they'll have this scene where like maybe they're not even trying to rob a bank maybe they're robbing a jewelry store or something like that and there is that moment where the star and the co star and then the surrounding crews like four or five of them hit that moment where like the trigger gets hit security got called they they accidentally touch that one red laser and everything and and then that titanium wall starts dropping and then you know the star gets underneath first and then one of the co members gets in and then the other person and then it's that co star normally like oh my God Ryan can't die Ryan can't get caught and then he slides in just at the last second yeah just his hair almost gets caught underneath it that's me that's how I feel I am that person I feel I am on the other side of the titanium wall like shoo I made it but by the time I got to brush myself I'll be like shoo we're like wait there's other people in there we forgot the other people no I I think sometimes you have to take a step back I think the younger generation might I want to slow down a little bit you know maybe working until you your your you die is not the best way of living right and like that's the way I grew up you know but you know no one cares work harder like that was it like and um it's that's not really the best who does that mantra benefit Tim nobody only the person no no no no no it benefits people oh well it benefits the employer it benefits the billionaires and the corporations cause it gets you to work hard at a position so you can grind at the micro get the results that they need and if you choose to leave they'll find someone else to fill the position yeah I think Gen Z just realizes that a bit more I think the boomers especially romanticize their relationship with their career provider yeah oh I'm a life I'm a lifer over here at Allstate like who gives a shit like good for you like congrats like I'm happy you're able to make a nice career out of it but Allstate does not care about you yeah like the CEO does not know who you are I view the same thing with politics like any political figure you vote they don't know who you are they they not to say they don't care about you but they don't know who you are and they and they clearly don't care about your best interest at heart and this is why again I still go to the fight like hell in your localized politics to go after the people on the ground that can make change do you have congressman and senators from your very state that go to DC and make these laws we can fight to at least bring awareness and that's my mission is bringing awareness to what's going on because we can as millennials Tim we can ride this out yeah we can ride this out we'll be fine in a decade or so no matter what happens if AI takes over guess what foreclosures are still gonna happen people are still gonna be listing their homes AI is not gonna get into that world yeah right we don't have to worry about the post graduate employment rate we don't have to worry about the uh the opening market for the jobs for the white collar society we don't have to worry about that being eaten up by tech and AI we're gonna be fine we have a house we have kids already we're married we're gonna be fine I truly worry about the slow step approach we're taking toward completely financially ostracizing the following generations well hopefully millennials is that generation with change that and helps you know and yes and I do see that and I and I uh I pray for that you know because there needs to be some change um because the only constant in life is change and I don't think we're on the right trajectory at this current time but as we mentioned earlier there are there's always silver lining in things that are very difficult and I I hope that the next generation difficulty forces solution yes the reason boomers were okay with being lied to by their politicians is because they were able to get a house and get married and get educated and go home and do their own thing and they didn't have to worry about it as long as they did what they were supposed to do and got home at the end of the day they could live their life they were and all of them will be the first my grandpa be the first one to tell you yeah we shot JFK like he'd be the first person to tell you like old people know politicians lie yeah yeah old but for some reason nothing ever happened now we're getting to the point where that very truth is leading to this generation not being able to financially breathe and I think the silver lining is the incursion of this problem being more at scale across an entire generation will lead to the need for change it it there's a there's a phrase of it the the pain of staying the same once the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of the change change happens I like that and that that's why I think we're starting to see little by little not saying Nepal is gonna happen tomorrow in America but I think slowly but surely that's a great example though that's a great example where Gen Z is just kind of enough is enough you know um now I think I think that kind of when people are forced to to do things they're gonna they're going to so well Zach this has been a great conversation and I I have so much more I wanna talk to you about I'm hoping we can do this again in the near future what's brother um for for the audience that wanna learn more about you and you know some of your teachings what how can they find you teachings I'm just I'm just throwing what I Learned online man I'm good nobody yeah my name is Zachary Faust I'm Zachary Loft on Instagram and TikTok and we have our long form podcast where we get to reverse the roles and I get to interview folk like you yeah called the Zach Faust Show on Spotify and YouTube awesome awesome well for everyone watching this uh don't forget to like this video and subscribe to our channel um to stay ahead of the real estate game if you if you want to sign up for our free foreclosure email alerts um go to foreclosure.com forward slash alert again I'm Tim Jones and thank you for joining us today have a great one