Margaret Skiff started looking into buying her first home in 2025 at just 26 years old after her landlord declined to renew her apartment lease. She wasn’t intimidated by the prospect of doing it on her own; Skiff says she was inspired by an aunt who had bought a home on her own when she was 26.
“It was never really a question of ‘if’ I was going to buy a house by myself or not,” the now-27-year-old tells CNBC Make It. ”[It] was just always really instilled in me that this is something that is going to really set you up for success in the future.”
Skiff — who earned around $151,000 in 2025 between her full-time customer experience job and creating content on social media — purchased a duplex in Portland, Maine, in April 2025, just a couple of months before her 27th birthday. She put $57,500 down on the $575,000 property and secured a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 6.625% interest rate.
She’s relatively young to be a homeowner. Adults ages 26 to 34 made up just 12% of buyers who purchased homes between July 2023 and June 2024, according to 2024 data from the National Association of Realtors, the most recent available. However, Skiff earns more than many homeowners her age. Recent homebuyers in her age group had a median income of $108,300 in 2023, per NAR.
