Get REAL with The Main Street Team

The 30% housing rule is outdated. Learn how to budget for a home in 2025 with smarter strategies that reflect today’s real estate market. For decades, buyers have been told to follow one simple rule: Don’t spend more than 30% of your income on housing. That is the gold standard. The budget benchmark. The line in the sand between “affordable” and “overextended.” But in 2025, that line no longer seems attainable. According to a Realtor.com® Affordability Report , the typical U.S. household would need to spend 44.6% of their income to buy a median-priced home today. And in cities like Los Angeles, that number jumps to over 100%. So if you’re staring down home prices, crunching the numbers, and wondering why the math doesn’t add up anymore, you’re not alone. The old rulebook doesn’t work in this market. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. It just means it’s time to budget differently. What the 30% Rule Got Right (and What It Missed) The 30% rule was never meant to be a law. It came from a ...

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices predicts that multigenerational living will reshape the housing market. Discover why more families are choosing this lifestyle and how it could benefit you. Imagine this: You walk through the front door after work. Your dad is teaching your daughter how to make his famous pasta sauce in the kitchen. Your mom is watering plants on the patio. Upstairs, your brother’s finishing up a Zoom call from his home office. Sound a little chaotic? Maybe. But for millions of families across the U.S., multiple generations living together is becoming the new normal. And surprisingly, they love it. According to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices , backed by Warren Buffett’s legendary market foresight, multigenerational living is poised to become the next big housing trend.  Let’s dive in.  Why More Families Are Living Together in 2025 In 2010, 5.1 million U.S. households were considered multigenerational. By 2020, that number had jumped to 6 millio...