Starter Homes Vanished. Here's What Replaced Them
The average American buyer is now 38 years old — Dave Conley bought his first home in his twenties and had to borrow the down payment from friends. Dave and Jerremy Alexander Newsome press JD Cobb on where the starter home went, and JD is blunt: Gen Z is skipping steps, and his own first house cost $187,000. He explains what happens when a self-employed file hits an underwriter's desk, why writing off most of your income makes you unlendable, and the one thing a computer can't catch — occupancy fraud. Then insurance: a file that died on flood costs, and AI drawing block-by-block lines around what can't be covered at all.
Timestamps:
- (00:12) Borrowed the down payment – how Dave bought in the '90s
- (05:15) Starter homes are gone – JD's first house cost $187,000
- (08:15) Self-employed problem – your write-offs are killing your loan
- (11:30) The fraud computers miss – lying about who lives there
- (12:50) "Fast and Easy" – the Countrywide program with no verification
- (16:58) Texas wind insurance – $6,000 a year and climbing
- (20:02) AI draws the line – block by block, who gets covered
Connect:
