As many of you are aware my Prudential office in San Bruno, Ca. is the largest single independent Prudential office in the country.  We are very progressive and have kiosk is several of the regional malls in the area.  As I had my shift just before the holidays, a young boy, I'd say about 12 or 13 was looking at some listings.  I let him look for a while and then approached.  He told me he was 30 years old and looking for a rental for his family of 4 with a $60,000 annual income.  I did a double take and he explained he had a home work assignment to balance a family budget including housing.  I helped him find a few rental homes in the area.  The reason for me writing about this I thought it was a great assignment; Reality, Life.   I think this should be taught in detail to all high school seniors and to all purchasing a home.  I believe saving should be part of a family budget.  The savings could be for a down payment, home maintenance, vacation, rainy day, etc.  If people budgeted in a savings category they should come up with a 5% or 10% down payment pretty easily.  Let's look at the home buyer of a $400,000 home.  Their previous rent payments might have been $1500 a month and their new mortgage payments and taxes are going to be $2500-$3000: A minimum difference of $1000 per month or $12,000 a year.   Within a year they should have saved a 3% down payment or more.    The larger down payment will create immediate equity, lower their payments and prove they could save.  One of the problems today are that people do not want to give up the 2 lattes a day, fine dinners out, top of the line cars, etc. to save for a home.  That is OK, maybe they should continue to rent until they are willing to sacrifice to reach the "American Dream".  Even with the Real Estate Turmoil there is nothing like calling a place your own home.   An agent in my office recently told me about a client whom lost their home in foreclosure while they were making payments on a Mercedes.  Once again I thought it was super that this 7^th grader was learning about life's financials.  He was leaning to budget for food costs, housing costs, transportation, clothing, etc.  What a great lesson.  Kudos to the teacher. 

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