Pre-Wedding Bashes Can Put a Dent in Saving for a Home Down Payment

Destination bachelor and bachelorette parties are becoming the new norm, especially among millennials who prize experience and grew up with The Hangover's depiction of pre-wedding adventure. While flying off to Vegas with your closest friends can certainly be a trip of a lifetime, big ticket vacations can add up quick.

A new Zillow report found that millennials who attend just nine of these trips in a lifetime will have spent up to $13,788, or 35 percent of a down payment on the median home.

Owning a home is important to millennials, yet many of them are struggling to save enough money for a down payment. To help first-time buyers, Zillow calculated how much cash is needed for a 20 percent down payment on a home, and how much of it may be going toward bachelor or bachelorette parties instead.

Party on

A destination bachelor party costs on average $1,532 ($1,106 for a bachelorette), according to wedding website, The Knot. If the average person attends nine parties in a lifetime, or three a year for three years, they will have spent up to 34 percent of the cash needed for a down payment on the median home.

In some metros like Cleveland and Pittsburgh, millennials can spend up to half (51 and 50 percent, respectively) of their future home's down payment on bachelor parties and well over a third of a down payment on bachelorette parties. However, in hot and expensive markets like San Jose or San Francisco, nine destination bachelor parties equates to only 5 or 6 percent, respectively, of the down payment on the median-priced home.

The wedding party

Bachelor and bachelorette parties are not the only expense associated with attending a wedding. On average, bridesmaids and groomsmen spend an additional $1,154 for things like wedding day attire, a gift for the bride and groom, as well as travel and accommodations for the wedding day. Guests not in the bridal party still pay $888, on average, to attend each wedding.

Help with budgeting

Buyers can use Zillow's affordability calculator to see how much they can actually afford to spend on a home, based on their income, debts and savings. Zillow's mortgage calculator can also provide custom down payment estimates based on home price and interest rates.

Curious where bachelor and bachelorette party expenses make up the largest portion of a down payment on a home? Check out the full report here.

 

from Zillow Porchlight http://ift.tt/2uJ8cYR