Ep. 10 Housing for Young Adults with Dominic Martinez

In this episode of Housing Matters, we’re joined by Dominic Martinez, an employee at The Housing Trust, to talk about housing from a young adult’s perspective.

From navigating today’s housing market to discussing accessibility, resources, and future opportunities, Dominic shares honest insight into what young people are experiencing—and what needs to change.

Learn more: https://www.housingtrustonline.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is Housing Matters, the Housing Trust podcast, where we share stories and insights about affordable housing and making homeownership a reality. I'm your host, Roman Tiger Abeta. Welcome to another episode of Housing Matters. In this episode, we'll talk with Dominic, an employee at the Housing Trust, about housing for young adults. Dominic, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me. So, Dominic, we're uh we're Housing Matters. This is the name of our podcast, and we talk about all things related to housing. And I wanted to talk to you and have you as a guest for a couple of reasons. One, you work for the housing trust, so we'll get a little bit into that. Uh, but two, you're young still, and I'm sure you'll eventually be looking for a house if you're not already. So we'll kind of get into that too. But first, let's learn a little bit about you, Dominic. Uh, when how long has it been since you graduated from high school? You look pretty young.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Um, I graduated from high school in 2023.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

2023. And uh, where did you go to high school? I went to high school at Capitol. Capital High, uh, Jaguars. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

I'm a Jaguar too. At Capital, did you play sports? What did you do? I played basketball for a little bit. Was it like a couple of years, like freshman, sophomore?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Um, I played my freshman year, my junior year.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Uh okay, but then you graduated. Yeah. And then how long have you been working for the housing trust? I've been working for the housing trust for a year now.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

And what brought you to the housing trust? I had just found the job online, but ever since I got here, I really like it. So nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Did you know what the housing trust did before you you started here?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah. I knew it was kind of like homewise.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah. Like helping people buy houses in Santa Fe. Yeah. Um, but tell us a little bit about what you do for the housing trust now. Well, what you did when you first started working here and what you're you're doing now.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

So I started off as a receptionist. Um, I would just help clients when they came in and with their applications and stuff. And now I've moved to accounting. And now we're trying to get our books good so we can have a great audit. And if we have a good audit, then we get more money, more grants, and that could really benefit us as an organization.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

And what made you decide to get into the the auditing part of the company or the accounting part of the company?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I feel like it was what I wanted to do first. Um, housing counseling was on the table, but I was really excited to get into accounting. It's a good job to have, and it's something that's in need right now. So I'm really adamant about having a good audit this year. So prove to uh the organization that we that we work hard.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

That's awesome. And and you're right, when you when you have a good audit, funders and people that are looking at your company to give you money, even banks, if they if we have to borrow money to build, they're gonna want a copy of your last audit, and the audit has to be clean and show that the organization knows what they're doing when it comes to money, money coming in and money going out. Are you taking any classes related to accounting?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Right now, I go to the community college, uh, the Santa Fe Community College. I'm just doing business administration right now. Okay. But my accounting classes for that, I'm probably gonna do maybe next semester or the semester after.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Nice. And do you want to get a degree in business or or in accounting, or you haven't decided yet?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I haven't really decided. I was thinking doing business administration because I want to be like a director or a manager someday, maybe move towards the accounting part, depending on how I'm doing in the classes.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

So, Dominic, you graduated in 2023. We're recording this episode 2025. So, how old are you? I'm 21. You're 21. Okay, so you're 21 years old. What's your housing situation as a 21-year-old?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Right now, I rent an apartment and it's expensive, especially for people that are just kind of starting out. And I'm on a discounted rent. Okay. It's with the city, and basically, if you work in the community or do anything like that, uh the rent is six hundred dollars cheap.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

So tell me how you found your uh found an apartment and what process did you have to go through to get your own?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So I was looking for a place, and it's pretty hard when you're young to find a place because a lot of renters want to see that you have like renters' history and you're a little bit older.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

How'd you find a place?

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Uh, I had found it online. So you went online, did you just look up like apartments near me, or what did you do? Apartments near me. I was on Zillow and I had found that the process kind of started off with me just filling out an application, paying all the fees and everything associated with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

How how much in the fees did you pay?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

I paid $250. $250. And they wanted a hundred and fifty dollar deposit, but then they considered me high risk, so they wanted a seven hundred and fifty dollar deposit.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

So you were high risk because of your age? Yes. And like you said, you didn't have any history of renting before because did you live with your parents?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, I did. So the the renting situation was harder to get into because I'm young. Yes. I I feel like I will I'm uh I was 20 when I got it. So uh it's kind of hard for somebody my age to get an apartment. It's very expensive.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And so you're paying rent now on your own. Uh yes, I am. And and how has that been? And you did you pay rent before when you lived with your parents?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Did you help them or yeah, I paid them a little bit of a portion of the rent?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Okay, so you're already kind of used to paying, was it consistent like every month?

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah, I paid them every two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Okay, and so now though you're on your own and you you're responsible for the whole rent payment yourself. Yes. And what has that been like?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

It's rough. It's it's new because it's very expensive, but I manage.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

And you get paid every two weeks at the housing trust? Yes. And so you have to budget your money, right? And balance and make sure you don't overspend so that you you can pay your rent every month?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Yes, I always budget. That's my biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

And is rent when is rent due? Uh rent is due at the first of every month. First of every month. And do you have any plans right now to ever home? You want to own a home or are you okay just renting for a while?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

I do want to own a home. Um, I think the biggest thing with owning a home nowadays is like interest rates. Right. They're very high. So it kind of most of your money goes towards interest and never the principal. So you're giving a lot of money to the lender and never really paying off your house. You you have a hundred thousand dollar loan, but you ended up giving a hundred thousand dollars to the lender throughout the entire time of that loan. So in total, you paid two hundred thousand dollars. Right. Um, so I want to own a home one day, but right now it's just the interest rates and the the prices.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Do you have a goal of like wanting to own one in five years, ten years, or you're just not even thinking about that yet?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

The goal was to own one in three or four years.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Okay. And what are you gonna do? Are there specific steps you're taking to make that a reality, or are you Um, I'm just kind of in the goal setting stage.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I kinda I need to get there, like uh paying off my car, doing things like that. But I I do plan on wanting to own a home in three or four years. I would just need to save up money, um, do a little bit more research, work at a housing place, but it's always good to fill yourself with knowledge so you know what you're getting into.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Have you talked to the mortgage counselors here yet at all?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Uh I talked to Ron about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

And what was his advice, or what has he been telling you so far?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

He had told me not to rush it. It's a big commitment, but also to take into account that you have to you can't have a high income to debt ratio. You gotta make sure that your debts aren't taking up all your money, and then also how much I would need to save up. And it was I think probably like 12,000, which isn't bad at all.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

And uh as far as your your friends and that circle, uh where are they as far as do they still do a lot of them still live with their parents? Are they renting now too? Or are are any of them homeowners?

SPEAKER_00 8:06

A lot of my friends all still live with their parents. Most of them uh have jobs, okay, but most of them are still living with their parents, um, working to that goal to move out.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

But um have they asked you have you given them given them anybody advice now that you're living on your own?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Uh yeah, I had given advice. I just said that first you gotta have a job. Okay. You want to find out what you can afford and if you want a roommate, because sometimes roommates are better because they can help with the rent. Yes, and that's kind of what I've been trying to strive towards. Grant is very expensive, but it works.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Um are you in a one or two bedroom?

SPEAKER_00 8:43

I'm in a one bedroom.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

So will you look if you find a roommate, will you find a look for a bigger apartment, like two bedrooms? And is your goal there to lower your rent every month by getting a roommate?

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, that's kind of the goal. Um, just kind of splitting it two ways and just having a plan, because it it would be way better to split rent on a higher place, but I'm only paying 700 a little bit more than that. It it saves me money and I can save and save for the things I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

And what about um are any of your friends, is anybody thinking of homeownership? Or is that do you think that's something that people don't start thinking of till late 20s, 30s? What do you what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I don't think any of my friends and like my siblings. I have a lot of siblings, some that are closer to my age, uh-huh, really think about homeownership right now. A lot of them want to rent, and home ownership has its pros, it also has its cons. Same with renting, pros and cons. But I don't think anybody uh I know is really thinking about buying a home besides my parents.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

So, yeah, you said you were helping your parents with rent. Yes. I are they looking to buy a home now?

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yes, they're looking to buy a home. They've been at the housing trust for since March. Um did you bring them to the housing trust?

SPEAKER_01 10:02

I did. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I had told them about all the programs that the housing trust has and how they could become a homeowner.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yes. And how they should um apply for the program. And they they've applied and they're going through the processes and they're working on saving money and getting to the point where they need to be, and they love Ron. Ron has been very good to them. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah, I it's they say you don't know what you don't know. And so sometimes we we don't try things or we don't look into things because it just it doesn't seem like that's a reality for us. Or and homeownership is one of those things that people really don't believe that they could ever achieve, especially if they if they grow up, you know, not with in poverty or not a lot of money. And but but really like you said earlier, as as long as you have a job and you start have a plan and take a little responsibility as far as saving money and paying your bills on time and and and coming to places like the housing trust or homewise, I think people are surprised that sometimes that they can become homeowners.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah, and I think that's the biggest part about it is a lot of people it it feels impossible, but it's not impossible as long as you just put your head down and you say, I'm gonna do this, you're you're gonna get it done.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yeah, and one thing that uh that you did and that is very important for young people is finish high school. Gotta graduate from high school. And if you didn't, but you're still young, well, all that knowledge is still there from being in school since kindergarten, get your GD. Yeah. Because that's the way to get a decent paying job where once you have that, you really can strive towards home ownership. Um, the other thing you had said, you said there were pros and cons to homeownership. What what are they?

SPEAKER_00 11:55

I think the the cons I'm gonna start off with of a homeownership is probably gonna be, I think like property taxes, homeowners insurance. Uh you don't have somebody fixing things that are broken around the place. Okay, that's a that's a good con, yeah. That all comes out of a pocket. And I think the pros are is it's um it's an asset, right? A very large asset that comes in the future. And like if you have kids or something, uh you can leave a house to them that has value to it. Right. They want to keep it or sell it. I think another pro is is you have your own space compared to an apartment. Right. You have a backyard, a front yard, all those things are the pros of it. And for for me personally, I feel like the the cons is just because of how things are right now, as far as everything going on and like you said with interest rates and the cost of construction.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

But the the one thing though, why I think more young people should look into home ownership and and I'm glad you said you're doing it, because yes, you're absolutely right. You do pay a lot in interest, but if you stick to the 30-year note or the 15-year note, if you start at 20, you're 35 and you own a home free and clear if it's 15 years, even if it's 30 years, when you're 50, you own the home free and clear, and you still have a long life to live after that, yeah. Hopefully, and you don't have a house payment. So and another pro is property houses go up in value. Like you said, it's an asset and it just gets more and more valuable. And I know a lot of times, and you mentioned kids, you you might eventually have kids, and when you do, they get expensive. Things happen with kids, and and you're that asset you could leverage, like some people refinance so that they could get some of that equity out of their house to maybe pay for college for a kid, or get them a car, or get them so different things, and I don't know if that's good advice, by the way. Okay, but I'm just saying, uh, so talk to me, talk to me about the pros and cons you're learning with renting.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

I think the pros of renting is that when something breaks that isn't my fault, somebody comes and fixes it for me.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Also, I think another pro about it is I don't have to pay taxes on it, it's just a base rent. This varies, but same thing with like uh my rent payment, it won't change uh depending on the leasing contract. Um, compared to a mortgage payment, if you have an escrow, if you're not getting enough taken out, they could raise your rent could go up. Those are the two main pros for me. And I feel like the cons of renting is the people to live next to people, and you have to be mindful of how loud you are, right? Or deal with a loud neighbor yourself. And I think also not having as much space. So, like if you have dogs or animals, anything like that, like uh the houses, you have yards, backyards, renting. Sometimes you can, but in this case, I don't. I just have a balcony. Um, I think the space also renting apartments, uh they uh seem smaller than houses way smaller. So a one-bedroom mine's I think 750 square feet. So it's not that big.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Okay, so do you think um you talked about your kind of journey to becoming just a renter and how you went on Zillow? And do you think there are enough accessible resources for young people when it comes to housing?

SPEAKER_00 15:20

I don't think so. And I say that because when you're looking on uh websites or apps apps like that, you're not really gonna find some landlords or someone that's gonna want to rent to someone as young as you just because of they don't know if you're gonna be loud, especially if you're living next to older tenants. Right. Um, I think that's the biggest thing is a lot of people don't want to rent to to younger folks.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

And so what do you think is a good way for a housing organization to better reach young people? Like what can the housing trust be doing better to reach more young people to let them know that home ownership is a possibility?

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I think the biggest thing is social media. Social media, there's a lot of uh every younger person in this generation has a phone or something, some electronic of some sort.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

So they're not just sitting home watching the prices right and then looking for waiting for commercial to come on to tell them about the housing trust. No or listening to the radio. Yeah, no, I don't because those are the old traditional ways of advertising, TV and radio and maybe newspaper. Do you even do young people read a newspaper?

SPEAKER_00 16:28

No, don't even watch cable TV anymore. It's Netflix and all that.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Um so definitely social media is one way to reach young people. I think social media is one of the biggest things. And how do you see the future of housing for your generation? Or what would you like to see housing look like for your generation?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I would like to see it get cheaper as time goes on and maybe interest rates drop because people don't realize how um important that is when you're getting into a mortgage. I think the future, as far as housing for people in our generation, right now at the moment, it's not looking great because uh the way that it's going, but hopefully it gets better. But at the moment, it doesn't look like it's gonna get any cheaper or anything's gonna really go down.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

And what about the type of house? What type of house does do young people want? Because I know, and I think this started like there was a big push in the 50s and 60s, and even when I was a young adult, to have the three-bedroom, two-bath, a garage, or do young people still look for houses like that, or do they want something more like like what what what what would be a good if you could design a house for young people, what would what would it look like?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

If I was to design a house for young people, I would probably go a two-bedroom. Um, okay, because it's the the three is nice, but I think the two is perfect for somebody that lives by themselves, or it's a couple, and it's it's a good starter home. Um, and I feel like here in Santa Fe, there's not a lot of two-bedroom houses anymore that get built. It's mainly three, four. But I definitely do think that a two-bedroom house, two-bath with a garage, um, a big backyard. Okay. Um to entertain your friends, yes. Right? Okay. A big backyard, a nice front yard. And I feel like another thing is is people my age do like to buy houses, but I've heard a lot of my friends and people I hang around talk about buying houses that have land. Oh, so land also, not just the the little yard and the I feel like a lot of my friends and people I know really want houses that have a a big space on it.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

And if you could change one thing about how Santa Fe, your community, supports young adults with housing, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 18:54

I think the way that the commun Santa Fe could support its community is by dealing with the issues that are happening at hand. So uh schools, education, because here in New Mexico we're not the biggest on education. So better schools. I I think bettering schools and talking about it more because before I worked here, I didn't know anything about houses and how they work. Well, so I think it all starts from education and learning about those big life commitments that you do make eventually.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

So learning about that in school, yes, in middle school, high school, yeah, instead of just you know the social studies, math, reading, history, talk a little bit about life that you're gonna experience right after you graduate.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yes, I think housing is uh should be a big thing talked about in schools because uh a lot of people get out of high school, and if you didn't do research on it, you're not gonna know where to start if you don't work in that field either.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

I wonder if maybe the housing trust can start reaching out directly to high schools and start talking to to kids directly or even just showing up on you know making arrangements with the schools. Can we come one of these days during the school year and just have information for your seniors about housing, even if it's rental? Yeah, it's like you said, they don't they don't even know how to rent a house after they graduate. And that's true, and I think that's a very good idea. So again, Dominic, this is called housing matters, and we're gonna wrap up and we wrap up with all of our guests by giving them an opportunity to tell us why housing matters to them. So, Dominic, why does housing matter to you?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Housing matters to me because I feel like it's a place for families and even people that are by themselves to call home. You have a long day at work, a long day uh overall, you get to go home to a house that you get to call yours. So I feel like that's the biggest thing on why housing matters. It's it's a home, it's a place that we get to go after a very long day or a very bad day, a good day, it doesn't matter. You always have somewhere to go back to.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

It's your safe place, you're saying. Yes. Awesome. Dominic, thank you for being on the housing trust podcast, Housing Matters. Thank you for listening to Housing Matters, the Housing Trust Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. To learn more about our work and the latest at the Housing Trust, visit housingtrustonline.org. If you are interested in partnering with us or supporting our mission, we'd love to hear from you. You can find our contact information on our website.