If you were planning on winning the lottery and buying yourself a totally elaborate multi-million dollar mansion… all I can say is I’m sorry. (In full disclosure, I did win… $2.) But the time you spent swimming through listings and the feelings you felt for that perfect mansion don’t have to go to waste, right? Is it really so far-fetched that you could one day afford to live there?

Fact: The majority of people don’t have amazing credit. In fact, the median credit score, according to Experian, is only “good,” the average score hitting 700. But some people do blast their way into 800 territory—a tier known as “exceptional.

So your credit score is less than perfect and you’re doing everything in your power to improve it. The bills are paid on time and you’re only charging about $20 on your credit card every month (because the limit is only $500!). But, even with all of this, your credit doesn’t seem to budge more than a few points because your bills aren’t tied to your credit or you have just one measly credit card.

If there’s one home amenity that frequently tops a house hunter’s wish list, it’s a big yard. And though you might have had a mammoth half-acre backyard to play in, your kids (and pets) will have less room to grow—especially if you’re buying a newly-built home. According to a new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), via data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Survey of Construction, yards are growing smaller and smaller every year.

If you haven’t been furiously refreshing Zillow for the past couple of months, here’s a bit of news for you: It’s a seller’s market right now. Even if you’re not pining over a dream home currently, you might know that, well, because the thought of buying a home hasn’t even popped into your head anytime recently.

If you close your eyes and imagine graphic wallpapers, footed tubs, flora-filled door frames, there’s a new dream real estate listing you have to see: A New York City co-op so deliciously twee, we’re surprised it hasn’t been designed by Adam Stockhausen. Everything about this $2.95 million one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath apartment is a perfect blend of daintiness and opulence.

Over Fourth of July Weekend, I was running errands with my mom while visiting in suburban Chicago, Illinois. We headed to the Dollar Tree (also known as her and my grandma’s “favorite store”) because she wanted to pick up some plates she had been longing after. Bless my mother for practicing the “only buy if you think about it after you leave the store” trick even at Dollar Tree.

Applying for an apartment is hard. First you have to find one that’s moderately nice and within your price range, and then you have to get all of your documents together really, really fast. This would be easy if you were organized and had time set away to sort through your papers. But this is life and we’re not as organized as we’d like to be; it’s likely that you have a job and thus have limited time to collect your bank statements from the last six months.

Welcome to My First Apartment! Whether it’s your first studio, a four-bedroom deep in the city shared with a handful of roommates, or even an entire house (lucky you!), there’s something special about moving into the first place that’s truly your own. In this series, we’ll showcase actors, artists, entrepreneurs, and beyond—asking them to revisit that oh-so-sweet nostalgia of newly-found freedom.

Who had it worse when buying homes: the Boomers or Millennials? It might be a topic that makes Thanksgiving dinner tenuous, but now the argument has an answer. Well, sort of. According to a new report, home-ownership is technically cheaper than it was in the 1980s, but today it’s currently harder than ever to afford a home.