I’m a few years older. When I was 24 I was barely scratching out minimum wage and couldn’t get a job interview, let alone a good paying job. I got into my career field at 25. We bought our house when I was 30. Wife and I worked and saved for 5 years prior but didn’t have enough to get 20% down. Asked the lender to roll our PMI into the cost of the loan, then paid the interest rate down in points. Up front expense of about $6k saved us what would have been 5+ years of $200/mo PMI. Two years later we refinanced and now our interest rate is 1.9%. If you had told me at 24 that I’d be where I am at 37 I would have called the cops on you. Young people trade potential for perspective and in the absence of experience it’s extremely easy to feel like things are hopeless.
Save your money while rates are high. Right now there’s a great opportunity to grow that down payment because the stock market is very strong. Interest rates will come down eventually, likely some later this year and furthermore into 2025. When the housing market cools off, and it will, it always does, you’ll have cash in hand ready to move. Don’t wait for rates to bottom out, catch the price correction and refinance into a lower rate when the opportunity arises.
Not sure where your friends are located, but a $250k house at current rates is <$2k/month and in many parts of South Carolina pretty attainable.