Open Book: How to Be 'So Money'

In 2004 I became a first-time homeowner, buying a condo apartment on a quiet, tree-lined street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I was 24 years old and the envy of all my friends.

Thanks to Mom and Dad.

So yes, truth be told, my parents played a large role in enabling me to join the homeownership ranks. They pulled out the equity in their five-bedroom house in New England and gave me the cash to buy a zero-bedroom studio in New York City -- no mortgage, no fuss. After all, I was only 24. Who was going to give me a 30-year mortgage, when I was making $46,000 a year (in a city where consumer prices have soared about 20% faster than national costs, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute)? Add to that, I had no collateral. I guess I could have gotten one of those subprime loans...

Cramer: You're So Money, Farnoosh

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