Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

EL PASO -- Joaquin Espinoza is one of about 1.5 million homeowners in the United States who are younger than 25, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Espinoza, 21, never thought he would own a home only three years after graduating from high school. He is married to Mayela, 20, and the couple have two children -- Joaquin Sunny, 1, and Elsie Vianey, 2.

"We had no space at the apartment we were at before this," said Espinoza. "The kids couldn't run around and it was really crowded. This was just something we had to do and it made sense. There's no point in wasting money in renting when you can pay the same amount and it's going to be yours."

Espinoza and his wife live with two other family members in their East Side home near Edgemere Boulevard and Saul Kleinfeld Drive. Their home includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living room, backyard and two-car garage.

"We love it," said Mayela Espinoza. "It's homey and we especially love the backyard for the kids. There's just so much space and privacy and the kids have room to run around and have their toys and grow up."

Living expenses for the Espinoza's total about $1,200 a month. They said keeping a good budget is one of the most important disciplines they had to learn on their own.

"Mayela takes care of that because I'm really bad with money and spending," said Joaquin Espinoza. "We have the house payment, all the bills, milk, diapers, Wipeys. The cell-phone bill is the one that's never consistent. Right now we don't have a savings account because there's not that much left for that. But Christmas is coming, so we definitely want to start putting money away."

Espinoza said his East Side home was one of three final options they had that fit into what his family was looking for.

"Our lease was up, so we didn't have that much time to look around," he said. "We didn't need to anyway. Our limit was no more than $900 a month, and a lot of the houses we saw were tiny. Mayela set up appointments to look and then we just made our decision with our Realtor and it was a private sale, so we didn't have to go through the bank and deal with all that extra trouble."

Espinoza said he didn't think working with a Realtor would be so easy because of his age and poor credit. He and his wife said they were surprised how friendly and helpful he turned out to be.

"He was really nice and was realistic with us about the money and payments," said Joaquin Espinoza. "Once we showed him how much we bring in and that we were serious, he really helped us find what we were looking for. Doing a private sale meant we didn't have to worry about closing costs or getting approved or anything extra. It's just ours. If you really want to buy a house, you can do it."

Adrian Castaneda, 39, has been in the real estate business for 10 years. He also works with the El Paso Fire Department, where he overheard that his co-worker Carlos Ornelas, 22, was looking to buy a home.

"It's a good house," said Castaneda. "It was a bank repo, so we got a good deal on it. I didn't have any doubts with Carlos because I know he has job stability and he got pre-approved with the bank, so he obviously had good credit. His age was never a problem."

Castaneda said he sees more people in their 20s looking to buy a home.

"I didn't see the point of an apartment because I would never own it," Ornelas said. "Me and my girlfriend had talked about moving out of our parents' homes for a while, and then my baby girl was born and it gave me more of a reason to look harder. It took me about a year and a half to find the right one. It's like a hunting game."

Ornelas and his girlfriend, Annabele Chairez, 19, have a daughter, Amaris Joyce, who is 7 months old. Ornelas said buying a home is something he had to do for his family.

"It was a long process working with the banks to get approved and making appointments and taking papers, and doing so much to prove I could pay for my house," he said. "In the beginning they did judge me because of my age, and I could tell they weren't taking me seriously. Once I told them I was a firefighter and showed them my check, then everything was OK."

Both families said they had the support of their parents with anything they needed and didn't get discouraged. They also said buying a house wasn't as hard as they'd thought.

"I'm very proud to say I own my own house," Ornelas said. "It's hard for everybody right now to think of paying a mortgage, but if it's something you want to do, then you should go for it. No matter your age. You might get told 'no' the first time, but there's more opportunities."