AUGUSTA – Alanna Hounsell’s two-story, two-bedroom house on 11/2 acres is fairly typical in Belgrade.

But Hounsell is far from being the typical home-buyer. At 23, Hounsell is among a wave of savvy young homeowners nationwide who are buying, rather than renting, their first home.

Low interest rates and helpful loan programs have made it possible for increasingly young buyers to own a piece of real estate in central Maine.

Hounsell, who works in the Governor’s Office, was drawn to buying a home of her own after finding that renting a two-bedroom trailer in Augusta would set her back $650 a month.

“I was looking for places to rent at first,” said Hounsell. “But it was just the right home and the right business transaction when we ran the numbers. The house actually costs less per month [than a rental], and it is mine.”

A survey by the National Realtors Association has seen the median home-buying age nationally dip from 32 to 31 between 1999 and 2001. Armed with Internet mortgage calculators, these young buyers are beefing up their presence in areas of Maine.

“There is no question that low interest rates are bringing in younger people,” said Valarie Lamont, director of Portland’s Institute for Real Estate Research and Education. “From an affordability standpoint, areas outside of Portland – the Augusta and Bangor areas – are very attractive. The only concern is employment.”

Sheryl Gregory, a former president of the Maine Realtors Association who works at Winthrop’s Homestead Realty, said she’s seeing buyers as young as 22.

“They have minimal debt, one car payment and, assuming they have jobs, then they haven’t destroyed their credit,” she said. “We also had more individual females buying homes over the last 10 years.”

Gregory and Bill Sprague Jr. of Sprague and Curtis Real Estate Agency said younger buyers tend to look for homes costing $70,000 to $100,000.

“It’s possible today to have payments of $350 to $400 a month,” said Sprague. “The upfront is sometimes as low as $1,000. There are a number of loan programs that would let them get it cheaper than renting, in the Maine State Housing [Authority] program, and sometimes federal housing agency loans.”

Real estate agents say the biggest obstacle for young buyers is finding affordable homes. In many areas, finding houses under $100,000 can be difficult, so options may be limited.

Still, 21-year-old Brian Barnes and his fiancee found a three-bedroom ranch in Augusta for $88,000. They received help on their down payment through the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program.

“We never had any credit problems; we always paid our bills,” Barnes said. “We had student loans but they were not significant.”

Hounsell said buying a house was the best decision she ever made.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” she said, “but now I have a place to live, and I’m making money on it.”