About a year ago, I was contacted by Sam Eaton, host of NPR's Marketplace segment, about a piece he was working on titled, "The New American Dream." Sam was interviewing young families across America to get their perspective on the future, and the choices they are making now in anticipation of it.

Sam interviewed me because he found a local newspaper article about my family's trade up from a Hoboken two-bedroom to a four-bedroom. He liked the theme of raising a family in an urban setting with the intention of sending our kids through the local public schools, and our frugality in managing on a single income. However, he ultimately opted not to go with us in favor of an urban Chicago family who chose to rent rather than own their home.

Most families are having a hard time coming up with a large down payment, so how did we pull off our purchase? My husband and I got married young, in our early twenties. Married couples tend to spend less and save more, and we saved every income tax refund and bonus that came our way. We also cut our household expenses by combining cellphone bills ($10 a month for the second line) and did stuff like switch from Cablevision to Verizon Fios. We also chose to forgo graduate school, which meant we had no student loans or interrupted earnings. By our early thirties, we had a large savings cushion at a time when many of our friends were just starting to get married and think about down payments.

We prioritized homeownership because of the instability and expense of renting in the NYC area. Rent hikes, broker fees, broken appliances that took months to repair, not being able to deduct rent on our income tax returns, and the uncertainty of whether we would be able to stay from year to year. Three-bedroom apartments are rare in Hoboken and tend to be owned by individuals rather than corporations focused on investment properties, so many Hoboken families have been forced to move out at the end of their lease because the owner has decided to sell the unit. Renting was difficult enough when it was the two of us and our dog, now that we have children we didn't want the headache of an involuntary move.

A typical Hoboken two-bedroom condo costs about $500,000. A 20 percent down payment is $100,000, not including closing costs. By saving $1,000 per month and windfall income like tax refunds, most Hoboken professional couples could accrue that amount over five years. However, it would mean a lifestyle deemphasizing consumption, which is starkly at odds with the Washington Street bar and restaurant scene.

Because owning a home was important for me and my husband, we made it our biggest priority for the first ten years of our marriage. Now that buying a home is off our plate, we focus on the kids. Advance planning is key to most major life decisions; it gives you time to save and educate yourself so you know exactly what you are getting into.

To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://hobokenmomcondo.com/momblog and follow her at http://twitter.com/zhobokenmom