Ashley Ayala is a 37-year-old insurance appraiser living near Austin, Texas, who we’re following for our series Lived Economies. Check out some of our earlier stories about Ayala as she navigates owning or renting.

After months of going to open houses and stockpiling her savings, Ashley Ayala is still a renter.

“So, I went and looked at a couple houses, and they're awesome and great, and I really, really want one,” said Ayala, who’s 37 years old and lives near Austin. “But I'm terrified.”

There is a list of reasons. But at the top is the economy. Mortgage rates haven’t really come down. The average 30-year fixed sits at about 6.25%, according to Freddie Mac. Meanwhile, Ayala works in insurance, and a few of her friends who also work in the industry have been laid off. Her company keeps reminding employees that they shouldn’t expect overtime, even though it makes up almost half of Ayala’s paycheck.

“Financially, on paper, I am doing better than I ever have before, but it feels a lot harder, because everything still seems out of reach,” she said.

Six months ago, I started following six families from all different backgrounds to get a sense of their place in the economy and how they’d navigate the time ahead. Back then, I imagined I’d document a lot of changes in people’s lives. Instead, a lot of people — like Ayala — have hit pause. 

“Think about the challenges that she’s talking about,” said Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. “She is seeing a complicated job market for her friends. She sees mortgage rates quite high.”

There are also tariffs, inflation, and complex geopolitics. Between a slowing labor market and a frozen housing market, a lot of people are delaying big decisions. 

“How can you do anything in this environment other than just sit and wait for things to resolve?” asked Edelberg. “How can you know what your financial situation is going to look like in a month?”

For Ayala, all of this anxiety is heightened because of her personal life. She and her boyfriend broke up in August, and her job makes dating hard. As an insurance appraiser, she travels for three weeks at a time; that leaves her only one week each month to date. 

“That's a great opener for someone you just want to hook up with: ‘I'm here for a good time, not a long time,’“ joked Ayala. “But it's not great [for] looking for a potential partner.”

Ayala earned about $130,000 last year, with overtime. That’s what allowed her to save $25,000 for a down payment. But her job is also, in some ways, keeping her from buying a house. To put this kind of crudely, she either needs to merge incomes with a partner or see a shift in the economy to feel good about buying alone.

“It doesn’t feel like a safe or smart option to pursue right now,” said Ayala. “Yeah, I feel stuck.”

I asked if she would consider finding a different job to prioritize dating. She said that would require a pay cut, so it’s a nonstarter.

“Because I saw what it was like when my parents split, and my mom didn't know what to do and had no idea of what the bills were, let alone how to pay them. So for me, money is safety,” she said.

Safety also means waiting to buy a home. In the meantime, she’s spending her money in other ways. She got ceramic braces — the kind with clear brackets, which cost $5,000. She’s also added to her collection of Le Creuset cookware. 

“It's a pumpkin braiser and a pumpkin Dutch oven. And I love them,” she said. “So I mean, if I got braces, like, I can just eat soup now.”

Ayala figures if she’s not buying a house anytime soon, what’s a few hundred dollars worth of pots and pans?