Author Topic: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?  (Read 23727 times)

TheAnonOne

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #50 on: February 06, 2017, 09:00:23 AM »
My mortgage is $550 income 11800 (most months)

Making my mortgage 4.66%

That being said, we have hoa dues and property taxes that would raise that but still. I'm never going to spend 4k a month on a mortgage...

tallen

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #51 on: February 06, 2017, 12:29:16 PM »
Mine including PITI is 10% of my gross living in the midwest.

talltexan

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #52 on: February 06, 2017, 02:50:00 PM »
I'd challenge that the most mustachian mortgage (for Americans) is the 15-year mortgage. I have a fixed rate for the first sixty payments (5/1 arm). People who value paying off their house quickly shouldn't have any use for the fixed rate after year 5, while people who plan to maintain a mortgage balance will enjoy the lower interest rate.

And for all those slackers, science says you'll probably move (on average) before year 7 anyway.

Fiscal_Hawk

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #53 on: February 07, 2017, 11:10:44 AM »
Ours is 12% of gross pay. We live in Iowa so LCOL area.

It's amazing in the difference in price of a house between different areas. 200k can get you a really nice 2000 sq. ft home with a large yard and a 2 car garage where I live.

MilesTeg

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #54 on: February 07, 2017, 01:01:17 PM »
My mortgage is $550 income 11800 (most months)

Making my mortgage 4.66%

That being said, we have hoa dues and property taxes that would raise that but still. I'm never going to spend 4k a month on a mortgage...

Typically (though not necessarily in the case of this OP), the 5 cited is total cost (including things like HOA which have a right of first lien) vs gross, not just P&I vs gross. I've never seen a bank or other mortgage lender that only used P&I.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2017, 01:02:57 PM by MilesTeg »

MilesTeg

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #55 on: February 07, 2017, 01:05:08 PM »
We upgraded from ~10% to ~15% of gross (incl all housing costs not just P&I), in particular to be more frugal and live a better lifestyle.

MgoSam

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #56 on: February 07, 2017, 02:04:30 PM »
My mortgage is $550 income 11800 (most months)

 I'm never going to spend 4k a month on a mortgage...

Makes sense to me! The thing with things like McMansions and beautiful sports car isn't their purchase price, but the on-going challenge of maintaining them. I know an extremely wealthy businessman who lives in a GIANT ASS house and he absolutely regrets it. The house has a waterfall in it that he admits he hasn't used since a year after he had it installed because it is expensive to run and breaks-down frequently. His business partner lives near him in a house that's even bigger and he mentioned that there are rooms in it that aren't furnished and that the guy regrets buying it because he has no clue how he's ever going to sell it.

AutoZealot

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #57 on: February 07, 2017, 02:40:52 PM »
Ours is 12% of gross pay. We live in Iowa so LCOL area.

It's amazing in the difference in price of a house between different areas. 200k can get you a really nice 2000 sq. ft home with a large yard and a 2 car garage where I live.

Indeed, I'm feeling quite green of folks who earn good salaries in LCOL areas.  200K in MSP buys you something that's old, outdated, on a .25 acre and generally needs updating - and it is way more than I want to spend right now.  Or you have to commute from an hour outside the city.

talltexan

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #58 on: February 08, 2017, 09:38:40 AM »
Within areas, the school premium can swing the price quite a bit, too. If you're able to design a life in which quality schools don't matter, knock $80,000 off the purchase price in Charlotte (about $400/month).

honeybbq

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #59 on: February 08, 2017, 11:13:25 AM »
No one ever agrees on these threads, mostly due to their own perspective and cost of living.

I've lived in Texas which has a low cost of living, and I now live in Seattle, a VHCOLA. A free standing SFH with 1200 sq feet in Seattle proper is a minimum of 750k. For most people, that's going to be a lot of their income going to mortgage and the very high property tax rate. My taxes alone are probably more than some people's mortgages - of course we don't have state income tax, either.

In the few years I've lived here, the housing price estimate on my house has gone up approximately 75-100k per year we have owned. That's a lot of money. 10% per year of something big is better than 10% of something small. :)

And yes, housing prices go up and down, but I'm not concerned. Seattle is just on the upswing right now. 50k people per year are expected to come here the next few years. Housing prices will continue to go up.

Just for the record, our mortgage, taxes, and insurance is around 15%.

Vindicated

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #60 on: February 08, 2017, 11:41:55 AM »
We're just below 10%, and I don't see how we could afford more.  Of course, I pay for the home 100%, and DW pays for Daycare, but even with just my salary, it's 17%.  If it was 29%, we would have $600 less each month! 

FireHiker

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #61 on: February 10, 2017, 03:39:26 PM »
We live in San Diego, and our (outrageous) mortgage is 18.4% of our gross, or 27.5% of our take home. I feel we spend WAY too much on our house and if my husband was on board we would be downsizing to something half the size with half the mortgage ASAP. When I look at what we supposedly "can afford" I can't fathom being so house poor. We are too house poor as it is! There just isn't any margin for the unexpected if you go with the calculators.

I see people move into our neighborhood and I don't see how they can afford it...thinking specifically of the family a few doors up, they bought their house for $200k more than we paid for ours (we got very lucky on timing), not jobs that I would think pay enough. They must be in massive debt or have other money I guess (leaning towards debt based on the toys...OMG that drone).

chesebert

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #62 on: February 10, 2017, 03:50:23 PM »
People who live in low cost of living areas get to brag about their low housing costs, relative to income. However, their incomes are typically low as well.

Family A: Dual income of 70K in low cost of living area. Housing is at 10% and savings is at 30%.

Family B: Dual income of 200K in high cost of living area. Housing cost is at 30% and savings is at 20%.

I would rather be Family B, saving $40,000/year instead of family A saving $21,000/year.

We just moved from Florida to Hawaii for a higher paying job. Even though our housing costs increased, our savings increased.


***I just did the math and we are at 12.57% for housing (including utilities) in Hawaii. When we lived in Florida, we were at 13.33% (including utilities)*******
I would rather be Family C: housing at 10% gross and saving 60% all on 200K.

Mine is at 14% with HOA (10% without HOA) but we don't have any car expenses because of our location (HCOL).
« Last Edit: February 10, 2017, 03:52:38 PM by chesebert »

Alim Nassor

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #63 on: February 11, 2017, 03:20:51 AM »
Good Lord. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night at anywhere close to 29%.  Currently we are at 7.8% of my W2 wages for PITI. That doesn't even account for my wife's pension or the rental income from our nine other houses.

This isn't because we live in a LCOL area, its because we made a conscious decision to reduce our debt.  There are plenty of 500,000 to one million dollar homes around.  We spent 70k and put about 10k into remodeling.

Back when I was just starting out, we were.told by everyone involved in the process that we could a afford a home that cost 3x our annual income.   Even being young and dumb I thought that was insane.
« Last Edit: February 11, 2017, 03:31:25 AM by Alim Nassor »

Fomerly known as something

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #64 on: February 12, 2017, 02:28:20 PM »
I was 17% before I decided to kill my mortgage; 12% was the mortgage itself.  (I'm in a rather high property tax area by choice).  I honestly didn't notice the payment all that much and could have easily gone up to 25% while continuing to save 15%, or maxing out my HSA, 401K and IRA.  Now I just put that mortgage payment into a vanguard taxable account.

JLee

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #65 on: February 12, 2017, 02:32:50 PM »
My rent (HCOL area) is nearly 10% of my gross just to share a 2br apartment with someone.

I'm a little envious of the 9%-of-gross-to-have-a-house crowd.  I need to figure out how to move my income to a LCOL area...

Vindicated

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #66 on: February 12, 2017, 09:04:50 PM »
My rent (HCOL area) is nearly 10% of my gross just to share a 2br apartment with someone.

I'm a little envious of the 9%-of-gross-to-have-a-house crowd.  I need to figure out how to move my income to a LCOL area...

Jobs of all kinds here in Indianapolis. 

SimpleCycle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #67 on: February 12, 2017, 11:56:51 PM »
This is LESS than we can "afford" per the high end of the rule.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1734-W-Chicago-Ave-Chicago-IL-60622/2096359734_zpid

Our PITI is 7% of gross, in what I would call a sweet spot of high city wages and MCOL.  However, we have a 30 year mortgage.  Would be 9.5% with a 15 year.

marielle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #68 on: February 13, 2017, 06:06:18 AM »
This is LESS than we can "afford" per the high end of the rule.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1734-W-Chicago-Ave-Chicago-IL-60622/2096359734_zpid

Our PITI is 7% of gross, in what I would call a sweet spot of high city wages and MCOL.  However, we have a 30 year mortgage.  Would be 9.5% with a 15 year.

Did you include the $1000/month HOA fee?

RWD

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #69 on: February 13, 2017, 06:26:40 AM »
This is LESS than we can "afford" per the high end of the rule.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1734-W-Chicago-Ave-Chicago-IL-60622/2096359734_zpid

Our PITI is 7% of gross, in what I would call a sweet spot of high city wages and MCOL.  However, we have a 30 year mortgage.  Would be 9.5% with a 15 year.

Did you include the $1000/month HOA fee?

Holy crap, that's ridiculous!

Vindicated

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #70 on: February 13, 2017, 07:07:49 AM »
This is LESS than we can "afford" per the high end of the rule.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1734-W-Chicago-Ave-Chicago-IL-60622/2096359734_zpid

Our PITI is 7% of gross, in what I would call a sweet spot of high city wages and MCOL.  However, we have a 30 year mortgage.  Would be 9.5% with a 15 year.

Did you include the $1000/month HOA fee?

Holy crap, that's ridiculous!

Wow, what are these HOA's covering???

We pay $120 a quarter, we have a golf course, some nice trees, an elementary school (Not sure how much HOA covers that land, but it's right in the middle of the neighborhood), and several nice play sets.

SimpleCycle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #71 on: February 13, 2017, 07:13:05 AM »
This is LESS than we can "afford" per the high end of the rule.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1734-W-Chicago-Ave-Chicago-IL-60622/2096359734_zpid

Our PITI is 7% of gross, in what I would call a sweet spot of high city wages and MCOL.  However, we have a 30 year mortgage.  Would be 9.5% with a 15 year.

Did you include the $1000/month HOA fee?

I don't understand!  It's a SFH on a city street, who is in the association and what does it cover?!?!

SimpleCycle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #72 on: February 13, 2017, 07:20:40 AM »
Wow, what are these HOA's covering???

We pay $120 a quarter, we have a golf course, some nice trees, an elementary school (Not sure how much HOA covers that land, but it's right in the middle of the neighborhood), and several nice play sets.

In multiunit buildings in Chicago, the HOA must cover the building insurance, condo insurance only covers walls in.  It also covers upkeep on the building and lot, and ours covers water, sewer, and garbage.

But yeah, we pay $168/month, not $1k/month.  And I have no idea what an association fee is covering for a SFH.

chesebert

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #73 on: February 13, 2017, 07:35:24 AM »
Wow, what are these HOA's covering???

We pay $120 a quarter, we have a golf course, some nice trees, an elementary school (Not sure how much HOA covers that land, but it's right in the middle of the neighborhood), and several nice play sets.

In multiunit buildings in Chicago, the HOA must cover the building insurance, condo insurance only covers walls in.  It also covers upkeep on the building and lot, and ours covers water, sewer, and garbage.

But yeah, we pay $168/month, not $1k/month.  And I have no idea what an association fee is covering for a SFH.
$1k is normal for downtown Chicago. If this were high rise the HOA would be multiple of that for the size of the property.

Well, if you live in a 3500sft house in downtown Chicago you should be rich already so another $1K a month should be irrelevant. I think the property tax must be 20-30k a year for that property.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2017, 07:37:38 AM by chesebert »

SimpleCycle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #74 on: February 13, 2017, 07:37:46 AM »
Wow, what are these HOA's covering???

We pay $120 a quarter, we have a golf course, some nice trees, an elementary school (Not sure how much HOA covers that land, but it's right in the middle of the neighborhood), and several nice play sets.

In multiunit buildings in Chicago, the HOA must cover the building insurance, condo insurance only covers walls in.  It also covers upkeep on the building and lot, and ours covers water, sewer, and garbage.

But yeah, we pay $168/month, not $1k/month.  And I have no idea what an association fee is covering for a SFH.
$1k is normal for downtown Chicago. If this were high rise the HOA would be multiple of that for the size of the property.

That house is in my neighborhood. :)  So "normal" is relative.  But yes, we know several people here who live in $1k/month associations.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2017, 07:52:16 AM by SimpleCycle »

SimpleCycle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #75 on: February 13, 2017, 08:07:23 AM »
Wow, what are these HOA's covering???

We pay $120 a quarter, we have a golf course, some nice trees, an elementary school (Not sure how much HOA covers that land, but it's right in the middle of the neighborhood), and several nice play sets.

In multiunit buildings in Chicago, the HOA must cover the building insurance, condo insurance only covers walls in.  It also covers upkeep on the building and lot, and ours covers water, sewer, and garbage.

But yeah, we pay $168/month, not $1k/month.  And I have no idea what an association fee is covering for a SFH.
$1k is normal for downtown Chicago. If this were high rise the HOA would be multiple of that for the size of the property.

Well, if you live in a 3500sft house in downtown Chicago you should be rich already so another $1K a month should be irrelevant. I think the property tax must be 20-30k a year for that property.

But the point is according to this article, someone can "afford" that house ($4k mortgage, $1k HOA, $1700 property taxes, let's say $250 in insurance) on just over $200k/year.  Obviously someone making that much is wealthy, but not "eh, what's another $1k/month" wealthy.

chesebert

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #76 on: February 13, 2017, 08:43:40 AM »
Wow, what are these HOA's covering???

We pay $120 a quarter, we have a golf course, some nice trees, an elementary school (Not sure how much HOA covers that land, but it's right in the middle of the neighborhood), and several nice play sets.

In multiunit buildings in Chicago, the HOA must cover the building insurance, condo insurance only covers walls in.  It also covers upkeep on the building and lot, and ours covers water, sewer, and garbage.

But yeah, we pay $168/month, not $1k/month.  And I have no idea what an association fee is covering for a SFH.
$1k is normal for downtown Chicago. If this were high rise the HOA would be multiple of that for the size of the property.

Well, if you live in a 3500sft house in downtown Chicago you should be rich already so another $1K a month should be irrelevant. I think the property tax must be 20-30k a year for that property.

But the point is according to this article, someone can "afford" that house ($4k mortgage, $1k HOA, $1700 property taxes, let's say $250 in insurance) on just over $200k/year.  Obviously someone making that much is wealthy, but not "eh, what's another $1k/month" wealthy.
You are using the 29% number, right? It's close to $300k a year. I'm sure $1k/month extra gets lost in the rounding error.

SimpleCycle

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #77 on: February 13, 2017, 09:34:50 AM »

In multiunit buildings in Chicago, the HOA must cover the building insurance, condo insurance only covers walls in.  It also covers upkeep on the building and lot, and ours covers water, sewer, and garbage.

But yeah, we pay $168/month, not $1k/month.  And I have no idea what an association fee is covering for a SFH.
$1k is normal for downtown Chicago. If this were high rise the HOA would be multiple of that for the size of the property.

Well, if you live in a 3500sft house in downtown Chicago you should be rich already so another $1K a month should be irrelevant. I think the property tax must be 20-30k a year for that property.

But the point is according to this article, someone can "afford" that house ($4k mortgage, $1k HOA, $1700 property taxes, let's say $250 in insurance) on just over $200k/year.  Obviously someone making that much is wealthy, but not "eh, what's another $1k/month" wealthy.
You are using the 29% number, right? It's close to $300k a year. I'm sure $1k/month extra gets lost in the rounding error.

Nah, I was using the 41% number because it is more preposterous.  At 29% you need 280k in income, but at 41% you only need 203k in income.  I suppose most people looking at these homes would have some other debt - gotta finance cars to put in the garage that is larger than my primary residence.

talltexan

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #78 on: February 13, 2017, 02:08:59 PM »
My cousin (no idea of income; 50 years old in May) just purchased a home in Pacifica, CA, that would come in the neighborhood of that Chicago home (perhaps minus the HOA fee). She mentioned that her rent in the bay area was about $4,500/month, so moving down to the $3,700 mortgage payment represented a relief.

LibrarianFuzz

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #79 on: February 15, 2017, 01:05:41 PM »
Interesting article.

I just did the math and I am literally at the upper limit. My mortgage/insurance/PMI is at 41% of my gross income.

Then again, I live in California. The average housing price for my area is just a bit under $300,000.

I bought an 846 square foot home for $240,000. Frankly, I feel lucky to be able to afford a house at all, as a single person. And rent for a one-bedroom in this area is only about $200 a month cheaper than what my mortgage/insurance/PMI is.

So I guess it really depends on where you live.

Laura33

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #80 on: February 16, 2017, 09:15:57 AM »
My first condo was very close to the 28% limit on mortgage debt (though I was under the 41% total debt), even though the mortgage was less than 2x my annual income, because (a) interest rates were close to 9%, and (b) condo fees were almost half the mortgage.  It was worth it to have a short walk to work.  It was tight, but just me, so I still managed to pay off my student loans, start an EF and IRA, etc.

Once we got married, we generally kept our mortgage to below 2x income -- our plan was always to keep fixed expenses to no more than we could pay on a single income, which meant ignoring the mortgage calculators entirely.  We blew the 2x rule for a few years when we had just moved and had our first kid and I was working very part-time telecommuting; and then we pushed it again a few years later when we moved back to our MCOL area in the middle of the boom and housing prices were 50% higher than in our prior LCOL area (the mortgage itself was right at about 2x, but the HELOC for the required remodel pushed the total over).  But after 13 years of raises + dropping interest rates + paying off HELOC, the outstanding mortgage is about 0.5x gross, and PITI is about 5% of gross -- and that's for a 15-year.

The one thing we have never done is move just to upgrade houses.  We have bought and sold homes many times, but always for work moves, and we have always kept to the one-income budget.  So we certainly upgraded over time (although, ironically, the townhouse in the DC 'burbs we bought when we first married is probably worth more than my current SFH on 3/4 acre), but always in line with our long-term financial plans.  Which did *not* include high debt loads for pretty shiny things.

KungfuRabbit

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #81 on: March 17, 2017, 07:31:34 AM »
We're at like 13% gross, but that's a 10 year loan.

After my paycheck is "gutted" though (401k, ESPP, HSA) the mortgage is roughly equall to my paycheck. Good thing the wife works :)

8 more years that'll be paid off though. And we'll be FI for sure. What we'll do then, no idea.

OurTown

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #82 on: March 17, 2017, 07:47:52 AM »
PITI is 12% of gross.  I refinanced and I am now 4 years in on a 15 year mortgage, rate is 3 3/8.  The house is in suburban Memphis, so it is LCOL.  I purchased in 2010, toward the end of the slump, and I bought about half as much house as the other attorneys I work with.

47%MMM

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #83 on: March 17, 2017, 09:08:16 AM »
Using the gross method, we're at 11.3%, and like some of others posting, this seems like too much. This is a downsize from where we were a year ago but we have more house than we really need or should have...

Slee_stack

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #84 on: March 17, 2017, 11:52:20 AM »
Does gross % matter in these forums?

We could be at whatever % we wanted depending how much net worth we wished to transfer (or remove) to/from our personal residence.

At the moment, and completely arbitrarily, we are at 12% (of classical wage income) on a 15 yr loan.  We (and many here) could be at 'TI' % only if we desired.  (I certainly don't desire to be that low due to current mortgage rates).

But perhaps that's the problem with the referenced article.  Income is (or should be) only one piece of the home buying puzzle.


kanga1622

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #85 on: March 17, 2017, 12:09:38 PM »
We are at PITI about 19% of gross in a low cost of living area (with low incomes as well) on a 15 year mortgage. It has worked out quite well for us and we will have it paid off within 2 years. Since we had no other debt when we bought the house, that left plenty. Then we added two kids and the associated expenses. Not as easy, but still doable. It will be nice once the mortgage is done (and daycare will drop to just after school care at about the same time) so we can increase our retirement savings, increase kids' college funds, and have a bigger emergency fund. We are not truly that mustachian though, you all are way tighter with your budgets.

Kaydedid

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #86 on: March 17, 2017, 05:57:41 PM »
Did the math, and we should be able to 'afford' a $280k house.

There are no homes in our city of 40k people for sale at or above this price.  Closest is $225k.  There are some homes worth $300k+ around, but not a ton, and they're typically McMansions on acreage.  That, combined with a very hot seller's market, makes it impossible as well as ridiculous to own such a monstrosity!

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Megma

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #87 on: March 17, 2017, 08:38:46 PM »
I'm at 17% gross now. That's just my job income, not counting rental income. My fiancé's income is also not counted, but he pays all utilities and other expenses so I have fewer bills than I otherwise would for other stuff.

When I bought the house I was at 22% but in addition to my SO paying utilities/bills, I was also renting out the 2nd bedroom for over 50% of the piti.

Honestly, were in a town house now and would love a SFH but can't justify the cost (area we work is pricy), even though we both got big raises this year and I was browsing a little but just don't want to tie up so much money in our house. We'll probably buy another rental first.

FIreDrill

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #88 on: March 18, 2017, 11:53:55 AM »
We are at about 11% of gross but that may go up if we pick up several rental units in the next couple years.

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Apocalyptica602

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #89 on: March 20, 2017, 06:01:48 AM »
This thread is comical!  Really.

My current mortgage payment puts us at about 13.5% of our current income (PITI).  We have a modest home from the 1970's compared to even some of our best friends in similar career tracks.  I think our income is lower than most of our friends also though so it evens out. 

According to the 29% rule we could afford something like this though:
https://www.redfin.com/CO/LYONS/151-STONE-CANYON-DR-80540/home/35140094
That house is incredible - and I did consider something like that... albeit briefly... when we recently purchased our 3rd home.  We could have made it work - but it would have been tight and opened us up to a TON of risk if I ever lost my job.

House the first interests me. My home was built at about the same time and is on the same size lot. However, it is about half the size. Cost to buy now, according to Zillow, which trends low around here, is twice as much. Apples vs. Oranges, people. Sometimes in a HCOLA, you just have to make it work. Mustachian skills make it do-able. Scorn from folks who have lots of low-cost options isn't especially helpful.

Haha, I love the example of what 'could' be afforded with the 29% rule. My wife and I are doing 'well' for ourselves and gross in the low 200s.

In our area (Baltimore) This is just about our 29%.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Lutherville-Timonium/11-Valley-Hi-Ct-21093/home/9552787

talltexan

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #90 on: March 21, 2017, 11:36:07 AM »
I love the idea of a house with its own "Bistro".

What could possibly be more mustachian than learning how to operate an entire restaurant out of one room of your home?

Guide2003

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Re: Here's How Much Home You Can Afford...say what?
« Reply #91 on: March 22, 2017, 02:26:12 PM »
We are just under 8% for PITI on a 13ish year mortgage (20% down, biweekly payments shortening a 15 year mortgage). Its both a low COLA area, and a neighborhood that could be described as a place where "people with options" don't pick to live, so I'd assume I'm a high earner for my community.

I remember sitting in the office of a private lender trying to buy my first house in Miami. The weasel wanted to escrow 100% of my down payment savings for repairs and then set me up for a "zero down" mortgage with payments that skirted the legal limit of what he could lend me so he could profit off the repairs I planned for the house. I promptly left and cursed out my realtor for recommending him. Two months later I had a $550/month balloon mortgage where I was responsible for tax and insurance separately, and three years later sold the house for double what I paid. Screw that guy.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!