Homeowners: How much do you make, and what does your house cost?

Question

Please, renters and apartment owners, I am not requesting your answers at this time. I still love you, though. :-)

My husband and I will be making a NET income of $57,000 next year and we want to buy a house. I want to see what other people are doing and what they can afford with their income -- I'm tired of doing calculations and guessing. I want to hear what you REAL people are doing/affording. How much do you make, and what does your house cost?

Feel free to add your debt/monthly payments/how comfortable you are with your bills, etc. I just want a FEEL. Thanks. :-)

ETA: Our gross will be about $67,000. I estimated 16% on taxes, which may be a little high.

PS: I understand if people don't want to mention their income, that's fine. I wasn't trying to be rude. You don't have to answer, obviously...

Answer 1

When I was earning what you're now earning, I purchased a $160k condo which had a monthly payment of about $1400, including taxes, the condo fee, and mortgage insurance. My fixed debt - credit card, etc. - was just around $200/month. Insurance was about $50, and my car was paid for. Utilities ran me about $80/month. When all was said and done, my take-home pay ran about $3k/month. This left me well over $1k a month for non-living expenses, which was very comfortable.

Better to have a less expensive payment and money left at the end of every month than to over-extend and lose sleep. On your salary, looking in the $180k range will probably be comfortable, assuming you don't have other large debts.

Also, for lending purposes, the GROSS income is used for qualification. This is actually the better number for comparison. In addition to taxes, everyone needs money for clothing, food, transportation, insurance, etc. When looking at expenses vs. income, lenders get a clearer picture looking at gross income. Those that pay more in taxes and have less take-home pay - usually the single borrower - will have fewer of the food, clothing, insurance, transportation, etc. expenses. Those with higher take-home pay because they pay less in taxes usually have families and are feeding, clothing, transporting, insuring, etc. more people. The two things cancel each other out. If we used NET pay, we would need to figure out those other expenses so that we could get a clear picture.

Answer 2

The amount that you make is only one part of the puzzle. Other pieces include available cash for earnest money, existing debt (long term and short term) Debt ratio, credit rating. Probably the best thing that you can do is to figure what you can find to be the most realistic budget you can come up with. Since you didn't give extra info you will have to investigate utilities, insurance. You could talk to a realtor to determine how much you could qualify for. If you pick a number use about 2/3 of you budget value for what you can realistically pay each month.pp

Answer 3

Well, how much do you pay in rent now? How much are you socking away for a down payment? Add those together, and DON'T go over that amount.

Keep in mind your utilities will be twice as much as they are now, and you will have lots of extra maintenance costs. Also remember taxes, home owner dues, and insurance if they are not escrowed in your account and included in your monthly mortgage payments.

My wife and I make about $125K GROSS and we have a 2,100 square foot house in a gated community. We paid $150K for it three years ago. We make extra payments and plan to pay it off in NO MORE than 15 years from the date we bought it. We pay about $1,500 per month including the eascrowed items mentioned above and our extra principle payments.


Note that we are pretty much debt-free other than our house (and some car debt which will be paid off mid-2008).

Answer 4

I live in southern NJ, about 7 miles from downtown Philadelphia.

My husband makes about $120,000 a year and most people would say wow ~ me included. But try buying a house on that. The property taxes here are also high, as is most everything you buy.

Our mortgage payment is $1200.00 month and our property taxes are $800.00 a month for a total of $2,000.00

Bear in mind though that our house was below-market for a quick sale. We paid $210,000 on it five years ago and it is worth $385,000 minimum in today's market. The average home in a good neighborhood will cost you AT least that.

My husband and I cook at home most nights so our food budget is about $100.00 per week. Luckily that doesn't change much unless our kids come home. Then it is much higher.

On the flip side, there is a lot to do in the Philadelphia / southern NJ area. There are a lot of free events like festivals, concerts, etc. We have good police and fire personnel usually with a very quick response time. In the town I live in, police response is usually 2 minutes or less. There are about 3,500 people in town and we have a police force of about 7 full-time officers.

We enjoy nice weather most of the time. We do get cold weather, but not as cold as the midwest or Chicago. We also get warm weather, but again, not as hot as they do. However, because most of the homes are run on heating oil or radiator heat, we average about $350.00 in the winter with January and February bills being about $600.00 just for heating.

But again, it depends on where you live - what state, city, etc.

If you are looking for a house, condo, etc. some of the best places to look is actually in areas that are being renovated.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Well just look at it this way. With a good credit rating you should be able to afford a house that calls for a house payment principal and interst on a 30 year loan that is in an amount of 22% of your gross income. I didn't give you my personal numbers because our house costs $1,300,000 and I'm retired so my numbers mean nothing to you.

Answer 6

You need to calculate on your gross, your net will change with home ownership.

I gross about 170k a year, it varies a bit depending on how hard my renters are on properties. Next year will be bad, I have to evict one and I am sure her damage will be over 30k. it is the only reason I have not already evicted her, I can't afford to renovate right now as I am building another vacation home for my family to enjoy.

My home is valued at 800k, it dropped with everything else. My mortgage and other household bills, excluding food and medication, total 5,500 a month. I am a single mother with 3 children. I make a living off of my investments, homes and stock investments.

Answer 7

I am really uncomfortable saying how much we make... but we make less than you and have a house when we purchased it at $142,000 of course it is worth $250,000 just 3 years later oh trust me we have debt too :o) We make payments of $1200 a month.
Get a real estate agent and they will help you with the numbers. I will never rent again it is a waste of money. No matter where we move we will take the time to buy!

Answer 8

my husband makes about 52,000 a year, we bought a handy mans special, we paid 47,000 for it 13 years ago, it is worth about 260,000 now, our house payment was 412.75 a month, taxes are 600.00 a year. insurance is 4,200 a year, but that's because we are in Fl. we paid the house off early. we didn't drive new cars, we put all our extra money into the house payment

Answer 9

Sorry, but that is rude to ask such questions of anyone.