Submitted by chickennugar t3_11dl8hq in Connecticut
how much do you make per hour to be able to afford your house? also what area do you live in and what size house do you have?
just curious. been trying to learn more about the cost of living in ct from other perspectives.
I agree these are the wrong questions. I think the right question is: if you purchased your first home in the past two years what was your path to home ownership?
>“I have seen single moms on 35k a year own their own home.”
In 1967 maybe.
This is the answer. It's not so much about what ur income is, rather how u manage ur income.
Banker where can I find a bag o cash 💰 I’m holding on by the skin of my teeth
[deleted]
Damn when I was a kid my parents made me pay my own car insurance ha I’m sure I’ll end up doing the same to my kid
[deleted]
True, I also had shit boxes as a kid. $1000 Civic $500 ford probe that kind of stuff ha
My 260k house that I bought 3 years ago is estimated to be worth 330 now. I know the market will correct but that is insane.
Kind of a similar situation as me. Two incomes, bought a house 12 years ago for 225k. We’ve put in about 40k worth of improvements. House is now worth about 350 with the recent increases in value which we find pretty shocking as it isn’t the biggest. We now have two little kids and had planned to move in summer 2020 to a bigger place but with the pandemic we got stuck here. Thankfully our place had been paid off since 2018 and the idea of having a huge mortgage is a major turn off so we are waiting to see how things play out over the next few years.
how much is your car insurance right now?
[deleted]
Why are you paying their car insurance?
[deleted]
The wife and I have a combined income of $150k. And we just bought a house in Litchfield County that was $260k
Both cars paid off and kids grown and out of the house.
Could have went higher but wanted a cushion in case of emergency
There are 260k houses here? Does it need a lot of work?
The house was built in 1900 and while not perfect (general changes to suit our taste) it was not in need of repairs. Roof is good, newer kitchen appliances and they had even updated the heating from oil to a newer gas setup
The answers to this will vary a lot. I’m not speaking as a homeowner (sadly) but everyone I know who owns a house in CT had at least two of these things working in their favor:
*dual income with a partner
*no student loan debt
*decades in the workforce
*financial help from family/parents
No I don’t think that is the case. My husband and I both come from a poor background. We worked and saved for our house. He still has some student loan debt that we’re working on paying off and definitely no financial help from anyone.
That’s so good to hear 💖 my sample size is just people I know, all of whom seem to be starting with a major leg up. I’m so glad that home ownership has been a possibility for you— fingers crossed I can get there too!
Partner was stay-at-home when we bought. Was paying off $100k+ in student loans. Not a penny from family. Did have decades working, though. It was really tight for several years until my wife went back to work FT. It wasn’t the housing costs, it was childcare when she was PT.
We bought in 2008. We had two incomes but not great ones, and were also paying to keep an apartment in upstate NY for husbands job. We got a fixer upper. Both of us had plenty of student loans. I was 26, he was 31, so not nearly decades. No financial aid from family, but they did contribute skills towards fixing it up.
We did the small old house that needed work in a good neighborhood. Been here 15 years and plan on staying.
I own a condo. I have a single income, and am a single parent . No child support and no financial help from family/friends. Just my income.
My niece bought at the start of covid. 250k home on a single income, just staring out in her career, with student loan debt, and would not take help from any of us.
I just helped an older relative buy a home last year, 3% down for a widower, no debt, retired on a fixed income, and would not take any financial help. She is living rent free and making a decent bit on the property while not having to do any regular maintenance (shoveling mowing and the like) by adding an ADU for her to live and renting the remainder.
It's definitely doable it just takes a plan and working towards it vs expecting immediate gratification.
Who said anything about immediate gratification? 😂😭
My (31m) wife (32f) and I have a combined annual income of about $250k and just bought a 4-bed home in northern Fairfield county for $548k with $75k down. Our mortgage/insurance/taxes comes to about $3500/mo. While it feels like a lot, and it is, we were just throwing money away renting and we are feeling lucky to have gotten the house we did. Once we have kids we'll really have to tighten up the budget. The system feels broken. I'm not an economist but the bigger housing picture feels unsustainable to me.
[deleted]
From your lips to the markets' ears!!
>broken
Yeah, your intuition is correct. In my town which is NOT a well known big money zip code, there are no houses on the market. 2 years ago every single street had signs, now there are almost none. The one house a block over from me sold for 485k and was listed for like 24 hours before it sold, it was a new construction in 2016 for 275k... Nobody is selling because they are locked into good rates, selling now means you are looking to go bigger in many cases and the bigger means a new mortgage with a shitty interest rate on houses that are insanely priced. The whole market is priced out, i think hartford courant ran article that there are only like 330 houses in the whole state that are less than 300k. It seems like there are more than 330 people/families that are looking for their first house....but there is no new inventory getting built.
New construction is usually 4k sq/ft or larger single family homes on multiple acre lots, or apartments, usually high end apartments. New homes are being built, but they're not starter homes.
$548k? That sounds reasonable, altho a lot of Money down. What do i know tho
That’s only ~14% down. They’re probably paying PMI for a few years.
Yes we are. We reached a point as renters that we could've paid off nearly half a house already over the last decade. We bit the bullet in order to build ourselves equity
Good decision! It is obscene when you realize how much money you are throwing away as a renter.
Just out of curiosity, mind if I ask what you do for a living? You don’t have to be too specific, just general line of work
My wife works in Healthcare tech.
I am the director of a nonprofit and teach classes at the local university. I work a lot but am fortunate to love what I do.
Ah ok great. I’m in a healthcare field also. Respect to you both
5 bedroom, 3700 sf on 2 acres in Woodbridge mortgage is ~$3400/mo
Have more property in MA and VT
Married with 2 kids
Household income $400k+
Does your mortgage include property taxes?
Yes.
Thanks - I figured that as $3400/mo seemed heavy for just a mortgage payment in Woodbridge
Yea that’s mortgage, taxes, insurance. We’re definitely living well within our means. We both drive cars that are 8-10 years old and are paid off. We’re at like 10% gross income for mortgage.
damn, what field do you/your spouse work in?
Medicine. Gotta love that I’m being downvoted for answering your questions.
I got you. Upvoted. People downvotes for literally no reason
It’s whatever. I don’t need fake internet points for validation. I just find it interesting that I can post the most generic, non opinionated answer I could and yet people find the need to downvote it. I know I often play devils advocate or share controversial opinions which get downvotes but this was as vanilla of a post as I can possibly make.
This sub has had at least one downvote troll lately who comes in and downvotes literally everyone. What a sad and pointless way to spend one’s time lol can’t relate
Ik, I don't read into it because I'm usually in the right when I say things and I know it. Even if it sounds self centered, there's no way to sugar coat it. You are probably are in the same boat as me
Haters gonna hate lol.. it’s Reddit .. don’t ever take anything in here personally
I don't. I've been on here a decade and i think it's gotten worse. if they go public ill finally have a reason to get off the last social media platform im on.
People downvote because they’re broke lol
Well they’re more than welcome to commit a decade of their lives to medical school and residency and fellowship to obtain the same level of education as my wife so they can also make that much money.
Unreasonable. We’re gonna need a no cost fast pass. 6mo. program, tops.
I mean… if you’re comfortable with a surgeon cutting off your leg with only 6 months of training uhhh, good luck?
Honestly. You can can't own a house in this state and earn less than 70k
I own a home on a salary of 63K. It is possible, but it can be very stressful at times. I have 2 children and a wife who is a stay at home. I got quite lucky securing a USDA loan.
At times? I can't grasp how it is not all the time, you must budget really well.
It is hard more often that not, but it's worth the budgeting to have a secure place for my family.
To answer other questions, it's a ~1700 Sq FT house in Tolland. I paid 135K for it, 0 down, no PMI.
House or condo?
Same here. It’s hard atm but we’re doing it.
I own a condo at a salary of 55k. And it's just me. It's doable, but it's stressful sometimes. Just grateful I got a very, very significant raise.
That’s awesome- congratulations on the raise!
Thanks!
70k here, single/divorced (one income) with a somewhat modest mortgage payment but still drowning due to the costs of everything else. I do not live extravagantly and still sometimes have to scrape up coins for gas to get to work. It's exhausting.
That's not even close to true.
I earn about $62k before taxes and own a 3 bed, 1.5 bath Cape Cod and still am able to afford everything (including a car payment, usual utilities, and insurance for everything including two cars) and put away about 8% a month into retirement/savings.
I was lucky and got my house about 6 years ago before the market went crazy.
I probably wouldn’t be able to afford my house now in the current market (the value of my house has increased about 40ish% in the last 2.5 years) but it is possible to own below 70k.
Bullshit. Had no problem paying my mortgage with a salary under $40k.
Honestly, you can. I handle clients all the time that do.
I bought a house for 220k when I was making 55k. Single income, single dude. You can do it, it was tight with the oil bill and electric. But you’ll always make more money if you are buying a house. Since you are looking towards your future.
I’ve tripled my income in the past couple years, each year gets easier.
Bought last year (2022), dual income no kids wife and I cleared 140k last year, on the way to 175k. This is coming from having a 12 dollar an hour job back in 2017.
Taxes are fine here. People complain but go to Long Island and see what their crazy taxes get. We get a lot here.
Bought with 5% down on a 345k house. 5 bedroom 3 full bath. 2200 sqft. Lower Hartford County, halfway between my work and wife’s work. Little less than 2800 a month all said and done.
Edit: forgot to mention a lot of student loan debt from wife and myself. Plus CC debt and two cars yet to be paid off. We are house poor lmao. Lucky we don’t like doing anything. 2030 we will be filthy rich though. Lol
Have two incomes. Learn to live on one. Save lots. Live below your means. This is the way. It works. It takes time, trust the process
💯 when buying a house, base it off of 1 income. That way, anyone gets laid off you’re protected & you’ll be giving yourself a financial cushion.
The 28/36 rule basically applies to everyone, everywhere. Housing should be no more than 28% of your monthly income, and total debt should be no more than 36%.
I think this rule starts to break down a bit in 1) very high cost of living areas, and 2) people with high incomes. Spending 40% of your income on housing is not that big of a deal if you still have $10K+ after paying your housing costs. I'm not trying to be argumentative...Fairfield Co. is going to be a lot different than many other parts of the state.
I don’t get paid hourly. I own a raised ranch in Colchester and have a household income of $148,000.
Wife and I are a unique case. We both graduated college with MBAs (community College for 2 years, Uconn for 2 years, different grad schools), and we both came out of school with student loans. We lived like absolute hobos out of college and payed down debt as fast as we could. Like...
rice and beans
driving uber at night
prepaid phones
library card for when we needed to get on the internet
no streaming services
no cable
kept the temp at 50 in the winter and no AC in the summer
Drove 1 car and carpooled
Etc etc etc...
Bottom line, we paid off $130k in student loans and own our home with no mortgage at the age of 38.
We live on 8 acres in East Granby in a 3000sf recently remodeled colonial, and are putting in an 800sf addition in the summer. We have a combined income of about $260k / year.
Combined annual income of $400,000
House purchased for $650,000 with 25% down
2 kids
This is going to vary from person to person, kind of a pointless question.
Ideally if you make under $70k in 2023 for this state imo things are going to be rough.
I am sure ppl got homes prior to 2020 and make lesss and are getting by.
Single income with 3 kids (6, 3 and 8 months) Purchased my 1400sqft home in stamford in 2017 for 387k. I would not be able to afford it now if buying it today as it's prob worth 600k. At this point I just hope I don't get taxed out of the state. Property taxes when I purchased in 2017 were 5k/yr and are now over 7k.
Single family income I work she takes.care of 2 kids.
2nd shift 37 per hour 1800 square foot vernacular 1850 farm house .39 land.. Working on it since 2012 bought it.as a foreclosure 65k. Needless to say it needed love lots of love. We gave it he'll fixed it up and we are up more than double. Comps in the area about 240k. I have 8 years to go and it's paid off. Whoop whoop
[deleted]
So I upgraded during the pandemic I sold my house for a ton of profit then put down 100k on a 395k house further north so my mortgage payment was exactly the same since interest and taxes were lower although my principal was now higher than the first house. I make 100k a year with at the time a stay at home mom and a kid now she works so it should be easier once we pay off some debts that incurred during the pandemic.
Wife and I make 160-170k combined. One child and bought a 1.4k Sq ft house on an acre of land 3 years ago for 260k 10k down. Mortgage with everything is about 2k a month. 2 car payments that are $700 combined and we do just fine. We are able to take two vacations a year and rarely worry about money.
I make roughly 60-62k (bonus dependent) and my fiancé makes 90k exactly. We got an fha mortgage bought our home for 250k last year. Both have car payments, I have private student loans. No help from anyone aside from moving help, and a few small cash gifts (totaling maybe 4-600). Just gotta learn to budget properly. I personally divide all my monthly expenses by 4, and pay, or squirrel away let’s say $100 per month/4 so $25 a week. Works great!
Just bought a house. We’re both veterans with no kids and my husband is 100% disabled. There’s also 3 working adults in the house. We both saved a ton and his disability pretty much covers mortgage and utilities. We live in Fairfield county. It was $345k about 2000 sqft give or take.
We have fully paid off cars and even though we’re also in school we’re vets so that’s paid for.
There’s a lot of other factors and we carefully planned every step. Sometimes I don’t know how we did it as we feel so young (25,26) but you really have to map it out and don’t just rush to the first house you like.
I was making around $150k base with like a $80k bonus. The bonus helped with the down payment. House was $430k in the summer of 2019. Small 1940/ cape in Fairfield County - 4 beds 2 full bath but only like 1400 sq ft.
I did borrow some money from my dad for closing costs. Around $20k. I paid him back by the next bonus. Honestly, I feel like getting a bonus is the biggest advantage + having any help.
HHI of $160k, 2 kids. 3,300 sq foot house in Cheshire and our mortgage is $1,990/mo.
With taxes? We have a 1100sq foot house here and pay $1500 with taxes. Bought for $250k in 2016
Yes, that includes taxes. Bought for $350k in 2016; we sold our previous house so we had a sizable down payment to keep the mortgage down and we refinanced to 2.9% in December 2020.
Great deal! We lost out on a great house just a little smaller than that the same year that I kick myself for not buying. Was yours a fixer upper?
330k is cheap for such a big house.
My Wife is a principal and i am a Real Estate investor. 3200 sq ft 4 bed 2.5 bath 15 yr note 2.75 3k a month 1k of that is taxes combined we make like 300k in income. As a investor it’s been a weird two years. it’s literally cheaper for me to build new then to purchase existing housing stock
Bought home in West Hartford Dec. 2019. 1,300 sq/ft. $236k. $20k down. 30 yr mortgage. 4.5%. Refinanced late 2020 to 15 yr at 2.25%. My hourly rate comes out to $51/hr. Mortgage is $2200. I pay $2500. When I bought the house I was single. Got married last year. My wife also owns her own home.
650sqft Condo in Hartford county, $485 mortgage $190 hoa
I feel like a tadpole swimming among giants in this thread lol I couldn’t imagine making 6 figures. It’s daunting to me. It’s a goal for sure.
Yeah but in todays world.. 6 figures is the new 50k
I’m not sure you’ll get a standard answer to your question because you didn’t provide the criteria you were interested in. For example what size house do you want, do you care to be closer to a city or wouldn’t mind living rural, do you care about school systems etc. You can find a house at different price points in the state depending on your interests and needs, the more popular and commonly towns in CT definitely do run higher than the national average however.
criteria? im not house shopping. i just wondered in general what people are able to afford today and what kind of jobs they have.
[removed]
Enfield 1250 sqft on .3 acres. Mortgage is about 1200 a month Also, own some 25 odd acres in Vermont. I am in North Central CT I do not know how much I actually make, tbh. Not married and no kids.
Looking to hopefully own land in VT one day- what is the tax situation like owning property there? Might be more of a DM thing but really curious to know!
It's roughly comparable to CT, I think. I am not really sure. That amount of land in CT is way more expensive and valuable than in Vermont. I think I paid like 52k for it, cash. The guy I pay to handle my bills deals with paying the taxes on it.
It's literally a patch of woods I go camping on occasionally. No buildings or anything, just a small offroad trail to where I like to camp.
I have plans to do something with it eventually, but not for right now.
That is the same dream we have, awesome To hear it’s doable. That must be so nice to have that little sanctuary to go to whenever 🏕️ Do you have any advice on how to find out about the zoning laws and permitted types of buildings you could build on your land?
Call the town hall. Talk to the zoning and permitting people. You can do this before buying. Most of them are more than happy to discuss it with you. Makes their job easy when people try to follow building codes and zoning laws.
Thank you, this is awesome advice! That makes total sense!
No kids. We both work. Only way to have a retirement and be able to pay for a house.
I’m salary, not hourly. Was making ~$140k when we bought in 2017. 3/2, 1200 sq ft coop in lower Fairfield County. Paid $480k. It was really, really tight for a while there.
3 bedroom on an acre of land. Live by myself, one decent salary. I found the closing costs to be the biggest challenge. Overall, my monthly mortgage is less than any rent I have ever had to pay.
I was making $65k a year when I bought but the house is only 700 sqft in a rural town, and no student loan debt. Was also 2018, so pre all this madness.
Wife and I's combined salaries are ~145k, mortgage + property taxes is about 2k which equates to about 30% of our take home pay after taxes. Purchased home in 2019 for $370k
We live in the Northwestern tip New Haven county in a 2200 sq foot house on a quiet cul de sac.
Wife and I's combined salaries are ~145k, mortgage + property taxes is about 2k which equates to about 30% of our take home pay after taxes.
We live in the Northwestern tip New Haven county in a 2200 sq foot house on a quiet cul de sac.
[deleted]
4 kids, 2 not in school yet and therefore requiring full time childcare.
We bought our house in Hartford County for $425K in 2021. Mortgage is about $2500/month.
Combined income last year of about $170-180, this year it should be closing in on $200K. We aren’t living lavishly by any stretch of the imagination, but we have enough for the things we need so we consider ourselves lucky.
After ten years of saving for a 20% down payment plus 15K for emergencies, I bought my first home for 235k in early 2019—no kid, no wife, and currently making 85k+ a year. I don't see how anyone with kids making less than 60K can afford a house, cars, etc., these days, given the current inflation.
Bristol. 25.25/hr, but I’ve been a homeowner since around when I was making about 18 or 19/hr. It’s a 940sqft house with a detached garage and about a .5 acre of land. It’s just me and Ninja Kitty.
2 incomes, couple of kids. Earnings fluctuate based on how much the wife wants to work. At the time we bought we were making about $170k maybe. Bought a fixer-upper 2k sqft home in a nice shoreline town 8 years ago for 280k. (This was back before CT had recovered from 2008 pricewise). Sunk another 30k plus blood and sweat into it.
Bought in 2013 when I was single and making $65K. It was one of those "nothing structurally wrong, but just dingy and dirty and nothing's been updated, so it's been sitting on the market a while" homes. It was $212K, about 1,800 square feet, and has been fun to work on. Mortgage (including taxes and insurance) is $1,300. All this feels almost almost impossible to do today.
My household income is about 200k, we bought a home in newtown 2 years ago a little bit under 400k, its about 2300 square feet. We can comfortably afford the home.
Make about $125-200/hr on most projects. Mortgage is $2800/mo. Nice area in Milford.
I don’t know how anyone making under $100k a year lives in a nice house comfortably anywhere desirable in the country. It’s pretty sad.
holy crap, what job pays that much?
i believe my dad makes 56k or so a year? he supports our family of four+the dog, my mom is retired. we live on a somewhat large piece of property in the, i guess you could say country. we live in a log style ranch my parents actually built themselves ten or so years ago.. so maybe that makes a difference.
my mother is always telling me id need combined income (like me + one other) to survive in this day and age but we make it by fine, so its confusing..
i do agree though that its sad- how high the cost of living gets, and how little wages pay. its like no matter how hard we work people will always be struggling.
Marketing freelancer. I have 15 years experience and have managed decent sized teams. I don’t work every week of the year, but yes, it’s solid money.
Yes living in the “country” helps. But near any desirable metro, I don’t care what state it’s in, has gotten very difficult for anyone with normal income to do well. And it’s not just inflation. Because when I look at what my parents paid to live in the NYC area back in the day, adjusted for inflation it’s less than half of what it is now.
I think part of it is increasing population with not enough building. CT is a prime example of that, lowest vacancy rate in country.
We just topped 100k combined income this year. One kid now, late 30s and early 40s. We're in the central region in a small suburban town. We bought our house for 130k back in 2015 when it was just us and the cats. It's only ~680sqft, 2br 1ba. You'd think this would keep climate control costs down, but we still see outrageous bills from Evilsource. Solar is on the agenda now that it's clear we aren't going to be able to move any time soon with the market the way it is. The house had been for sale for over a year when we bought it because of a few factors - namely, that the former occupant had died in the home, I think. Also because at that time nobody wanted a small starter home. We could probably sell for a large profit at this point, but of course very little stock to choose from for our next home right now so we are starting to invest in growing where we are planted. Many items were left behind for us when we purchased that had belonged to the previous owner, like a lawn tractor, snowblower, TVs mounted in the living room and bedrooms, some furniture, a lot of tools and home improvement items, etc.. Because of these kinds of things we spent much less to get up to speed as homeowners. Our mortgage was $780 to start in 2015. We were both making significantly less at the time, under 80k a year combined. We got taken for a ride by both our original bank and the one who bought them out, both of which did not know how to appropriately factor taxes into escrow. Our rate ended up jumping significantly a couple years in a row to make up the deficit, first to $980, and now to about $1300. I had to go back to work part time after leaving the workforce due to a high risk pregnancy and difficult birth with 6 weeks of NICU care, and then ended up changing back to full time shortly after to afford the increase and make the childcare costs worth it. We also both have car payments, but my husband luckily paid off his student loans about a year after we bought our house, but before we got married and had a kid. I was fortunately able to complete my degree without loans. We live comfortably enough most of the time, but not entirely without struggles, especially when it's car and sewer tax time. We also seem to always finally build up a savings cushion and then something breaks. Such is homeownership, I guess. I get frustrated at our small space and lack of storage pretty frequently, especially now with a 5 year old and a dog added to our crew, but I'm also incredibly grateful to have what we have in a decent area that is safe and has a good school system. We are selective with our services (no cable or home phone, for example) and we shop mostly discounts but splurge on what's necessary to be happy and healthy (i.e. water cooler service since the town water is dreadful). We also strategically plan who carries health benefits vs. tax withholding burden based on current salary rates and trajectory, and this has mostly worked out for us. We've both moved within our careers and come up in pay quite a bit in the last 7 years, with the hope of continuing that trend to be able to continue to afford the cost of living. Not having to pay for full time childcare once our son was old enough for school helped significantly, also. All in all, it's not always easy, but it's doable. Live within your means, plan appropriately and be aware that those plans will always somehow get derailed and you have to just roll with it.
House: 230k @ 2.99% West Haven
Single income: 93k with bonuses that can push me a little over 6figures.
Kids: 0
Cars: 1 and paid off
Financial assistance: me, myself and I
At the time I purchased my only real debt was student loans and rent. Credit cards were paid off. Now I'm paying the one CC down again so I can focus on paying off my solar loan.
Household income is 250k+
I’m a software engineer, wife runs her own business we have two small kids.
House is 5000 sqft on 10 acres in the mountains just south of the Massachusetts border $3400/m
We have had to fix a ton of stuff on the house that wasn’t caught in the inspection though such as replacing half the roof, replace the AC, and replace the water heater and boiler (yay!)
2 incomes, 175k Gross, I work in the creative tech industry my wife is in fitness. My job is based on NYC so I’m paid an NYC salary.
In May 2021 We were able to purchase an off market house in Norwalk 3b/2 ba .4 acre 2100 sq foot (that includes a 600 sq fully finished basement). We had a 5% down payment in cash then had 15k in cash for closing. No competing offers & the house appraised at offer value.
Happy to answer any questions!
My wife and I make about $125k combined per year. We bought a house for 244k about 5 years ago. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bath. I have an excellent credit score (~800) so the loan is solely in my name however her name is on the title. I had been saving for a down payment from age 22-27 and then we bought our house with 20% down when I was 28. I was able to save 10k plus a year as a single guy but now our per year combined savings is only 5k max, during Covid “lockdown” we had negative savings for the year
Household income varies tremendously in this area. If you’re wondering how to afford something start with significant down payment, significant retirement savings, and speak to your bank. Always budget and stick to it that will help you.
We live in FFC, HHI ~750k, 1.5M house bought 13 years ago and renovated/enlarged, 30% down, cash flow renovations, and 15 year mortgage so it’s almost paid off. Our largest expense annually by far is tax (income, property). 2 working professionals, 1 child in public school.
People can get into owning a house if they know exactly what they are up against budget wise. There is no per hour magic number. It depends on the town, the size of the house, etc.
Firstly, try to make a budget based on your NET income. Figure out what you are comfortable with to pay for your monthly bills. Electricity is the worst utility bill. It will only go up, so be prepared.
Add all the fixed expenses for the house and the varied ones.
Fixed= mortgage
Varied= Taxes (go up every year in my town), Electricity, Heating, Cable, Internet, cell phone, Insurance, maintenance....give yourself a lot of leeway. IF you're "handy" with repairs, you will save A LOT on owning a house. If you're not, you better have some $ saved up for unforeseen repairs. You need to paint things, replace things ( doors, roof, electrical, plumbing) repair faucets, shower heads, things that just come undone over the years, keep up the yard or pay for it.
I've owned a few houses. My first one was at 23 yo. I had to get roommates when I was single. With roommates you save a little but NOT 1/2. Then as bills go up, you need to increase their rent. Bottom Line: Invest in a house in a good location, and keep the Mill Rate for Taxes in m ind. People are not as crazy to buy in a town with high taxes, or a crime ridden town. Over the years the smaller homes, under 1500 sqft have done better weathering Recessions and other market issues. Meaning they go up in value, don't cost much to heat or air condition, and most people can afford them.
I would focus more on how much can you save for a down payment and how long will it take and mortgage calculations. Income itself means nothing because everyone spends their money differently. Make sure you can afford the monthly mortgage. We had to be extra frugal saving for the house just to get the money for down payment but easily afforded our monthly and could go back to our normal spending habits.
[deleted]
I bought a house when I was making $18 an hour a few years ago, it was $245k at the time on an acre of land. I worked about 50hrs a week on average and anything over 40 was time and a half. I don't think I could afford the same house even at that price with the increased interest rate.
Husband (28M) and I (35F) bought a house in Middletown in 2020 for $278k. 3 bed / 2 ba, 1900 sq feet when you include the finished basement, on a nice half acre that backs up to some woodlands.
We put ~14k (5%) down. Combined income was $140k/y. No kids, no other debt - we cleared the last of his college debt in 2019. We've put about $40k into the house for improvements (central air, electrical upgrades, kitchen, garage door, redo the stair to the basement, etc).
Currently pay about $1750/mo for mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Just wiggled out from under the $50/mo PMI due to market increases, which is a great feeling.
Honestly we only won the bid for this house because for some bizarre reason it was listed at ~$240k even though we knew after a walkthrough it would appraise in the $275k range. So, we were competing with people trying to get it at the $240k price point instead of the price point we were offering. Just lucked out.
Maximilian_Xavier t1_ja9q228 wrote
I think you are asking all the wrong questions.
I worked in banking for 20+ years. Comparing yourself to others is pointless. Your lifestyle will vary and almost everyone lies when it comes to finances. People never tell you their entire financial picture.
I have seen single moms on 35k a year own their own home. I have seen no kids two income couples barely survive on 150k.