CPW: Cost of housing

Snowbird7 · April 2014

The discussion about the costs of daycare and mortgages on last week's UO thread got me wondering, what's the average that people spend on housing? And since housing costs vary depending on location, it might be better to ask what percentage of your monthly take-home income is spent on rent or mortgage?

BlondieBia21 · April 2014

SS- I have no income and I was thinking too literal on this obviously. If I did the math correctly (which I'm being honest, I probably didn't lol) about 55% of DH's check goes to our housing including insurance and utilities.

FWIW, we just bought a 3BR/2BA, 1,222sq foot home with an unfinished basement for $144,500. (in KS.)

Cosmic+Love · April 2014

BlondieBia21 said:

SS- I have no income and I was thinking too literal on this obviously. If I did the math correctly (which I'm being honest, I probably didn't lol) about 55% of DH's check goes to our housing including insurance and utilities.

FWIW, we just bought a 3BR/2BA, 1,222sq foot home with an unfinished basement for $144,500. (in KS.)

We bought almost the same house for $247,000. Boo.
But congratulations on your new home!!!!

kkay1982 · April 2014

A 3bd around here would be in 700s and up. (CA)

Rent on our 1 bd is $1300.

Eta: added rent

WildRumpus · April 2014

We rent currently so it's a little higher; $925 for a 2 bd/1 bath duplex, so roughly 25% of our monthly income. Housing varies on what you want around here (central IL). You could get an older home w/ 3+ bedrooms that needs some updates for 85-120k in older neighborhoods. 200k would get you a nicer, newer house in a subdivision

thoughtfulmommy · April 2014

I said about 41-50% of our combined income for just the mortgage (no bills).

A 3bd/2br is about $500 000 around here (Toronto, CA)

lkobriant · April 2014

crazed178 said:
Just our mortgage payment (that includes insurance and taxes) is about 25% of DH's income.

Same here.

ludali · April 2014

Yikes on some of these prices!!! Our mortgage will someday be about 25% of our monthly income.

We're expecting a 3 bed/1.5 (maybe 2) bath in decent shape will run us $275-300k.

Texasmomma13 · April 2014

I voted SS. Our housing, with utilities, is about 20% of our combined monthly income. However, we live in a low cost neighborhood for our location and we both make decent money (when I'm working). If we lived in a fancier neighborhood. It would probably mean a newer house, mine is 104 years old, with a higher payment. So it would be probably about 30-35%.

Revez · April 2014

Uhmmm to be perfectly honest I'm not actually sure (yikes). I know it's a lot so my subconscious obviously blocked it out of my memory.

Marvel1013 · April 2014

We don't buy, we rent. Our monthly rent is $1800 for a 3bdrm 1bthm. It's ridiculous. Usually to rent a home around here,it would be $2000+.. we rented a condo before this, 2bdrm 2bth for $1500. H has the only income so it can be a bit tough at times but we manage and have to budget. The average home around here starts at 500k

PB102012 · April 2014

DH pays the mortgage (we have seperate finances for the most part except for savings).

We paid $205k for our house in Northern California, it's 3 bedrooms/2.5 bathrooms, 1875 square feet. Since the housing market is coming back our realtor said if we were to sell she would list it for around $300k. Too bad I hate house hunting and moving or I would sell! Woo!

shivers7 · April 2014

we are currently living in the cheapest apartment we could find trying to save up for a house. Once we own one, the percentage will go up hugely lol

carrotcake06 · April 2014

I work in housing and the general rule of thumb is that 30% of your gross income is the max that should go toward rent + utilities. Any higher than that and you are considered "cost burdened" (census term).

MommyKristin88 · April 2014

Rent, utilities, and insurance puts us at roughly 25%

Cocolamo1 · April 2014

I am sure we are cost-burdened where we live! We own a condo north of Boston... 700sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath and rent is $1550/mo. At least that includes parking!

MitsB707 · April 2014

I can't do math right now. Our 3br 2.5 bath end unit townhouse with a finished basement half way between NYC and Philadelphia was 221k. We only put 3.5% down, so with taxes and insurance escrowed, our pmt is about 1800 a month. Our house is all electric, and before we got our new windows and hvac system, our electric bill was running 400-500 a month. I'm so glad spring is finally coming, lol

Caz1221 · April 2014

Our mortgage is about 22% of our combined incomes (24% if you add in the extra we pay each month to get the mortgage down faster). It used to be way less, but I took a big pay cut in order to switch into a position that is much more family-friendly (and much more enjoyable for me). Our 3 br/2 ba ~1550 sq ft. home (single family but in the city) cost $410k when we bought it 2.5 years ago, but it would likely sell for about $500k now.

ELauren88 · April 2014

Good lord. Reading some of these make me really glad we live where we do. We bought our 3 bdrm 2 bathrm (finished basement, yard, fence, 2 car garage, all appliances, new carpet, new roof) for just over $90k.

catskitch · April 2014

I can only afford to rent in nyc, I can't afford to buy. enough said.

kanned0121 · April 2014

I'm not awake enough to do the math.. But we have a 3bdrm/2bath unfinished basement and pay less than $1000 for our actual mortgage...

sftbllstr87 · April 2014

Yea my brain doesn't do math. We have a 3br 2ba raised ranch 1150 sq ft( working on finishing the basement) our mtg is $1500

rh10264706 · April 2014

We have a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath house, fenced yard, no garage that we paid $360k for. We love just outside of Philadelphia. We have thought about moving to a lcol area but my husband needs to be near a major city for his job, and pretty much all areas around major cities are expensive.

MitsB707 · April 2014

@rh10264706‌ Not necessarily. We live between two major cities with public trans access to both, and it's pretty reasonable here.

rh10264706 · April 2014

MitsB707 said:
@rh10264706‌ Not necessarily. We live between two major cities with public trans access to both, and it's pretty reasonable here.

I need to move there!!! Wherever it is.

MitsB707 · April 2014

rh10264706 said:

MitsB707 said:
@rh10264706‌ Not necessarily. We live between two major cities with public trans access to both, and it's pretty reasonable here.
I need to move there!!! Wherever it is.

Mercer County, NJ.

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