Our home was $348k - 4 bedrooms, 2 baths in Louisiana.
It's only possible having boarders that pay rent and help with the bills.
The value has increased so much that I don't think it would be possible to own a home in my area on my salary any more.
Now I'm looking at getting married and the cost of living is going to be okay as long as we don't have kids soon. But I'm getting older and can't put that off too long.
I don't understand the housing market to know why it's like this but I'm not sure it's sustainable. People aren't going to be able to afford to have families at this rate. Also, If interest rates ever go back up I'm done.
At $1,500/mo savings rate, it would take 46 months (3.83 years) to save up for your down payment (before closing costs/lending fees, but I'm not sure if those are rolled into your mortgage)
This would leave you with a rough monthly payment (mortgage + interest + takes + insurance + HOA fees) of $1.8k-$2k (assuming 30 year mortgage at 4% interest rate)
$100k gross is roughly $76k net (before any 401k/IRA contributions)
$1.8k/mo for your mortgage * 12 months = $21.6k before any cable/water/electric/lawn/pool bills/repairs
$4.5k/mo net income remaining after your house for food, cars, insurance, etc.
You said $1.5k/mo savings which means $3k/mo for food, cars, insurance, travel, 401k contributions, repairs, going out, etc.
I guess it is do-able. $3k/mo for 2 people does not sound terrible in the slightest.
0% down with a 3.5% interest rate - you don't pay PMI with a VA loan and $0 down ($8k total in closing costs which were mainly taxes). This is the biggest aid in building wealth as we were able to save everything (minus moving costs) from the sale of our previous home.
Right now NFCU estimated our property taxes high so our mortgage is $2100. Next year our property taxes will drop due to LA exemptions that will drop our mortgage down to $1800 - 1900 range.
I have well water so no costs there, electric and gas are $150 combined a month, this is the highest we will pay due to A/C in the summer. Also no pool - lawn is being transformed into a functional space, garden of vegetables and fruits with chickens.
Plenty of places to locally travel; Japan is a little stretch for us so we will see. Walking distance from my house is local jazz/blues hall, been here since 1885. Every other Saturday from 6 - 9pm you can sit and listen to live music, get a plate of fried chicken/catfish with jambalya, greens, potato salad/colslaw, cornbread, and cake for $20 a person ($10 entry, $10 for food). Plenty of festivals which are free offering a range from Festival Acadiens et Creoles 2 hours away to Blues and BBQ in downtown New Orleans next weekend. So our costs here are around $150 for weekend family fun, some weekends we stay at home as we need a break.
All in all $3k a month is spot on which in Lousiana goes far. Plenty of culture, arts, food, and outdoor activities.
What do you pay in homeowner's insurance?
Does nobody understand how to buy homes on this thread?! It's pretty easy if you make >100k In My Opinion!
Plus, there are multiple downpayment assistance programs (google it) that will let you buy your first home with 0% down. Some of them have income limits, but I know some of them do not, as I qualify for one and I make >100k.
In many cases, however, if property values have gone up, or you have done work to the property, you can get the property reassessed, and refinance into a new loan based on the newly assessed value, and get rid of the PMI even faster than that.
This is what I did on my house - between the real estate market bouncing back after the financial crisis, and some renovations I did, after two years the value of my house increased almost 50%. My credit score had also gone up, and interest rates had gone down, so I also was able to get a better interest rate.
[1] https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/when-can-i-remove-p...