Apartment/Salary Question

[mugs]

Why don't you listen to everyone who's telling you to find a different place to live? You'll be paying way too much for rent and utilities on your income. Who cares if it's a waterfront property in an affluent suburb? And why in the world do you need 5 bedrooms for 3 people? You're throwing money down the drain.

$600 a month is reasonable, but then again your girlfriend will be paying rent when she doesn't even live there. What happens when you break up? You'll be stuck paying $900 a month, and you'll probably end up on Judge Judy with your ex-girlfriend claiming it was a loan.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Beattie

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: Asharus

Originally posted by: DBL
Do you need to have a car? If so, that is a bit tight.

Yeah, and my car insurance is about $1600 a year and my gas is about $230 a month.

Ok, your NET is about $2100/mo...right? You're spending about $1600 for your car insurance, rent, utilities/cable/internet, fuel, and groceries.

That leaves you $500 for car maintenance/taxes, clothes, bills, etc.

Uhh $1600/year == ~$133/month

Rent = $900
Car Ins. = $133
Fuel = $230
Figure utilities, food, etc. and you're pushing $1600 for the essentials




Either way, there's some good advice in here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=1136503&arctab=arc

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Almost $1700 for a 1 bedroom

I hope that is not in Hoboken... rents are unbelievable in the NYC area though, so 900/month is not at all unreasonable (depending on where on LI you live).

In manhattan, for instance, I pay $1985 for a studio (ie, one room!). Typical rent for a studio is probably 1500-2000 a month. And to all of those who say "paying rent is a waste", good luck finding something to buy here for less than 1 mill.

 

[jagec]

Holy crap, $900 a month for a shared house? I'll be paying $275+utilities for a room in a house over the summer, granted, it's not in an affluent neighborhood but honestly is it worth that much to you?
Car insurance-$350/6 months here. Try shopping around
Fuel-that's an insane amount of money to spend on fuel. According to my calculations, either you drive twice as much as the average American, or you get almost single-digit gas mileage. Seriously, something is really screwed up here.

I suggest you (a)find a different place to live or get those other two rooms rented out
(b)shop around to get different car insurance, or increase your deductible
(c)buy a beater for $500 that gets better mileage than the aircraft carrier you drive now.

 

[zCypher]

I dunno... the best advice I can offer you is to figure out exactly how much you make, in your pocket, per month. Once you've done that you can start subtracting expenses. In my case my expenses are way too high so I'm always in financial crises. I'm working my way out of it, but it's not easy. All I can say really is don't take more than you can handle, because you WILL regret it. Period.

1) Make sure you have solid, stable income (no worries of losing your job, etc)
2) As longs as you can afford to pay your rent, food and basic expenses... you don't have much to worry about. Manage your money, don't get or abuse credit cards... it's all smooth sailing from there.

 

[Childs]

Get two more roommates. Then everyone will be happy.

 

[upsciLLion]

My parents charge me $0 per month. It's nice.

 

[SilentZero]

My wife and I pay $1300 per month with utilities for a 3bd/2bth townhouse here in oahu, Hawaii. We own 1 house (investment property in NY) which we make $2400 per month income from the tenants, plus a working income of $5k per month after taxes from work/benefits. Rent is ok, but we are renting from friends, so its kinda on the low side.

 

[SuperTool]

925+utils. Silicon valley
I heard that my apartment was $1500 during the tech boom, and it's a 1 bedroom sh!tbox.

 

[nageov3t]

I think you'd be ok with the rent. you'd have to live somewhat frugally, but you could manage.

at my previous apartment, I was paying 50% of my monthly take-home pay in rent ($900/month for a studio). I had no problems getting the bills paid, I wasn't living on ramen and handouts, and I still went out with my friends on the weekends, but I also wasn't upgrading my PC on a regular basis or going on vacations or buying a new car.

ATM, I'm back to living at home, but I'm looking to move out by the end of July (at the latest. will hopefully end up being before the end of June). my take-home is still about the same ($1,800/month), but I have a roommate this time. we're looking for a nice 2-bedroom in the $1,000 - $1,200 range, or a decent 3-bedroom in the $1,200 - $1,400 range.

 

[Asharus]

Originally posted by: jagec
Holy crap, $900 a month for a shared house? I'll be paying $275+utilities for a room in a house over the summer, granted, it's not in an affluent neighborhood but honestly is it worth that much to you?
Car insurance-$350/6 months here. Try shopping around
Fuel-that's an insane amount of money to spend on fuel. According to my calculations, either you drive twice as much as the average American, or you get almost single-digit gas mileage. Seriously, something is really screwed up here.

I suggest you (a)find a different place to live or get those other two rooms rented out
(b)shop around to get different car insurance, or increase your deductible
(c)buy a beater for $500 that gets better mileage than the aircraft carrier you drive now.

My $1600/yr car insurance is the lowest I can get, it used to be 900/yr until I added collision/comprehensive.

As for the fuel costs, I drive 400 miles a week to and from work.

The two other bedrooms are really small (I'm in one right now). I'm moving to the largest one, and the two other large ones are going to be my roomie's. One of the small rooms will be an exercise room, and we haven't decided what's going to be in the other small room. I don't think I'll find anybody who will want to live in that small room, and my roomies don't want another person.

 

[Mermaidman]

Common wisdom:
Cost of housing should be no more than 1/3 of income.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
Common wisdom:
Cost of housing should be no more than 1/3 of income.

common wisdom never lived in the NYC area

 

[PunDogg]

Originally posted by: Asharus

Originally posted by: DBL
Do you need to have a car? If so, that is a bit tight.

Yeah, and my car insurance is about $1600 a year and my gas is about $230 a month.

DAMN SON, what are u driving,a nd where u are u driving too

Dogg

 

[WhiteKnight]

My grad student stipend pays $1600/month before taxes. I pay $600 in rent, plus $100 for food, plus $100 for utilities per month.

 

[zixxer]

How does $400/rent on a 32k salary sound?

 

[woowoo]

You need two MORE roomies.....
(Five total)

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: Asharus

Originally posted by: jagec
Holy crap, $900 a month for a shared house? I'll be paying $275+utilities for a room in a house over the summer, granted, it's not in an affluent neighborhood but honestly is it worth that much to you?
Car insurance-$350/6 months here. Try shopping around
Fuel-that's an insane amount of money to spend on fuel. According to my calculations, either you drive twice as much as the average American, or you get almost single-digit gas mileage. Seriously, something is really screwed up here.

I suggest you (a)find a different place to live or get those other two rooms rented out
(b)shop around to get different car insurance, or increase your deductible
(c)buy a beater for $500 that gets better mileage than the aircraft carrier you drive now.

My $1600/yr car insurance is the lowest I can get, it used to be 900/yr until I added collision/comprehensive.

As for the fuel costs, I drive 400 miles a week to and from work.

The two other bedrooms are really small (I'm in one right now). I'm moving to the largest one, and the two other large ones are going to be my roomie's. One of the small rooms will be an exercise room, and we haven't decided what's going to be in the other small room. I don't think I'll find anybody who will want to live in that small room, and my roomies don't want another person.

You are paying to much, leave the nest.

 

[Asharus]

I took your advice and looked for a cheaper place. Unfortunately, you can't find anything under $700 a month for a 1 bedroom in the area, LOL.

I'm still paying $100 less, and will live in a nice house. I guess it's time to move to the country, like Tennesee or something...

http://www.apartments.com/search/oasis.dll?Rent_Minimum=0&Rent_Maximum=900&allsizes=1&am37=0&type_listing=1&mode=4096&page=Results&area2=Y&subarea1=Y&state=ny&rgn2=188&prvpg=5&cont.x=60&cont.y=14

At least I know that my sis won't kick me out of the house if I lose my job and can't pay rent...

 

[pmoa]

i live in downtown baltimore right by camden yards for 1300 sq ft. it is 975 a month. I charge my roomie only 225 a month and we split utilities (he's in advertising). I think that is fairlt cheap for the location.

 

[CTrain]

Originally posted by: Asharus
I took your advice and looked for a cheaper place. Unfortunately, you can't find anything under $700 a month for a 1 bedroom in the area, LOL.

I'm still paying $100 less, and will live in a nice house. I guess it's time to move to the country, like Tennesee or something...

http://www.apartments.com/search/oasis.dll?Rent_Minimum=0&Rent_Maximum=900&allsizes=1&am37=0&type_listing=1&mode=4096&page=Results&area2=Y&subarea1=Y&state=ny&rgn2=188&prvpg=5&cont.x=60&cont.y=14

At least I know that my sis won't kick me out of the house if I lose my job and can't pay rent...

Find another roomie and you're set.