To (barely) afford $1000/month rent, you just need 32k/yr aka $16/hr??

[Chaotic42]

Why scrape by with an overpriced rental. I bought my 2 bedroom house with taxes and insurance its $400/month. Who needs a car payment when you can buy a running car out right at the public auctions for a normal monthly payment. 30k/year and single its like I'm rich.

That's really cheap for a house and I don't imagine a lot of banks will approve loans for people making $30k any more.

 

[OutHouse]

$16/hr works out to about $25,000/year after deducting 25% for taxes.

$1000/mo. MIGHT be doable on that...but it would be hella fucking tight. Not much leftover for utilities, car payment, oh...and food.

or for emergencies.

 

[Kaido]

or for emergencies.

Or price hikes. My monthly health insurance premiums just went up nearly 10%

 

[aigomorla]

I live in a suburb of St. Louis and I have a pretty nice two bedroom apartment for $1100, so I don't know how common $1000 rent would be in cities people actually want to live in.

Rent in Los Angeles:

Lower Income Areas: I am not calling it the ghetto, a ghetto is what the residents make of it, and some lower income areas are not bad and neighborhood is well maintained.

1bdr: 1100->1400 for 1bdroom.
2bdr: 1200->1600
3bdr: good luck finding one... they are very rare unless u lease an entire house.

Middle:
1bdr: 1400-1600
2bdr: 1600-2000
3bdr: again... house.

Westwood / Irvine /San Diego
1bdr: 2400-4000
2bdr: 3500-6000
3bdr: either house of penthouse... which can go north of 12000...


u wont survive on 16/hr in south cali.
Albet were not as bad as SF, but we are getting there.... :T

 

[Scarpozzi]

Something like this probably?

You can still find cheap/old/rundown housing in places where nobody wants to live. But nobody wants to live there because the communities have little in the way of ongoing economic concerns. So you end up having just as much trouble making ends meet, on the average.

$40k houses usually need a new roof and or insulation/electrical replacement. Just saying, if you get into those projects, you may end up being better off buying a better-maintained home and you may even be able to snag a better price per square foot because you're not having to replace so many unknowns when they try to get that heap up to code. If you live out in the country somewhere, it may not be such a big deal.

 

[BoomerD]

When we decided to leave CA, access to medical care was one of the things we considered. When we were younger, we lived in/near small towns that only had small clinics with nurse practioners on staff...and visiting doctors one day per week...or every other week.

 

[BoomerD]

If the cockroaches are big and plenty enough, you can save on groceries.

Youse Canucks would just slop some gravy and cheese curds on them and call it poutine...

 

[skull]

When and where?

Cincinnati, you can still get decent houses for 40 - 60k mine was 40k. Its a lot tougher than it was a few years ago since the market picked up. The car auction runs every wednesday off the paddock and seymour exit, hundreds of cars every week.

That's really cheap for a house and I don't imagine a lot of banks will approve loans for people making $30k any more.

The income isn't the issue you can make 10k as long as your DTI is good. I still make 30k and got pre-approved earlier this year for a 75k house in addition to the one I live in because I owe nothing else but that little house payment the size of a lot of peoples car payment. The issue is banks don't like making loans under 50k. Mine needed a few repairs and it was even harder to find a bank. I went to multiple banks until I found one that would do my loan.

 

[skull]

Something like this probably?

You can still find cheap/old/rundown housing in places where nobody wants to live. But nobody wants to live there because the communities have little in the way of ongoing economic concerns. So you end up having just as much trouble making ends meet, on the average.

Try again I've lived in the same area for 5 years, the area is just fine with the house next door selling for 120k last year.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Why scrape by with an overpriced rental. I bought my 2 bedroom house with taxes and insurance its $400/month. Who needs a car payment when you can buy a running car out right at the public auctions for a normal monthly payment. 30k/year and single its like I'm rich.

Yeah given the choice I would rather own a tiny home or condo instead of renting.

 

[skull]

Yeah given the choice I would rather own a tiny home or condo instead of renting.

I got 1200 sq ft plus basement. 2 years later I got her filled up but could cut it in half if needed. Not the 2 car detached garage though that sucker is packed same with the truck used as a shed next to it.

 

[OverVolt]

No idea, tis why I moved to WV. I just could not hack the $1500/month rentals on what I was making.

People making $70k were basically just running in place. Its crazy. You can't build a future like that.

I'm saving about $500-$750/month to spend as a please.

 

[Staples]

All I can say is that if you are not a picky eater, you can save lots of money.
I am one of the least picky eaters and married into a family of all picky eaters and this is my experience.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Yeah given the choice I would rather own a tiny home or condo instead of renting.

Monthly mortgages + property taxes + insurance run double what it costs to rent a place out here. Maybe that's typical, but when it's the difference of $2000 vs $4000 / month, the difference could be investing into your 401K+IRA versus your mortgage. Unlike the former, the latter is a liability.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Monthly mortgages + property taxes + insurance run double what it costs to rent a place out here. Maybe that's typical, but when it's the difference of $2000 vs $4000 / month, the difference could be investing into your 401K+IRA versus your mortgage. Unlike the former, the latter is a liability.

To me it's worth it, for the idea of ownership. It's something I own (well sorta, you don't truly own land unfortunately) and can mostly do what I want. I can change stuff etc. That and eventually it will be paid off, so in long term it's cheaper, but short term, it is more expensive.

 

[Thebobo]

No idea, tis why I moved to WV. I just could not hack the $1500/month rentals on what I was making.

People making $70k were basically just running in place. Its crazy. You can't build a future like that.

I'm saving about $500-$750/month to spend as a please.

Oh yea Iam looking at a few places in WV and Western MD for that reason.

 

[manly]

$16/hr works out to about $25,000/year after deducting 25% for taxes.

$1000/mo. MIGHT be doable on that...but it would be hella fucking tight. Not much leftover for utilities, car payment, oh...and food.

I live in a suburb of St. Louis and I have a pretty nice two bedroom apartment for $1100, so I don't know how common $1000 rent would be in cities people actually want to live in. It's totally possible to live off of $32,000 per year if you're single with no kids, but I can't imagine doing it as a single parent. Car payments, insurance, food, bills, etc. will eat into that spare $1000 pretty quickly though.

The numbers are obv. different for a single person vs. a family but either way, you've more or less described the majority of Americans. Living month to month without much going to savings.

 

[DrunkenSano]

Don't rent, you're just throwing money away.

 

[Thebobo]

Don't rent, you're just throwing money away.

I would agree with this most of the time. Especially if your are young-ish. But if you are older and retired a rental could be advantageous depending on the housing market in the area you want to live. No house repairs yard work if it's a house etc.

 

[skull]

Don't rent, you're just throwing money away.

While I would never want to rent again. Thats not really true. Most people move every 7 years or something crazy. Just enough to pay a good chunk of that front loaded interest before making any big dents in principal. Then you got closing costs and realtor fees when you sell. Maintenance the whole time you own it. Most people people buy a bigger house than they would rent. They see the PITI being the same as rent on the bigger place and don't think about everything that comes with it like bigger maintenance and utility bills. Then they spend more on decorations, furniture and renovations than they would for a rental. In the end a good chunk of Americans spend way more buying than they would renting.

 

[BoomerD]

Keep in mind...if you're trying to rent (or buy)with half your income paying the rent/mortgage costs...MOST places will turn you down. They want to see no more than 33%...and preferably 25% or less being your rent/mortgage expense.