what's up with ~1500 sq ft houses?

[trmiv]

Our house is 1874 sq ft. 3 bedrooms 2.5 baths and a bonus room. Honestly I wish it was smaller. We have two rooms that we do nothing but store crap in. We could honestly just get rid of or combine the crap and have one less room and I'd be fine with it.

I'd love to have a lot more land though.

 

[alkemyst]

Ah, so now its the home builders fault.
You people make me laugh.

You can get a 2,000 SF house for $135k. Someone making $36k could easily afford this house.

Try getting a house of that size for that cheap from a private contractor + lot cost.

Getting a house for under $100/sq ft. is not normal.

 

[Patranus]

LOL

This is the financial idiocy that caused the housing bubble.

Do you even have a clue as to what you are talking about?

At $36,000 before taxes comes out to $10,080 yearly for housing or $600 per month.

A 30 year/fixed at 4.6% APR is $500 per moth with a 20% down payment.

It actually come in under budget when budgeting a conservative 28% for housing.

 

[spidey07]

Getting a house for under $100/sq ft. is not normal.

Absolutely it is. Depends on location.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

It's probably a compound with some fellow ultra rightwing nationalists.

Unlike you in your pot smoke filled whore house in San Fransisco

 

[vi edit]

Getting a house for under $100/sq ft. is not normal.

Uhhh yes it is. There are actually people that live in places that aren't coastal states.

 

[Patranus]

Getting a house for under $100/sq ft. is not normal.

http://www.centexhomes.com/tx/houston/richmond/richmond/rivers-run/jack

http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/Tex...ood-Trails/Southwest-Collection/Santa-Fe-3051

http://www.pulte.com/communities/fl/palm-bay/heron-bay-at-waterstone/plans/durham.aspx

 

[Patranus]

Absolutely it is. Depends on location.

You forget that some people feel entitled to live anywhere they want, even if they cannot afford it.

 

[Texashiker]

You can get a 2,000 SF house for $135k. Someone making $36k could easily afford this house.

135,000 * .06 (6% for interest) = $143,100 - but then again, insnt the interest compounded yearly?

30 year mortgage * 12 payments per year = 360 payments

143,000 / 360 = 397.22 + home owners insurance + property tax + any property owners association fees

Lets just round that off to $600 a month.

~~~~~~~~~

36,000 - 25% for all taxes (sales tax, income tax, social security, medicare/medicaid, medical insurance, 401k deductions) = $27,000 spendable income.

$27,000 / 12 months= $2,250 per month

~~~~~~~~~

Is the person paying child support? If so how many children is he/she paying on? That is another 20% - 25% gone off the salary after taxes.

~~~~~~~~~

$300 a month for heating cooling expenses
$600 for car note and insurance
$200 for gas
$500 for food
$600 for house note

$2,200

That leaves you with maybe $50 free for the month.

I do not call that "easily" being able to afford a house.

If the person is divorced and has 1 child, subtract 20% off their monthly wages, plus half any medical expenses for the child.

Does the persons job provide insurance? If not, and the person is divorced, subtract medical off of their monthly salary.

 

[trmiv]

Getting a house for under $100/sq ft. is not normal.

We paid right at $100/sq ft for ours three years ago. There are plenty of houses in this area quite a bit under that figure right now.

 

[Joemonkey]

yeah, that's nice but you live in kentucky so you lose.

I would normally agree, but since I live in KY, that means he wins

 

[Patranus]

$300 a month for heating cooling expenses
$600 for car note and insurance
$200 for gas
$500 for food
$600 for house note

If that is what you think someone making $36,000 per year is spending on those thing you obviously have no clue how to budget.

$500 per month on food? Laughable.

 

[IGBT]

no surprise. The eco-KOOKS want you to live in a one room cement block house with no toilet. Has everything to do with the green alarmist psychosis so popular these days.

 

[PimpJuice]

from the heating your house thread, i noticed quite a few people listing sq footage of their houses in the 1300-1700 sq ft range.
that seems incredibly small for a house.

i have a 2 bed apartment that is 1200 sq foot. i can't imagine an entire house being only 100 sq foot larger. that's barely an extra bedroom larger than mine.
can y'all with small houses post a pic of the outside?

1200 foot is small to you because you're a fat ass. Lose some weight and it will feel like a mansion you lard ass.

 

[Texashiker]

If that is what you think someone making $36,000 per year is spending on those thing you obviously have no clue how to budget.

$500 per month on food? Laughable.

Do you have any kids at home? When my step kids were home, my wife and I were spending about $150 a week in groceries. When my kids would visit for the summer, we could spend $200 a week in groceries.

Now, my wife and I might spend $250 - $300 in groceries a month.

 

[alkemyst]

Absolutely it is. Depends on location.

Not at all I wasn't figuring in land costs.

To build a home for less than $100/sq ft is pretty hard in today's market.

If you are buying some very old home then you can go cheaper. Still 2000 sq/ft for $135k is not normal. In today's market again, anything is possible but that's not going to be common.

 

[LucJoe]

135,000 * .06 (6% for interest) = $143,100 - but then again, insnt the interest compounded yearly?

30 year mortgage * 12 payments per year = 360 payments

143,000 / 360 = 397.22 + home owners insurance + property tax + any property owners association fees

Lets just round that off to $600 a month.

~~~~~~~~~

36,000 - 25% for all taxes (sales tax, income tax, social security, medicare/medicaid, medical insurance, 401k deductions) = $27,000 spendable income.

$27,000 / 12 months= $2,250 per month

~~~~~~~~~

Is the person paying child support? If so how many children is he/she paying on? That is another 20% - 25% gone off the salary after taxes.

~~~~~~~~~

$300 a month for heating cooling expenses
$600 for car note and insurance
$200 for gas
$500 for food
$600 for house note

$2,200

That leaves you with maybe $50 free for the month.

I do not call that "easily" being able to afford a house.

If the person is divorced and has 1 child, subtract 20% off their monthly wages, plus half any medical expenses for the child.

Does the persons job provide insurance? If not, and the person is divorced, subtract medical off of their monthly salary.

Fail fail fail.

 

[a123456]

Not at all I wasn't figuring in land costs.

To build a home for less than $100/sq ft is pretty hard in today's market.

If you are buying some very old home then you can go cheaper. Still 2000 sq/ft for $135k is not normal. In today's market again, anything is possible but that's not going to be common.

You can easily get a house for less than 100/SF in many areas. It's going to be hard to construct a new house for that much, but that are *tons* of existing houses on the market right now for below replacement cost from the housing boom. In particular, desert areas or areas with really depressed economies (20% unemployment) have dirt-cheap housing.

I've seen houses in some areas go ~60/SF for maybe something built in the 90s or so. That doesn't mean you really want to live there since the commute will be really long and the crime rates will be high. There's a cost to everything.

 

[vi edit]

To build a home for less than $100/sq ft is pretty hard in today's market.

Still don't agree. My house had a base contract of $300,000 for 3200 sq/ft. And that's with an additional 1900 sq/ft unfinished basement. That includes somewhat generous allowances in flooring, cabinets and lighting. Not super high end, but it's enough for common granite counters and decent quality cabinets. It also included plaster walls 9' basement ceiling. My final cost was about 15% higher but that was due to luxury upgrades that we wanted and some other costs that a typical "city" home wouldn't encounter (well & septic).

But still, my house was under $100 sq/ft as far as the contractor was concerned.

 

[Patranus]

To build a home for less than $100/sq ft is pretty hard in today's market.

Yes, for YOU to build a home for less than $100/sq ft is pretty hard.

For someone like Lennar/Centex/ect. to build a home for less than $100/sf ft is VERY easy.

I really don't think you understand the kind of markup private contractors put on items and how big of a discount the big builders get on materials because of the volume they buy.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Size doesn't matter unless you have kids. Start with 800 sq/ft...for the first person, add a few hundred feet for each additional inhabitant...maybe a little for pets.. You should be able to have 4 people live in a 1500 sq/ft house easily as long as 2 cohabitate....

Location is everything when it comes to buying a house/living in a house. You could move my 1750 sq/ft house 10 minutes in any direction and I wouldn't want to live in it. My neighborhood feels safe, has nice wide streets, and good city services... I'm a half-mile from a shopping mall and good restaurants...with the use of a side street, I can avoid the worst intersections in town and get to work in minutes. If I moved 10 minutes out from where I am, I would expect more than 1 acre of land and at least 2200 sq/ft...but might want up to 2800 sq/ft before I'd be happy with the move...this is not needed by any means (see above statement), but would be more comfortable for family building and help justify the drive. There's a lot of farmland being converted to subdivisions here these days. The offset of a bigger house is being out of city limits and not having to pay both city/county taxes here...

 

[alkemyst]

135,000 * .06 (6% for interest) = $143,100 - but then again, insnt the interest compounded yearly?

30 year mortgage * 12 payments per year = 360 payments

143,000 / 360 = 397.22 + home owners insurance + property tax + any property owners association fees

Lets just round that off to $600 a month.

~~~~~~~~~

36,000 - 25% for all taxes (sales tax, income tax, social security, medicare/medicaid, medical insurance, 401k deductions) = $27,000 spendable income.

$27,000 / 12 months= $2,250 per month

~~~~~~~~~

Is the person paying child support? If so how many children is he/she paying on? That is another 20% - 25% gone off the salary after taxes.

~~~~~~~~~

$300 a month for heating cooling expenses
$600 for car note and insurance
$200 for gas
$500 for food
$600 for house note

$2,200

That leaves you with maybe $50 free for the month.

I do not call that "easily" being able to afford a house.

If the person is divorced and has 1 child, subtract 20% off their monthly wages, plus half any medical expenses for the child.

Does the persons job provide insurance? If not, and the person is divorced, subtract medical off of their monthly salary.

First historically 2.5x your gross salary = house you can afford. Recently this went as high as 5x.

So, $135k is going to be pushing that a bit at 3.75x the salary, however; without any other debts it's probably possible.

Interest is not 6% today...but even then the payment would be $6 per $1000.

Still you are going to have to put about 3% down.

Figure about 3-4% for taxes and insurance.

Also effective tax rate will be much less than 25%. Interest is deductable.

$300 a month is insane for cooling and heating. Should be closer to $125-150 on average in a 1500-2000sq ft home.

Gas should be less than $200 for most.

As outlined above, extra debt probably won't be possible....but a $600 car payment / ins is equally insane if one is making $36k a year.

One should be able to afford a $90k home easily on $36k with about 6% of their income in debt or they can stretch that money and not take on more debt.

On $36k a year one should be able to afford a $840 mortgage payment + $240 in credit / financing debt or go into a house at $1080 and not finance other things...that should put them close to a $135k house.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Do you even have a clue as to what you are talking about?

At $36,000 before taxes comes out to $10,080 yearly for housing or $600 per month.

A 30 year/fixed at 4.6% APR is $500 per moth with a 20% down payment.

It actually come in under budget when budgeting a conservative 28% for housing.

People that make $36K a year don't have 20% ($27K) to put down.
When I got my house 5 years ago or so, I was making more than that and could only qualify for a $120K house with 10% down.
You are not factoring taxes and insurance. Depending on where you are, those 2 things can literally make you unable to get a house.

Just doing a simple mortgage loan calculator, Your $135,000 home with 20% down, add in Taxes and Insurance here, and the monthly payment is $917
You're person making $36k a year is bringing home ~$2500 a month
So:
$920 mortgage
$400 Car
$100 car insurance
$150 work health insurance
$40 cell phone
$50 internet
$100 electric
$30 water
$20 natural gas
$200 gas for car
$200 food
--------------------------
total bills $2210
So his $2500 take home minus bills = $290
So he has $70 a week to spend on extras. So he can either save that money and have no entertainment, no way to buy new clothes or fix any of the hundred small things that come up with home ownership, or he can "slpurge" and buy stuff and not save any money.

So your situation is exactly why the bottom fell out of the housing market. People were told thye could afford it but were then fooled into not realizing they couldn't afford to do anything but just live. No money for entertainment, or heaven forbid he has a kid or a wife that doesn't work AND a kid.

 

[Texashiker]

Fail fail fail.

Those figures were off the top of my head. Please post your estimates.

What part exactly do you disagree with? Having to pay taxes? The amount paid to child support? Food cost, auto cost, insurance?

$150 work health insurance

If your paying $150 a month for health insurance, that is pretty good. I usually pay about $100 - $115 every week for myself and family. My total health insurance bill is about $425 or so a month.

Also effective tax rate will be much less than 25%. Interest is deductable.

Most Americans pay about 1/3 - 1/2 their income to taxes and do not realize it.

You also forgot to add in child support cost, that is an easy 20%

 

[AreaCode707]

We're going to be building a 2 br house that has a 650 sq ft footprint with a loft, maybe 850 sq ft total. *shrug* Cheaper to heat, and it's only the two of us. The bedrooms will be small and we're throwing all the space we can into the living room and kitchen, since that's where we spend all our time anyway.