DaveMc Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 "Dirty Cramped City?" >>Have you ever been to NYC, Chicago, etc...You don't know cramped/urban if you haven't been to those places....STAY on Your Farm! Yes, yes and Los Angeles and Detroit that's why I'm tired of the city. I need something a little toned down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAK Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 ok... so how do you afford 300k on $150k? and save for retirement... and save for college... and whatever... I *could* do it, I suppose. I'm just a cheap bastard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandoJMC Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 ok... so how do you afford 300k on $150k? and save for retirement... and save for college... and whatever... I *could* do it, I suppose. I'm just a cheap bastard. Just chiming in with my own $0.02... I used to be a cheap bastard, but after really evaluating my midtown rent situation, purchasing a townhome really started to make some financial sense to me. Not in any way trying to be boastful, but as a 23 year old single male buying a $265k townhome, it really isn't that un-affordable if you have no forms of debt. I am fortunate to have college grants/scholarships + signing bonus to leave me with a car with no payment and no debt, but it is easily financially feasible to afford a $265k place on less than $100k salary. I may not be living a lavish lifestyle, but I value the fact that I can call my place my own (well, Bank of America's). It means a lot more to me to not throw away $12k+ yearly on rent than it does to have an Escalade or some fancy depreciating asset. I would be more stretched if I hadn't lucked out on my HCAD appraisal being based on lot value... The bottom line is that it all comes down to personal lifestyle... I think a $300k place on $150k is EASILY do-able. I'll just be sticking to domestic beer and not blowing $100/weekend on "going out" like my friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 I would be more stretched if I hadn't lucked out on my HCAD appraisal being based on lot value...Prepare to be stretched. You'll get clobbered at full purchase price plus next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandoJMC Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Prepare to be stretched. You'll get clobbered at full purchase price plus next year.Yeah, I already had this year's purchase price tax money saved up before closing, so I'll be fine. I honestly think that a majority of Americans don't know the first thing about the amount of capital required to purchase a home the right way. Sure there are 80-20, 80-15, and Bank of America's new 95% mortgage, but you get nailed in monthly payments. Twenty percent down is really the way to do it, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amadeuz Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 This is a good thread. I always wondered the same thing. However, I think you need to adjust the 300k number. If you want to live in the most desirable places Inside the Loop (aka West U, Braes Heights, Bellaire) 300k won't buy you much at all. I live in Braeswood Place and always wonder what kind of people are buying these 800k+ new construction homes.But it's just not Inside the Loop anymore either. Try looking for homes in Memorial, Energy Corridor, or Spring Branch. 300k won't get you much anymore. But if you look in other parts of the country, people like us wouldn't even dream of living in the nicest neighborhoods. So have to take things in perspective I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHiPs Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Thanks to the baby boomers and inheritance, etc, a lot of young people buying ITL have gobs of family help, I'm discovering. I went to few office wedding showers last year and the most popular topic of conversation was home buying and how much the 'rents where kicking in on the downpayment. $100K was a nice round number I heard often. The other interesting thing was the attitude that it was just sort of expected, to be getting that kind of cake from mom and dad. These aren't rich spoiled kids, just young accounting nerds. As long as they're buying and driving development, cool. Hopefully they won't decide en masse to start having children and move from Rice Military to Pearland, then the market gets soft with a glut of townhomes. I'm really interested in the next round of census data.With technology, demographics, population changing so rapidly, who knows, they may have the census every 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAK Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Lol @ myself. 7 years later, I've moved and my house is (now) worth 300k, and people are now buying 1mm houses 3 miles away from me and we're outside the loop... And I still wouldn't to want to spend 300k. I am cheap, indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbarz Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 It is still the same 7 years later! Check out the Zillow Mortgage App, which happens to be a good, quick calculator to figure out mortgage/tax/insurance payments. It has an affordability calculator and its default setting is shocking to me... For example:Income: $80,000/yrDown Payment: $60,000Interest Rate: 3.125% "You can afford a home up to $405,710. This home should fit comfortably within your budget" You can add monthly debt to the calculator to bring the price down, but it seems out of touch. Maybe it is on purpose, because it is to Zillow's advantage to have people looking for homes or maybe all of the U.S. is out of touch... When I entered all of my information in to the calculator to determine what price home it thought I should budget, the "affordability" was 40% higher than a price I would even consider looking at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerloop Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Maybe it is on purpose, because it is to Zillow's advantage to have people looking for homes or maybe all of the U.S. is out of touch... You've hit the nail on the head. The home buying experience is a snake pit for the uninformed/uneducated buyer. Everybody else in the process benefits by the buyer spending more... the seller gets more, the listing agent gets more commission, the loan broker makes more, and in a blatant conflict of interest, the buyer's agent makes more. No one is exerting any discipline on the wide-eyed buyer, not even the loan guy because he's going to flip the loan to someone else just as soon as possible, so he won't be on the hook when the homeowner can no longer make their monthly payments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedmondson Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 The affordability calculators are not necessarily wrong. It just ends up depending on what your priorities are. If you want to always have a new luxury car, go on frequent expensive vacations, retire when you are 50, etc. your "affordable" house is going to be lower. It also can come down to how well you are able manage your finances. I still have a hard time explaining to reasonably intelligent people why financing a sofa or fridge costs so much more in the end than just paying cash. What can really get you though is if that higher price is for more square feet because that means more cost to furnish and maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0123 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 The affordability calculators are not necessarily wrong. It just ends up depending on what your priorities are. If you want to always have a new luxury car, go on frequent expensive vacations, retire when you are 50, etc. your "affordable" house is going to be lower. It also can come down to how well you are able manage your finances. I still have a hard time explaining to reasonably intelligent people why financing a sofa or fridge costs so much more in the end than just paying cash. What can really get you though is if that higher price is for more square feet because that means more cost to furnish and maintain.I couldn't agree more. -50 skip cable-50 cheaper cell plan-600 no car payment-700 stop eating out all the time at $$$ places-40 cancel the gym membershipRight there anyone can have an extra $1440/month of easy money. If you use it towards a mortgage of somewhere in town, savings shoot up even more dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedmondson Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I couldn't agree more.-50 skip cable-50 cheaper cell plan-600 no car payment-700 stop eating out all the time at $$$ places-40 cancel the gym membershipRight there anyone can have an extra $1440/month of easy money. If you use it towards a mortgage of somewhere in town, savings shoot up even more dramatically. $40 for gym? A good cross fit package for 2 can cost over $200 a month! lol. I would also add if you are a new graduate and hopeful for your future, just a bit of struggle today should turn into easy payments later once you account for pay raises and inflation while your mortgage payments stay frozen for 30 years. Meet anyone today that is at the end of their 30 year mortgages and it will amaze how extremely little they are paying for their house worth $300K+ today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbarz Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Both good points! $1440/mo extra does look easy to squeeze out of a budget, and thirty years later everything does look extremely cheap... I guess you just have to worry about making ends meet for 30 years to get there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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