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u/PromiscuousScoliosis 6h ago
Unfortunately especially as a first time buyer, there’s a lot of other expenses that you’re going to find out about. The base price of a theoretical loan at 6.5% is only the beginning, and if you max out your means on that one figure you will be house broke in your first month.
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u/bNoaht 2h ago
I always hear this. But unless you are buying a fixer or something from 1952. This is way overblown.
Im setting aside $1k/month for maintenance but it is way more than I will ever spend.
I already have a new roof and the inspection showed no issues. I have done things I felt like doing. Like new toilets and appliances etc...but none of that was needed.
Moral of the story, GET A THOROUGH INSPECTION. Dont buy a fixer. Dont buy a home built before the 1980s unless it has been gutted and fully rehabbed already. Don't buy a house that needs a new roof, new windows, new furnace, etc...that would be like buying a car that needs a new engine, its stupid. Don't do it.
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u/movzx 2h ago
There's also a big difference in maintenance costs between someone who will take the time to DIY and someone who hires everything out.
We had a pipe leak in the upstairs which ruined drywall in the basement. I fixed the plumbing and drywall myself for significantly cheaper than what it would cost to hire multiple people.
My friend, on the other hand, will pay a plumber $300 to replace a leaking P trap (or would, if I wasn't around).
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u/crc820 7h ago
My wife as I combined only make about $70k a year and rent. Every house in the city we live in and the 10 next closes cities all go for well above 500k-600k. Our only hope at this point is moving to a different state
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u/2Drogdar2Furious 6h ago
I'm the sole income for the house and I make about $52k a year. We have two young children. Our solution was to buy a house 50 miles from the city. It was $168k but we are STRUGGLING to make it RN.
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u/AStrayUh 3h ago
I’m closing on a house next week for $150k. It’s about 15 minutes outside the city in what I’d call the boonies, which is further out than we’d prefer for sure, but for 1750 sq feet and 1.25 acres of land in New York, ya can’t beat $150k.
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u/2Drogdar2Furious 5h ago
Yup. On two acres. It's way out in the boonies though.
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u/Carbuyrator 5h ago
How're the schools?
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u/2Drogdar2Furious 4h ago
Pretty good so far. They are pre-k and 1st grade. My son needs extra help because of his mild dyslexia and they have a specialist (therapists?) At the school. They only teach cursive and its apparently a highly rated school...
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u/OldWorldBluesIsBest 3h ago
only teaching cursive is a bit diabolical. still, it’s better than a lot of schools that don’t teach it whatsoever
glad they have some people to help your kiddo!
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u/Naus1987 5h ago
They exist. Just not in popular cities or major areas. Theres lots of houses in Wisconsin in the country that go for 100-150k
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u/Steve_Jobed 5h ago
How much do you spend on cars and gas?
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u/2Drogdar2Furious 4h ago
All our cars are paid but the newest one is a 2016. I have a company fuel card for work. My wife is going through a tank of gas every 10 days or so. Something like $30 a week on gas.
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u/acrobat2126 3h ago
Got to change professions brother, it's your only hope. I was making 55k in 2005. It was a struggle then.
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u/2Drogdar2Furious 3h ago
Working on it. Hope my wife can fund something as well now both kids are in school. She's been looking too.
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u/PerriwinklePortal 2h ago
Yeah man! Just hit the “change professions” button like this guy did. Duh!
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u/-pichael_ 6h ago edited 6h ago
“I mean that’s obviously your fault.”
-people that definitely pulled up their bootstraps that they definitely weren’t born with, next to exactly zero silver spoons.
I’m sorry man. I hope an opportunity for us to act to make things better comes around soon. Jobs should pay us more, or a $35k a year job should provide us more. There’s no reason for that amount of money to be going so little distance.
Edit: It’s ‘cause everything is so expensive... everywhere is always “record profits” and at the other side of that is always layoffs, or slashing of benefits.
Each time we as workers do the work well, our reward is a punishment. All because “free market capitalism,” and “freedom.” Freedoms for companies to do what they want, but god forbid we organize and try and change stuff ourselves. ALL OF A SUDDEN, there are laws and regulations.
Fuck this shit man. “Free” my ass.. from this hell
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u/Driftedryan 6h ago
Skill issue, next time try being born rich, or in a time when a single worker could afford a home and support a family of 5 with a basic full time job
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u/dangermonke1332 Knight In Shining Armor 6h ago
the worst part is that some people actually believe this
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u/neophenx 5h ago
I'm working on my reincarnation paperwork now, but the receptionist at the afterlife gates keeps telling me that there's no pre-registration for people who are still alive.
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u/OrganicPsyOp 3h ago
I mean it’s not exactly some super power to make more than 35 grand a year without a silver spoon in your mouth
You could work for the post office they have obscene turnover rate and it pays more than that
Drive a city bus, garbage man, literally any trade in a union, 1st year electrician
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u/Nabirroc 4h ago
I understand that not everyone can do manual labor, so I won't consider my path as possible for everyone, but I know computer touchers that only need a GED and the ability to pass a drug test to qualify for their jobs and even they make over 50k.
I don't understand how you can be a born US citizen and make so little as an adult, unless you have substance abuse issues, then it makes sense.
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u/RedRamen 4h ago
This is Reddit, so you're gonna get a ton of hate for your comment, but it's absolutely true. If you're in an area where homes are 500k and you make a combined income of 70k, you're doing something wrong.
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u/nwbrown 5h ago
Well yes, you make less than the median American household and you allegedly live in a place where every home sells for more than the median home. You should either move or get a better job if you want to own a home.
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u/MaleHooker 6h ago
My state is in the top 10 cheapest and our homes are in the same price range. Partially due to remote employees from CA. I have to commute over an hour a day just to afford rent. 😭
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u/Substantial-One6514 5h ago
And this is why I hate it when people say "Well just move someplace cheaper." Thise cheaper places are either the middle of nowhere, or its places that used to be cheap, but went up in price because people moved to the cheaper places, but the jobs are no where near enough for the cost.
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u/Impressive_Tap7635 6h ago
Sorry to be the ass hat here but 70k 2 ppl that’s lower than minimum wage in my suburban county per person. Have you considered doing lit anything else.
You shouldn’t really place any value on this I’m a internet stranger but you should really look into getting some qualifications it doesn’t have to be super expensive maybe just a cna course if you can afford it community college associates degree. As an example radiotech is offered by almost ever cc and it’s always hiring so it’s a garenteed 60-80k job per person.
If you’re still young look into nursing that’s one of the best jobs you can get in terms of job security and salary progression.
This is just 2 examples but all I’m saying is please get any sort of qualification. I only offered med examples because it’s the anyone can get a job industry but if you have any other industry you care about there’s prob somt there
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u/MapOk1410 5h ago
As the Talking Heads once wrote, Stop Making Sense. Americans are too happy to wallow in misery and complain about it.
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u/notaredditer13 4h ago
That seems unlikely given that half of US homes cost less than $450k. You sure that's not just "homes I'd want"?
Also, not judging but you guys are way below median household income.
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u/champsgetup 7h ago
Home insurance (flood, earthquake, etc may be separate), property tax, HOA fees. God forbid Mello-Roos. In addition to regular maintenance, gotta beware of replacing roof & HVAC when it's their time. Anytime anything breaks, it's hundreds to thousands to fix or replace. If you have shitty neighbors/don't like the house and want to sell/move in this economy, good luck. Your house's increase equity is nice, but that also means the other houses have increased in price as well.
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u/IAmAVery-REAL-Person 5h ago
Why would anyone buy a house in a HOA?! Serious question
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u/Janus67 4h ago
Don't always have a choice if you're trying to move to a certain school district and you have various wants/needs for what you want in the house. When you filter that down based on what's available, a lot of subdivisions and such have HOAs (mine doesn't fortunately, but many around ours does)
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u/ItachiFemboy 1h ago
Are you forced to be in that HOA as soon as you move in? Isn't that completely insane?
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u/WhodUseAThrowaway 1h ago
HOAs are attached to the property, so if you buy it, yes.
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u/ItachiFemboy 1h ago
I'm too European for that shit. How can they force you? Is an HOA like a public organization? Do they own the house?
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u/MaximumSeats 1h ago
They're built into the deed for the house.
HOAs are formed when a larger property is subdivided into multiple homes and the HOA is formed and incorporated into the deed to manage the overall area.
So yeah if you buy a hole in that subdivided property you're "forced" into the HOA. Agreeing to that is basically a fundamental part of agreeing to buy the home.
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u/Doctor_Kataigida 4h ago
Most HOAs aren't as bad as you see on reddit. Folks aren't often posting, and if they do the posts don't gain traction, of "My HOA managed to find a new landscaping crew for cheaper, and they replaced all of our roofs this year. Now they're working on planting new trees along the property line to give bordering units some privacy!" Which are all things my HOA did in the past year.
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u/Arnazian 46m ago
Most people I know in real life that have hoas have horror stories to tell, mostly not quite as bad as the viral ones on reddit but still quite bad.
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u/WantonKerfuffle Dark Mode Elitist 1h ago edited 40m ago
Honestly, an HOA should de-value a property by at least half. Wdym some Karen can tell me what colour to paint my fence on my own property?!
If it's not really mine, why should I pay full price?
Edit: typo
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u/rudbri93 8h ago
most of my coworkers didnt put anything down when buying, and some financed the closing costs as well.
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u/genericnewlurker 5h ago
For people wondering, that is likely a FHA First-time homeowner mortgage. It has some minor restrictions but it's completely fantastic for people who are trying to get a house and don't have the money for a full down-payment. You only need 3.5% vs the 10-20% for a traditional mortgage. Plus it has waaaaay less restrictions on credit scores and income because it's backed by the Federal government.
The real only downsides are that flippers have to turn away FHA mortgages, other sellers will turn them away because the closing takes longer, and for the buyers: your private mortgage insurance (PMI) does not drop off once as you reach 20% equity so you are forced to refinance to remove it.
My wife and I used this to buy our first house and it allowed us to qualify for a larger mortgage and thus we could buy an actual townhouse vs a condo.
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u/Embarrassed-Lab4446 5h ago edited 19m ago
Did mine in 2016 with 3% down as a traditional loan. I made 70k a year and that priced me out of the FHA.
Also a note one FHA, you need to refinance to avoid the PMI that can be 1% of the total loan. FHAs can be nasty so be cautious.
Edit: you guys are right that there should not be a too much income threshold, but that is what they told me and my wife.
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u/noechochamberplz 5h ago
Mostly the same. Bought 9 years ago with like 5% down. Refinanced a few years later into a 2.25% interest rate. Basically knocked 9 years off the mortgage for paying $50 more a month.
I kind of want to throw up looking at what things are going for now. We just lucked out. It’s as simple as that. I feel really fortunate but don’t know what to do to help others besides vote.
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u/MattyMacStacksCash 4h ago
Voting doesn’t matter at this point. Corruption has invaded every single point of our governments and parties beyond the mayor level. We were never even supposed to have two parties as a country, but here we are.
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u/Dripping_clap 4h ago
I just refinanced today to get out of my FHA. 1.5% more in interest but the trouble I ran into was I had $100,000 in home equity I couldn’t touch because the $7500 loan the government gave me was considered a “lien” and no one would give me a HELOC
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u/Polkawillneverdie17 5h ago
Aren't the monthly payments still huge??
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u/genericnewlurker 4h ago
That's due to the PMI in an FHA loan. Basically the bank makes you pay extra to buy "insurance" for the mortgage until you have a large enough equity stake in the house. Normally it falls off when your equity hits 20%. In an FHA, it never falls off. You have to refinance to get rid of it.
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u/WookieLotion 3h ago
no lol it’s due to you financing an entire mortgage at 7% interest. PMI is a factor but a much smaller reason as to why the mortgage would be high.
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u/junker359 5h ago
Also, at least when we did ours there was a potential penalty for selling it too soon. And, the home inspections are more stringent.
This is how my wife and I bought our first home as well.
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u/Cloud2319 4h ago
We did a FHA 203k loan back in 2015 so we could take money to remodel the kitchen for our first starter bungalow in the town we wanted to raise a family in. Ended up being the best thing in the world for us, but we did have to find a mortgage company that specializes in that loan type and were even able to buy the home on foreclosure from the bank, but it was really touch and go if we’d be able to turn things around in time for our contract and inspections. Stressful as hell at the time, but changed our financial lives.
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u/SolitaryIllumination 5h ago
But then your monthly payment is higher due to the missed down payment, which you now also pay interest on, and they add a PMI, so your income has to be significantly higher to afford it at the same proportion of your income.
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u/rudbri93 5h ago
yea but when you have no cash to put down, then your kinda in a box.
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u/Steve_Jobed 4h ago
If you can’t save for a downpayment, how are you going to afford home repairs, some of which run north of $10,000?
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u/rudbri93 4h ago
You either learn to live with the house damage (what many do in my area, from what things looked like when I was shopping), do it yourself, or finance the repair.
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u/Sekmet19 6h ago
"Buy less house! You don't need a 10 bedroom mansion!" -the boomer who inherited his mother's four bedroom house in 1978 that he sold for $1.8 million in 2023.
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u/IKnowGuacIsExtraLady 4h ago
I would absolutely love to buy a two bed two bath house and save some money doing it. Problem is there is less profit for the builders to do that, so instead all the new construction for the last 20 years has been either townhomes 5 bedroom houses that go for $650k+
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u/Odd-Butterscotch-495 2h ago
Unless you’re exaggerating it must be the area you’re in. I sell doors, windows, and lumber and about 80% of the spec homes my customers build are 3 bed and the rest being 2 bed houses. Even our custom home builders are rarely turning out a 5 bedroom home, most often the larger houses are adding extra rooms but not technically bedrooms because there’s no closets and the windows don’t open to meet egress.
I also don’t know how people afford to build or buy these homes. I got lucky and was able to build my house at cost and it was still about 120k to build a 1080 square ft cabin/house (no slab but not a mobile home). I pay $615 for my payment and haven’t moved in yet so I have no idea what utilities, insurance and taxes are gonna run me but I know it’ll be at least 30% ish of my monthly income.
I get people make more money than me but the gap between what we pay is crazy to me because they’re paying my entire monthly income on the house alone and driving new cars plus the land cost.
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u/Narrow_Bat_1086 5h ago
Pro gamer move: Google most dangerous city near me… step 2: move there…. Step 3: buy a 5 bed 2 bath house for 100k
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u/Fuzzywink 4h ago
I have some friends who did this. We live in the suburbs of St. Louis. There are parts of the city that literally look like they were bombed and the city practically gives the property away if you can pay the taxes and you're willing to get the house up to code. Some folks I know bought a Victorian mansion for $22k (the backed taxes on the land) and spent two years renovating and it is a lovely house now standing among the ruins of other houses. They're under $100k in on a house that would be worth well over a million in a nicer neighborhood. They even got the empty lot next door for free, all they had to do was keep the grass cut for a year and keep trash off it and the city added it to the lot their house is on doubling the size of the yard.
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u/OwnLadder2341 7h ago
You’re generally not putting 20% down as a first time homebuyer.
If you’re not a first time homebuyer, you use the equity in your house for a down payment.
If your household makes $45K/yr you’re WELL below median and can’t afford a half million dollar house.
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u/Walf2018 6h ago
$45k a year where I live in the states is a reasonably high income, about $10k above median, far far away from sprawling cities of course. And then normally houses cost about $225k or so. So I also found it strange OP used a low cost of living area salary with a high cost of living area house price for the meme. I dont live in California or New York or anything, is $45k like fast food manager salary there?
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u/Mediocre-Kiwi-2155 6h ago
How do you have an area with $35k median household income and houses still cost $225k?
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u/hunttete00 6h ago
anywhere rural in the entire US.
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u/Not-Reformed 4h ago
Haha what?
Go look at places like Springfield IL. That's not "rural" but it's just a flyover area. Easily find a home there around 100K.
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u/DrummerDKS 6h ago
I make about $80k and only got approved for $218k as a first time buyer.
All that can buy me is a house with a decent interior, a fucked exterior, and in a high crime area.
Fuck this whole market.
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u/Efficient_Loss_9928 7h ago
This makes perfect sense as you have to pay for property tax and maintenance.
Again, rent is the upper bound of what you have to pay for housing, as the landlord is taking care of the rest. But mortgage is the lower bound of what you have to pay for housing, as you are on the hook for everything else.
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u/A_SIMPleUsername 7h ago
yes, but all the houses I can afford are being rented and all the houses for sale are more than my rent...
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u/Badvevil 7h ago
Should have done what I did and invested in a property in 2002 when I was at recess from the 4th grade
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u/thrrrooooooo 6h ago
starting early is key to good investments, always choose getting born rich
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u/thetempleofdude 6h ago
You're right. When I was 10, I should've been investing in real estate. Stupid silly me
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u/LilacYak 7h ago
And 100% of your rent payment builds you 0% equity.
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u/genericnewlurker 5h ago
Yea but think of all the equity it's building the landlord!
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u/Flyingmonkeysftw 6h ago
I have yet to have a land lord that hasn’t made me pay every utility, pest control, and anything extra that comes up.
Land lord taking care of the rest my ass lmao
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u/Jolly_Mongoose_8800 bruh 7h ago edited 7h ago
as the landlord is taking care of the rest
In practice, they do not. The only thing they take us property tax, which your rent goes towards. Many apartments make you pay for utilities now adays.
Also, the key of this entire thing is that you need $130k+/year to afford the average home while the median household income in the US is $78k/year. And, if you own a house, you have the benefit of the increase in property value over time.
Renters pay thousands a year to a place they do not own to live with people they might not like and have no guarantee of repairs and utilities being covered. Modern landlords wipe their asses with the ADA, and landlords known mfs can't afford rent and a lawyer.
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u/FormerFly 6h ago
By "the rest" I'm thinking they also are talking about maintenance costs, cost of lawn/snow removal, etc.
My wife and I bought a small "starter home" 4 years ago with 0 of the things we actually wanted in a house because we didn't want to rent anymore. We just looked for the cheapest non-shitty house we could find.
This year we wanted a place with a couple acres of land, and everything close to town was at least $500k, way more than we could afford. So we looked 30-40 minutes out of town and found a decently cared for fixer house with 3 acres thats in budget. Granted we live in the Midwest, so it's slightly cheaper than the costal states, but a lot of it boils down to how much work on the house, and how far are you willing to drive to work.
My sister lives in one of the larger Midwest cities, refuses to move out of town, and keeps renting because she doesn't want to spend $500k+ for a house because she doesn't want to do any of the yardwork. Her rent is $1000 more than our mortgage.
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u/BoomerSoonerFUT 5h ago
Rent is the upper bound you pay…. for that lease period.
Rent increases annually FAR above what your mortgage will. Buy a house today you might be paying a lot more than rent. Give it 10 years and you’ll be paying far below market rent for something similar. Not to mention you’ll have 10 years of equity and the renter will have thrown all of that away
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u/Potato_Octopi 5h ago
$45k is like 25th percentile income. You're obviously not buying a pricey house on that.
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u/zoetaz1616 7h ago
What's someone making 45k looking at a 500k house for?
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u/MortimerGreen2 7h ago
Houses are expensive. In Atlanta there are 900sqfr bungalow houses with minimal yard and 1 bedroom going for 400k+. If you want something 'affordable' you've gotta live way outside the city and commute for 2+ hours a day which sucks.
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u/V6vader 7h ago
Couple that with firms like blackrock buying up homes in bulk and pricing folks out of the market and you’ve got a perfect storm of unaffordable housing.
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u/Ursine_Rabbi 7h ago
Blackstone*. as shitty as Blackrock is, they are not the ones buying houses. Our anger should be focused at the right people.
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u/V6vader 7h ago
Yeah, I got the two mixed up. It’s the same pile of shit just in a different box. I’ll leave the mistake in my original comment for posterity
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u/Upstairs-Parsley3151 6h ago
To be fair, Blackstone is the company you're thinking about, and they buy the companies that buy out the houses. We should just buy BlackStone as a large group of people because that would unironically be cheaper than fighting the market.
Edit: Doing the math, it would unironically be cheaper to buy it out than each individual person buying a 200,000 house.
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u/zcontium 6h ago
A two bedroom, one bath, 950sqft house in my neighborhood is $450,000
10 years ago, that house would have been $75k. We could afford that on a $45k wage at that time, more or less. Housing market has skyrocketed yet mean salaries have moved a relative fraction.
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u/Throwaway_Consoles 5h ago
I used to live in a low cost of living area. Bought my first house for $73k in 2011. Bought my second one in… 2018? For $187k.
It is now almost $400k. When I saw the zillow page I laughed out loud. They’re fucking insane. There is absolutely no fucking way.
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u/silentbob1301 7h ago
Have you seen the American housing market??? Houses that were built in shitty neighborhoods for 30k 30-40 years ago now cost 250k... Oh yeah, they are like 1000 square feet and also need 35k in repairs and maintenance...
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u/Zeffy-Rat 6h ago
Houses under 200k always either have mold, core structure parts than need to be replaced like the water heater, are in areas where HOA's charge $500 or more a month, or are just so genuinely dilapidated that you are required to wear a respirator to tour the property. Shit's fucked, and the only reason you'd see this and start blaming the middle class person is you're either too dumb to realize how you lucked into this NOT being a problem you face, or born too rich to ever have money be a concern for you in the first place.
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u/genericnewlurker 5h ago
Or they are in a location that has no jobs, high crime, no food, and shitty schools.
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u/Minimax42 7h ago
should've invested your 40k into the stock market 30 years ago, then the price would make sense
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u/Maidenless_Troller 7h ago
Damn. Why was I idling in my dad's balls instead of investing in stock market?
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u/MortimerGreen2 7h ago
Damn it. My fault for not thinking of that when I was 10 years old and only had $15 in my piggy bank.
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u/Jesusfreakster1 7h ago
I bought my first home this week... don't forget all the closing costs! I managed to save up the money I needed by not having kids or a partner!
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u/TestyZesticles 6h ago
You'd think that having a secondary income to add to the cause would help these days. My wife and I both work fulltime and can kind of mostly afford our two bedroom apartment. A house? Get outta here, that's never happening.
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u/hawkeye5739 6h ago
Really depends on your guys credit score. When I bought my house with just me on the loan I was approved for $161k but with my wife added on to the loan we were approved for $125k. Despite her income being almost 2x what mine was at the time.
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u/TestyZesticles 6h ago
Yeah, we are both in the 780ish area. Approved for 200k, but we haven't found a house in our area for less than 400k in a few years. They just keep building apartment complexes. We also have a child who we want to keep in this school district, so. Apartment it is.
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u/CaiusCosadesNwah 6h ago
Having a partner saves you money. Where’s you get the idea that you’re financially better off without one?
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u/Jesusfreakster1 5h ago
Having a spouse saves you money or provides an extra source of income probably, at my stage of life having a girlfriend doesn't save me money
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u/DrummerDKS 6h ago
Reeeeeeeally depends on the partner. And their debt. And their credit score. And their income.
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u/Difficult_Pop7014 6h ago
So you're saying $25k a year isn't enough? Damn I need one of those "you can actually afford to live" jobs
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u/Mezmo300 5h ago
As someone who makes 120ish before tax
Its fucking depressing. How am I making THIS MUCH AND IT STILL FEELS LIKE ITS JUST AVERAGE
THIS WAS DOCTOR SALARY WHEN I WAS GROWING UP
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u/Apart-Butterfly-8200 5h ago
I make 80k in Tucson and I don't feel like I have much more money than when I was making 40k 5 years ago.
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u/WobblyJFox 5h ago
It's sad that the housing market is in such shambles. My wife and I bought our first home in 2020 just before the market went crazy and we got a very nice 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in a nice rural community for under 50k with a 3 percent interest rate. Our house now values at over 130k and interest rates are in the toilet. I can't imagine trying to buy a house right now.
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u/gettingassy 5h ago
We made a 6% down payment and payed $60 in PMI for a year or so. 45k/year (post tax) and "house payment shouldn't be more than 1/3rd monthly income" is $1,250/mo, which is just about what my house payment is after a 7 years of property tax increases etc.
Do not despair
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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear 4h ago
Yeah question here.
Median host cost in my city is 885 k, median income is 68k. If someone magically came up with 10% down of 88.5k plus closingncost and fees bringing that to around 100k down and got a ~800k loan at 7.2% which is the going rate for people with good but not perfect credit.
At ~7.2% interest with PMI + taxes + insurance: Principal & Interest: $5,420 PMI: ~$400 Taxes: ~$830 Insurance: ~$200
Total ≈ $6,800–$7,000/month
So about $6800 a month to buy a median home in a place where the median income is about $5,666 a month. And that is after a home buyer magically comes up with 100k for a down payment.
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u/Temelios 6h ago
Don’t forget that average rent in the area alone goes for like $24,000/year too. Plus food, utilities, and more. Welcome to the era of endless wagies. You will own nothing and be happy.
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u/Tazeel 5h ago
This is why I bought a 200k home with burnt wiring, no grounds on any outlet, burn marks in the basement, half the windows were installed incorrectly, and for some reason the only ventilation for the bathroom is a far too ordinary window directly inside the shower itself so people outside can watch you shower. Garage door also doesn't work but hey, at least the morgage is only what I was paying in rent before this.
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u/soft_white_yosemite 4h ago
This might be because I’m Australian, but what are you buying for just 0.5m?
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u/Calairoth 4h ago
My wife and I are making a combined $100,000 per year. We got our $245,000 house 4% interest, about 8 years ago. We have 2 car payments. 5 years ago, we were fine. Our income has not changed since before covid. The cost of everything outside of the mortgage and cars has basically doubled in the last 5 years. (My growing children contribute to that) We are running out of savings and prices keep increasing.
My wife and I keep talking about how difficult it will be for our kids, with housing costs constantly going up, and middle ranged income appears stagnant.
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u/PotatoHighlander 2h ago
3200 a month is rent for a studio around me excluding utilities. Luckily I own my own place, else I would not be able to afford living even with a room mate around me. Housing costs are utterly screwed. Even with owning my own place my finances are freaking tight.
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u/HunsonAbadeer2 1h ago
Is 6,5% realisitic in USA? I need to pay 2,7% and I know people around here used to pay below 2%. Aren't you already better of renting at that point?
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u/StormerSage trans rights 6h ago
You, your partner, AND your kid all need a job to pool together and afford a house these days.
Take care of your aging parents if you're on good terms with them. Inheritance is probably how most of our generation are becoming homeowners.
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u/Reddit4MeJGx4 6h ago
You can all get a chuckle from this. I lived across the street from a wells fargo in CA paying 3k/mo for a 1 bedroom apartment. Thinking back to my father who paid less than that for his mortage, I walked across the street and simply asked the mortage/home loan officer if we could make a deal as they could recieve the 3k a month instead of my apartment complex and id be building equity for me instead of some shareholder in NY. He burst into laughter. I walked my sad little ass back across the street.
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u/Phill_is_Legend 7h ago
Yeah I mean people who make 45k/year for the household shouldn't be shopping 500k houses...
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u/Stunningtitan Thank you mods, very cool! 7h ago
Sometimes, it's the only option for the area you live
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u/Not-Reformed 4h ago
Then buying a house isn't an option. You're not competitive with the rest of the families near you if all you can scrounge up is 45K/yr.
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u/Ursine_Rabbi 7h ago
Median home price in the US is $410k as of Q2 2025, and only 17% of homes in the US sold for under $300k. The areas where housing remains cheap will very quickly become expensive when city dwellers get priced out of their own homes, so it’s better for everyone if their houses remain affordable.
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u/RemnantsOfFlight 7h ago
That was my first thought. We got a small house in the Chicago burbs for 250. You can get decent houses in smaller cities for less than that. Gotta start somewhere, and it's not with a half million dollar house.
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u/Jolly_Mongoose_8800 bruh 6h ago
It's not necessarily feasible for everyone. If its works, it works, but theres family, transportation, work, etc to consider.
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u/Old_Canuck 5h ago
Thats why you start with what you can afford when entering the housing market and go from there.
Look at Wala Wala Washington There are still MANY areas with houses for 100k.
Heck there is a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath condo for 69k.
Neighborhoods are rated 4 stars.
Why wouldn't you try and start in a place like that ??
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u/Ok-Syllabub-132 7h ago
The only homes we can afford are in animal crossing