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How Much You Have To Earn To Buy A House In The 50 Biggest US Cities

Vic Mackey

By Vic Mackey
in Daily Texan

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Whitman

Whitman 694

Posted
Posted

Yay for 30 yr debt.  Bullshit chart labeling/title.  You don't have to earn anything to "buy a house".  Just have the purchase price money sitting somewhere.  In the fine print they sort out price and interest rate and duration and then taxes, etc., but  that's not what they titled the chart.  Lets just go to 50 or 100 year mortgages and tell people they can have this house now!!!!

 

/get off my lawn 

/old man yells at clouds

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Brew

Brew 3049

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Posted
3 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Memphis is a shithole without the jobs Nashville has. 

Which is why a $12k spread doesn’t make sense. I can find you dirt cheap houses in Memphis all day long, they don’t exist in Nashville at this point.

Saying that, Memphis is a ways from a shithole at this point. They have an ultra low commercial vacancy rate if you eliminate the airport area. There is a lot of redevelopment going on and other positives as well. City government is still shit though and holding it back and may have really cost them long term with the sewer treatment capacity issues.

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13510

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I guess these numbers are accurate but I wonder why they mean by buying an average house in Houston.    I also know that a certain number of sales in my neighborhood are someone buying an "average" home, tearing it down, and then building a house worth 3x.   So what someone considers an average home buy was really just a lot for a future house.

I just don't see how someone earning 60K in Houston can realistically afford much of a house.  

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gmr548

gmr548 16576

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16 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Id be more interested in seeing what a 3 bed/2 bath, 2000 sq ft house w/ at least a double stall attached garage costs all over the country

 

In the city. 

 

Not 35 miles away in the burbs

This is the right way to compare. The thread title here is misleading because it says "cities" when the comparison was metro areas. Two very different things. Dallas proper is ascending rapidly as one of the most expensive cities nationally. DFW as a whole is still relatively cheap nationally because of how big it is.

16 hours ago, Zepol87 said:

60k doesn't seem right for Dallas at all

 

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I guess these numbers are accurate but I wonder why they mean by buying an average house in Houston.    I also know that a certain number of sales in my neighborhood are someone buying an "average" home, tearing it down, and then building a house worth 3x.   So what someone considers an average home buy was really just a lot for a future house.

I just don't see how someone earning 60K in Houston can realistically afford much of a house.  

See above. There is a lot of BFE and cheap housing that is part of the DFW and Houston MSAs. A lot of cheap-ish starter homes on the fringes as well, aimed at the couple pulling in 60-100k. For every million dollar house inside the loop there is a sub $200k cookie cutter house out at the Grand Parkway. 

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13510

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I hear ya about the cookie cutter home.  

However according to the chronicle, the median home price in Houston is 230K with the average at 290K.  Even with the 230K amount, I seriously don't know how someone earning 60K could afford a mortgage/tax/insurance on 230K.   Maybe it's not impossible but add in a car payment or two, and you're living paycheck to paycheck.

Perhaps the OP's numbers are for the Houston area and not Houston itself.   

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52-80

52-80 19150

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16 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I hear ya about the cookie cutter home.  

However according to the chronicle, the median home price in Houston is 230K with the average at 290K.  Even with the 230K amount, I seriously don't know how someone earning 60K could afford a mortgage/tax/insurance on 230K.   Maybe it's not impossible but add in a car payment or two, and you're living paycheck to paycheck.

Perhaps the OP's numbers are for the Houston area and not Houston itself.   

4X leverage isnt out of the ordinary for middle america is it

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13510

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33 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

4X leverage isnt out of the ordinary for middle america is it

I’m sure someone else can do the math more precisely, but what is the payment for a 230k house with a 20% down payment?  I assume 1k.  Another 400+ for property tax and another 150 for insurance.  Let’s round down to 1500.  

60k salary is 5k per month.  1500 payment is 30% of that. Isn’t 28% the max that you should be able to afford?  

Perhaps i have different non-house spending habits but my house payment/tax/ins to income ratio is below 20% and that feels too much to me.   Couldn’t imagine popping that up to 30%. 

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52-80

52-80 19150

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39 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I’m sure someone else can do the math more precisely, but what is the payment for a 230k house with a 20% down payment?  I assume 1k.  Another 400+ for property tax and another 150 for insurance.  Let’s round down to 1500.  

60k salary is 5k per month.  1500 payment is 30% of that. Isn’t 28% the max that you should be able to afford?  

Perhaps i have different non-house spending habits but my house payment/tax/ins to income ratio is below 20% and that feels too much to me.   Couldn’t imagine popping that up to 30%. 

sound math has never stopped this country from overspending

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UTPhil2006

UTPhil2006 3807

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51 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I’m sure someone else can do the math more precisely, but what is the payment for a 230k house with a 20% down payment?  I assume 1k.  Another 400+ for property tax and another 150 for insurance.  Let’s round down to 1500.  

60k salary is 5k per month.  1500 payment is 30% of that. Isn’t 28% the max that you should be able to afford?  

Perhaps i have different non-house spending habits but my house payment/tax/ins to income ratio is below 20% and that feels too much to me.   Couldn’t imagine popping that up to 30%. 

1523.74 at a 4.875 

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13510

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I’ve also never fully understood the 28% rule and how you treat retirement savings and health insurance premiums.  You could argue those should be removed from the gross income number because even though they may be optional you need to participate in them to protect yourself financially in the future.    The 60k earner should estimate that at 500-1000/month  

60k salary may get you the 230k house, but it’s not a good decision At the time of purchase.  

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