How much is your rent/mortgage

[Gailete]

However, $1,450 for a 3 bedroom sounds very low to me.

In my area, that would get you rent on a very nice house with yard and probably a garage. We don't have a lot of apartment complexes in our area either.

We own and rent out a row house closer into the city with an eat in kitchen, living room, two bedrooms upstairs with bath, and then the 'attic' area is finished so could be used as another bedroom, and also a full basement with washer/dryper hookups. Small yard front and back, front and back porches (front porch is enclosed), small back yard with a spot to park a vehicle (no garage). We charge $675 which includes water/sewer. Good school district as well. I can't even fathom anyone paying the mortgage/rental rates I keep reading here, but I suppose the jobs are better and pay more in those areas. Oh yes, if we were living in the row house ourselves, the mortgage on it is only around $350/month! and only has 4 more years to go. The most I have ever paid for a place to live is ~$900 for a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath split level with double garage, family room, LR, DR, Kit, back deck, huge front and back yards. Sold during the divorce from the wild spender I was married to.

[dawnwes]

Poster lives in Southern California. I was commenting on the area.......sorry I wasn't clear.

Paying $1,400 for a 3 bedroom in SoCal is very low. I moved from there. I currently live in NC and even here a 3 bedroom townhouse can be $1,400 easily.

Dawn

In my area, that would get you rent on a very nice house with yard and probably a garage. We don't have a lot of apartment complexes in our area either.

We own and rent out a row house closer into the city with an eat in kitchen, living room, two bedrooms upstairs with bath, and then the 'attic' area is finished so could be used as another bedroom, and also a full basement with washer/dryper hookups. Small yard front and back, front and back porches (front porch is enclosed), small back yard with a spot to park a vehicle (no garage). We charge $675 which includes water/sewer. Good school district as well. I can't even fathom anyone paying the mortgage/rental rates I keep reading here, but I suppose the jobs are better and pay more in those areas. Oh yes, if we were living in the row house ourselves, the mortgage on it is only around $350/month! and only has 4 more years to go. The most I have ever paid for a place to live is ~$900 for a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath split level with double garage, family room, LR, DR, Kit, back deck, huge front and back yards. Sold during the divorce from the wild spender I was married to.

[FrancisM]

Mortgage is around $1,800. Taxes and insurance add about $400.

[MarkInCA]

Own a 2br/1.5ba townhouse in Southern Cali - pay $1401/mo PITI, which is basically 20% of my 7k/mo gross take home. Have a live-in gf with me that pays me $400/mo in rent, so that's cool too!

[Gailete]

which is basically 20% of my 7k/mo gross take home

I'm not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg, but living in an area where many people get that kind of income (and I notice lots of folks on this forum do) it isn't surprising that they live in a high cost of living area as business owners and landloards, etc. know that they can charge more and people would pay it.

Where I live, it is mostly blue collar, agriculture, several smaller colleges and a branch of the state university, we have lots of people that don't even begin to have those kinds of incomes. I think I've read that something like a quarter of the kids in my local school system are eligible for free lunches and breakfasts at school, and I live in a 'better' town in the area!

Unless you live in a few of the really nice apartments in our area, you won't be paying over $1000 for rent anywhere. House mortgages are higher as they keep building higher value homes (($250K+) and I can't figure out where they expect people with steady jobs and incomes could buy a new 3BR, 1000 sq ft ranch house. They just aren't building those types of homes. I just hope it doesn't turn our town into a higher cost of living area as we can't move and we sure can't afford it!

[JBL]

Our PITI is $1990; we rent out the first floor apartment for $960 so our total is $1030, which is really not bad.

[bigdaddybus]

This is kind of true but its def not proportionate. Lower COL areas in cities that still have professional jobs seem to me to have much better flexibility financially because it is so much cheaper to live and you can still have a nice professional salary. I've wanted to leave the midwest for a long time but the cost to go elsewhere is really restricting! For example, I could move to a city on the coast and may 10-15% more doing my job but the COL is 30-50% higher. The downside of staying here is I spend all my disposable income trying to get away

Oh so true!

My wife and I live in the Midwest and together make around 4 times the median income of the county we live in. It makes a huge difference compared to how we would be living if I would have transferred to Dunwoody, GA awhile back. 5-10% raise with a 40% COL increase was what we figured it would be. ( plus really ****ty commutes). No thanks!

[SpruceMoose]

Rent is $1100 for a 3bd/2.5ba. This is quite below market for my area and about 15% of gross income. There is no way, no way I could buy the same thing for this cheap. CL again for the win.

[Zedon]

my piti is 1750 about 47% of my take home. I bought in 2012 when housing was low, i could not afford to buy a house now. I figure my income will catch up eventually so the payment won't be such a high proportion of my take home.

[porkpistol]

Our mortgage is $570 which equates to 16.5% of our income. This includes taxes, insurance and PMI.

[YolandoAmaya]

You should rear articles related to how to reduce mortgage and home rent. According to me you are paying more for one bedroom.

[Blessed]

No mortgage but taxes and insurance are are $550 monthly.