Articles Like This Will Make You Poor For Life

[MonkeyMama]

Perhaps assuming making 144k/year post tax. Cal will tax you up the a#$ with its state income tax at around 8-9% in that bracket. Then you have federal taxes, payroll taxes, and property taxes.

If you own a house (paying $700k+) in SF area with a $144k income, you probably wouldn't pay any state income taxes. CA has a progressive tax rate. It sucks to have a high income here. But even without any big deductions, our first $100k or so of income is tax-free (married filing joint). A large mortgage + property taxes would just mean more tax deductions.

Which is something else I should have mentioned in my last post. There are tax breaks that do help with the bigger home purchases. I'd never "keep" a mortgage for the tax break but it was definitely a consideration when factoring renting versus owning, when we were just starting out.

[Singuy]

I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers. Bankrate says gives me 3.5-3.8% on jumbo loans in San Fransisco. 3.75% gives me $2852.79/month. This page claims I can expect to pay $4,235.00 in property taxes on a $770,000 house. So, that's an extra $352.92/month. Assume $150/month for insurance, and you're just under the $3,365/month that the article came up with.

I don't think you need to factor into the monthly payment for closing costs. Buyers often either ask the sellers to pay the closing costs or bring them to the table in addition to the downpayment.

Sorry my mistake. The calculator I used had a default interest rate of 5%.
Calculator is spitting out $3,879.46 @ 3.75%

[tripods68]

San Francisco has become an "affluent" city. Middle class are declining all around that city--and the poor are being evicted, no where else to go once leases are up. People who serve you breakfast, coffee shops, and teachers are not making it anymore because of gentrification. Once a new developer build new housing, the surrounding neighborhood becomes too expensive for everybody.

There are no longer affordable housing there, and if you don't make over $200 a year minimum, tough luck. Most of my friends have moved out, tried living, but it was just too expensive compared living in Stockton, Sacramento, Vallejo, Fairfield area where housing prices are somewhat affordable.

I love the city, love visiting that place. In fact we are going there this weekend to visit. But to live there, No Way!

[Nika]

That chart makes absolutely no sense. Those numbers are ridiculous. How could someone making 70K possibly buy a house for 369K? That's more than 5 times their income.

I looked at our old lending docs recently. When we bought our apartment for 425K, our salary was only 95K! And besides the mortgage, there is also a $1,400 monthly maintenance fee.

Seems crazy now, but we grew into it. Our salaries have increased significantly, and housing payment is not a source of stress.

[JoeP]

I bet it didn't assume car payments, credit cards and SLs.

Exactly!

San Francisco has become an "affluent" city. Middle class are declining all around that city--and the poor are being evicted, no where else to go once leases are up. People who serve you breakfast, coffee shops, and teachers are not making it anymore because of gentrification. Once a new developer build new housing, the surrounding neighborhood becomes too expensive for everybody.

This is also occurring with lake property in my area. I'm seeing 60' lake front places at 900 sq ft going for $250k. Taxes are > $9k/yr. Bigger year-round places are looking at $19k taxes/yr. The area is not affluent, but the people buying these places travel an hour to live there on the weekends. This demand drives up assessments and those who work in agriculture or for the town are eventually driven out.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

But Nika you are someone who made it luckily. I wonder what % of people wouldn't have grown into the house and payment and instead lost a job?

[Nutria]

But Nika you are someone who made it luckily. I wonder what % of people wouldn't have grown into the house and payment and instead lost a job?

I wouldn't call it lucky to make more money as you age. Not unfortunate, though, not to have lost a job...