this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
269 points (97.2% liked)

News

23293 readers
3417 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

One in 4 middle-income new homeowners — twice as many as a decade before — are buying into cost-burdened situations.

The share of middle-class Americans who are buying wallet-squeezing homes has more than doubled in the previous 10 years.

Almost 30% of middle-class homeowners bought homes with monthly payments costing more than 30% of their income in 2022, an NBC News analysis of Census Bureau data found. That’s more than twice the share from 2013, with experts warning it leaves many households with less money for groceries and emergencies and less able to get ahead in the future.

That “cost-burdened” benchmark — in which a household devotes over 30% of income to housing costs — is a widely used measure of affordability for both homeownership and renting. The Census Bureau measures housing costs against it, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development has used it for decades.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] glimse@lemmy.world 41 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

I have been house hunting for over a year. I don't have crazy requirements....I want a 3 bedroom house with a sub basement (tornadoes) and a fenceable yard within an hour of work.

The average price for that around here is 425k. A house that needs major work might only go down to 300k.

Down payment on a 300k house is 60k. A 240k mortgage plus taxes and insurance is $2100/month. $2100 is 30% of $7000. That's a $140k salary. The median income in my county is 78k.

I make above that, have 200k for a down payment, and am still struggling to find a place.

[Edit] fixed math

[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Might want to double check your math there. $2,100 is 30% of a gross $72,000 salary. That’s under your median income target.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

You're right, I estimated 40% to taxes/insurance/etc and jumped to typoed it to 240k (which I then changed to 200k+ because of the estimate)

But the point remains that making the median salary only affords you a house in terrible condition. If something is listed for anything less than 400k, it's all but guaranteed that there's major structural or mechanic work needing to be done...

And it's not natural inflation - the houses listed for 450k today were 350-375k a year ago.

[–] growsomethinggood@reddthat.com 10 points 1 month ago

Are we talking gross or net income as the baseline? Before taxes, $7k a month is still under $100k annually.

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Down payment is not $60k. That's only if you want to avoid PMI. That said, putting down less means several hundred more a month in payment.

Also, not sure how you are doing the math to get to a required $200k income. $7k/month is $84k/year. Even with taxes, that is a little over $100k.

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 1 points 1 month ago

It's not necessarily several hundred more for PMI. Mine was around $50/mo until I had it removed a few months ago.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

7k a month is 84k a year, not 200k. I bought my house with similar numbers (house price, down, and monthly mortgage) and while I earn higher than average, I’m nowhere close to 200k.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

~~$2100 a month for insurance? That might be more than my whole house payment. Paid pretty much nothing down on 175k in very late 2018 - house is apparently worth 350k now, but we're trapped because I can't/won't afford to move. I'm 85 miles from the office, but I WFH and it looks like I might have to go in about once a year.~~

Well that's what I get for not wearing my glasses...

[–] FunderPants@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

I read it as 2100 all in, tax and insurance.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Lol no prob. I've always paid my taxes/insurance through my loan account so I do not think of them as separate expenses

I do not make 240k/year and it's looking like I'll have to pay $2400/month for all 3.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

I should've known just based on the insanity of that rate, but I think there are places in Florida that are that much or even more, so I guess that's where my head was.

[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Maybe you are having a hard time finding a home because you are bad at math.

$7000/mo (even assuming take-home pay after insurance and 401k infusions, NOT gross salary) is more like $150k, not $200k. And that is in a high tax state like CA. $200k with 30% taxes is $140k, which is over $11k/month.