8 Comment

• MrEction August 25, 2015 at 3:32 pm

  Could someone please explain to me how someone who earns 52k can afford a 220k house? I have an incredibly hard time believing that is a good idea. 52k will net you something like 3k/mo after taxes, medical insurance, and retirement. With 5% down 52k will give you a mortgage of like 1.5k/mo. That’s half your income. That does not seem like a good idea.
• joel August 26, 2015 at 7:30 am

  MrEction, one important note is that they do assume the buyer is putting down 20%, which i imagine is a very low percentage of most ‘real’ buyers. Still, the numbers are indeed sketchy and not a stable move at all. Completely unsustainable if that’s a family income. I just can’t figure out if the salary they’re talking about is take home pay or before taxes and what kind of tax credits they’re assuming.
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  Thanks Tom Plant for the breakdown on inventory numbers. When you break it down like that things look much more favorable than the overall inventory and sales numbers tell you. Considering Houston’s downright pitiful job numbers this year can definitely see a buyers market in the cards for the inner loop next year. Just keep on building please.
• Gisgo August 26, 2015 at 8:45 am

  The affordability report offers no methodology, but lenders think that your total debt should not be more than 36% of gross. Various online calculators will spit out the max house you can buy; CNN Money says that with $52k gross and $17.5k down you can afford a $280k house (I suppose if you have NO other debt). The mortgage deduction would improve your tax status, and that must factor in somehow.
• Memebag August 26, 2015 at 8:54 am

  @MrEction: Maybe they assume your daddy is rich?
• Carrie August 26, 2015 at 10:31 am

  MrEction, the numbers make no sense to me either. Mortgage calculators for $52k year income, with reasonable monthly debts of $350 and a downpayment of $20,000 insist on a house between $150k-$200k and total monthly payments of $1,191. Which still seems uncomfortably high when factoring in saving for inevitable home repairs.
• GoogleMaster August 26, 2015 at 11:31 am

  Re 220K house on 52K salary: I started to refute your argument, but I ran some numbers and you’re just about spot on.
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  First, save up for a 10% downpayment for about 4 years. That brings your principal down to 198K. Then put 10% down and get a 3.75% loan with 0 points, which bankrate tells me is possible and results in a payment of $917/mo. Insurance should bring that up to about $1000/mo, and throw in another $500/mo for property taxes, and there ya go, $1.5K/mo.
• Major Market August 27, 2015 at 8:35 pm

  Re: 220K House on a 52K/yr income
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  Crazy. I guess someone could do it but then they would be so paralyzed with fear of covering a home or car repair bill that they wouldn’t be able to sleep. Then, they would get fired for zonking out at the office and end up losing the house.
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  So, they technically could have this reality for a short time – and the article said nothing about holding on to it.
• Cody September 1, 2015 at 3:31 pm

  I have a 3 bed place that’s been on the market forever for $92k (I haven’t really tried hard to sell it since it has a renter in there that easily covers everything).
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  Has central air, garage, back yard. Quiet street. Not far from downtown. But not in the ‘hip’ area most people want to live.
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  So when I see people say “I can’t afford a house in Houston” I think of that house. Houses are cheap — just not all in the areas everyone wants to cram into.

  (Heck, even my townhome in Montrose was $212k and that’s 2 beds / 2.5 baths. Though it was a while back)