New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

On GMA this morning they did a story on the real estate market, and Barbara Cocoran mentioned a stat that I found very interesting.

She said that your home price should be three times your annual salary. Therefore, if you made $50,000/year, your home purchase price should be $150,000. Of course for a couple, this should be combined income.

My question is, how many of you have purchased a home "above" your stat, or "below" your stat?

Thought it would be interesting to see the results.

Message edited 11/29/2006 10:34:56 PM.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Over - but not by much.

and the rule of thumb "used to be" 2.5x your salary...now its 3

soon it will be 5.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

The purchase price was about 2.5X our salaries, however, we were able to put 50% down so the mortgage is less than if we put down a standard or smaller percentage.

I don't know how people under a certain salary threshold manage to live ono LI at all, never mind own a home.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

my fh and i haven't purchased a house yet, but i don't like what we would get for 3 times our salaries.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

We haven't bought yet, but anything we are looking at is over 3x our salaries. Anything at 3x our salaries would be a shack or a massive fixer-up. We should be able to put down a hefty down payment though, so we'll be fine.

This reminds me of the old, "your rent should not exceed 25% of your takehome pay". I would have been living at the Y for many years if that was reality!

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

*We live OOS*

It's less than 3X our salary, or even 2.5X for that matter.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

when we bought the house we were right on the money, with bonus and raises we're just under 3x now.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

I just closed a few days ago....and I'm surprised that we're well below the 3x threshold.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Our is almost exactly 3X what we made this year, but we have been here for 3 years and when we bought the house, it would have been way over what we were making.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Our house price was over 3x, (not by too much), but if you factor in our downpayment our mortgage is less than 3x.

Message edited 11/30/2006 9:09:40 AM.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

the range we are looking is about 2 times our salary- so I guess we could go higher- but we don't want to

(since DH makes commission only I used an average year)

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

The purchase price of our home was slightly over but with the sale of our co-op we have a mortgage for under 2.5 times our combined income.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Under on my salary alone and we still don't find it easy

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

A little over 3x our salary, but we put almost 50 percent down

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

ours was 2.5x. We bought 4 years ago.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Over for me -- but not by much.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Over - but we're also able to put 20% down.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

That's interesting... I don't see why analysts and experts recommend that people "should" spend more on a house than they used to. Our purchase price was exactly 1.5X our annual salary. I don't think I would be comfortable spending more even though we could...

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Message edited 11/30/2006 9:49:13 AM.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

when DH and I werre looking, the range of prices was 3x our salary.

we WANTED to spend 2.5 our salaries, but we found nothing that didn't need MAJOR renovations at that price.

ETA: I just want to add that the 3x or however many times your salary isn't the same for everyone. especially those who had a house to sell before hand. when my folks bought their house in 1981, it was almost 4x what my Dad earned at the time (my mom was a SAHM). but they paid for almost all of it in cash with the money from their prior property.

Message edited 11/30/2006 10:20:08 AM.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

The house we are trying to buy will actually be under that amount (just under) if you combine both our salaries - so I guess that is good!!

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

We bought for almost exactly 3x's our combined salary.

But DH works overtime so I did an average of what he has made over the past two years.

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

Posted by MikesWife

Posted by Eva Luna

*We live OOS*

It's less than 3X our salary, or even 2.5X for that matter.

Sasha, PLEASE STOP tempting me to move down there!!!!

Re: New Poll-- I screwed up! Interesting Factoid & Question

The house we are buying in Forest Hills is just under three times our salaries.

Message edited 11/30/2006 10:58:52 AM.