Renters--how much are you paying?

Curious here--not interested in knowing a dollar value (too personal) but I'm curious to know how much you renters pay as a percentage of your NET income. I realize for all intents and purposes gross income is usually used when discussing finances, but again trying not to get too personal since everyone has different claims, deductions, etc., it's probably a better takeaway in comparison to net income.

The rent for my wife and I is currently about 15% of our net income. Nice and cheap, but we really want to get into a better place now that our lease is nearly up. We found a place that is much nicer, for about a 38% increase over what we are paying now. That sounds like a lot, but in terms of our net income it would still only be around 22%. Additionally, this would include two reserved, heated underground parking stalls. Right now we have one crappy outdoor parking spot in the parking lot behind the building, which can be sketchy at times. It's also unreserved, and can be difficult to get a spot at times since there are more apartments than parking spots.

We are going to go look at this new place Thursday night, and are tossing around the idea of whether or not to bite the bullet and get out and pay more. Problem is that for what the new place would cost, that's only a hundred bucks or so shy of the payment on a $200k mortgage, and that's even factoring having to pay PMI with less than 20% down.

We aren't quite ready to buy a house, but where we are has been good for saving. If I knew we could buy within 6-12 months, I would suck it up and stick it out. But I'm not sure that's the case, and I feel like if I was in a place we liked better we wouldn't have any problem living there for 2-3 years and wouldn't be in a hurry to try and get a house.

One thing to factor in also is we currently have one car payment, but are soon to have two. Not a huge deal though.

So, in terms of net income, what percentage do you pay in rent? I know 22% of net income is still well within any heuristic of what people say you should pay, but I still have a hard time shelling out that kind of money for rent, knowing that it's basically mortgage ballpark. Problem is, that's pretty much what you have to pay to get an apartment that's pretty nice.

TIA.

One other thing to note is this does not include utilities.

At our current place, gas and water combined are a paltry $8-12 a month (lol) and are based on square footage of the apartment rather than actual usage and electricity ranges from $30-$70. Trash is currently included. Internet is $57.

The new place includes trash as well, but that's it, so I'd have to expect the utilities to be a bit more since it's 622 square feet versus the current 457 (which we don't mind the size, we are minimalists and don't feel cramped at all).

I think out the door it would put us right around 25% of our net at the new place. For what it's worth, we also both claim 0 so they are taking the max out currently.

It's certainly doable, I just really have a hard time biting that monthly rent price.

EDIT: I should say, I'm DYING for a garage. It really sucks to park a brand new car outside in a parking lot with some sketchy people back there from time to time. Worse yet, I'd have to park my new car in the near future on the street (traded my car for my wife's new car, lets me get something new in the spring when the salt is gone), which is probably even worse. The biggest benefit at this new place is that aside from getting two heated and reserved spaces, it has a free do it yourself car wash bay in the garage as well, so I can wash and wax all winter long at my leisure, which is a huge turn on to me. I'm currently the guy always peeping out the back window to check on the car, the paranoia sucks.

^^^That's well and good, but my wife and I need a place to live while we save up a substantial down payment while still having enough money in savings to cover general incidentals and emergencies...don't want to blow our whole savings on the down payment.