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.
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.