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What percentage of your income goes to rent/ mortgage?

My mortgage is about 25% of my take-home pay (which is after money deducted for the company sponsored retirement/pension plans). It's 15% of my gross income (before taxes and deductions).

When I add hydro costs (water, electricity, heating) and property taxes, it's closer to 35%.
 
Spritey said:
The additional money that we put into our mortgage is probably money we would have wasted away random everyday bull* anyway. So right now about 40-45% of our total after tax income is mortgage payments (principal+interest)

But it's nice to know that it will also give us a bit more financial flexibility in the future if interest rates go up a lot, or one of us become unemployed.
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Smart thinking. That's what I do as well. Of course, the down side of this plan is if your standard deduction on your Income Tax is significantly lower than your itemized deduction (which the interest on mortgage is included) you're losing a huge tax break. So paying off early gains very little, if anything. My standard deduction, which includes a wife and kids, is close to my itemized deduction, so paying off early makes perfect sense for me.:cool:

I'm 2 payments away from owning my house.:)
 
50% right now goes to my rent, and all utility bills, and solution? to make more money!
 
Gross, it is about 15% of combined. After taxes, retirement, and other deductions, 37%.

The percentage include mortgage, usurious property taxes, and unavoidable HOA fees. It does not include utilities.

Eventually, I'd like to be able to afford a place without HOA fees (around here, the only affordable homes that don't need repair work are in HOA areas) and lower property taxes.
 
only about 15% cuz we bought 12 years ago and didn't buy above our means at the time (like so many who got in trouble with this whole mortgage mess!)

refinanced a few years back for a lower interest rate and she'll be all ours in a couple of years! WOOT! i look forward to the day we have 0% going to mortgage!
 
Hovering somewhere in the 20% range. My income is variable though so that puts an extra spin on it (business has been a bit slow lately). I will probably move on to a more fixed income career once I graduate this May unless the money really starts rolling in.
 
The max loan we looked at when buying a house in Santa Barbara (that we ultimately backed out of) took us right to the lending limit of the bank, i.e. 42% of gross pay. Being over a barrel like that with virtually no wiggle room for unseen expenses was the main reason we decided to not buy the house. Unfortunately home prices here in SB (even with our 20% down payment in cash) are such that buying here will be extremely difficult.
 
Seriously, California real estate is just crazy. Gaucho, you would be shocked to see what your money would get here in Texas in terms of the actual house and the land.

As far as our mortgage goes it's about 27% of our take home pay per month. We bought according to our family needs which is the key to success in this area. When you overbuy and commit too much of your income to housing it can get pretty risky.
 
mscriv said:
Seriously, California real estate is just crazy. Gaucho, you would be shocked to see what your money would get here in Texas in terms of the actual house and the land.

As far as our mortgage goes it's about 27% of our take home pay per month. We bought according to our family needs which is the key to success in this area. When you overbuy and commit too much of your income to housing it can get pretty risky.
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Depends where in California and where in Texas. Texas property tax rates are much more than California, which may be ok or not depending on how much you earn relative to your property value. But yeah, if you move from So Cal to Round Rock, you'll be happy. Of course, you are living in Round Rock...
 
32% of my take home pay goes to rent. 3BR 2.5Ba suburban locale.

Tack on student loans, car payment, insurance, yada yada yada. About 50% of my take home pay goes to bills. So I get about 50% of my take home pay to live on. Once my fiancee starts her new job it will shoot way down to 15% (FTW!).
 
mscriv said:
Seriously, California real estate is just crazy. Gaucho, you would be shocked to see what your money would get here in Texas in terms of the actual house and the land.

As far as our mortgage goes it's about 27% of our take home pay per month. We bought according to our family needs which is the key to success in this area. When you overbuy and commit too much of your income to housing it can get pretty risky.
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I'm actually from Austin originally, so I'm painfully aware of how much more expensive Santa Barbara is than just about anywhere else in the country.

Next time you're looking for sticker shock just do a little online house hunting in my 93101 zip code.
 
Too much. I'm a student working part time, attending classes full time. I'd say a good 50% of my income goes to living expenses. There's not much I can do about it though. Where I'm living right now, my travel expenses are virtually nothing, but if I move to a lower rent apartment I would almost certainly have to start paying more for transportation.
 
15.7% of my and my wifes combined take home. We're lucky - we were able to pay down a chunk of the mortgage, and shorten the term. The majority of people in our age group are paying 25-35% and more for properties that are falling rapidly in value (in Ireland).
 
About 80% unfortunately, really need to get a proper job and not just rely on reservist pay. Being at uni sucks fiscally
 
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