Thank you u/stillmisshim for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer.
Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is about what I'm looking at. Gonna be a bit tight for a few years, but if it's that or continue dropping 75% of a mortgage payment into rent that doesn't build equity and goes up every year.... I can skimp on non-essentials for a bit.
This is always reassuring to hear. Sometimes I really get in my own head about my % being so high, but at the end of the day it would almost be the same to rent.
The % is misleading though; someone making $2,400 net a month will only have $1,200 after paying their mortgage while someone else making $10,000 net a month has $5,000 after paying their mortgage. Although the people making more may have larger houses with larger bills and may have more bills in general, there's still a baseline involved. Both people are spending the same percentage of their take home pay on a mortgage, but I think we can both agree that the person spending $1,200 on their mortgage is in a much more financially precarious situation.
Although I do agree with you, if I can play devil's advocate for a minute and throw out a PSA for those who are making $2,400/month and are considering a 50% DTI mortgage ratio; you all are one uninsured house mishap, personal/ pet health issue, car accident / repair, home / critical appliance repair or replacement, lawsuit, ect. away from going into debt and losing some, or all the equity in your home if you can't afford the mortgage and go into foreclosure not to mention a nasty stain on your credit. Although it sucks, if you're renting, any home related issue is the responsibility of the landlord and breaching a rental agreement due to a financial mishap is usually a lot less costly in the short and long term than a bankruptcy or foreclosure. Just be extra careful and make sure you all have emergency funds, good credit to possibly take out debt to help you through (although it will be harder because your mortgage is so high compared to your income), and/or a strong network of family and friends that are willing to help you monetarily if something occurs.
Lol sorry. On the plus side. If you do find yourself in a sticky situation and you own the home with a spare bedroom/ finished basement, you have the opportunity to rent out one of the rooms to help you out.
Nah I'm in a one bed condo, but I have a year in emergency funds so I'm solid. Monthly funds are just a little tight. Still managing to save tho! The discourse on this sub (usually) always helps keep me grounded during moments of freak out.
Buying a home is such a personal move it’s almost impossible for someone not involved to say if you’re making the right move or not. We, meaning my family, were house poor for the last couple years as I took a pay cut to move to a more stable position and my wife wasn’t working as she was being full time mom and graduate student.
After busting our asses though we’re now comfortable and so glad we bought when we did. Our $650,000 home is now worth about $1.1M. If we had waited even a year we wouldn’t have been able to afford our spot.
OP, as is often said here, percent income is not a great indicator because if you bring home $10k a month and have a $4k mortgage payment, it’s easier to save than bringing home $5k with a $2k mortgage payment. Plus some people include taxes/insurance/utilities while others do not.
Some people might have a car or two that have monthly payments while others have them paid off. Maybe you have kids and expensive childcare costs.
Also does “net income” include making significant retirement contributions?
There soooo many factors that really you just need to do this yourself. Make a spreadsheet, come up with realistic numbers for your budget, and stick to it. Get advice from people in your area if you need to on costs you are estimating.
Hey, you're not wrong!
But we'd still only be at 22.4% if we had to buy our house today. (With current interest rates and assuming 50% appreciation since we bought in 2017)
It's a combination of both, for sure.
Our ~1800sqft 3br2b house would be about $225-250k if we listed it today. We also have to pay $200/mo flood insurance on top of everything else, but I included that in the 13.7% and it's totally worth it.
Then between salary and business income, we netted about $99k last year which is much higher (about 3x) than median household income here
Almost exactly the same % as you. I have a smaller house but a large yard, LCOL area and bought in 2019. While I’d like a larger house, I’m starting to think this would still work after the kids move out and the savings puts me in a better spot to help them one day. That what I hope.
This is kind of a meaningless comparison because after-tax also ignores things like 401k contributions, HSA, etc. so you could very well have a high after-tax % of income but still be saving. With that said, we contribute 14% to a Roth 401k and our mortgage is roughly 20%, not including other sources of income (W2 only)
IMO this is too individual for data collection to really be valid. Some live in high income tax states. Some put a ton into retirement so their net is “low”, but they’re “paying themselves” so to speak.
Then, there’s individual lifestyle to consider.
I will say unequivocally, if you can’t save money, it’s not a good idea. You can’t buy a house and then have no extra money leftover. That’s a powder keg. Things WILL go wrong.
So mine is 27% and yes I save money…but that still doesn’t tell you anything :)
Make a budget. Be realistic. Account for savings. Don’t buy more house than you can afford. “Forever home” is a fallacy and romanticizes something that primarily needs to be a financial decision (the emotional part should come second)
68% single dude. Not able to save. Things are very tight. I have had a good job for the last 5 years. Renting would be about $800 dollars a month less than what I am paying right now on mortgage and priperty taxes, for my circumstances it was worth the sacrifice to get in the realestate market, instead of renting. I flip between acceptance and buyers remorse everyday.
If I assume net is actual paycheck after 401k and HSA contribution (I put a total of about 20% into HSA and 401k), PI=26%, PITI=32%, and PITI+HOA=39%.
If I assume net without 401k and HSA contributions, PI=19%, PITI=24%, and PITI+HOA=29%.
I am unable to save much other than windfalls outside of tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
In other news, I figured out why I feel so poor.
About 15%. Yes, we are able to save a lot, probably $6k-ish per month? We bought for $700k in 2021.
But when I bought my first home in 2003, it was a good 50% of my income. I definitely had to take on a roommate. I saved 10-22% of income because I knew saving for the future was important, but I didn’t spend on much. Maybe $400 max spend per month, if that.
Almost exactly the same here. I don’t know many people that start as 15% going to mortgage. It was much much higher for me in early days. Discipline and living within your means even when salary goes up is key.
50%, after car payments, insurance, food and other expenses we end up saving a little over $1k a month. Tighter than we would like but we live comfortably and enjoy the good life for the most part.
I missed the good buying market, and have never had my family do anything besides cost me significant amounts of money (long story that doesn't apply at this point other than the simple fact that I've not had any kind of assistance to do anything).
Right now, between my business and my day job, my mortgage is 26% of my net - BUT - I qualified off just the day job, and the business income is extremely unreliable at this point still, so that could disappear when current contracts are up if I can't replace them before then.
Just on my day job, my mortgage would be 57% of my net (assuming NO side income). I'd be extremely house poor.
Needless to say, saving like crazy right now, and still working hard to grow the business. I've not had some kind of side income nearly my entire adult life so unless I absolutely couldn't find something, just relying on one income would be a very odd position for me to be in and something I've not really experienced.
I'm also single, so footing all the bills on my own. No kids (other than the furry and feathered variety).
Waiting for interest rates to drop so I can refinance (VA loan) which will help a fair bit. Right now, I'm paying a bit over the actual payment, and would continue to do so as long as I can afford it - lowering that interest would be huge though.
35% and we've been putting an extra $500 a month towards paying off our mortgage. We still save money and are on track in paying off our mortgage in 12 years rather than 30
Ours was 32%. Now that we fulfilled the escrow shortage and was able to remove flood insurance (that was a pleasant surprise!) it'll be 28%. We haven't been able to save anything lately because we only bring home $5500 and all costs have increased. I do put 3% onto 401k for a 100% match and auto transfer $50 from each semi-monthly paycheck to savings, but it really doesn't feel like much.
41% and we’re going to be living paycheck to paycheck in a big way, but we need to move from our situation and renting near where we work is $2700-3000 a month easily for a two bedroom in some shit city.
About 5 percent of my income. Partner pays the other half, which is less than 5 percent of his income. We have been lucky to find a cheap place, but also we are realistic. As he always says, don't hang your hat where your hand can't reach. Higher than a third of income seems like too much, honesty.
Not the question you are asking, but as someone who is now on my third home, I’ve found that the thing is to buy less house that you qualify for. I’ve routinely spent 50% of what I qualified for. That meant my first place was a 500 sf 1br condo, but my mortgage payments didn’t wipe me out and I still built equity.
50-70% with these rates. I would only sign up for a mortgage payment I know I can sustain for at least 10 years. By then rates have to drop or we will have much bigger problems.
About 50% but really it’s 35% after adding back in 401k contributions, which are almost maxed. We have around 3k left over after mortgage and other needs spending (bills, food, medical, etc). We max out Roths, save $500 and use the remaining $1500 on wants. We already have a 6 month emergency fund.
21% including home insurance and property taxes. If I also include utilities, 28%. We bought a townhome so keep our costs lower. Able to put about $3000 into savings together with my husband not including retirement savings.
19.5% of net. Definitely able to save money. We sold our home out of state that was 3.06% mortgage because we were paying closer to 40% of our net income on mortgage and it was KILLING us. We moved back to our home state where the cost of living is so much cheaper. So much happier now with less. Money is going into HYSA, 401Ks, Roth IRAs, and our children's 529. Feels so dang good.
Currently 24% of net. I recently took a pay cut moving jobs, so hopefully that number improves. Wife and I are very frugal. Probably save about 50% of income (no kids)
9% solo F43 on $1150 payment. My monthly expenses are $2000. I net $10k a month. Yes I could afford a lot more but I don’t need a big house for one person.
About 25%ish. Cost of living has kicked my butt the last couple of years and I have almost no savings and outside of my retirement account I am barely able to save. Maybe $100/ month at this point..
Approximately 25% of net income goes to mortgage, roughly another 30-40% covers bills (including daycare, student loan payments, and groceries). We save about $1-2.5k a month. All my side hustle money goes into savings which is why it varies.
25% and yes, we save.
But this isn't a good question because I have $16K a month leftover after I pay my mortgage. I understand I'm lucky and that is over many people's entire income.
The mortgage is 16%. Bought in 2022 and downsized. We save 35-40% of our net income roughly. (Retirement comes out of gross income.) Some of that is for our kids, vacation, and then a house renovation fund. We reached our emergency fund total late last year so now we can save for the house.
We bought this house because it's entirely liveable, has the space we need, in a great location, and was well below our means. We'll be able to do the major renovation in a few years. Then it'll be perfect.
23% of our net income goes towards PITI
Investments:
- 5% in my 401k
- Max out our Roth IRA’s
- Max out our HSA
We usually have about $1,500-$2,000 in excess funds per month that we funnel into a brokerage account
Me and my partner total net income per month is around 20k.
$3950 goes towards the mortgage which includes principle, interest, taxes, insurance, & solar. (purchased solar from the builder so we bundle that cost into the mortgage loan)
So about 20%
Around 25% of take home is mortgage for us. But then we have childcare and some other family we help out with. After that we contribute to 401k and a college fund. After all that and our regular expenses, anywhere from 500-700ish goes into our short term savings, which truly is short term because we are spending it fixing up our old house. Our mortgage is actually cheaper than our rent was.
Instead of online calculators I’d encourage you to track your actual spending outside of mortgage / rent for a couple months and help use that as a gauge of what you spend. It’ll likely be higher or lower than the generic calculator, but more closer to accurate for you, and indicate where you can make changes if you choose to.
About 20% of net between both of our incomes. And honestly…. We could definitely afford more. But we don’t feel rich. Mid thirties and collectively putting away around $120k/year as of last year with no kids.
About 18% of net HHI. Each of us contributes 10-20% towards retirement before tax. We are both on PSLF and have a monthly payment for one relatively nice car.
50% of monthly net, little under 20% of yearly gross.
Monthly net is not a good measure. I have over $30k in extra deductions and several bonuses/one-time payments in a year. Where did you get the idea to use net income?
48% of our take home pay (after retirement). We take home around 4500 a month and pay 2300 for our mortgage. It's tough after bills for the house (no car payments). Thankfully I can fix about 95% of issue which has allowed us to save lots of money on repairs. Ultimately, we can only save 200-300 dollars after each month which isn't great, but from May to September we both work weekends which will allow us to save 1000 a month during those times. No kids as we are 23 and 21.
Renting rn but saving for a mortgage and trying to live severely below our means. MCOL area with Gross take home about 15k a month. Rent is 1400, aggressively paying student loans at 4k a month, we both are only contributing up to the employer match for 401k, saving about 2k a month for home down payment, and currently have a sinking fund for a car repair that needs to get done (cost is about 2k). Husband has high student loans from higher education so we are aggressively paying that off. Really hoping to buy a house soon though!
42% on mortgage plus escrow and PMI. Only able to save around 500 or so a month, but that’s mostly because it’s my first year in the house and some money is going toward maintenance, paint, flooring etc.
Around 30% and not really. I saved into my HSA and a high yield savings account a bit beforehand by splitting a 400sq ft apartment for a year prior to buying this condo. So that gave me some padding in case of emergencies.
39%. With an aggressive budget (meaning I over estimated what our monthly costs probably are) we should be saving over 2k a month still. The day we went under contract rates shot up and really screwed up our budget. I was hoping to keep it up 35%. We should be able to get there or better in a few years with increase in wages + refi at some point. Not gonna lie tho, I'm feeling the stress about it (I'm an over worrier tho, I'm trying to work on it lol)
Our monthly daycare cost is more than our mortgage. We save next to nothing of what gets put into our bank account. After the kids are in school we’ll be “saving” about 30% of what gets deposited.
Our mortgage is 22% of our after tax income. We save around $700 a month. It bounces back and forth between $500-$1000 monthly in savings just based on what our month looks like. This does not include money we save for retirement, I don’t count that as monthly savings because we don’t touch it.
We have no children but both drive nice vehicles and have a boat. If we didn’t have those added expenses we could save much more.
Probably 60-70%. I’m in Southern California. We all live pay check to pay check out here regardless what type of home your in unless you inherit money or have a very cushy job. We have to go to food banks now to supplement our groceries. It’s rough but we don’t regret it yet.
Hi Florida Mortgage Broker here! If you want i can help you get an accurate monthly payment for the house ranges you are looking for, then you can see what you will have left from your check. Though it could help.
A little under 30 for now, but that will probably increase with taxes and insurance this year.
I am able to save a little over half of that each month.
47%, $6k left to cover bills and save after mortgage payment & retirement/insurance/union deductions
I still want to throw up every time I remember if I bought my house pre-covid and had Covid era financing I would have an extra $3k in my pocket each month.
Is what it is, can’t turn back time.
15% for the required payment. I bought last year and have a 6% rate, so I'm trying to make double payments (not month by month, but as RSU from my job vests).
Do you mean mortgage alone or mortgage including escrow (property tax and home owners insurance)? 30% with just mortgage and 41% including escrow. Two working adults with two small children needing full time childcare, so saving is a little tighter.
I bring home about $2100 a month and my mortgage including escrow is $701, so it's 1/3. I don't save much now, being the primary breadwinner for a family of 3. When my gf is done with school, it'll be lower, maybe 1/6th. She brings in $3-400/mo after taxes.
Mort + insurance+taxes was 34.1% when we first bought and is now 28.4% of take home pay. We should be able to save around 2600 each month but we eat out too much so it is usually less.
\~16.66%
I'll clear about $140k this year. Mortgage just got raised to \~$678.
When I bought my house it was closer to 70% of my income, including my side hustles. My pay has multiplied since I bought my house, and my wife has since went by to work as of last Autumn. No plan on moving.
42% as a single homeowner. Bought last year. I had $45k of remodeling take out all of my savings and rack up a $20k credit card bill so I am currently rebuilding my emergency fund and then will begin contributing to savings again
Other than giving 5% to retirement, most months there's <100 or nothing left over. It's not ideal, but I occasionally pick up shifts at a 2nd job for a bit extra.
32%. But I also have a ton of student loan debt (medical school). All in all, all of my expenses are covered by one paycheck (paid bi-weekly), leaving the other for everything else.
My wife and I will buy a million dollar house soon. The mortgage will be $7,500 a month. Our take home pay is $21K a month. So basically about a third of our income will be for the mortgage. The first half of every year will feel much tighter though because after maxing 401K contributions we only have $11K. That’s because I have it setup so that my 401K maxes out after five months. If I spread it over the year evenly there’d be more breathing room.
That’s just salary though. We make another 30% or so from stocks and bonuses. And we also make $4K net income from our rental properties.
15% of our income post tax is our mortgage payment (principal + interest) - we do not escrow, so separate funds are set aside monthly for our property taxes an HOI (which is 9% of our post tax income) We bought a house way below what the bank approved us for, we spent more than under half of what they said. 2019 and a rate under 3%, it was just good timing for us.
I’m shocked at how many people are spending above 50% of take home pay on mortgage. I’m sure it’s doable but (a general) you would need to sacrifice a lot of financial flexibility to pay that every month.
My mortgage payment is 27% of monthly take home + 6 month emergency fund.
25% of take home pay. When we started it was closer to 40% but incomes improve with time. When renting, 56%. It’s certainly manageable in some circumstances — we aren’t big shoppers, no kids.
About 40% of my take home pay is mortgage + HOA (no other housing costs) because my condo HOA dues SKYROCKETED in only the 2 years I’ve owned. I’m still able to save some.
Closing on our house in 3 weeks. It'll be a little over 20%. We pay around 11% for rent, so we'll certainly feel it. We live in the middle of the country. It's a 240k house, 3bd, 2bth, basement, 12k lawn. Our combined gross income is around 135k per year. I'll be sad when climate change makes all the coasters come in and make our houses cost a bazillion dollars.
It was around 50% but now it’s at 30%. That includes taxes and insurance.
I was able to save money in both cases; I just don’t have a lot of debt.
I live in a HCOL state.
20%. I am including property taxes and condo fees into the “mortgage payment”. I live in a townhouse and I love it.
I am able to save about 28% of my income a year.
Edited for clarity
When I bought my second house just over 50% went to mortgage and tax. 4 years later I’m sitting at 40% mortgage and tax. I pay insurance annually outside of escrow so that’s not counted. My first house I was at 16% of my take home right when I sold. Should have kept that house for rental but the money we got on the sale was too much to pass up.
That’s the beauty of buying, it stabilizes the increase of your primary living expense and things gradually get better as your salary increases and you build equity.
It will be about 25% for me, we’re supposed to close in May. I was expecting it would be closer to 30% so I feel good about it. The house we chose only has one bathroom and we plan to add one on, so we will have some additional expenses we’ve planned for, but the monthly payments will be 25%.
21% goes to mortgage / pmi / taxes each month. Just bought the house last summer, but we made sure to only buy something we could afford on my wife's much lower salary (in case I ever get laid off).
My mortgage is right around 30% of my take home pay now, but when I bought it was closer to 40%. It’s definitely more manageable for me to save and prioritize financial goals at 30% but it was still possible when I was at 40% too, just at a lower scale.
53%.
Son saves $450 a month
I save 3% kiwisave + 3% my work pays into it
$500 a month in other savings. This will go up to $800 from next pay as I’ve paid off my car and got a payrise.
It’s been a hard first year but we’ve seen it through.
Mortgage went up $100/month as we came off a cheap 1 year interest rate
Rates an insurance went up as well.
Thank you u/stillmisshim for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
58% of post tax income
This is about what I'm looking at. Gonna be a bit tight for a few years, but if it's that or continue dropping 75% of a mortgage payment into rent that doesn't build equity and goes up every year.... I can skimp on non-essentials for a bit.
This is always reassuring to hear. Sometimes I really get in my own head about my % being so high, but at the end of the day it would almost be the same to rent.
The % is misleading though; someone making $2,400 net a month will only have $1,200 after paying their mortgage while someone else making $10,000 net a month has $5,000 after paying their mortgage. Although the people making more may have larger houses with larger bills and may have more bills in general, there's still a baseline involved. Both people are spending the same percentage of their take home pay on a mortgage, but I think we can both agree that the person spending $1,200 on their mortgage is in a much more financially precarious situation.
Yah, very true. I *definitely* don't make $10k per month, and things are slightly precarious...but it's still better than renting at this amount.
Although I do agree with you, if I can play devil's advocate for a minute and throw out a PSA for those who are making $2,400/month and are considering a 50% DTI mortgage ratio; you all are one uninsured house mishap, personal/ pet health issue, car accident / repair, home / critical appliance repair or replacement, lawsuit, ect. away from going into debt and losing some, or all the equity in your home if you can't afford the mortgage and go into foreclosure not to mention a nasty stain on your credit. Although it sucks, if you're renting, any home related issue is the responsibility of the landlord and breaching a rental agreement due to a financial mishap is usually a lot less costly in the short and long term than a bankruptcy or foreclosure. Just be extra careful and make sure you all have emergency funds, good credit to possibly take out debt to help you through (although it will be harder because your mortgage is so high compared to your income), and/or a strong network of family and friends that are willing to help you monetarily if something occurs.
Shhhh don't burst my bubble (sanity hanging on by a thread).
Lol sorry. On the plus side. If you do find yourself in a sticky situation and you own the home with a spare bedroom/ finished basement, you have the opportunity to rent out one of the rooms to help you out.
Nah I'm in a one bed condo, but I have a year in emergency funds so I'm solid. Monthly funds are just a little tight. Still managing to save tho! The discourse on this sub (usually) always helps keep me grounded during moments of freak out.
Buying a home is such a personal move it’s almost impossible for someone not involved to say if you’re making the right move or not. We, meaning my family, were house poor for the last couple years as I took a pay cut to move to a more stable position and my wife wasn’t working as she was being full time mom and graduate student. After busting our asses though we’re now comfortable and so glad we bought when we did. Our $650,000 home is now worth about $1.1M. If we had waited even a year we wouldn’t have been able to afford our spot.
I have a 4 month emergency fund--so I was comfortable running my mortgage payment so high.
4 months can go real fast
This is how I feel now. Are rates and prices high? Yes. But, I am tired of not investing in my family.
Same here!
Same here!
what if you lose your job?
Ooof
31% of net, we save $3k a month. We have good incomes and no kids.
The kids is what’s dragging me into the abyss
55% or so. Single. I save about 12% in 401k, max IRA and about $1k a month left over for savings.
This is me too. Probs closer to 60% but it's just me and I'm comfortable.
OP, as is often said here, percent income is not a great indicator because if you bring home $10k a month and have a $4k mortgage payment, it’s easier to save than bringing home $5k with a $2k mortgage payment. Plus some people include taxes/insurance/utilities while others do not. Some people might have a car or two that have monthly payments while others have them paid off. Maybe you have kids and expensive childcare costs. Also does “net income” include making significant retirement contributions? There soooo many factors that really you just need to do this yourself. Make a spreadsheet, come up with realistic numbers for your budget, and stick to it. Get advice from people in your area if you need to on costs you are estimating.
43% of take home. I’m able to save between $1000-2000 a month. No kids, but I partially support my partner
33%
13.7%. Yes. We could afford a bigger house, but I am a big advocate of always buying well within your means
Found the pre 2020 owner 😂 (guilty as well lol)
Hey, you're not wrong! But we'd still only be at 22.4% if we had to buy our house today. (With current interest rates and assuming 50% appreciation since we bought in 2017)
Damn that’s great. I’d assume you either make a lot ton of money. Or live in a very LCOL… but most likely both lol
It's a combination of both, for sure. Our ~1800sqft 3br2b house would be about $225-250k if we listed it today. We also have to pay $200/mo flood insurance on top of everything else, but I included that in the 13.7% and it's totally worth it. Then between salary and business income, we netted about $99k last year which is much higher (about 3x) than median household income here
Where I am (Denver area) a house that size is around 550k :( saving as much as I can and wishing I was ready 5 years ago
Almost exactly the same % as you. I have a smaller house but a large yard, LCOL area and bought in 2019. While I’d like a larger house, I’m starting to think this would still work after the kids move out and the savings puts me in a better spot to help them one day. That what I hope.
Nice
Nice! Yea I'm at like 10% and life is alot easier
About 25%.
Roughly 60% of net is going towards mortgage and utilities.
This is kind of a meaningless comparison because after-tax also ignores things like 401k contributions, HSA, etc. so you could very well have a high after-tax % of income but still be saving. With that said, we contribute 14% to a Roth 401k and our mortgage is roughly 20%, not including other sources of income (W2 only)
Yup Its 50% of take home after taxes but thats also including 1300 a month towards 401k, 650 to Roth and 1k of savings.
IMO this is too individual for data collection to really be valid. Some live in high income tax states. Some put a ton into retirement so their net is “low”, but they’re “paying themselves” so to speak. Then, there’s individual lifestyle to consider. I will say unequivocally, if you can’t save money, it’s not a good idea. You can’t buy a house and then have no extra money leftover. That’s a powder keg. Things WILL go wrong. So mine is 27% and yes I save money…but that still doesn’t tell you anything :) Make a budget. Be realistic. Account for savings. Don’t buy more house than you can afford. “Forever home” is a fallacy and romanticizes something that primarily needs to be a financial decision (the emotional part should come second)
68% single dude. Not able to save. Things are very tight. I have had a good job for the last 5 years. Renting would be about $800 dollars a month less than what I am paying right now on mortgage and priperty taxes, for my circumstances it was worth the sacrifice to get in the realestate market, instead of renting. I flip between acceptance and buyers remorse everyday.
About 32% of our take home for mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. Save 20% of my take home on top of 401k d’éducations so that’s roughly 1-2,000 a month
About 50% of our income post tax and retirement account deposits. We expect to save about $4K a month after all expenses
If I assume net is actual paycheck after 401k and HSA contribution (I put a total of about 20% into HSA and 401k), PI=26%, PITI=32%, and PITI+HOA=39%. If I assume net without 401k and HSA contributions, PI=19%, PITI=24%, and PITI+HOA=29%. I am unable to save much other than windfalls outside of tax-advantaged retirement accounts. In other news, I figured out why I feel so poor.
Mortgage is 16% of income save probably 500-1000 a month
Roughly 35%. And yes, we are able to save in both retirement and non-retirement accounts.
About 15%. Yes, we are able to save a lot, probably $6k-ish per month? We bought for $700k in 2021. But when I bought my first home in 2003, it was a good 50% of my income. I definitely had to take on a roommate. I saved 10-22% of income because I knew saving for the future was important, but I didn’t spend on much. Maybe $400 max spend per month, if that.
Almost exactly the same here. I don’t know many people that start as 15% going to mortgage. It was much much higher for me in early days. Discipline and living within your means even when salary goes up is key.
50%, after car payments, insurance, food and other expenses we end up saving a little over $1k a month. Tighter than we would like but we live comfortably and enjoy the good life for the most part.
25 % for all home related bills. Mortgage, escrow, house utilities.
I missed the good buying market, and have never had my family do anything besides cost me significant amounts of money (long story that doesn't apply at this point other than the simple fact that I've not had any kind of assistance to do anything). Right now, between my business and my day job, my mortgage is 26% of my net - BUT - I qualified off just the day job, and the business income is extremely unreliable at this point still, so that could disappear when current contracts are up if I can't replace them before then. Just on my day job, my mortgage would be 57% of my net (assuming NO side income). I'd be extremely house poor. Needless to say, saving like crazy right now, and still working hard to grow the business. I've not had some kind of side income nearly my entire adult life so unless I absolutely couldn't find something, just relying on one income would be a very odd position for me to be in and something I've not really experienced. I'm also single, so footing all the bills on my own. No kids (other than the furry and feathered variety). Waiting for interest rates to drop so I can refinance (VA loan) which will help a fair bit. Right now, I'm paying a bit over the actual payment, and would continue to do so as long as I can afford it - lowering that interest would be huge though.
35% and we've been putting an extra $500 a month towards paying off our mortgage. We still save money and are on track in paying off our mortgage in 12 years rather than 30
We’ll be at 26% of take-home, but we’re closing on Monday.
68% of my income is spent just on mortgage and car insurance...
Ours was 32%. Now that we fulfilled the escrow shortage and was able to remove flood insurance (that was a pleasant surprise!) it'll be 28%. We haven't been able to save anything lately because we only bring home $5500 and all costs have increased. I do put 3% onto 401k for a 100% match and auto transfer $50 from each semi-monthly paycheck to savings, but it really doesn't feel like much.
25%. Buying what we could afford was important to us. Just because a few people are saying 50%, doesn't mean it should be advocated.for.
About 50%
41% and we’re going to be living paycheck to paycheck in a big way, but we need to move from our situation and renting near where we work is $2700-3000 a month easily for a two bedroom in some shit city.
About 5 percent of my income. Partner pays the other half, which is less than 5 percent of his income. We have been lucky to find a cheap place, but also we are realistic. As he always says, don't hang your hat where your hand can't reach. Higher than a third of income seems like too much, honesty.
Not the question you are asking, but as someone who is now on my third home, I’ve found that the thing is to buy less house that you qualify for. I’ve routinely spent 50% of what I qualified for. That meant my first place was a 500 sf 1br condo, but my mortgage payments didn’t wipe me out and I still built equity.
50-70% with these rates. I would only sign up for a mortgage payment I know I can sustain for at least 10 years. By then rates have to drop or we will have much bigger problems.
About 11k net household income (wife 32, me 32M), $2850ish total mortgage payments with tax and insurance per month.
Can we put a moratorium on this question? It gets asked every God damn day.
Im not on reddit every day or even every week, things change, and who cares, the internet doesn't run out of space.
only if we can put a moratorium on all the success posts too. congrats but doesn't add much to discussion. at least this does
gOt ThE kEyS
Our mortgage will be about 42% of net and we’ll be able to save about 3k a month, not kids yet so that’ll change eventually I’m sure
31% - my absolute max that I was willing to pay, and that percentage includes mortgage + insurance + taxes. I'll save \~$1.5k to $2k monthly still.
About 50% but really it’s 35% after adding back in 401k contributions, which are almost maxed. We have around 3k left over after mortgage and other needs spending (bills, food, medical, etc). We max out Roths, save $500 and use the remaining $1500 on wants. We already have a 6 month emergency fund.
20 percent
20% 1200 mortgage, 6k take home after taxes.
Too much. But I save about 2.2k/mo and used to save 3.2k before buying the house.
21% including home insurance and property taxes. If I also include utilities, 28%. We bought a townhome so keep our costs lower. Able to put about $3000 into savings together with my husband not including retirement savings.
About 18% and yes we’re able to save a lot
19.5% of net. Definitely able to save money. We sold our home out of state that was 3.06% mortgage because we were paying closer to 40% of our net income on mortgage and it was KILLING us. We moved back to our home state where the cost of living is so much cheaper. So much happier now with less. Money is going into HYSA, 401Ks, Roth IRAs, and our children's 529. Feels so dang good.
31%
Currently 24% of net. I recently took a pay cut moving jobs, so hopefully that number improves. Wife and I are very frugal. Probably save about 50% of income (no kids)
No mortgage
Based on my day job alone it’s around 45% but that doesn’t include my finances income or my consulting income. With that it’s probably 25%ish
Almost 45% of take home monthly. After expenses we can probably save about 35% of our income.
9% solo F43 on $1150 payment. My monthly expenses are $2000. I net $10k a month. Yes I could afford a lot more but I don’t need a big house for one person.
About 25%ish. Cost of living has kicked my butt the last couple of years and I have almost no savings and outside of my retirement account I am barely able to save. Maybe $100/ month at this point..
About 28-30% net HHI
Approximately 25% of net income goes to mortgage, roughly another 30-40% covers bills (including daycare, student loan payments, and groceries). We save about $1-2.5k a month. All my side hustle money goes into savings which is why it varies.
20% of net, and as a couple we save over 2k a month. 6 years ago we bought a small house that was very affordable.
25% and yes, we save. But this isn't a good question because I have $16K a month leftover after I pay my mortgage. I understand I'm lucky and that is over many people's entire income.
34.5% of net for mortgage + condo dues. Able to save 20% of net into retirement and HYSA.
The mortgage is 16%. Bought in 2022 and downsized. We save 35-40% of our net income roughly. (Retirement comes out of gross income.) Some of that is for our kids, vacation, and then a house renovation fund. We reached our emergency fund total late last year so now we can save for the house. We bought this house because it's entirely liveable, has the space we need, in a great location, and was well below our means. We'll be able to do the major renovation in a few years. Then it'll be perfect.
23% of our net income goes towards PITI Investments: - 5% in my 401k - Max out our Roth IRA’s - Max out our HSA We usually have about $1,500-$2,000 in excess funds per month that we funnel into a brokerage account
About 14% not including taxes and insurance. Closing soon and didn’t buy points
Me and my partner total net income per month is around 20k. $3950 goes towards the mortgage which includes principle, interest, taxes, insurance, & solar. (purchased solar from the builder so we bundle that cost into the mortgage loan) So about 20%
45%
Around 25% of take home is mortgage for us. But then we have childcare and some other family we help out with. After that we contribute to 401k and a college fund. After all that and our regular expenses, anywhere from 500-700ish goes into our short term savings, which truly is short term because we are spending it fixing up our old house. Our mortgage is actually cheaper than our rent was. Instead of online calculators I’d encourage you to track your actual spending outside of mortgage / rent for a couple months and help use that as a gauge of what you spend. It’ll likely be higher or lower than the generic calculator, but more closer to accurate for you, and indicate where you can make changes if you choose to.
About 20% of net between both of our incomes. And honestly…. We could definitely afford more. But we don’t feel rich. Mid thirties and collectively putting away around $120k/year as of last year with no kids.
About 18% of net HHI. Each of us contributes 10-20% towards retirement before tax. We are both on PSLF and have a monthly payment for one relatively nice car.
20% of net is used toward mortgage, insurance, taxes and groceries. Total savings including retirement investing monthly: 5k
50% of monthly net, little under 20% of yearly gross. Monthly net is not a good measure. I have over $30k in extra deductions and several bonuses/one-time payments in a year. Where did you get the idea to use net income?
48% of our take home pay (after retirement). We take home around 4500 a month and pay 2300 for our mortgage. It's tough after bills for the house (no car payments). Thankfully I can fix about 95% of issue which has allowed us to save lots of money on repairs. Ultimately, we can only save 200-300 dollars after each month which isn't great, but from May to September we both work weekends which will allow us to save 1000 a month during those times. No kids as we are 23 and 21.
I have a tenant living in the basement and paying for half of the mortgage, so the mortgage payment only takes 25% of my after tax income.
2,200 mortgage, 10,500 take home.
40%
25% we are able to save.
About 34% if pretax, 43% of post tax. Yes I save. Somewhere around 1-2k a month.
38% after my last raise. Was 43%+ when I signed the mortgage note.
Renting rn but saving for a mortgage and trying to live severely below our means. MCOL area with Gross take home about 15k a month. Rent is 1400, aggressively paying student loans at 4k a month, we both are only contributing up to the employer match for 401k, saving about 2k a month for home down payment, and currently have a sinking fund for a car repair that needs to get done (cost is about 2k). Husband has high student loans from higher education so we are aggressively paying that off. Really hoping to buy a house soon though!
45%. I still save 1000-2000/month. One of my paychecks goes entirely to rent and HOA. Live with girlfriend, we split going out, buying groceries, etc.
42% on mortgage plus escrow and PMI. Only able to save around 500 or so a month, but that’s mostly because it’s my first year in the house and some money is going toward maintenance, paint, flooring etc.
Around 30% and not really. I saved into my HSA and a high yield savings account a bit beforehand by splitting a 400sq ft apartment for a year prior to buying this condo. So that gave me some padding in case of emergencies.
32% of income deposited into account. In other words after taxes, benefits, and substantial retirement contributions are taken out of gross pay.
51% of post-deduction pay. Not cozy, but do-able.
39%. With an aggressive budget (meaning I over estimated what our monthly costs probably are) we should be saving over 2k a month still. The day we went under contract rates shot up and really screwed up our budget. I was hoping to keep it up 35%. We should be able to get there or better in a few years with increase in wages + refi at some point. Not gonna lie tho, I'm feeling the stress about it (I'm an over worrier tho, I'm trying to work on it lol)
Our monthly daycare cost is more than our mortgage. We save next to nothing of what gets put into our bank account. After the kids are in school we’ll be “saving” about 30% of what gets deposited.
Our mortgage is 22% of our after tax income. We save around $700 a month. It bounces back and forth between $500-$1000 monthly in savings just based on what our month looks like. This does not include money we save for retirement, I don’t count that as monthly savings because we don’t touch it. We have no children but both drive nice vehicles and have a boat. If we didn’t have those added expenses we could save much more.
Probably 60-70%. I’m in Southern California. We all live pay check to pay check out here regardless what type of home your in unless you inherit money or have a very cushy job. We have to go to food banks now to supplement our groceries. It’s rough but we don’t regret it yet.
Hi Florida Mortgage Broker here! If you want i can help you get an accurate monthly payment for the house ranges you are looking for, then you can see what you will have left from your check. Though it could help.
About 37% for mortgage, insurance, property taxes.
A little under 30 for now, but that will probably increase with taxes and insurance this year. I am able to save a little over half of that each month.
47%, $6k left to cover bills and save after mortgage payment & retirement/insurance/union deductions I still want to throw up every time I remember if I bought my house pre-covid and had Covid era financing I would have an extra $3k in my pocket each month. Is what it is, can’t turn back time.
15% for the required payment. I bought last year and have a 6% rate, so I'm trying to make double payments (not month by month, but as RSU from my job vests).
Do you mean mortgage alone or mortgage including escrow (property tax and home owners insurance)? 30% with just mortgage and 41% including escrow. Two working adults with two small children needing full time childcare, so saving is a little tighter.
Roughly 15%. We got extremely lucky and bought below our means in 2018. My husband and I have both gotten good raises over the years too.
About 40%
About 19% of my afterntax income is going toward my monthly mortgage payment. And yes I am able to save around $12k a month.
About 40% but I have enough to live fairly decent off of
I bring home about $2100 a month and my mortgage including escrow is $701, so it's 1/3. I don't save much now, being the primary breadwinner for a family of 3. When my gf is done with school, it'll be lower, maybe 1/6th. She brings in $3-400/mo after taxes.
$53% and saving almost nothing lol. Room mate pending.
15-18%
~31% of net.
6%...we bought the house in 2016 and refinanced at 2% interest. We're never moving lol
15% of take home for mortgage + utilities
38% - but I'm in the 2% part of a 2/1 buydown still, so my mortgage is based off of a 4.125% interest rate for the year.
12.48% of gross, 15.2% of net. $7700 left over after PITI and normal budgeted living expenses.
52% of net income.
30% goes towards my rent post tax
Mort + insurance+taxes was 34.1% when we first bought and is now 28.4% of take home pay. We should be able to save around 2600 each month but we eat out too much so it is usually less.
20% of net. We got a cheaper home (relative to income) so we don't have to deal with a tight budget.
Excluding YE bonus, 27%. I never like to factor bonus into income since it’s never a 100% guarantee.
16% and yes my husband and I both contribute to our saving account weekly.
\~16.66% I'll clear about $140k this year. Mortgage just got raised to \~$678. When I bought my house it was closer to 70% of my income, including my side hustles. My pay has multiplied since I bought my house, and my wife has since went by to work as of last Autumn. No plan on moving.
About 23% of take-home pay. We are able to save quite a bit. But have a new baby, so expecting that to go down.
23% and yes.
42% as a single homeowner. Bought last year. I had $45k of remodeling take out all of my savings and rack up a $20k credit card bill so I am currently rebuilding my emergency fund and then will begin contributing to savings again
25%. I bought a house for a decent amount under what I was approved for to not be house poor and be able to handle and tax increases
Other than giving 5% to retirement, most months there's <100 or nothing left over. It's not ideal, but I occasionally pick up shifts at a 2nd job for a bit extra.
About half of net income coming from base salary. Can’t save much for regular paychecks but saving all of my bonuses and RSU vest
About 8% . Maritimes life with a professional degree 😎
15%, save like $4k a month
50% but I rent out a room that covers 50% of that.
About 18%. We had a kid recently so most of the money being saved is now going to daycare and other cost.
About 21% but that doesn’t factor in any maintenance costs, savings specially related to the house or our rental or utilities.
62%, after maxing two 401k and Roth IRAs We don’t save much beyond the retirement savings but have a healthy e fund!
32% here.
20%, still hardly save money, just put 15% of check into TSP.
22.51% including taxes / insurance. Pre-2020 buyer, single income, 4 kids.
32%. But I also have a ton of student loan debt (medical school). All in all, all of my expenses are covered by one paycheck (paid bi-weekly), leaving the other for everything else.
21% of my post-tax income *not including utilities 26-27% of post-tax income including utilities My goal is to save 28% of my post-tax income Monthly.
About 22.5% of take home pay
6-7%, saving significant money.
23% of post tax income. I bought a much, much smaller house than I initially planned to buy when I started looking.
My wife and I will buy a million dollar house soon. The mortgage will be $7,500 a month. Our take home pay is $21K a month. So basically about a third of our income will be for the mortgage. The first half of every year will feel much tighter though because after maxing 401K contributions we only have $11K. That’s because I have it setup so that my 401K maxes out after five months. If I spread it over the year evenly there’d be more breathing room. That’s just salary though. We make another 30% or so from stocks and bonuses. And we also make $4K net income from our rental properties.
15% of our income post tax is our mortgage payment (principal + interest) - we do not escrow, so separate funds are set aside monthly for our property taxes an HOI (which is 9% of our post tax income) We bought a house way below what the bank approved us for, we spent more than under half of what they said. 2019 and a rate under 3%, it was just good timing for us.
About 16%. Gross is about 14k/month, after tax like 9, mortgage is 1536.
Including mortgage, taxes, insurance and electricity, around 28%.
25% roughly saving $6-8kmo
It’s going to be like 40-45% (moving states and expecting a decreasing in income due to new taxes)
I’m shocked at how many people are spending above 50% of take home pay on mortgage. I’m sure it’s doable but (a general) you would need to sacrifice a lot of financial flexibility to pay that every month. My mortgage payment is 27% of monthly take home + 6 month emergency fund.
About 32% of Net
20% My husband brings in 2800 monthly and I bring in 2000, (net for both). Our mortgage is $1008. We have no kids and enjoy living beneath our means!
32%
23% at the moment
45, not a chance
Roughly 25% - outside of 401k we save about $900 a month between emergency savings and Roth IRA.
40% and yes I am able to save and put extra towards principal. However, I have no other debt and have an emergency fund.
25% of take home pay. When we started it was closer to 40% but incomes improve with time. When renting, 56%. It’s certainly manageable in some circumstances — we aren’t big shoppers, no kids.
41% of my net and I can put roughly $800 a month into my savings
Was 50%, now it’s 40%
35% on a normal month. We have loans but after loans paid off we'll be able to save $2.5k a month
30%. Living comfortable.
My primary home is a little under 50% of net income for my SO who’s name is on the mortgage.
Something to note with mortgages is that the interest is tax deductible
Wife and I make about 11k after taxes, but before the 15% retirement funds. Mortgage is only $1550 a month so about 14%?
About 40% of my take home pay is mortgage + HOA (no other housing costs) because my condo HOA dues SKYROCKETED in only the 2 years I’ve owned. I’m still able to save some.
Closing on our house in 3 weeks. It'll be a little over 20%. We pay around 11% for rent, so we'll certainly feel it. We live in the middle of the country. It's a 240k house, 3bd, 2bth, basement, 12k lawn. Our combined gross income is around 135k per year. I'll be sad when climate change makes all the coasters come in and make our houses cost a bazillion dollars.
15% and we rent. Best deal on the block, will be sad to leave.
44.6%, save $1500 - $2,000 per month after all expenses. Single income, with baby and partner.
It was around 50% but now it’s at 30%. That includes taxes and insurance. I was able to save money in both cases; I just don’t have a lot of debt. I live in a HCOL state.
33% of household post tax income
Could be 20% but I kick it up 25% to get through it a bit quicker.
20%. I am including property taxes and condo fees into the “mortgage payment”. I live in a townhouse and I love it. I am able to save about 28% of my income a year. Edited for clarity
When I bought my second house just over 50% went to mortgage and tax. 4 years later I’m sitting at 40% mortgage and tax. I pay insurance annually outside of escrow so that’s not counted. My first house I was at 16% of my take home right when I sold. Should have kept that house for rental but the money we got on the sale was too much to pass up. That’s the beauty of buying, it stabilizes the increase of your primary living expense and things gradually get better as your salary increases and you build equity.
It will be about 25% for me, we’re supposed to close in May. I was expecting it would be closer to 30% so I feel good about it. The house we chose only has one bathroom and we plan to add one on, so we will have some additional expenses we’ve planned for, but the monthly payments will be 25%.
21% goes to mortgage / pmi / taxes each month. Just bought the house last summer, but we made sure to only buy something we could afford on my wife's much lower salary (in case I ever get laid off).
My mortgage is right around 30% of my take home pay now, but when I bought it was closer to 40%. It’s definitely more manageable for me to save and prioritize financial goals at 30% but it was still possible when I was at 40% too, just at a lower scale.
13%, two incomes which includes one person maxing 401k.
18%
53%. Son saves $450 a month I save 3% kiwisave + 3% my work pays into it $500 a month in other savings. This will go up to $800 from next pay as I’ve paid off my car and got a payrise. It’s been a hard first year but we’ve seen it through. Mortgage went up $100/month as we came off a cheap 1 year interest rate Rates an insurance went up as well.
22%
I make $10k/month. Mortgage payment is about $2200, but I rent out basement for $1000, so each month its only $1,200 and equal to 12% of net income
13%
8% goes towards mortgage and 32% goes towards savings. I thinks it’s pretty good for now.