It's a modest house, but the payments (which include the taxes and insurance payments) are just under 1/3 of our after-tax monthly income.
We are fortunate in a number of ways-- we're both professionals, and we work far outside the city, so we can live close to work without being in either the high-rent district or dangerous neighborhoods. We don't have kids we need to feed, clothe, or house.
But neither of us has a six-figure salary-- heck, neither makes as much as a plumber can-- and however far outside the city it's still Chicagoland, not Indianapolis. We basically lived like graduate students churchmice until we had enough for a 20% down payment, and then bought a house on a 20-yr mortgage. To start it was just over 25% of our monthly income, but the escrow keeps fouling up with the taxes and raising our payments. :P But we may still be in this house when it's paid off, and then it'll just be the taxes and insurance. |
