I just did one of those how much house can you afford calculators.  WTF are these calculators thinking?  They must work for the repo man or something.  They spout off with I can afford a morgage paypemt of 1/3 of my pretax income.  YEAH RIGHT.  Well maybe if I didn't have electircty,cable, a phone or need to eat LOL.  Let alone my other needs like Guns,Ammo, beer and smokes.  

Sorry just had to bitch about this

14 x 70!!

I always thought those 1/3 rule is kind of pushing it. Personally for me, I would go with something like 1/4. I think those rules were made during the days when salaries were raising quite rapidly, because eventually your salary will rise enough so that you can live.

Arn't airstreams tow behind?  If so how would you set the cruise and go make a sandwich[;D]

Half my paycheck goes to the house, around 2k a month.  After I do my taxes each year I spend about the same as I did for rent($1500.00) a month.  I have owned this house for almost 3 years and have a 100k in profit if I decide to move from the PRK...Oh thats before taxes.

Most home here in the bay area are going for 400k, and 500k will buy you a nicer home in a good neigborhood.  

Choke I don't think they do Aimless.  All I want is a small home with 2 decent bedrooms one for me and one for my comps and (guns that I don't have) a living room a kitchen and a bathroom that isn't in the city.

HOLY CHIT Batman that is NUTS.  How can the average joe afford 500k for a house?  

My figures are with taxes, insurance, etc.

Well, there's a couple of factors in play here in this cesspool:

1.) Depending on where they live, many average Joe's can't afford a house. I certainly can't, and I have only myself to support on my entry-level biotech job that pays ~$37k a year.  My girlfriend and I are forced to live together (she makes about $45k) because the rent for the modest 3 bedroom home we live in (1500 sq. feet maybe?) is $2100 a month.  We live in a house because of our dogs, but even if I were to live by myself I'd be looking at a minimum of $800 a month for a 400 sq. foot studio in a crap part of town.  

I've read that something along the lines of only 1/3 of kalifornians can afford to buy a home.  

 Prices vary drastically depending where one is looking, of course.  While high in the major metro areas (I live in Cupertino, which is in the San Jose area), median prices for homes in the big central valley are closer to $200k than the ~500K or so in my neck o'the commies.  My parents' house in Bakersfield (1.5 hours north of LA) is 2200 sq. feet on a decent sized suburban corner lot and was just appraised for less than $200K.

2.)  Lots of non-average Joes around here.  The measuring stick I use to compare relative wealth in the different areas I visit are the types of cars present.  

In this region I'm amazed at how many people are riding around in newer BMW's, Mercs, etc.  A friend of mine referred to 3-series as the "civic of affluent people" because there are so many around.   Even if I drive three blocks to the grocery store, I'd bet money on seeing at least one new BMW 3-series.  

Whenever something new and trendy hits the market, I see them rolling around here before anyone else I know in other parts of the state.  

Hummer H2's started showing up as soon as anyone learned they were out. I see a new (e46) M3 almost every day either going to or coming from work.  I see an M5 at least once a week, and I'd say probably once a month for a Ferrari 360 Modena.  In one 3 day stretch a few months ago I saw 4 different 360's during my commute.

What all that means is that there are lots of people who can afford $1k car payments, so plopping for a house is doable for some, especially if you start looking at dual income professional types.  This is, afterall, where the dot com boom happened.  Even though lots of people lost their shirts there is still an insane amount of money around here.

My taxes on my house amount to about 2/3 of my yearly mortgage payment. Does that seem a little nuts or what?

I guess I just don't want to live and work for payment on anything.  Thats why I drive a 450 dollar car that I bought a year ago.  It gets me were I have to go cheaply.  I want the same thing from a home.  A safe roof over my head with the things I need and room for my guns that I don't have.  BTW that car has been the best thing I ever bought.  It has however started to bleed me dry[:D] It has cost me 7 dollars in the past 6 mounths, one thermostate and gasket and one 1157 light bulb.  Of course this isn't icluding my labor

I couldn't afford a prison cell right now.

All I can say is that for what you get for $500K in CA can be bought in OH for $75K. [;)]

That would kill me.  I pay $2600.00 year in property taxes and my mortgage is roughly $30,000 year.

Ain't that the truth! `Course, they do have some beautiful scenery there, but they also have most of the commies.
The same rule applies to Pa. vs Md., but not to such a degree. My $110k house here would sell for about $220k in most of Baltimore county and probably $300k in Prince Georges county. Pa. does have some expensive pockets, but if you look in the country and avoid the refugee areas (Marylanders moving en mass to Pa.) you can get some great deals.

That is the point; you guys in CA don't pay enough tax. You are just a bunch of hard-hearted money-grubbing misers.

Hey!  I resemble that comment.


(last year alone - I moved to PA, as did 2 of my friends, 2 friends fled MD and moved to VA)

Rats off a sinking ship.

I don't; I just have a little shack in the country.

But then of course, you have to live in OH [nana]

Seriously though, property values/prices have to do with the economics of the area.  It kills me what I see houses going for in the Ft. Lauderale area (where I live) compared to the Tallahassee area (where I grew up).  Of course, I can't find a job in Tallahassee, let alone one that pays me near what I'm making now, or has the growth potential or future of the one I've got now.
So yeah, you can move to some small shit town where property values/prices are low, but then you're going to have some small shit job where the pay/future is low.  Of course there are exceptions to this, but by and large that's the way it is.
Not to mention, I'm a single guy, with a decent job, a nice truck, a Harley.  The access to women deffinately favors Ft. Lauderdale over Tallahassee.  Not to mention, while shooting informally is non-existant here, there is an IDPA club that shoots at least 3 times a month.  Good luck finding that in a small town, at least with any kind of numbers to make it challenging.

Dammit!
Where were you 20 years ago when I screwed up my life. You could have saved me from moving to this small shit town. I could have a job in the big city and be making some real money and have babes falling all over me. Dammit! [>(]

It depends on the area. For example, from my little "shit town" (pop approx 300) I can commute to Baltimore, York, Lanacster, Newark (all within approx 45 minutes), and in a pinch, Wilmington or Harrisburg (little over an hour).

Granted, from my experience, Ft. Lauderdale definately has better womenz and night life. MUCH better! I don't do too bad though - we do a lot of boating around here and there's no shortage of womenz on the water.

It's not meant to be an insult, it's just about priorities.  If I was already married and/or had kids I might think differently, maybe.  But being a relatively young single guy, small town life would bore the crap out of me.

My wife and I purposely stayed within a price range that one of us could afford should one of us stop working for any reason. It took us a year+ to find a reasonably priced rural home with acreage yet reasonably close to the city where we work.

Peetmoss, check out [url]www.cnyhomes.com[/url] for a good local real estate search engine. I can also recommend a good realtor if you want to work with one.

Thanks SP10.  I was just kinda browsing although buying a home should be one of my top priorities it isn't.  When I do decied to buy I would like something near were I work (in the boonies) or in Cortland County.  I work for the school district that won the state championship the past 2 yrs you can see the signs on RT 20 LOL.

So your house is worth about $415k and you pay $2,600????? I have a $385 townhouse and pay about $3900 annually in property taxes. Arrrrrgh!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess that's why Fairfax Co has the best schools in the country

And thats why my kids are in private school.

edit: Actually doing the math you are coming out ahead given the money I am paying for schooling