How much rent do you pay?

[Nadal-GOAT]

How much do you pay in rent?

I pay $0/month because I live at home. (I do help my parents with various household expenses.)

I make $60,000/year before taxes. After taxes my monthly income is around $3,300 a month. I live in Los Angeles.

I can't even afford to rent in Southern California, or rather I refuse to waste my money on rent, as I have paid in the past the following in rent:

$1000/month for my own room to share a crappy apartment in San Francisco.

$1500/month for a studio for a really crappy studio in Manhattan.

My mother told me that in the 1970's, an average monthly salary for someone with a middle-class job was around $1000/month. And rent was around $200/month.

Nowadays, I see a lot of people paying around half their take-home salary in rent. What the heck???

I am 28 years old, and I think people in my generation are getting squeezed left and right.

 

[10s talk]

time to leave the liberal state, it is not going to get any better

 

[LuckyR]

You need slots for mortgage payments, which BTW are deductible... 2K here...

 

[Nadal-GOAT]

Also I don't have credit card debt, but I do owe $50,000+ in student loans. Do I have a future?

 

[YULitle]

If you can't afford to live downtown, then don't live downtown.

 

[Nadal-GOAT]

You need slots for mortgage payments, which BTW are deductible... 2K here...

That will be for another poll, as this is for renters only, sorry. I'm not even at the level to own anything. I don't even own my own car, as I drive someone else's car.

 

[goober]

Options

1. Consider moving to somewhere not as expensive as Manhattan, Socal or San Fran.

2. Get a higher paying job/make more money.

3. Live at parents house and save up until you can move out.

 

[35ft6]

I am 28 years old, and I think people in my generation are getting squeezed left and right.

Will you continue making more money? Making $60,000 in Los Angeles even for a single guy makes you lower middle class. If all you have is student loans, though, that's a good start. I'm finally down to just student loans, too, and I'm paying much more than monthly minimum, but I'm not paying it off like crazy the way I was with credit cards. Interest rate isn't terrifying. If I were you, stay out of debt, and start saving for a house. Like even if it takes 7 years and you're 35 when you sign that mortgage.

1. Consider moving to somewhere not as expensive as Manhattan, Socal or San Fran.

Fonk that. For me, living someplace cheap isn't an option since the industry I work in doesn't exist anywhere else really. But I pay the extra money in rent because when I step outside my door, I'm in LA. LA weather, lots of pretty girls, pretty good ethnic diversity, great ethnic restaurants, decent amount of culture, etc. NYC was better but oh well. So you pay $400 for a one bedroom someplace nobody wants to live, you step outside and there's nothing. Just nothing.

 

[StealthGnome]

$1000/month for my own room to share a crappy apartment in San Francisco.

LOL Right on. My family rents out our other house, top and bottom. I think it was 1.3k for the bottom. Location is alright.

 

[MomentumGT]

I have $3,600 mortgage and on top of that I had a shop for my business. Didn't renew the rent for the shop since 85% of my sales are online. I need to renegotiate my mortgage because of the real estate debacle.

-Jon

 

[raiden031]

I rented a 2-BR apartment in the suburbs in Maryland and last year I bought a condo/townhouse unit (2 floors, 2 BRs, no basement, front patio, no back patio). Here is the breakdown:

Renting Apartment: $1,200/month

Owning Townhouse/Condo:

Primary Mortgage: $1,500/month
Property Taxes/Community Fees: $350/month
Second Mortgage (80/20): $450/month
Condo Fee: $100/month
Condo Insurance: $20/month

Total: $2,420/month

So by buying my monthly cost doubled. I am getting ***** by the mortgage company and the community fees and taxes. Not too mention my house is worth $20K less than I paid for it.

 

[nCode747]

how much do you have in 401k so far

 

[fridrix]

This makes me feel like a loser. I can't even imagine these numbers.

 

[consistency wins]

How much do you pay in rent?

I pay $0/month because I live at home. (I do help my parents with various household expenses.)

I make $60,000/year before taxes. After taxes my monthly income is around $3,300 a month. I live in Los Angeles.

I can't even afford to rent in Southern California, or rather I refuse to waste my money on rent, as I have paid in the past the following in rent:

$1000/month for my own room to share a crappy apartment in San Francisco.

$1500/month for a studio for a really crappy studio in Manhattan.

My mother told me that in the 1970's, an average monthly salary for someone with a middle-class job was around $1000/month. And rent was around $200/month.

Nowadays, I see a lot of people paying around half their take-home salary in rent. What the heck???

I am 28 years old, and I think people in my generation are getting squeezed left and right.

You are 28, make 60K, and live at home with mommy and daddy??????

 

[consistency wins]

I have $3,600 mortgage and on top of that I had a shop for my business. Didn't renew the rent for the shop since 85% of my sales are online. I need to renegotiate my mortgage because of the real estate debacle.

-Jon

Your mortgage payment is just ridiculous...

 

[Steady Eddy]

Not everybody rents. Not every house is mortgaged. I know, people say, "Don't pay off your house", but the tax deduction isn't dollar for dollar, and I like to know I'll always have a place.

 

[tfm1973]

just 2 thoughts.

1 - sometime it doesn't make financial sense to rent and pay $1000+ a month especially when you can stay rent free at mom and dad's. but scraping by is usually good motivation to work harder and make more money. kinda like if you're starving . . . you'll find a way to get some food pretty quickly.

2 - if you are staying at mom and dad's to save money - really save money. hard to feel bad for you if you live at home with the parents but drive a benz or still go out drinking/partying every weekend running up huge bar tabs. living at home with the 'rents should be TEMPORARY.

 

[raiden031]

Not everybody rents. Not every house is mortgaged. I know, people say, "Don't pay off your house", but the tax deduction isn't dollar for dollar, and I like to know I'll always have a place.

Out of my $2,420/month that it costs me to own my house, I will get back around $400/month due to deducting mortgage interest. Its certainly not a good idea to purchase a house simply for the tax deduction. That is like someone donating a $10K car so they can save $2K in tax dollars. They don't realize they just lost $8K out of their assets. The main reason to purchase a house and not pay off the mortgage is in hopes that the house will appreciate at a higher rate than your mortgage rate.

 

[raiden031]

You are 28, make 60K, and live at home with mommy and daddy??????

One of my friends is 32, makes around 90K, and still lives with his parents. Naturally he has enough money saved up to purchase a house in cash. Needless to say he does NOT have a girlfriend.

 

[MomentumGT]

Your mortgage payment is just ridiculous...

You got that right . The Inland Empire is one of the worst hit with the real estate dump. Some homes have lost equity in upwards of 60%. Sadly two doors down the same ranch home that I have foreclosed and was just recently bought for less than half of what it sold for. Its almost better to buy the 3 acre home down the street and just dump the current one I live in because no one in their right mind would buy it for how much I paid for it 2 years ago.

Tough decisions up ahead I see.

-Jon

 

[emcee]

I'm about to pay ~$1700/month for a semi-crappy apt in Manhattan...think I will live in brooklyn next year

 

[35ft6]

One of my friends is 32, makes around 90K, and still lives with his parents. Naturally he has enough money saved up to purchase a house in cash. Needless to say he does NOT have a girlfriend.

just 2 thoughts.

1 - sometime it doesn't make financial sense to rent and pay $1000+ a month especially when you can stay rent free at mom and dad's. but scraping by is usually good motivation to work harder and make more money. kinda like if you're starving . . . you'll find a way to get some food pretty quickly.

Just saying, if you're making 90 grand a year or enough where $1000 a month in rent is even an option, wouldn't you owe it to your parents to help out with expenses as opposed to "free?"

 

[emcee]

lol your friend is a ******

 

[raiden031]

Just saying, if you're making 90 grand a year or enough where $1000 a month in rent is even an option, wouldn't you owe it to your parents to help out with expenses as opposed to "free?"

Actually I shoulda mentioned, my friend does pay rent to his parents. But it is much less than renting his own Apt. Plus he has no life these days and just saves all his money.