What do YOU think is middle class income in Chicago? (Normal: renting, HOA fees)

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

Well to afford one of those $500,000 ultra-luxury condos that are popping up all over the place, your household income would have to be around ~$200,000 in order to fit into the 2.5 income to home price ratio that we once had...

As far as I'm aware, that has never been a ratio used in home loan underwriting.

[hlcvd]

From my experience, they won't let your debt to income ratio to exceed 36%, and they told me if your income is higher, they will sneak in a little bit more in that percentage to like 40%. But if you can come up with a large down payment, you can be making 100k a year and still own a 500k condo, as long as you can afford the HOA fee...

[lycos679]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

Hmm, when I was in my 20's my friends and I were usually looking for the place with the cheapest drinks possible. Now that I'm older I don't mind paying more, but even then I don't think I've ever spent $100 in a night on drinks for just me, and I'm not a lightweight. That would be 14-15 $7 drinks or 8-9 $12 drinks. I'm sure some people do that every time they go out, but it can't be the norm.

Also, if you have a steady girlfriend and you're still buying all her drinks, you're not her boyfriend-- you're her sugar daddy. The middle class couples I know share expenses when they go out.

I don't think I've ever had a gf share expenses with me.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by lycos679

I don't think I've ever had a gf share expenses with me.

It's awesome....haha

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

As far as I'm aware, that has never been a ratio used in home loan underwriting.

How old are you?

Anyway, a nurse practitioner making $90,000 married to a software engineer making $90,000 can buy one of those $500,000 condos at today's low interest rates.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by lycos679

I don't think I've ever had a gf share expenses with me.

Dude. Really? There should be about a 3- 6 month window where the guy is expected to float the socializing expenses.

After that, barring an extreme income differential or other factors (she's a student, you're working, etc) you're getting hosed IMO.

[im_a_lawyer]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

As far as I'm aware, that has never been a ratio used in home loan underwriting.

Not but this was the norm...



Average condo price is almost $400,000 now. How much money do you have to make to fit into that ratio? Is this NYC?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

Average condo price is almost $400,000 now. How much money do you have to make to fit into that ratio? Is this NYC?

I thought lawyers made a lot of money. It's ****ing hilarious to me that you continue to not even recognize how many people make good salaries in this city - yeah many don't, but there's thousands who do.

$400K is not cheap but it's not that expensive either if you have at least a decent job. It's also not the average home price in Chicago, but anyway ff you have good credit, do a 25% down payment and get a $300,000 loan, with a 5% rate for 30 years, your monthly payment will be around $2000 plus what, a few hundred extra per month for property taxes or something in Chicago. So let's say $2200/month.

Someone making $80K/year, which is nowhere near out of the ordinary in Chicago for a decent job, is taking home, after taxes and benefits (i.e. 401K, stock purchase, etc), probably about $4000-$4500/month and probably in the middle or upper end of that. If that person doesn't have a lot of debt, they are in no way going to be scraping by unless their other spending habits are ridiculous. Get a couple with no kids and it's even easier. Two people living there making only $50K each without a ton of debt each - easy.

According to the 2012 1 year ACS estimates, there's about 210,000 households in Chicago that make 6 figures or more. If 25% of those households are households without any kids, that's still 52,000 housing units. Of course, there would be thousands within the other 75% that could afford an expensive home even with kids. If you were to go from a household income baseline of at least $75K/year, then that's 315,000 households which amounts to just under 33% of all households in Chicago.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by im_a_lawyer

Not but this was the norm...



Average condo price is almost $400,000 now. How much money do you have to make to fit into that ratio? Is this NYC?

The median condo price was $219K in February, the median SFH price was $141K in February. Honestly if someone can't afford that, they should not own a home.

http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/sites...-Chicago_1.pdf

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I thought lawyers made a lot of money. It's ****ing hilarious to me that you continue to not even recognize how many people make good salaries in this city - yeah many don't, but there's thousands who do.

$400K is not cheap but it's not that expensive either if you have at least a decent job. If you have good credit, do a 25% down payment and get a $300,000 loan, with a 5% rate for 30 years, your monthly payment will be around $2000 plus what, a few hundred extra per month for property taxes or something in Chicago. So let's say $2200/month.

Someone making $80K/year, which is nowhere near out of the ordinary in Chicago for a decent job, is taking home, after taxes and benefits (i.e. 401K, stock purchase, etc), probably about $4000-$4500/month and probably in the middle or upper end of that. If that person doesn't have a lot of debt, they are in no way going to be scraping by unless their other spending habits are ridiculous. Get a couple with no kids and it's even easier. Two people living there making only $50K each without a ton of debt each - easy.

According to the 2012 1 year ACS estimates, there's about 210,000 households in Chicago that make 6 figures or more. If 25% of those households are households without any kids, that's still 52,000 housing units. Of course, there would be thousands within the other 75% that could afford an expensive home even with kids. If you were to go from a household income baseline of at least $75K/year, then that's 315,000 households which amounts to just under 33% of all households in Chicago.

The lawyer should stick to law, not real estate.

The median condo price was $219K in February, the median SFH price was $141K in February. Honestly if someone can't afford that, they should not own a home.

http://www.illinoisrealtor.org/sites...-Chicago_1.pdf