Can I survive on this income? (Dallas, Garland: apartment, to rent, HOA)

[Abbydo]

Hello,

I will be retiring soon and plan on relocating to Dallas to be near family. Can a retired single person survive in the Richardson area of Dallas on $2,500 a month? That amount would have to cover utilities, house insurance and taxes, car insurance, food, etc. I was hoping to buy a small house cash but I'm not sure I could make it on that income. I don't even know what type of house I should be looking for or if I'd be better off renting somewhere. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Katana49]

You may be better off renting and keeping your savings invested rather than spending it all on a house.

If you owned a small home, I can see that you could live on $2500 a month, but it wouldn't leave you much left.

For a small home, I'd think the minimum you'd be spending per month would be $2000.

[Abbydo]

I wouldn't be spending all my savings on a house... I would still have some savings left after the purchase of a small house. I will look into renting if there is a safe place, reasonably priced? ...but I'm thinking that what I would spend on rent and utilities may cost me more in the long run...

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by Abbydo

I wouldn't be spending all my savings on a house... I would still have some savings left after the purchase of a small house. I will look into renting if there is a safe place, reasonably priced? ...but I'm thinking that what I would spend on rent and utilities may cost me more in the long run...

If you can buy on cash and are handy enough to fix most things yourself then sure buy but buy small and buy way under budget.

[jdallas]

Property taxes and insurance are both high so you may find the scales tipping quickly in favor of renting once you run the numbers. Most properties in Richardson are somewhere around $150/sq.ft. and entering their EOL as far as major maintenance items so all of that adds up to being not-so-great for fixed income households.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by jdallas

Property taxes and insurance are both high so you may find the scales tipping quickly in favor of renting once you run the numbers. Most properties in Richardson are somewhere around $150/sq.ft. and entering their EOL as far as major maintenance items so all of that adds up to being not-so-great for fixed income households.

Properties in my neighborhood are selling for anywhere between $180 and $300 per square foot, depending on the house (obviously).

[Abbydo]

At this point I may be better off buying a Winnabago and just driving it around during the day and at night I can park it in Highland Park or Preston Hollow and when people ask me where I live I can say, "Preston Hollow, I'm neighbors with George Bush."

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

I know you are joking but there are laws about parking on the streets also HOA regulations.

[Abbydo]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

I know you are joking but there are laws about parking on the streets also HOA regulations.

How about a trailor park? Any decent ones around? Never thought I'd be considering living like trailor park trash.

Seriously, Dallas is in dire need of affordable housing for senior citizens.

[RemyLebeau]

You could always look into buying a condo. I just did a zillow search and there seems to be 2 right now, one for $139K and the other for $160. If you expand your search a little to say Garland or something, you might find more. (it's been 20 years or so since I lived or spent time in the Garland/Richardson area so I can't help with nice/bad areas)

Of course with condos you will be looking at fees you will probably need to pay. Sort of like an HOA, which should be illegal, but instead are actually beneficial. Most condo fees I've heard of help pay for a maintenance person/ground crew/etc. Sort of like living in an apartment. HOA's on the other hand are only need if you live in a city that doesn't enforce laws.

You didn't say how much you plan on putting down but if you can get the amount borrowed to around $100K then your monthly note with insurance and taxes should be around $800-$900 a month (depending on credit rating and what % you are able to get). At $125-130K borrowed you should be under $1100 a month for housing. I refinanced my house a while back due to divorce and interest rate. I re-borrowed $110K and my mortgage is just over $950.

I only added that personal part so you will know I'm not just wildly guessing at what ballpark you would be in.

If your mortgage/insurance/taxes are around $900 then you should be fine living on $2500 a month. You won't be eating at 5 star restaurants every night but you won't be lifting couch cushions to help pay the electric bill either.

Good luck.