[Imat]

We are from overseas... and are considering moving to Michigan.
Can someone please tell me their estimated costs for
rent/mortgage, phone, elec, gas (heat), Cable/internet, food, insurance, school payments, car payments...
Basically we are needing to get by on $3000 for our family of 5.
Is this do-able?
We are coming over with very little and will have to build up from the ground up...

Any help would be great!!
Thank you,

[Coldjensens]

How many cars? How big a house? Can your kids share bedrooms? Do you need special schools?

Are you willing to frive really old cars? Do you have good credit?

How secure is your job? If it is automotive related - stay home

[Imat]

We own no cars... just a reliable good car - with a good rep for snow driving.
Prolly need 1 to start with

Um, a 3 or 4 bedroom house will do... (Are property taxes high in MI?)
Kids can share bdr.

No Special needs schools... but would like to put them in a church school.
(Kids 2, 4, and 6yrs)

Um, I dunno about credit... we are in Africa. Do we have good credit??

Job is very secure! (yay) A church job.

Thanks so much... hope to hear back soon.

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

If you're able to get a mortgage (you'll probably need at least 10% down, perhaps 20%), you should be able to get a pretty decent house at maybe $700/month (including taxes) as it is a HUGE buyer's market. Renting at that price will also be a likely option. Depending on your benefits, health care could eat up some of your monthly income. Car insurance will run about $150/month (if two cars). Utilities about $200/month (depending on size of home). Food for five can be had for $400-500 month if you are somewhat frugal. I'd say $3,000/month should be adequate to get by in our state. That's a lot more than many people are making right now.

[Imat]

Thank you Jimmy!!
That was very informative and helpful - very encouraging...

So far things are looking good then.

Any more answers?

[Bydand]

$3000 a month isn't a whole lot if that figure is before taxes are taken out, but it would be a very decent income if it were after taxes. I know people who make due with a LOT less than that figure, but it is a struggle for them on some things.

A couple of questions would come to mind.
1) Where in the State are you looking? Some areas are much more expensive to live than others.

2) You say it is a Church position - Does the Church provide temporary housing until you can find a place after you arrive? I ask because I know some do, some don't depending on the size of the Congregation (Father is a Minister so I have seen both ways)

3) If coming from Africa, have you given the winters the consideration they deserve? It is one thing to read about 100"+ of snow and picture in your mind how pretty it is, but yet another to deal with shoveling that same "pretty" out of the driveway.

4) Schools- Why a Church school? Would a good public school be acceptable? Church schools are usually tuition based system and some are rather expensive, which would make a big bite in your income figures. Michigan has, overall, some very, very good public schools.

Most of your questions are rather dependent on what area of Michigan you are looking at. The answers will be vastly different for the Detroit area than they would be for the Iron Mountain area. People tend to look at a map and miss the size of the State of Michigan and the diversity in not only landscape, but economics as well. 90,000+ square miles of area, 40,000+ square miles of that is water surface area. Travel from the top of the UP to the Detroit area is a LONG day of driving and will pass through many different types of area all costing differing amounts to maintain a house.

[bluebird39]

3000 is about what we live on after taxes per month, for a family of 4 in Northern MI. We don't have much left over though. We also heat with wood, and cook almost everything from scratch, freeze, can.... Also, that figure is AFTER health insurance is deducted. Our health insurance does not cover dental or vision care though, and in the last 2 years we've been hit hard with over 10,000 dollars of dental care for various members of the family. In general, I'd say that in rural areas like ours there are very few medical professionals that participate in medical plans because they know they're all we've got, so we end up paying them more out of our pocket. An urban area would have more competition, and thus more providers willing to take less, or to sign on to a health insurance plan. But that's another issue. If you're coming from another country, take into consideration the very high cost of health care. Even having insurance, like we do, doesn't do much good these days.

As to property taxes, it's going to vary widely from place to place. We pay 2000 a year on what I'd consider a nice house (3 bed, 2 1/2 bath, 3000 sq ft). I've heard of people in the suburbs of Detroit who pay over 10,000 in taxes for a similar house!

As to schools, they're really good up here for the most part. Those too vary. But if you're looking into private school, then that's not an issue.

Good luck.

[Imat]

Originally Posted by Bydand

$3000 a month isn't a whole lot if that figure is before taxes are taken out, but it would be a very decent income if it were after taxes. I know people who make due with a LOT less than that figure, but it is a struggle for them on some things.

$3000 would be after taxes... Just what are taxes running at anyhow (I was given a figure of +/- 25% for deductions...)

A couple of questions would come to mind.
1) Where in the State are you looking? Some areas are much more expensive to live than others.

Um, we have hope for a church in Niles, or Flint/Burton, or the Detroit burbs. It's still up in the air, I'm just trying to get an idea before we get there for a visit. (Lord willing...)

2) You say it is a Church position - Does the Church provide temporary housing until you can find a place after you arrive? I ask because I know some do, some don't depending on the size of the Congregation (Father is a Minister so I have seen both ways)

I wish I knew the answer to that one too... it's something I need to find out soon. (Husband is a minister and it's our 1st int'l move.) Which way was best for your family? How'd you cope?

3) If coming from Africa, have you given the winters the consideration they deserve? It is one thing to read about 100"+ of snow and picture in your mind how pretty it is, but yet another to deal with shoveling that same "pretty" out of the driveway.

My hubby is in for a surprise as are the kids... but I will be fine. (lived in NY for a while...)

4) Schools- Why a Church school? Would a good public school be acceptable? Church schools are usually tuition based system and some are rather expensive, which would make a big bite in your income figures. Michigan has, overall, some very, very good public schools.

If we are near a church school I'd like the kids to go. If not a public school is fine too.

Most of your questions are rather dependent on what area of Michigan you are looking at. The answers will be vastly different for the Detroit area than they would be for the Iron Mountain area. People tend to look at a map and miss the size of the State of Michigan and the diversity in not only landscape, but economics as well. 90,000+ square miles of area, 40,000+ square miles of that is water surface area. Travel from the top of the UP to the Detroit area is a LONG day of driving and will pass through many different types of area all costing differing amounts to maintain a house.

I never knew it was SO diverse. It's gonna be a BIG change. Just praying its a good one!

Thanks for all the Q's I hope this will give a better idea on what we can live on.

Thanks again!

[GalFriday]

It is a bit more difficult to answer your questions nowadays due to the economic situation. However, here is an estimate of what you're going to pay, based upon my experiences in both renting, and now owning.


Rent/Mortgage:
1000 sq ft, 2 BR on the West side of Michigan (Kalamazoo Cty) will cost you about $700 in rent for an apartment.
1000 sq ft, 2 BR on the East side of Michigan (Oakland Cty) will cost you about $1000 in rent for an apartment.
Renting a house can generally be anywhere from $700 on up. I'd estimate you're looking at $1500 on average for a family of five, but of course that depends on where you live. Adrian will be infinitely cheaper than Bloomfield!
Mortgages - due to the foreclosure market, anything goes. We got an FHA loan (3% down only) and bought a foreclosure. 1600 sq ft, 3/4 acre, north Oakland County, 2 BR, 2 BTH - the mortgage, the insurance, the taxes - that all costs us about $780 per month. (Mortgage alone is $350 I think).

Phone - I don't use a land line so I can't tell you how much it costs. Probably $40 monthly just to have a phone with local. Buy Skype for your computer. It's cheap, it works. I use cell phones without a contract (Virgin Mobile). All has been well phone-wise for six years.

Electric and Gas - That depends on what month it is! Our electric when renting (for a family of three) was $190 in December (Christmas lights!) and gas was probably another $100. Of course when summer comes, you don't need the furnace on and the bills drop to about $20. (1100 sq ft)

We got our first heating bill for the new house, and it was $212, however we just had a new furnace put in, so I'm not sure if that will be our standard bill, or if that was because the old furnace was a leaky, junky mess.

Water - We pay municipal water now, but it's only going to be about $20/month.

Trash - $16 monthly, I think.

Cable - depends on where you're at. On average, I'd guess you're going to pay about $95 per month for basic digital cable and internet (cable/high speed internet).

School - public. Don't pay anything outside of taxes (and all the school supplies that schools don't buy any more!!!)

Car payments - depends upon the car! I always set a limit to never pay more than $300/month for a car. Insurance-wise, I think I pay $920/year to insure three vehicles (2 with PLPD). They are a 98, 02, and I think a 94. (Citizens Insurance)

Food - That depends on how you eat and where you want to shop. Honestly, I try to keep my food bill to $50 per week for a family of three (plus cats!). That doesn't seem like a lot, but I budget well, and we eat well with lots of treats we don't necessarily need. I shop Trader Joe's, Papa Joe's (for veggies), Wal-Mart, Kroger, Meijer. Of course, I only buy what's on sale. I think for a family of five you could easily get away with $100 weekly.

Can you get away with $3000/month in bills? Absolutely.

$1500 mortgage or rent and insurance and taxes
$200 gas
$100 electric
$100 cable/internet
$50 water
$500 food
$300 car payment
$100 insurance
$100 extra stuff

That's $2950. It all depends on where you live and how frugal you can be. Where in Michigan were you thinking of moving?

[needing more]

Originally Posted by Imat

We are from overseas... and are considering moving to Michigan.
Can someone please tell me their estimated costs for
rent/mortgage, phone, elec, gas (heat), Cable/internet, food, insurance, school payments, car payments...
Basically we are needing to get by on $3000 for our family of 5.
Is this do-able?
We are coming over with very little and will have to build up from the ground up...

Any help would be great!!
Thank you,

We live in Battle Creek. We have 2 area church schools. Houses are cheap right now.. You can get a house for about $130k. (our house is for sale 4br,2ba,1 acre from 120k) but it depends on the area.
Our internet is $60 thru comcast... with the cable and phone added its $130
We are on a budget with our electric but its $133/mo
Gas varies from $30 in summer to $150 dec-mar
car insurance is anywhere from $50-$100 a month, depends on the car.
Depends what kinda car you want but you can probably get a minivan (since you have little kids) a few yrs old for about $200-$300 a month.
Food... I think the prior est. of $400 was low. We have 2 men,1 woman and 2 kids under 8yrs old and spend about $500 at a cheap (genaric) store. I have a friend whos hubby wont let her buy anything thats not name brand and she spends $1000 a month for a family of 6.. So I would say $500 if you can shop at the cheap store.. $600-$700 if you shop the normal (Like WalMart) store.

I think $3000 is very do-able.. Just get a cheaper house to keep the payments under $800 or so and there are many other ways to cut back too..

We have a family of 5 and live off of $2500 a month so its very possible since we are doing it