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Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
2,061 posts, read 4,136,731 times
Reputation: 8190
Yes~ bought my Az home at about what I gross per year. That was almost 4 years ago. Paid extra whenever I could. Last payment should be about December.
Yes~ bought my Az home at about what I gross per year. That was almost 4 years ago. Paid extra whenever I could. Last payment should be about December.
I admire you. I would love to do this.
Did you have a lot of temptation to buy more of a house?
Haven't really thought about this. However I do invest in rental homes and my personal outlook is to never pay more than 100,000 dollars per door. So if it's a duplex then it's 200,000 dollars but think about it I live in Monterey county ca. So before the bubble I could find homes in the Salinas valley for that price and better then the bubble came and I had to start investing in the Sacramento valley to stay under the price cap and then when the bubble burst I could buy again in Monterey County interesting times. But that rule saved me a lot of money.
I bought at around 1x my annual income, and the house is now paid off. It was the third place I bought over the years and every time I have been told how I could qualify for so much "more" house. OK fine, but my house is all I need, I am perfectly happy there and now I am mortgage-free. I'll take that over an extra level I don't need and that would add to the time it takes to clean any day of the week.
I think the first place I bought was about 2.5x my annual income, if I remember correctly. I was esrning less and living in a more expensive market.
Yes~ bought my Az home at about what I gross per year. That was almost 4 years ago. Paid extra whenever I could. Last payment should be about December.
wow, AZ houses are cheap... It really all depending on where you live,
NY or NJ, you will probably need 3-4 times at the least.
Using annual income is hard because taxes vary so much from area to area. A good rule of thumb is 1/4th of your monthly take home pay. It's a lot lower than the bank will tell you and a lot lower than a lot of people buy at but it will give you a lot of comfort financially if you figure that another 1/4 goes to "bills", another 1/4 to lifestyle and 1/4 into savings/emergency fund.
This can also change with how much down payment you've saved. If you've saved even just a little more than the usual 20% down, you can afford a much bigger house.
I bought at around 1x my annual income, and the house is now paid off. It was the third place I bought over the years and every time I have been told how I could qualify for so much "more" house. OK fine, but my house is all I need, I am perfectly happy there and now I am mortgage-free. I'll take that over an extra level I don't need and that would add to the time it takes to clean any day of the week.
I think the first place I bought was about 2.5x my annual income, if I remember correctly. I was esrning less and living in a more expensive market.
How long ago was it that you bought that house that was 1x your income?
Last edited by southkakkatlantan; 09-14-2013 at 08:55 PM..
Reason: grammar
Both houses were 2x our yearly income. I really suggest this (or less) if you can. It's very manageable. Our first house was almost "too" much house for us and our current home is just right (but by most people's standards it's small). I think we can pay it off in less than 5 years.
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