How do middle class citizens afford to buy a house here? (Seattle: apartment complex, lease)

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by Arushan

Another good thing about condos is that they could be rented out for income when the owner is ready to buy a single family home later on.

But only sometimes. A lot of condo HOA rules prohibit the units from being rented out, or restrict it to only a certain percentage of them being rented at any one time.

[Ira500]

"Back to topic. Lower middle class people in Seattle often rent apartments while their Midwestern or Southern counterparts often own their homes. It's just how it is living in a desirable part of the country."
Good point. In a lot of parts of the US, wages might be 25% less than what they are in Seattle, but house prices are 60% less. So middle class people in those places don't rent. In Seattle, it's not just lower class folks who rent. it's considered a perfectly respectable thing to do, and they're building fairly luxurious apartment buildings in many parts of the Seattle area.
People earning 50,000 aren't buying places in Seattle or the east side, for the most part. But they're renting, and so are people earning twice that.
Personally, I need my space to garden, and I don't like neighbors quite that close. But if you've read the latest news about Seattle leading the country in rent increases, part of that is the new buildings added to the mix when deriving the median.
These are not lower middle class folks renting these 2500 per month apartments.

[RotseCherut]

Didn't read all the posts, but I will start off by saying Seattle is a rather elitist type of town that caters to the wealthy. There is not much of a middle class, but rather, very wealthy, wealthy and then the low-income earners who work the service jobs, coffeeshops, tattoo shops, bars, restaurants, etc.

Portland is similar to Seattle in this regard, except there is much less wealthy people, a tad bit more middle class and way more poor people.

Now Boise was a town that seem to have a decent sized middle class. There was a lot of affordable housing built during the 80s and 90s and the cost of living vs wages is better in Boise than Seattle. It was not uncommon for me to see people working similar types of jobs in Seattle living in a big house in Boise with a nice yard compared to a box in a neighborhood that is till not consider "Wealthy".

[RunTheDistance476]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Didn't read all the posts, but I will start off by saying Seattle is a rather elitist type of town that caters to the wealthy. There is not much of a middle class, but rather, very wealthy, wealthy and then the low-income earners who work the service jobs, coffeeshops, tattoo shops, bars, restaurants, etc.

Portland is similar to Seattle in this regard, except there is much less wealthy people, a tad bit more middle class and way more poor people.

Now Boise was a town that seem to have a decent sized middle class. There was a lot of affordable housing built during the 80s and 90s and the cost of living vs wages is better in Boise than Seattle. It was not uncommon for me to see people working similar types of jobs in Seattle living in a big house in Boise with a nice yard compared to a box in a neighborhood that is till not consider "Wealthy".

This is BS, I hope you know that, right? I don't need to know what type of town Seattle "is", I already live here.

As mentioned, of course the future is unknown, but right now I will be able to work in Bellevue so if (big if) I still am working on the east side, I have no problem at all living somewhere like Snoqualmie, Fall city, North Bend, Preston, etc. I have no desire to live in the city of Seattle or the city of Bellevue.

I dont and wont be having kids, so schools do not matter either. Something like this would be even way MORE than I'd need:

16430 266th Ave Se, Issaquah, WA, 98027 | (MLS # 359368) Homes.com

I guess my question is, are there any people on here with a combined income of $100,000k or less that are/were able to purchase at a 500,000-600,000 price point that have any tips/success stories to share?

An idea:

Get a inexpensive place (condo, etc.) first (around 200k), pay it off in 15 years, and then rent it out to someone for a competitive price (let's say $1200 a month) and then use most of that 1200 to help pay a greater mortgage (so, 30-40% of my second mortgage will be paid by a renter per month). Does this make sense?

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

This is BS, I hope you know that, right? I don't need to know what type of town Seattle "is", I already live here.

As mentioned, of course the future is unknown, but right now I will be able to work in Bellevue so if (big if) I still am working on the east side, I have no problem at all living somewhere like Snoqualmie, Fall city, North Bend, Preston, etc. I have no desire to live in the city of Seattle or the city of Bellevue.

I dont and wont be having kids, so schools do not matter either. Something like this would be even way MORE than I'd need:

16430 266th Ave Se, Issaquah, WA, 98027 | (MLS # 359368) Homes.com

I guess my question is, are there any people on here with a combined income of $100,000k or less that are/were able to purchase at a 500,000-600,000 price point that have any tips/success stories to share?

An idea:

Get a inexpensive place (condo, etc.) first (around 200k), pay it off in 15 years, and then rent it out to someone for a competitive price (let's say $1200 a month) and then use most of that 1200 to help pay a greater mortgage (so, 30-40% of my second mortgage will be paid by a renter per month). Does this make sense?

Your idea makes a lot of sense. The only problem that I see is that much of that 1200 might not be available to help pay that greater mortgage, even after it's paid off, because you'll still be paying HOA dues and property taxes. If you buy the inexpensive condo, make sure it's well managed, has fairly low HOA dues, and won't have an upcoming special assessment, which can mean many thousands of dollars out of pocket to pay for major repairs.
At today's interest rates, if you were buying a 600,000 dollar house and putting 20% down, your monthly payments including taxes and insurance would be a little over 3000 per month.
If a bank were going to loan you that amount, you'd either need additional income( like rental income), or a larger down payment. So it makes sense to live more frugally at first and save. You never hear people say "I wish I hadn't saved all that money." They might regret what they spent it on later, but not having saved it.

[jm31828]

As a couple people mentioned, those of us who are in the more modest income category just buy homes further out. We bought in Lynnwood, just 17 miles from downtown Seattle but drastically less $$ than anywhere closer- and that is for a new construction 3 bed/2.5 bath place. Our combined income at that time (2010) was only $65K and it was definitely affordable for us, where as we couldn't have even thought about being able to afford anything in the city itself (not that it mattered because neither of us work in downtown Seattle). I have coworkers who went further out- Monroe, Lake Stevens, Everett. Depending on where one is commuting to it is not so bad, both with driving and with mass transit.

[RunTheDistance476]

Originally Posted by jm31828

As a couple people mentioned, those of us who are in the more modest income category just buy homes further out. We bought in Lynnwood, just 17 miles from downtown Seattle but drastically less $$ than anywhere closer- and that is for a new construction 3 bed/2.5 bath place. Our combined income at that time (2010) was only $65K and it was definitely affordable for us, where as we couldn't have even thought about being able to afford anything in the city itself (not that it mattered because neither of us work in downtown Seattle). I have coworkers who went further out- Monroe, Lake Stevens, Everett. Depending on where one is commuting to it is not so bad, both with driving and with mass transit.

Would you mind providing the cost of the house/down payment or pm me? Not trying to be intrusive, just want to be educated and realistic.

[skidamarink]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Create a rental unit in the basement, garage or a spare room that has a separate entrance. Let the renter pay the bulk of your mortgage for you. That's how I did it. Pay it off in 15 years instead of 30. Then when it's paid off, you can take over the rental space for yourself, if you want.

Yep, lots of people do this. I was a renter in a house like this in Wallingford, in a mother-in-law unit. It was awkward. The couple tried to make it private by closing off the upstairs, but it still didn't feel private for either of us. I couldn't bring people over in the middle of the night and it was awkward when their posh dinner guests would come over and wonder who this 20-something year old is popping out of the house. They were trying to live the high society life in Seattle by owning this expensive home, yet they had to rent out half of it to keep costs down. And now you have to tell all your rich friends that you have boarders in your home because you can't afford your own mortgage. How embarrassing.

No thanks, I'll rent for the rest of my life if housing prices keep going up.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

Yep, lots of people do this. I was a renter in a house like this in Wallingford, in a mother-in-law unit. It was awkward. The couple tried to make it private by closing off the upstairs, but it still didn't feel private for either of us. I couldn't bring people over in the middle of the night and it was awkward when their posh dinner guests would come over and wonder who this 20-something year old is popping out of the house. They were trying to live the high society life in Seattle by owning this expensive home, yet they had to rent out half of it to keep costs down. And now you have to tell all your rich friends that you have boarders in your home because you can't afford your own mortgage. How embarrassing.

No thanks, I'll rent for the rest of my life if housing prices keep going up.

Yeah, did that for a while. I rented a basement apartment for $1600/mo... lasted 3 months there. It was relatively cheap, but not exactly 'private'.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

This is BS, I hope you know that, right? I don't need to know what type of town Seattle "is", I already live here.

I'd post an idea i had, but i dont want to be berated and told my post is BS. Amazing when someone asks for ideas, gets something then calls it out. I happen to agree with the post and the idea that Seattle is Elitist and I too live there.