How can you afford the condos in Chicago (Hampton: mortgages, how much)

[Anthera]

[quote=MyssaTx;8662403]lol
Yeah well the reason I dont want a 1 bedroom is because we plan on starting a family in 3-5 years so we will need the extra room and of course I would like a place for my guests to sleep.

BTW whenever my husband is kicked out of bed he hits the couch and usually wakes up soaking wet from sticking to the leather all night lol
Not sure why he doesn't use the guest room.

Anyways I am hoping we get approved for at least 250k
We have excellant credit but together we only make 80k

Are trust funds considered as income when applying for a loan?[/quote]

Trusts can be structured any number of ways, so there is no one answer. If you have a trust, simply ask the trustee to explain how it is set up, and then discuss with your mortgage lender.

[Thepreacherswife]

Originally Posted by MyssaTx

Anyways I am hoping we get approved for at least 250k
We have excellant credit but together we only make 80k

We're on one income (mine) and that's about 80-90k. We got approved for 265k with really good credit (FICO in the 800-820 range). Although that was 18 months ago, we paid only 10% down. I think we'd need 20% down to get approved now.

[Chicago60614]

the huge issue is roommates or a spouse.

I bought a $240K condo on the North Side that's actually very nice - perfect for me at least.

I have tons of friends who are either married, or go in on places with good friends, and they all bought very nice condos for around $400K.

I can dish out the $1,300 in morgage and taxes for myself....but put two people in the mix or three and you're talking $2,600 or $3,900 in payments each month. That's going to let you buy a much more expensive house.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by MyssaTx

lol
Yeah well the reason I dont want a 1 bedroom is because we plan on starting a family in 3-5 years so we will need the extra room and of course I would like a place for my guests to sleep.

BTW whenever my husband is kicked out of bed he hits the couch and usually wakes up soaking wet from sticking to the leather all night lol
Not sure why he doesn't use the guest room.

Anyways I am hoping we get approved for at least 250k
We have excellant credit but together we only make 80k

Are trust funds considered as income when applying for a loan?

I bought a $240K place and I make around $62K a year. It really depends on if you have car payments, credit card debt or school loans. I have none of the above (hate credit cards). Just a cell phone, gas, electric and cable bill each month.

so yeah, $80K and a $250K place is MORE than doable. It's probably just all your other finance activity that would affect anything.

[Gelasia]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I bought a $240K place and I make around $62K a year. It really depends on if you have car payments, credit card debt or school loans. I have none of the above (hate credit cards). Just a cell phone, gas, electric and cable bill each month.

so yeah, $80K and a $250K place is MORE than doable. It's probably just all your other finance activity that would affect anything.

Yeah I have about $90,000 in school loans but my dad said he is going to assume my loans and put them in his name so that should help out my credit score.

Between the both of us excluding school loans (David has none) we have about $8,000 in debt but I see no problem with eliminating that in the next 8 months.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Thepreacherswife

We're on one income (mine) and that's about 80-90k. We got approved for 265k with really good credit (FICO in the 800-820 range). Although that was 18 months ago, we paid only 10% down. I think we'd need 20% down to get approved now.

It’s going to be interesting to see what impact this has on the overall housing market going forward. There was clearly a “pyramid” effect going on driven by access to credit at the bottom tier of the market. Low income families in dangerous City neighborhoods were willing and able to pay $300k for a house in a decent working class neighborhood in the City or inner ring because all of the past mortgage standards were effectively dropped. Then those in the decent working class neighborhood were willing and able to pay $600k for a house in an upscale suburb with good schools. Then those in the upscale suburb were ready and able to pay $900k for a house in an affluent suburb. Then of course those in the affluent suburb could pay $1.2M to move to a prestige suburb.

It was no coincidence that the whole thing sort of came to resemble the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, where a suburb like Cicero was “Safety” and a suburb like Winnetka was “Self-Actualization.”

Now though, the low income groups can’t get out of the ‘hood (the basic “Psychological” level) so the person in “Safety” no longer has equity sufficient to cover the $120k down payment necessary to get to “Love and Belonging.” That of course means he won’t be able to propel the Love and Belonging person into the “Esteem” level. And obviously, there’s no way the Esteem guys can attain the ultimate “Self Actualization.” The elevators at the Luxor are broken, as they say.

People will probably be less mobile going forward, like it or not. Alternatively, the government and financial institutions will have to figure out a way to get the bottom tier back into the market somehow. It would probably take some pretty heavy government subsidies since incomes at the lowest levels aren’t rising fast enough to form a good enough base for the pyramid to be built on again. There’s no way any responsible lending institution is going to loan $300k to someone making $30k again (I hope).

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

I thought now as actually a good time to buy...

[ILtoTX]

The problem with condos goes beyond the purchase price--you have to factor in regular assessments and special assessments. The specials in particular can really kill you. I am selling a one-bedroom in a Chicago highrise and will have paid about $13,000 in specials over the past four years. If you want to do any upgrades to your unit, add them in, and the whole thing becomes a real money pit, in my opinion. Luckily, I'll soon be free of it

[hamh]

so actually it's better to buy a townhouse or even single family home if you can afford it , right?

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by j33

Those of us in the 40k market (I'm one of those people) are much better off renting a cheaper apartment than paying 60-70% of our monthly income on a stupid condo we can't afford, that way we can actually save some money and not find ourselves on the brink of doom if we miss a few paychecks due to losing a job.

The obsession with owning property has cause much financial ruin with some of my lower income friends. I stayed away from the whole rush to buy a condo on my income even though I was encouraged to, because I knew I couldn't afford it. Since then, I've know more than a few people who have lost their condos, and a couple who had to refinance at a much higher rate, and are now stuck with a very expensive one-bedroom condo, and a child who sleeps in the front room.

I'm at just over 40K, making even less 6 years ago when I bought my condo and it was a very good investment. Yes, it's a 40 year old building. Yes, I'm in an inner suburb southwest of the city. Yes, I don't have laundry in my condo, but I do have central air. What I do have is a comfortable, 2 bedroom place to live, and a very comfortable mortgage payment that is the same or less then renting and a fair amount of equity. I put down 5% and was able to cancel the private mortgage insurance a couple years ago. Perhaps it helps that I don't care about nightlife, even when I bought my condo at the ripe old age of 27. I do go to the opera, museums, etc. once or twice a month, but I'm near both Metra and the Orange Line, so it's not a problem.