$65K enough to live on? (Denver, Morrison: credit, loan, townhome)

[Gary the Mailman]

Top salary for a mailman is 51k, and that is after twelve years. Anything above that is overtime, mostly mandatory because we are terminally understaffed. Seems no one wants, or is capable of doing this "easy" job. On Long Island, 65K is barely making it, and all our wives work.

[BabyBoomers2]

When wife and I bought our $262K house in Parker, we were both working and had a total income of around $77K and had no trouble affording the house/area. We had no kids though, didn't eat out much, done very little during the winter months. In the summer months, we done a lot of fishing/boating on local Reserviors with our small fishing/ski boat. We done ok.

[Arcane]

I was about to ask if $45k a year was doable in Denver. I'm going to assume no?

[ellebee]

Originally Posted by Arcane

I was about to ask if $45k a year was doable in Denver. I'm going to assume no?

I live on a single income of just over $35k and close on my first home (a $120k townhome) at the end of the month.

I don't have a car payment and have whittled my once great credit card debt down quite a bit. It's just a matter of picking and choosing where to spend your money. I don't have internet or cable, but I refuse to eat like a college student.

It's not easy, but it's not impossible, either.

[AV8Recruiter]

Originally Posted by scatterbrain

I am a mailman in Houston, Tx. I do pretty good down here financially speaking. My wife is from is from Littleton. Every time we go there to visit friends and family I find myself wanting to move there and get my wife back to where she grew up. Talking to some of the letter carriers there in the Denver area, the pay is not up where it is here, speaking of overtime. I am estimating I will make between $65K and $70K in the Denver / Littleton area. My wife is a stay at home Mom. We would like to keep it that way. Looking at houses we see them from $175K to $210K. WOW! There are some cheaper, but not in the area we would like to live nor the amount of house we would LIKE, not need. How about it, is it doable? I tell myself that people do it every day, they make it work because they want to make it work. What is the assessment of the people who live there? Thank you for your time.

I think you could do it, but it depends on what your other bills are. Let's say you bought a $200K house and put $40K down...you would have a $160K loan. You'll have 80% Loan to Value, so you should be able to get a good interest rate, and you won't have to pay Private Mortgage Insurance: With a 5.75% interest rate (I think you might be able to do better if you shop around), you'd be looking at a Principle and Interest Payment of $933.72 per month. HOI is going to be cheaper too..let's estimate $500 (I live in Dallas and ours is about $1,100 per year). Taxes are going to be lower too - Let's estimate $2,000 worse case. You would be looking at around $1,142.05 PITI Payment per month. At $65K, you would be grossing $6,416 per month. Now, it just depends what your other debts are. A bank is typically going to want your debt to income ratio to be 50% or less. Therefore, if your other bills (credit cards, car payments, any other installment debts are $1,566 per month or less, you should be able to afford to live in a $200K house or less. It will be tight, but you could do it!

Hope that helps

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by Arcane

I was about to ask if $45k a year was doable in Denver. I'm going to assume no?

It depends more on your lifestyle, your hobbies, your habits.
Meaning if you like to smoke crack or gamble, probably $145K a year wouldn't be enough.

On a more serious note, I am in the same boat, I'm currently in Phoenix, making a bit more than you and thinking about relocating somewhere else.
Portland OR was a place I was considering but the constant rain and lack of Sun is definitely concerning, especially since I like outdoors and like to ride my motorcycle. Denver, CO became #1 candidate the last couple of weeks because of that. Phoenix is pretty low paying for even senior IT/Tech Support jobs and most of available jobs are contract or contact-to-(god knows when)hire. Also, the city's vibe is not too pleasing to me, neither is the desert scenery. I am also experiencing allergies that I never experienced before back when I used to live in CA.
Anyhow, didn't mean to deviate from the topic, I wish you luck with your move as well...

[Arcane]

I've stopped thru Denver a few times. I love Colorado, I'd like to be a Coloradian some day. But I swear everytime I go thru Denver-Col Springs I see more sprawl (ok, wrong thread, sorry) and so much as stopping at a gas station makes me wonder what the cost of living must be. My GF wanted to relocate there and a job was offering $45k. In Dallas that's fine, in Denver it seems she'd need more than that. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[kickchick2000]

I seriously need to look into being a mail carrier if they make that kind of money.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by kickchick2000

I seriously need to look into being a mail carrier if they make that kind of money.

It sounds like you need to find yourself a man with good job/income!



jk....or may be not! lol

[melissajo]

I wish I made 60-70k a year. Teachers don't make crap. Doesn't seem fair