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Old 03-23-2017, 01:56 PM
 
Location: New England
3,848 posts, read 7,960,523 times
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I know its all relative and everyone has different meanings of "liveable".. lets go with just an average family. Two adults 1 small child thats homeschooled. Not living lavishly and good with a small bungalow or condo 2/2. One car is owned and the other is new with a payment. No cable bill, no excessive vacations, no need to keep up with the Jones and like to shop second hand and farmers markets etc etc.

What would be a reasonable income to live on the cape with those boundaries, generally speaking? I ask because my husband put in an application that would be a consideration depending on income offer (its not listed on job as its gov't work, but hubs has 15 years experience in exact position). We'd be coming from out of state so I don't have a comparison for what is a reasonable offer because I keep comparing to the city of Boston itself. Any suggestion or opinions are welcomed.
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Old 03-23-2017, 06:28 PM
 
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Can you be more specific as to what area of the Cape?
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Old 03-23-2017, 06:35 PM
 
Location: Fields of gold
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Your not saying how much you can spend on housing/rent/mortgage?
Sounds like you have a low cost of living lifestyle, if your basic bills can be paid then you should have no problem.
Need more info, like how much is salary now? Vs what will salary be up there?
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Old 03-23-2017, 08:41 PM
 
Location: North of Boston
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I thought you were going to North Carolina?
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Old 03-24-2017, 05:56 AM
 
15,794 posts, read 20,487,959 times
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Ok...i'll get this 9-page debate rolling.




Family of 3, mortgage, retirement expenses, at least one new car payment, insurance, taxes, recreation, etc. I'll give you credit for lack of day-care needs. Living on the cape (no specific location given). Unknown how much down you would put on the property do hard to estimate mortgage payment.


$100k/year of HHI to support the house and child.
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Old 03-24-2017, 06:19 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonMike7 View Post
Ok...i'll get this 9-page debate rolling.

Family of 3, mortgage, retirement expenses, at least one new car payment, insurance, taxes, recreation, etc. I'll give you credit for lack of day-care needs. Living on the cape (no specific location given). Unknown how much down you would put on the property do hard to estimate mortgage payment.

$100k/year of HHI to support the house and child.
No way. I think they could easily do it in 50k as long as their rent is low.
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Old 03-24-2017, 06:20 AM
 
15,794 posts, read 20,487,959 times
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Originally Posted by Whatsnext75 View Post
No way. I think they could easily do it in 50k as long as their rent is low.

I was assuming they were buying, which is what I based my numbers off. But you are right, it does all depend on what their housing budget is. MA isn't exactly cheap to live in...renting or buying.
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Old 03-24-2017, 06:34 AM
 
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Even buying why is 50k out of the question? There are homes in the 300k range on the cape. Heck it sounds nice to me. Id move to welfleet.
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Old 03-24-2017, 06:37 AM
 
Location: The Triad
34,088 posts, read 82,945,062 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms View Post
What would be a reasonable income to live (anywhere) generally speaking?
Reasonable is when your housing costs (rent/mortgage AND utilities) are XX% of your NET income.

When you have children and you're otherwise "a grownup" ...
then NET includes fully exercising all PRETAX retirement account options available to you.
Health insurance premiums as well.

You could engage in a long philosophical discussion about WHERE to set that XX% number...
but there MUST be a number and it MUST be understood and agreed to by both partners.

Very few, far too few, set that XX% number low enough to allow them enough CASH for the rest of a life.

Last edited by MrRational; 03-24-2017 at 06:58 AM..
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Old 03-24-2017, 07:30 AM
 
15,794 posts, read 20,487,959 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Whatsnext75 View Post
Even buying why is 50k out of the question? There are homes in the 300k range on the cape. Heck it sounds nice to me. Id move to welfleet.
I dunno. Frankly we don't have enough info so not trying to say your numbers are wrong. I'm just thinking hypothetically at this point on a quiet Friday morning here.

For example, where is the husband commuting to exactly? I'm sure there are cheap homes on the cape, but if it translates to a 2 hr commute for the husband to get to work in Boston, that kinda puts a lot of places out of the picture.

I just threw a number out there based on some generic assumptions. If the OP comes back and narrows things down a bit, I'll modify.

Even 3% down on a $300K house is roughly a $1600-2000 mortgage depending on factors such as taxes, interest rate and insurance. $50K is probably what, $35-40K or so after taxes? That's a little under $3K/monthly. SO if mortgage is say, $1700/month, that leaves them $1300./month. They have a car payment, insurance on 2 cars. Lets assume $350 car payment and $100/each car for insurance per month. $750 left. Food for 3, probably $100/week give or take? $350 left. What about utilities? retirement? recreation? The pre-tax health insurance premium? etc?

$50k can prob happen, but it's tight. Again, that's all based on some assumptions I'm making, so I could be wrong on those as well.
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