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There is a possibility of moving into the Raleigh-Cary area for our family. Since we are coming from overseas we will have a lot of first time costs like a minivan, appliances etc. I'm curious to know what are safe, child friendly, home schooling friendly areas to live in within 10 minute's drive of Morrisville. And then, since we are foreigners, we need some help with a realistic idea of mortgage repayments on an annual income of $75k. We would ideally like a house with four beds and two and a half baths at the very least (pool would be nice and fireplace too!) but we are realistic too and know that ideal is usually not what we'll end up with!
You may be able to get into one of the older track house neighborhoods with that type of income....there are plenty of neighborhoods around morrisville in the $200-300k range.
Depends on how much money you have as a down payment and what the bank will approve you for. My husband and I both work and roughly combined income ( 6 years ago ) was about $95k. Plus we had money to put down from the sale of our house in NJ and was approved for close to $250K. Taxes here are 1% per $100,000. I think we pay a little under $2k a year in taxes. Our house was about $210k. Have to figure your mortgage and monthly expenses - as with car payment, food, cable TV, electric and water. Within 10 minutes of Morrisville you can live in Cary or even in Morrisville. They have many subdivisions around there and have heard the schools are fine. We live in Apex and I work in Morrisville. My drive is only 20-30 minutes. My neighborhood is great as a starter home. Nothing has sold for more than $230k, it's a mile from the elementary school, the homes have 3-4 bedrooms, 2 community pools, playground, homes come with a fireplace as well. They aren't new though, but only 10 years old. I can send you the name and where it is located in a message if you want more information. Hope that helps!
I found the following online indicating you should not exceed 28% of gross income with your mortgage payment (includes taxes, insurance). TAlso, there are proposed rules that will make most homeowners put down 20% to get a loan (this is an oversimplification but articles have said that the proposed rules will have this type of effect). You can cut and paste the following link to read about that.
So with those parameters, a $300,000 house would require a $60,000.00 down payment and payments of $1,538.37 at a 5% interest rate (I've included an extra 1% for taxes and insurance). I am pretty confident that you could find a house that is $300,000 or less so depending on the type of down payment you can make, you can figure out what range to look at.
This is from Yahoo Finance:
General Guidelines
You can easily determine how much house you can afford by following a few general guidelines:
Your monthly mortgage payment -- including principal, interest, real estate taxes and homeowners insurance -- should not be more than 28 percent of your gross monthly income (before taxes). This is your housing expense ratio.
Your total monthly debt obligation should not be more than 36 percent of your gross income. Total debt includes the mortgage payment plus other obligations such as car loans, child support and alimony, credit card bills, student loans, condominium association fees. (Note: Government and certain other lenders may be more lenient.) This is your debt-to-income ratio.
Example
Let's take a homebuyer who makes $40,000 a year. The maximum amount of money available for a monthly mortgage payment at 28 percent of gross income would be $933. However, the lender says the total debt payments each month should not exceed 36 percent, which comes to $1,200.
The following chart may help you see what is your maximum monthly debt loan based on your annual gross salary:
Gross income 28% of monthly
$20,000 $467
$30,000 $700
$40,000 $933
$50,000 $1,167
$60,000 $1,400
$80,000 $1,867
I think she/he means "tract homes"--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tract_housing. That's what a vast majority of homes are in the area b/c it simply means a lot of homes put up by a single developer/builder. As opposed to custom built homes on a single lot. Even the "custom" homes here are usually put up on a "Tract" or a single parcel of land broken into individual lots.
$75 will depend on your credit, including what debts you have such as credit card debts, etc. Essentially you can break it down to amount of money per month you have available to spend according to the bank. You can try a handy calculator like the one here: Affordable Home Calculator from CNNMoney. If you hit the $250-350k range, you can surely find a 4 bedroom with a community pool. It will depend on how many square feet you want and how large a lot you want. There are certainly a lot of options in Morrisville. I would start at your workplace and draw a radius of a few miles and see what you can find. Morrisville certainly has lots of people from all over the world due to RTP. Breckenridge in Morrisville has a variety of home sizes and prices--it's HUGE. You can venture to NW Cary as well or even Brier Creek since you're going to home school.
Depends on how much money you have as a down payment and what the bank will approve you for. My husband and I both work and roughly combined income ( 6 years ago ) was about $95k. Plus we had money to put down from the sale of our house in NJ and was approved for close to $250K. Taxes here are 1% per $100,000. I think we pay a little under $2k a year in taxes. Our house was about $210k. Have to figure your mortgage and monthly expenses - as with car payment, food, cable TV, electric and water. Within 10 minutes of Morrisville you can live in Cary or even in Morrisville. They have many subdivisions around there and have heard the schools are fine. We live in Apex and I work in Morrisville. My drive is only 20-30 minutes. My neighborhood is great as a starter home. Nothing has sold for more than $230k, it's a mile from the elementary school, the homes have 3-4 bedrooms, 2 community pools, playground, homes come with a fireplace as well. They aren't new though, but only 10 years old. I can send you the name and where it is located in a message if you want more information. Hope that helps!
Thanks Mishellina You've been really helpful!
Does it work out for property tax that you pay once a year or monthly? We wouldn't need cable, but I'm curious to know how much that costs. We are really in the dark here, not knowing what things cost. For example, how much does food cost monthly for a family of 6 generally? Do you have room in the budget for clothes, entertainment, babysitting, extra sports/activities for kids (we home school, so we'd probably have to pay for swim lessons, gymnastics etc). How much does babysitting cost per hour on average? What do people budget for, realistically, for clothing for a family of 6?
I like the idea of community pools and playgrounds. Could you (or anyone ) name a few areas that are in the $100-$300k range housing wise that are close to community pools, playgrounds, churches (we would like to be close to a church we'd eventually settle at - probably something PCA-ish).
I'd also love to know if there are any home school groups in the Raleigh / Triangle area.
I found the following online indicating you should not exceed 28% of gross income with your mortgage payment (includes taxes, insurance). TAlso, there are proposed rules that will make most homeowners put down 20% to get a loan (this is an oversimplification but articles have said that the proposed rules will have this type of effect). You can cut and paste the following link to read about that.
We should be able to do the 20% down payment thing. Thanks for this information - it's really helpful! A good idea to work on adding in the 1% for property tax - makes it easier to work out payments.
Does it work out for property tax that you pay once a year or monthly? We wouldn't need cable, but I'm curious to know how much that costs. We are really in the dark here, not knowing what things cost. For example, how much does food cost monthly for a family of 6 generally? Do you have room in the budget for clothes, entertainment, babysitting, extra sports/activities for kids (we home school, so we'd probably have to pay for swim lessons, gymnastics etc). How much does babysitting cost per hour on average? What do people budget for, realistically, for clothing for a family of 6?
I like the idea of community pools and playgrounds. Could you (or anyone ) name a few areas that are in the $100-$300k range housing wise that are close to community pools, playgrounds, churches (we would like to be close to a church we'd eventually settle at - probably something PCA-ish).
I'd also love to know if there are any home school groups in the Raleigh / Triangle area.
Thanks a million for your help!
Property tax and home insurance is typically paid by your mortgage company. So while they are annual costs you pay a pro rated amount each month with your mortgage payment.
Personally I think the 28% amount is high for a family of six. I'd target something a few points lower. The current low mortgage interest rates should still allow you to afford something reasonable.
thanks Annesg - that is helpful. Community pools are few and far between here, whereas many houses have their own pool. So there are large adjustments to make in thinking and understanding how things work. I understand now about tract housing - something like a development that we have here.
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What are track houses?
