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How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

theatlanticcities.com

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Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#51

Post by troels »

heretohelp wrote: post #43
rayiner wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wear a suit to work year-around... DC is miserable for about half the year. :)

I've motorcycled in a mid-western winter. It is dangerous in ways you cannot possibly comprehend. Sweating in a suit is a first world problem. Try riding on a two-wheeled motor vehicle on ice in the presence of traffic. I'll stick to California, thanks.

    Sweating in a suit is a first world problem. Try riding
    on a two-wheeled motor vehicle on ice in the presence of
    traffic.
Arguably, that's a first-world problem too.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#52

Post by bmunro »

nl wrote: post #14
se85 wrote: post #3

I live in Sydney Australia, so to me these prices look fairly reasonable in comparison. To give some of you non-aussies an example... The average price for 2 bedroom victorian era terraces (hundred year old plus buildings) with next to no real land except the land the property sits on in sydney can be anywhere from 800k (AU) to millions of dollars. Our interest rates are also higher then US.

According to [1], apartments in the Sydney City Center are $11K/sq m. If my math is correct, that is around $1000/sq ft. Outside the city center the prices are roughly half that (so a little more that San Francisco). According to the same data source, average weekly pay is around $1064. [1] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country...

But if you compare figures for both cities from the same site: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

You'll see that prices for just about everything are higher in Sydney. Except apples, oranges and tennis court hire.

Salaries are slightly higher in Sydney (according to that site), but not enough to make up for the increase in costs.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#53

Post by sateesh »

redschell wrote: post #45
greghinch wrote: post #30

I really don't understand the obsession with owning a home. So many people I know expend their entire savings on buying a town home or a condo or some other place where you might as well rent an apartment. But the dream of "being a homeowner" is somehow worth it. It's always struck me as something of a con. Any tax benefits you might see are offset by the much higher monthly mortgage payment. * note my experience is…

Can someone more worldly than I speak to any possible cultural factor here? By that I mean, is the desire to own property as deeply-rooted elsewhere in the world as it is, or at least seems to be, in America? Are people in Japan breaking their backs to own a home? How about Europe? Brazil? I'm genuinely fascinated by this, because it really does seem like American society frowns upon people who don't own a home by a…

A datapoint, the desire to own a property is quite deep rooted in India as well.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#55

Post by rawatson »

I think the author could have chosen better data for this calculation. There are a few unusual factors:

* Why use average income? Why not median family income?

* Why use median $/square foot, and then assume a 2000 square foot house? Why not just rely on median sale price?

I looked up the data for San Francisco, where median family income is $81,136 and median home sale price is $705,000.

Using the same methodology but with these income/price numbers, saving up for the down payment on a home in San Francisco takes ~14.5 years instead of 20.6. I'm not sure how this compares to other cities, but I think it's a bit more reasonable of an estimate of how long it takes to "save up for a house" in San Francisco.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#56

Post by hessenwolf »

rayiner wrote: post #48
greghinch wrote: post #30

I really don't understand the obsession with owning a home. So many people I know expend their entire savings on buying a town home or a condo or some other place where you might as well rent an apartment. But the dream of "being a homeowner" is somehow worth it. It's always struck me as something of a con. Any tax benefits you might see are offset by the much higher monthly mortgage payment. * note my experience is…

Say you take out a $400,000 loan for a $500,000 place (this will buy you a 3BR high-rise condo in downtown Chicago). At today's rates, your mortgage payment will be ~$2,000/month. Your first payment on that house will be $600 principal and $1,400 interest. In a condo, your HOA fee will be maybe $800-1000/month. Depending on your tax bracket, your tax savings will be ~$400/month, which will cancel out your property ta…

just a caveat; when = if. Houses may be overvalued.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#57

Post by hessenwolf »

chao- wrote: post #7

Speaking from a team bootstrapping our company out of Houston, we wouldn't have stood a chance anywhere else, especially anywhere near the Valley. We were running off savings for the longest time, and so a month's worth of expenditures in most places lasted 2-3 months here, easily (the company and team's cost of living all combined, primarily rent). It gave us the time to figure out which way was up with our business…

(maybe there are only a few people employed?)

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#58

Post by heretohelp »

troels wrote: post #51
heretohelp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've motorcycled in a mid-western winter. It is dangerous in ways you cannot possibly comprehend. Sweating in a suit is a first world problem. Try riding on a two-wheeled motor vehicle on ice in the presence of traffic. I'll stick to California, thanks.

Sweating in a suit is a first world problem. Try riding on a two-wheeled motor vehicle on ice in the presence of traffic. Arguably, that's a first-world problem too.

Most of the developing world, when it has a motor vehicle at all, it's a scooter or motorcycle.

So no, it's not a first-world problem to ride a two-wheeled vehicle in bad weather because you can't afford a car.

Try visiting Southeast Asia or India sometime.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#59

Post by EwanToo »

redschell wrote: post #45
greghinch wrote: post #30

I really don't understand the obsession with owning a home. So many people I know expend their entire savings on buying a town home or a condo or some other place where you might as well rent an apartment. But the dream of "being a homeowner" is somehow worth it. It's always struck me as something of a con. Any tax benefits you might see are offset by the much higher monthly mortgage payment. * note my experience is…

Can someone more worldly than I speak to any possible cultural factor here? By that I mean, is the desire to own property as deeply-rooted elsewhere in the world as it is, or at least seems to be, in America? Are people in Japan breaking their backs to own a home? How about Europe? Brazil? I'm genuinely fascinated by this, because it really does seem like American society frowns upon people who don't own a home by a…

In the UK owning your own home is definitely "the dream", but in France, owning your own home is much less of a desirable thing, though it is increasing.

I don't know about the USA, but with current interest rates and the end of the housing boom a couple of years ago, in the UK it's often cheaper to buy than to rent, assuming you can get the deposit together.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#60

Post by troels »

heretohelp wrote: post #58
troels wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweating in a suit is a first world problem. Try riding on a two-wheeled motor vehicle on ice in the presence of traffic. Arguably, that's a first-world problem too.

Most of the developing world, when it has a motor vehicle at all, it's a scooter or motorcycle. So no, it's not a first-world problem to ride a two-wheeled vehicle in bad weather because you can't afford a car. Try visiting Southeast Asia or India sometime.

Yes, but I bet that you choose to drive a bike for all sorts of non-practical reasons, which makes it a luxury issue.

Anecdotally, my impression is that lots of people wear suits in both India and Southeast Asia. Maybe even more so than we tend to do in "the West". For lots of people it's not a choice, but a requirement to keep a job.

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