Can I support my family in CDA/North Idaho on my salary? (Coeur d'Alene: sales)

[cdamover]

Hi,

My pregnant wife and I currently live in Southern California and I just got a job offer here in Coeur d'Alene for $40K/year gross.

We have a baby coming in April and one golden retriever.

We've made a few visits here and we love it, but I'm wondering whether I can support wife, kid, and dog financially on $40K/year.

Thanks in advance.

[nm9stheham]

Good question for sure. Some questions back at you to perhaps help the answers:

- What is the job? Any chance for growth and promotion and better pay?
- Do you expect/want to buy a house?
- How richly do want you live?
- Do you have other debts?
- Will the new job pay for health insurance
- Do you want to live in-town?
- Do you have skills like woods skills that you can turn into things like cutting firewood for heat to save $$, or mechanical skills for doing side work on cars and such?

[nm9stheham]

And to help in budgeting, here is an online estimator for take-home pay every 1/2 month for Idaho and Federal income taxes. Take the result from this and multiply it by 2 to get your approximate monthly take-home pay for budgeting.
https://smartasset.com/taxes/idaho-p...tor#QSimVdI76c

[Shaner]

I would say it would be hard for one income to support it all. If you live within a very well thought-out budget, you could make it, but it would be lean.

Questions above are good. If you wife is home with the baby, maybe she can do some side work to help the bottom line?

[nm9stheham]

Yes... Shaner ought to know about housing costs, being a RE agent. I took a quick look at prices of currently available houses in that area, and there were a couple of small condo's you could just manage on that, but very few houses that would work that were not mobile homes. That was using standard income versus house price estimators.... which is why to ask about other skills, etc.


East Spokane, WA, looks to have less expensive housing, with a 25-35 minute commute to CdA. So you'd trade some personal time and some more vehicle costs (fuel, wear & tear, etc.) to lower your housing costs. Might work out that way. I did not look at the difference on WA taxes vs ID taxes, but I'd guess that would not be a make or break difference.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Landlords are going to want you to have three times the rent in income. Some use gross income, some use take home pay.


If you find a landlord who uses gross income, you can qualify for $1111 month rental. You need at least 2 bedrooms and you have a dog. If you have good credit, you can find a place to rent, but it won't be fancy. Many of the apartment complexes will take pets, so that will make it a bit easier.



Competition for the lower rent places can be pretty intense, so you will have an easier time beating out the competition if you have good credit and good landlord references as well as the sort of job where you are not likely to get laid-off with no warning.


I was just in my credit union and they are offering a 2.87% mortgage. I am seeing mortgages with little or no down. You might be able to qualify to buy.



I think you can do it if you are careful with the budget. Finding housing is going to be the only difficulty.


Rents and purchase are a bit cheaper in Post Falls and Rathdrum than they are in Coeur d'Alene itself and the commute isn't at all bad.


You will find that gasoline is less expensive, car insurance is more expensive, and for me, groceries seem higher, but coming from Southern California, you might think they are lower. There is sales tax on groceries which is a bit hard on the budget.


Leave room in the budget for heating costs in the winter. it gets cold here.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

You will find that gasoline is less expensive, car insurance is more expensive, and for me, groceries seem higher, but coming from Southern California, you might think they are lower. There is sales tax on groceries which is a bit hard on the budget.

Leave room in the budget for heating costs in the winter. it gets cold here.

Versus SoCal, gasoline way less expensive, and auto insurance, (for my individual situation), is also less expensive. Groceries much higher, and yeah, the sales tax on it is something to consider. Thankfully, it is only 6% and not the 10% as in some parts of SoCal. There is a credit on your state income tax every year, so you'll get some of it back when you file.

My winter heating bill for a 1,700 sq. ft. 3bd, 3ba has been running about $100 a month this past winter. House is fairly new and heavily insulated. I close the vents in the two extra bedrooms and keep the doors closed. Thermostat set at 70 during the day and turned off at night. That Avista bill includea both natural gas and electricity.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by volosong

........ Thermostat set at 70 during the day and turned off at night. That Avista bill includea both natural gas and electricity.

OP is going to have a brand new baby. He can not keep a cold house, or the money he saves on power will get spent at the doctor's office.


Weatherization in a rental is unlikely to be upper quality. OP is very unlikely to have $100 monthly bills that include both gas and electric and that pay for all of his heating costs and hot water and he really should be budgeting more than that.


If power bills turn out to be on the low side, it will be a pleasant surprise. If power bills are much higher than expected, he is going to be financially hurt.

[cdamover]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I was just in my credit union and they are offering a 2.87% mortgage. I am seeing mortgages with little or no down. You might be able to qualify to buy.

Thanks for this. What credit union do you use?