What % of income do you spend on housing? (Seattle, Bellevue: for sale, rental homes)

[cringer]

I moving to the Issaquah area next month. I'll probably rent in Bellevue or Issaquah to be close to work and my monthly income is around $2000. From what I'm seeing online I can expect to pay around $1000 a month, if not more. Is it normal to spend half of your income on rent? Seems crazy to me.

[Sweetenedsapphire]

Unfortunately, yes. I've lived here in Olympia, WA all my life and it is truly getting too expensive to live here - anywhere in the state, practically. (Hence, why we plan to move out of state in 2009) It is not uncommon to pay around half (or more) of your monthly income just on rent alone, not to mention the high gas prices and taxes on everything.

A more affordable idea, depending on area, is to find a mobile for sale with owner financing (if you have bad credit). It makes living in an area much less expensive. (around the $650/month range) Just make sure the neighborhood seems nice before hand, or you will be regretting it soon after.

Personally, overall, I dont recommend moving to WA if you are on a fixed or tight income - it really is getting too expensive to live here. If you do want to live in WA, I do suggest Olympia/Tumwater area, but that all depends on tastes.

Hope that helps!

P.s.: We are on about $2000/month income as well and if we were to have rent as $1000, it would be VERY difficult for us to afford bills and living expenses. If you are at that monthly income, I suggest finding a place less than $750/month or you might find yourself scraping to get by.

[Sandy Nelson]

When I screen tenants for rental homes, I want a ratio of no more than 1/3 of income for housing costs. This way they should be able to safely afford their rent, as well as utility bills.

Sandy

[thirtysomething]

I was about to post what Sandy just stated. We are looking into rentals, and although we haven't applied, yet, when looking into property management companies, they want your income to be 3x the monthly rent.

[CityGirl72]

I have before in my life used 50% of my income for a nice place - but I have children and wanted them in a house

You should not use more then a third of what you make for housing costs.

Is there a reason you need to live in Issaquah? It's a good place for kids - and if that's the case then sounds like a deal to me

We live in Seattle, and use less than 20% of our income on housing (we own)

[Tesaje]

They used to tell you not to spend over 25% of your income on housing.
No wonder so many people get in over their heads nowadays and end up defaulting.

[wannabeaTexan]

My income is well over $2K a month and I could not afford to live in Bellevue or Issaquah. I'm having a tough time just staying in Renton and will have to move when my lease is up because they are going to raise the rent (it is now $1150). It is getting more and more expensive to live in WA and my income (for one) is not keeping up, unfortunately.

[cringer]

I think the $2000/mo income was a little misleading. It's more like $2300/mo, and that's after taxes/health/401k. I'm sitting right at about 40K a year. However, when my average paycheck is around $1100, I tend to get stuck in the mindset that I'm only making $2000/mo.

I guess if I look at the "big picture", I'll only be spending 1/4th my income on rent. It's just gonna feel like half.

That being said, does $1000/mo seem like too much to be spending on rent with the cost of living there?

[Sweetenedsapphire]

Yes, a $1000/month still is too much; doable, but very difficult and hard to pay bills.

[ness]

About 65%-70% of my income goes toward my mortgage. But I live in Southern California and its not unusual. It just means that you have to be SUPER careful with every penny. I make about $36,000 a year and manage to make it work.