News, Your salary is $46,075? You can't afford to live in Seattle.

[sapphos]

Can anyone tell me if the prices below would still be teh same now or if they've gone up or down? actual numbers would be great.
thanks!

Originally Posted by mmcguy

I've been living in Seatle since 1982. My first home was bought for $58,500 (1000 sf, 3 b/r) just north of the city limits. The same starter home today will sell for $300,000.

The reality is you can not afford to live and work in the city for under about $75K (unless you bought a home before about 1985). Add kids to the picture and that cost goes up to about $100K for a family of four (or even more if you want to avoid the Seattle school system by using the many high quality private schools).

Rent: decent 2 b/r, 1.5 bath, 1000 sf: $1200/month
Mortgage: 6% 30 year fixed on $300,000: $1798/month
Property Taxes: $250/month ($3000/year) on a $300K home
Cable TV: $50/month (basic). Forget over-the-air reception. There are too many hills and valleys. You need cable or dish to get any reception.
High Speed Internet: $50/month (cable or DSL)
Sales Tax: 9.7% on all non-food purchases (10.2% on restaurants/bars)
Car Tabs: Appox $100/year (depending on age and value of car)
Transit Bus: $5/day round trip or $100/mo pass
Traffic: Plan to sit in traffic on I-5, I-90 and I-405 any time between 6:00am and 10pm.
Gas: Currently averages $4.45/gal in the city for regular
Heating Oil: $4.90/gal
Natural Gas: ??
Electricity: The city practices peak-load pricing by charging 20% more per KWH in the winter (when you need it most!). Average electric bill for most homes is about $100/month excluding heat). If you have electric heat, average it out over the year to about $100/month. Note that there are only about 5 days a year where home A/C would be "needed". The rest of the summer, it's mid to upper 70's (both days!....: )> )
Water/Sewer: appox $50/month for a family of 4
Waste: Mandatory recycling (glass, plastic, paper, aluminum and yard waste). Cost is appox $40/month for all. You can not opt out of recycling or waste. You pay whether you use it or not.
Groceries: Nothing special, except most of the stores are now carrying a decent supply of the over-priced organic foods for "that" segment of consumers.
Restaurants (dinner for 2): Casual: $40, Nice: $75, Special Event: $110

Seattle has it's plusses (scenery, activities, night-life, etc...) but it has become a mini- San Francisco catering to wealthy but also looking to tax you to death to pay for a whole lot of "social engineering" and "social experimentation". I sometimes refer to this city as "The Peoples Republic of Seattle".

By the way, did I mention the 40 inches of rain/year and the 275-300 cloudy and/or rainy days per year???

I'm out of here in about 8 years (after I retire).

[Malloric]

Close enough. $300,000 would get your more house, but that's about right for a well-kept 3bd detached home in north Seattle. The conclusion is way off, I lived comfortably on about $38,000 in 2007. I had a decent but small studio that I rented for $725 (including water, electricity, heat, and garbage). Seattle traffic does suck for being a relatively small city, but I lived in the city and a 15 minute walk from work. All in all, my necessaries were under $1,000/month. I could have survived on a net of $15,000, but it would have been minimal and not much fun at all. I wouldn't want to do it on less than about $30,000 but it is doable.

[noexcuseforignorance]

Can you all really focus on the actual topic. It is can people afford to live here. Not can people afford to buy a house and live here. I know plenty of people who live here for less than $46k. Yes, they don't own houses. They happily rent and live their lives. It's really not that uncommon an idea around the world.

News, most of this thread is pointless.