what salary is needed for one person

[JesseJames34]

Originally Posted by birdofparadise

OK, thanks. I am assuming that I will make at least as much as is needed for one person to survive without credit card debt and without car payments. 3+% sounds workable for me.

What you really should do is go here:
How much house can you afford? Mortgage calculator from Bankrate.com

and find out how much you can afford. Even you save 3% of the mortgage value, that doesn't mean you meet the monthly income to debt ratio required to pay the monthly bill. After you know how much you can probably afford (doesn't mean you'll get a loan for that much of course), go find some property and see the costs, location, etc.

Normally if you save 20+% of the loan you won't have to pay mortgage insurance, which can be a nice bit of change with high mortgages (seattle isn't exactly considered a cheap place). This will also ensure you will have a better chance of keeping your home permanently if things go sour fiancially one day.

[allforcats]

Buying real estate is interesting, but it's also a profoundly complex and expensive transaction -- with financial and emotional effects on you for years and years after the purchase.

Having bought and sold several homes so far, I urge you to forget about buying right now -- given the deep U.S. recession, prices will continue to go down somewhat during 2009 so there's no rush.

First, you need to get your new life established -- find a job, move, start your job, spend most of your energy on your new job, start making friends, that sort of thing, AND saving money for your down payment and all the closing costs. THEN set aside a half-year or so, until you know you really understand it, to: 1) study why, why not, how, and when to buy real estate; and 2) research very carefully and thoroughly, and with your own eyes and "hands on", the areas you think maybe you'd like to buy a home in.

There are almost countless little areas here, neighborhoods of neighborhoods, all different from each other in some way. One of the worst decisions is to make an enormous move like purchasing a home in an area one doesn't know, and then live there for 6 months and realize one hates living there, or wish one had bought elsewhere...

To rent for at least the first 6 months, or for as long as it takes you to learn where you really want to live, and to save enough money for the purchase -- here's a great rentals resource which covers a wide area in and around Seattle. Click on any name in the little map to drill down to smaller areas:
NWapartments: Seattle apartment rentals, house rental listings, rental classifieds and other property rentals in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue and other Washington areas, cities and neighborhoods
and another rentals resource, Seattle Weekly:
Seattle Classifieds - Seattle Weekly

P.S. Given the growing nationwide economic disaster caused in part by the huge mistake if giving mortgages to people who had no money for down payments, it's not likely that you'll be able to find a mortgage with zero-down or small-down payments anytime into the foreseeable future, so expect 10-20% down. (Plus all the closing costs, of course.) And just so you understand correctly, that's 20% of the purchase price of the property; the lender will lend you the other 80% of the purchase price of the property, and together you and your lender pay 100% of the purchase price to the seller.

[coldbliss]

I live on the East Coast as well. The cost of living in the DC area is getting outrageous thanks to out-of-control federal government spending. In my suburban community, you have to make at least $72,000 in before-tax annual income to rent a one-bedroom apartment. For studios, we are talking at least $60,000 in income per year.

Seattle is a bargain compared to Washington, DC real estate.

Originally Posted by birdofparadise

How much gross annual salary do I need to support myself in Seattle assuming that I will rent a studio apartment in a safe area someplace with a lively social scene and close to all amenities?