Question to those who rent

[guxx.livejournal.com]

The popular theory is apartment rent should not be higher than 1/3 of net income.

To those of you who rent, does this hold true?

Comments

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

Not in Boston and a lot fo the surrounding areas! I was living near Fenway and paying at least 1/2 of my monthly income for a tiny little studio. Rents here are ridiculous!

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

i don't live in davis anymore. i live in boston. both places, it held true.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

I'm paying about 1/4 of my net. I'm also in a 3BDR so that lowers costs a bit. Next lease cycle, I'm looking at paying closer to 1/3.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Nope. I'm at a little under one half.
However, that was my choice so I could live alone, because roommates drive me nuts, and I drive them nuts. Figured it was better than therapy or legal fees when I tried to brain them.

The formula I heard when younger (from Mom, who probably got it from a very different generation) was for each month: 1/4 rent, 1/4 car (and presumably utilities), 1/4 food/entertainment, 1/4 savings.
Ha ha. "Savings." That's funny.

[cerylium.livejournal.com]

pre- or post-tax? i pay 1/3 pre-tax, but not after.

[queue.livejournal.com]

I pay a little under half of my net income for rent. Of course, my rent includes utilities, and I don't own a car, and this is in Wellesley instead of Somerville.

[prog.livejournal.com]

This was true when I lived in Maine. Maine, unlike Boston, is not famous for having horrendously inflated rents (and property values).

My parents still live up north, where they are themselves landlords. Sometimes, over the phone, my mom'll forget where I am and ask me if I can believe that some apartments around her are going for $700/month, and they're still finding tenants, wow.

[katespace.livejournal.com]

I'm paying almost exactly 1/3 of my post-tax income on my apartment, but that's including utilities.

[viellen]

I pay a little under half after taxes (close to 1/3 before taxes), but I'm also among the crowd who chooses to live alone--hence I pay too much for the privilege.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

i think the theory is not so much "rent should not be higher than 1/3 net income" as "most people choose not to pay more than 1/3 net income in rent."

[turil.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm surprised at how much money you people make! I share my apratment (with my husband, who's generally a pretty good roommate as far as I'm concerned!) and I still pay well over half of my income in rent. That's why I've been trying to convince my husband to move for years. (Well, that and the horrible drivers...)

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I'm making 2.7x my rent, net.

However, rent is just a part of it; if you factor in utilities, I'm paying about half my income on rent.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

Its not a generic theory, its the Department of Housing and Urban Development guideline. And it isn't 1/3 of net, but 1/3 of gross.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I think the popular theory is 25% of gross income on housing. But that's probably roughly 1/3 of net anyhow.

I think I've been under or around the 1/3 net for quite some time. I'm a fair bit under 1/4 at the moment, but we just bought a place so that'll be changing soon :/

[joifulgurl.livejournal.com]

oh, *sigh*. if only...

[cerylium.livejournal.com]

i totally lied. i pay approx 1/4 post tax. utilities not included. but i also have 6 roomates.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i pay somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 after tax. is there a formula that includes utilities?

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

36% of after tax income, not including utlilites. including ult, 46% of after tax income.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

Right now I am paying a little over 1/4 of net monthly income (of course that is a bit confusing, since I am also putting money from my gross income into a 401(k) and an employee stock plan).

I am moving next month (from Powderhouse to Teele) and my new rent will be closer to 1/3 of net.

(Right now I have three roommates, the new place will only have two roommates).

not including utilities...

[thrasher543.livejournal.com]

I pay 1/3 of my net income in rent. But I share my place with two other roommates.

[guxx.livejournal.com]

Why 1/3 of gross? Shouldn't the guideline be after taxes and deductions?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

My rent-proper is 1/4 of my net (I have a freakishly good deal), but tack on the ridiculous utility/phone bills and it tops 3/4 of my income. I really just barely get by. But I still don't want to move.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

holy crap! that is an amazing utilities/rent ratio!

[xoynotsmilexo.livejournal.com]

yes, but i choose to live as cheaply as possible

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Do you have a citation?

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Depends upon if you're talking my net income (I pay our rent but not our bills) or the net income of everyone in the house. It's more than 1/3 for me, but less than 1/4 for the two of us.

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

Less than 1/6th of net income in rent. Roommates, and a freakishly good deal

[marphod.livejournal.com]

ACtually, it is 30%, not 1/3. My bad on that.

Reference after a fashion here: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/index.cfm

There are other references on the HUD website to programs that will help families with housing costs that are higher than 30% of their income (with a gross household income below various thresholds). I've paper references, as well, but that's going to have to wait until after work.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

A hah!

HUG glossary:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/library/glossary/a/index.cfm

Affordable Housing
Housing for which the occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of his or her income for gross housing costs, including utilities.

Income is a pointer to Annual Income
Annual Income
The HOME Program allows the use of three income definitions for the purpose of determining applicant eligibility:

1. annual income as defined in 24 CFR 5.609; or
2. annual income as reported under the Census Long Form for the most recent decennial census; or
3. adjusted gross income as defined for purposes of reporting under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040 series for individual Federal annual income tax purposes.

(1 & 2 are gross income)
Adjusted Income
"Adjusted income" is "annual (gross) income" reduced by deductions (or allowances) for dependents, elderly households, medical expenses, disability assistance expenses, and child care. (The HOME Program allows the use of three definitions of "annual income.") Adjusted income is used only under the certain circumstances described in the "Calculating Income Eligibility" module.


All three income models, even adjusted, is pre-tax.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Wikipedia also has a good page on affordable housing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_housing).

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

Do you still think it's a freakishly good deal? I'm not so sure anymore.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

More like 24% of my gross income and 27% of my net income, I think. But I couldn't realistically go much higher than that -- even now I have some trouble saving -- and I do have to live with housemates. The yearly rent on the entire apartment is almost as much as my gross yearly salary. I figure the minimum rent I could pay living on my own on an apartment in the area would cost about 38% of my gross income -- not worth it for me.

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

About 46 - 50% of my post-tax income goes to rent/household bills. I have two housemates. I'm barely scraping by here, and my case is probably extreme -- but it can be done!

[amethystmoon.livejournal.com]

I think mine is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 net

[ah42.livejournal.com]

Well, after deducting business expenses, my adjusted gross income is absurdly low (last year wasn't a good year). And I'm paying about 45% of my A.G.I. on rent.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

No, I think it really is one of those pieces of received wisdom that is generally a good idea -- it's just not practical in Boston. Kinda like there are general income ratios or down payment percentages mortgage lenders usually look at, but they kinda ignore them in markets like this one where it just isn't practical.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

My mom used to express astonishment at how rapidly real estate has appreciated in her town (in West Virginia). I would tell her to shut up because she had no idea what she was talking about and, also, it was hurting me. No, really! she'd say. It's amazing!

Then we thought about buying a house last year, and they asked us what we were looking at, and I said we thought single-family houses were just too expensive so you might as well get a two-family and offset the mortgage with the rent, and the cheapest you could possibly do that for was half a million.

You could hear my parents' jaws hitting the floor and breaking on the other side. Oddly, my mom has never once since then mentioned how expensive housing is in my hometown.

[sissychrissy1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I pay just barely less than 1/3 of my net income to split an apartment with two other people.