Let's talk realistically

[chenzt]

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1300 per month at $50,000 is 31% of your income just for rent. The remaining 69% has to pay for all your taxes, student loans, health care costs, food, and utility bills and will not go particularly far especially if you have kids.

Since you are really not supposed to go above 20 to 25% of your income for housing, suggesting someone do over 30% is not financially responsible. 25% is about 1050 a month.

"The Mint, a budgeting and personal finance web site, recommends you spend no more than 33% of your gross (pre-tax) income on housing" - few other sites also peg the number around 30-35%, so 1/3 seems to be the consensus here. If we're talking about 60k, which is more applicable here as it's the salary for those at the end of the residency since we're referring to living on a holdover budget after residency to quickly pay down loans. Using the 60k number, it's down to 26%.

you might as well buy a house in the suburbs but you are going to be dealing with our famous Atlanta traffic which you are going to have to deal with anyway even if you live in the city as Marta does not go even remotely close to everywhere.

I lol'd. Especially when you guys have two inches of snow, right? 😀

 

[familyaerospace]

"The Mint, a budgeting and personal finance web site, recommends you spend no more than 33% of your gross (pre-tax) income on housing" - few other sites also peg the number around 30-35%, so 1/3 seems to be the consensus here. If we're talking about 60k, then it's down to 26%.

When you are attempting to get a mortgage, it is 20-25%. It used to be 35% as standard but then almost everyone revamped down given the housing bust. I deal with banks and housing loans far far too much given my partner's crazy income and some of the places where I volunteer where I help people find affordable housing. *sigh* Last year, I had five roommates for about six months. Took them forever to get approved for anything given the income percentage thing (he made 55K) and they weren't even trying to get a mortgage, they were just trying to rent a safe family friendly place (apartment or house).

Don't get me started on Snowjam 2014. It wasn't snow. It was pure ice. Tractor trailers were speeding and jackknifed. If just one does it, it shuts down a segment of the city, if several do it, all hell breaks loose. Add to that Atlanta has a hell of a traffic problem on the best of days and that it gets worse with weather. Atlanta in a "sun shower" is a funny thing.

I was very happy I was not in Snowjam 2014. I was however one of the people giving assistance. You can laugh all you want but a few people died in Snowjam from hypothermia. Then we had a second blizzard two weeks later and an earthquake. Between all that and then going up to Michigan where I saw Hell frozen over, if I get into medical school I am going to have a great story to tell and a great joke that I can make about all the signs of the apocalypse.

Anyway, back to traffic, I am about to go to bed as I am going to have to travel from my house to a location ITP in the north side of Atlanta for a class at 9:30 am. I am going to have to leave my house before 7 to assure I get there. On Fridays, I leave my house at around 3 pm to get to an event at 6 pm at the same location. My GPS will tell me if there is traffic and will give me better routes. I sometimes still struggle to get there. BTW Marta does not get to that location even with the bus... closest stop is a few miles away. It's one of two places ITP where I would be willing to live, it is a safe but expensive area. They think I am an absolute pauper.