Most and Least Affordable Cities

An article from CNNMoney and posted on Yahoo Finance, states that homes are at their most affordable in 18 years for the median family income of $64,000. It also lists the most and least affordable city areas in the country. (NYC and Long Island are in the top five least affordable).

Most people say to me that they don't want to live outside of a major city because their salary will go down. However, they fail to realize that it is not the amount of money that you make but the amount you spend on the highest cost consumer good- the price of a house.

Being affordable means that relative to median income, most people can qualify for a house and often one in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, not $400,000. Look for future posts on how much this will save you over a lifetime in mortgage costs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107093/Homes-Most-Affordable-in-2-Decades

Buy vs. Rent Calculator

This is an interactive tool from the NY Times to give you an understanding of whether it is cost efficient to rent or to buy a home. In graph form you can see the number of years to break even and average annual savings from owning or renting. You can also calculate:

monthly rent
home price
down payment
mortgage rate
property taxes
annual rent increase
annual house increase
summary costs of renting
summary costs of buying house
more advanced settings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/2007_BUYRENT_GRAPHIC.html#

Homes You Could Buy With $150,000

In my native town, I could get a studio co-op in an apt building for under $150,000 and a starter house for around $400,000.

I often tell people that a family can get a nice house with a backyard in most areas of the country (outside of cities) for under $150,000. City dwellers don't believe me. Well, pictures can paint a thousand words!

Check out the 10 towns that AOL Real Estate chose to profile:

http://realestate.aol.com/home-prices/150000?pg=1

Best Places To Buy A House Based On Income

Business Week offers a ranking of best and worst places to live according to housing costs.
They rank the best and worst by measuring if the median house price is affordable for the median income in that area. Unfortunately, we live in the highest cost, the NYC metro area. The median income can not afford the lowest cost house in our area. They are stuck having to buy co-ops in apartment buildings. I don't know about you but I like a backyard, space, and having my own house without worrying that I have a mortgage I can't afford.

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/105683/Affordable-Housing-Exists,-If-You-Know-Where-to-Look

Best Places To Live In

Money Magazine offers an excellent guide on some of the best places to live in the U.S.
Their rankings are based on jobs, schools and housing costs.
You can search by state and closest location to where you live now. You can also compare the cost of living in different towns. I often try to explain to people that their dollar will go a lot further outside of the big cities (especially in housing costs) and they will live a better quality of life. Hopefully, once you see the low cost, high quality neighborhoods available around the U.S., you might move to one of these great towns.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/index.html

Financial Advice for Scary Financial Times

A timely article for Halloween, "13 Financial Frights," provides some solutions to thirteen financial problems people could currently be facing in this economic downturn. We like this article because it lists some of the main concerns we are hearing, including, having your retirement savings decrease, seeing your stocks tank, and an inability to get a student loan.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106063/13-Financial-Frights

Moving Out of NYC

I know a person that is thinking about moving out of New York City. She is thinking about places, like Nebraska, where a house costs $125,000 rather than $500,000. She thinks that it is impossible for a young urban professional to become a millionaire while renting in NYC.

New York City is known to have a high cost of living. To do quick research about how far your salary will go in another city, check out the cost of living calculator provided by CNN Money: http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html