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Worried...please help..
Sigh. My FI and I went to look at apartments. The one we were interested in told us that we need to make an income of $45 thousand to be pre-approved for the apartment. That was the only apartment we went to see because we intend on moving by May, so we were going to start looking in March.
Now I am terribly worried that we won't find a place. Do you guys know if is ALL apartments that require us to make such a high income. He just graduated college and his job will probably make him about $20-25 thousand a year. I am on my last year and just got a new job. I will get between 25-30 hours at a rate of $12.50 per hour.
Right now we live at his mom's house, but she will be selling the house by august which is when we will get married. We wanted to move out by May. I KNOW we need to look at other apartments, but I kind of feel so hopeless..knowing that we won't make that money.
my Fi just keeps saying to worry when it gets there..now we might have to look at apts in January which is fine by me, but I just..feel so hopeless. Please let me know anything that you know..i have done research, but can't find anything. I don't really know what I am asking, I guess I am just asking . . .for advice? and to have shared experiences? . . idk.
Will we find an apt that asks for lower income?
Re: Worried...please help..
There are all types of apartments, price ranges and rental requirements. You will find something in your budget that you like.
The rule of thumb for housing costs is to pay no more than 30% of your before tax income toward, in your case, rent.
So, if your DH is making $22k per year before taxes and you're making $16,250 per year (based on the info you provided...$12.50 x 25 hours per week x 52 weeks per year), that's a total of $38,250 for the two of you combined. 30% of that is $11,475 and this number divided by 12 months is $956.25. This means that your monthly rental payment should be NO MORE than $956.
Look for apartments at or below this price.
Actually I am more financially conservative than the previous poster and do not recommend spending more than 25-28% of your TAKEHOME pay for housing (rent, utilities and renter's insurance).
Start saving NOW - as you will need a chunk of money to get into an apartment (first month's rent, last month's rent, security deposit, moving costs, utility deposits (unless they are included in the rent) furniture, and decorating. And STILL have an emergency fund in place - stuff happens in life - cars break down, people lose jobs etc - you need savings!
Pay off any credit card debt - if you cannot do that - pay it down as much as possible.
Too much rent, just like too large of a mortgage will keep your budget much, much too tight.. Deal with your financial facts and the reality you have. Do NOT overspend on an apartment. It is easy to fall in love with one you cannot afford .
Proof of income is fairly common, but not all apartments require this. They want to amek sure they will have their rent payments on time and people can afford them.
(Don't overspend on your wedding either. It is special, but more money spent on a wedding does not make your marriage better)
Thanks, that does help.
Thank God his mom is paying 5 thousand fort he wedding, so I have made sure that that's all we spend. I strongly believe that getting in debt over a wedding isn't worth it. Thankfully that's something we are doing.
I definitely agree with you. Thank you. That does make sense. It's so problematic though because the apt that requires 45 thousand is near both of our jobs-10 mins away. And the one that is $780 a month is an hour away from our jobs and my school (i am graduating next year).
I still don't have a car so we figured that the other apt though more expensive $1200 was worth it because is close to the things we need and doesn't get flooded. Then the apts that are cheaper are in bad neighborhoods where I know I will be scared since we have driven by there in the am and at night.
So, I don't really know what to do here. We don't know if the one hour commute is worth it for the cheaper rent, but if that's what we have to do then that's what we will do because is true like you guys say if we overspend on an apt then we will have a budget that is far too tight.
Thanks for the help.
Thank you for breaking it down for me. I really appreciate it. The way you broke it down gives me a much better understanding. The one we were looking at is $1200 because is close to everything we need. The one that we can probably afford that is in a good neighborhood is $780, but it is an hour away from my school (graduating next year), and both our jobs.
My FI says that we can make it work, but I prefer having a plan that I know we can actually do and that is realistic. Thanks a lot for your help.
Ditto to what the other's have said about income requirements. It's not usually a specific amount, but making sure you make so much over the rent. If you seem priced out of most places, I would see if you qualify for low-income housing. We have a few apartment complexes around here that have income limits, and some complexes aren't great, but other's are new a look pretty nice.