How Much $ Is Your Mortgage or Rent?

rent a 4bed/2 bath 1600sqft house in Carrollton, Tx for $875 a month, should be $1200 but my ex father in law owns the house so he gives me discounted rent.

Gosh... would be nice to have what you have for that price. We are definitely over that budget and half the space :(

We are in south Seattle in a long-established working-class neighborhood. Monthly mortgage + taxes for 1400 sq-ft house (detached garage) is $1350.

$0 per month mortgage.
It's paid off.
Suburban Pittsburgh area. 3bed/2 bath, 2 car garage & decently large yard/property.
We bought it 14 years ago with a conventional 30 yr fixed rate mortgage. A few years later we refi'd to a 15 yr fixed rate & paid it off about 5 years ago.
Soooo....property & school taxes due each year.
Our property was recently reassessed this year and the value went up $11K.

We began building in 12/1999, when the world was going to end, LOL.

Signed our contract at the time for $425,000. As soon as the world didn't end, the first week of January, all lots and homes in our neighborhood being built went up about $15,000 each and the area we are which are the largest lots and more privacy went up $25,000.

We live on 1/2 acre pie shaped wooded lot backing up to woods. Very different for our area where a lot of homes have postage stamp yards. The house is a little over 4000 SF.

We pay $1064.00 a month mortgage . We paid about 25% down, avoid escrow (refinancied and paid down the mortgage about 3 times cost free and for the last year our interest rate is 4% something). Since we do not escrow, we pay our own taxes, around $12,000 in Dec and homeowners $2500 in Feb.

We are in a good area North of Dallas located in West Allen/Far North Plano area, great schools and LOVE our lot.

We are fortunate that Texas has not seen the economic downturn with housing like many areas have.

3 bedroom, 3 bath 2,000+ finished square feet and an unfinished basement with an additional 1500 square feet on 9+ acres. I am also in Eastern WA and my mortgage is $1600. My property tax is not rolled into my mortgage and we pay about $3,000/year.
Our house was built in the fall of 2008.

I could vomit reading these.

$2500 month (including taxes and insurance) for a 3 bed/1 bath 50 year old 1100 sq ft ranch. We do live in a great town and have a pool and 1-car garage but a failing septic system that needs a $20K replacement.

The kicker? We've been in a stalled re-fi for 3 years...none of that $2500 is going to principal, it's all interest-only because this is temporary. When the re-fi is done, we should be down to about $2000 a month, which will include a new septic system.

Until I read your posts I thought my monthly bills where off the roof. Now I am happy I don't pay what you do. I pay $400 for a one bedroom apartment, with a basement the same size. Also it has a garage. Add about 150 for our utilities. Wow I feel lucky now!

Sounds like I'm living in the wrong state! We're at 2200 for a 3000sqft. house in the DC region.

We rent a 3BR, 1800sft single family home and we pay $1100 a month.

The mortgage on my house is $830 a month, and that includes funds that are diverted into an escrow account for homeowner's insurance and property taxes.
It's 3-bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 1100 sq ft of living area, 1/2 acre fenced lot.

I live just south of DC in Maryland. Our brand spanking new house (built in Oct/Nov of 2010, we closed on Thanksgiving of 2010), 2500 sq ft (not including the partially finished basement) 4 br, 3.5 baths (including the basement full bath) with a REALLY good sized yard (I can't tell you off the top of my head how big it is, but there is definitely room for a pool AND a 14x12 deck).

We pay $2,200 a month, and that covers our home owners insurance and property taxes (which run about $5,500 a year). We also pay almost $800 a year for HOA fees (and do NOT get me started on HOA's).

When we rented a house around the corner we were paying $2,500 a month. When we lived in Northern CA we paid $2,200 a month for rent.

I lived in a 1,027 sq ft house. It had 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms, a garage, and a big backyard. The house was so tiny, but we loved the yard. We were paying $1,375 a month in rent.
You pay almost nothing and you live in WA! I am on the wrong side of the mountains. :)
L.

Bought in Aug 2011. 3200 sq ft. 4 bedroom, 3.5 baths, 3 car garage with a pool. Gated subdivision, all houses were built in early to mid 80's. Its an older established neighborhood, big trees.
House payment with taxes and insurance $1993 a month. Oh yeah, $700 a year HOA.

this is small house compared to most nowadays at about 1100 s/f 3bd/1ba - bought it 11/91 and have refi 2 times since then to lower that rate (half of what it was) ... payment, which includes escrows, is almost $550/mo -- you won't get that around here now since pricing hasn't come back down from the big rise!

I'm feeling pretty blessed right now. We laid hands on a 1200 sq ft 3bd/2bth on 3/4 of an acre in a nice subdivision two years ago for 85k. Our mortgage is 660 a month including insurance and taxes. I think we put 8% down. I would have preferred to put more down, but for our first house I was happy with anything.

My house is a similar size to yours (2800 sqft, 5 bedrooms + bonus room, 3 baths) and we just refinanced, so our new rate is about $1875/month. Insurance and property tax are extra. But this is in So Cal, where prices are a lot higher. Bought in 2009.

This is a great question! The cost of living is ridiculous and I wonder about this across the country myself. It sounds like the cost of living is better by you! We live in a tiny, shoebox, 2bdrm apartment and pay $875 (low end of spectrum) in a 4 unit building that is with lots of other 4 unit buildings. Not a great area but good enough that I don't worry too much. We have high hopes of buying this year. Probably can't afford a house--hoping for a townhouse but so longing for a yard for kids.

We bought a brand new house two years ago, 3/2/3, 1750 sq feet. $175k, nothing down, mortgage is $1055/month at 5.25% fixed.

Your house sounds like an awesome deal! I watch House Hunter-type shows too and I'm always amazed at these young couples who are looking for houses that cost in the hundreds of thousands. How can they afford that?!

Stating your monthly mortgage doesn't show how much you paid and how much you put down. So looking at $1000 a month for a 2800SF home looks like a great deal, so I would assume you put 50% down or got a smackin deal in this economy. I think you would need to know more details to get a *true* idea of what you are asking. JMO.

I rent a 2000SF 4/2 home with a pool on a cul-de-sac, in downtown and pay $1365 month.

We just bought a house last summer in a nice established neighborhood in one of the better school districts of Albuquerque. We paid $180k for our house (it was already foreclosed and bank owned). Mortgage is $1,300/mo and includes taxes, insurance, and PMI. It is 5bedrooms/3baths 2700sf, 2car garage, on a nice (for the area) private lot.

Previously, we lived in a condo that we bought in 2007 for $67,000 and paid $520/mo which also includes taxes & PMI. The HOA there is $240/mo and includes gas & water. We pay for insurance ~$20/mo. We now have that as a rental and get $800/mo for rental income. It is 2bed/1bath (960sf) with 1 reserved parking space. Yes, that means that we make a whopping $10/month "profit" on the place. At least it pays the bills and we didn't have to take a loss with selling it.

3,000 sq ft, 5 beds/3 bath - $2200 - this includes taxes, etc. if we didn't include those? take $435 a month off. We live in Fairfax County, VA - probably one of the most expensive places...urgh. love our location though!!!

About 1300 sq ft, $375, 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths.

I don't own a home. We have rented for a long time. But the sound of it seems par for what I have researched. I am living in a 2/2 duplex with attached 1 car garage for $825. I was renting a 3/2/2 for $1100.
When I lived in Houston I rented a couple of houses both for around $900 to $1050 for 3/2/2.
When I was a property manager in Houston the rents were approx $1 sq ft for class B property 6 yrs ago.
Blessings!
D.

My house is just like yours, with the 2 car garage and solar heated pool, and we pay more then double =*(
Yes, I believe is location for us:safe, a good school and close to everything.

$2600 and change

1032sqft 2bed/1ba house

450k purchase price (150k under market at the time... and STILL not underwater) Most of the houses on my block AFTER the crash are 100 year old dinky little "starter" homes... for 600k. During the boom they were 800k to 1.2mil. Those over a million were 3bed/2ba homes about 2500 sq feet. Now they're worth half that, but still, 600k is freakin expensive. Heck. 450k is freakin expensive.

20% down

Our mortgage and insurance isn't that bad... $1700 together. Taxes are what bump it up an extra $900 a month.

There are also $1500 a month living expenses (electricty, oil, water, garbage, etc.) Our water bill alone is $400 a month... we don't water our lawn or anything, it's just freakin expensive. Along with everything else around here. ((Student family housing... subsidized by the university, and about 600-800 sqft is $1600 a month to start. Plus $200 a month for parking.))

Seattle, San Fransisco, New York, Hawaii, and Boston are just VERY expensive places to live.

So it costs us about 4k per month to live here including mort, tax+insurance, utilities, etc.

2004 - new 5 bed/4 bath 4,200 sq feet, almost 40 % down - $3,500 (inc. taxes). Great town, but no industry so taxes are almost $900 a month (use to be over 1K!)... would be very sure we live in a town w/ industry next time.

2009 - summer home, 3 bed/2bath 1,500 sq., walk to the beach, $2,100 month (inc. taxes).

we are renting in Northern VA (Fairfax county) and we live in a town home. We have I think 1600 sq feet. 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 4 levels including the fully finished basement. No garage and no usable yard space. We have a very small fenced in are in the back, but we can literally fit only our bikes, trash can and some outdoor toys in it. We pay $1650 a month plus all utilities.

Hi. I live in Carson City, NV. We rent a 3 bdrm., 1 3/4 bath home which we rent. We moved in 13 yrs. ago at $900 a month and now pay $925. This is considered extremely low, especially for the neighborhood we live in. Most of the houses in this area go for $1100 - $2000 a month (plus utilities, etc.., of course).

2400 sq. ft, 4 bdrm, 2 bath on approx. 3 acres (mostly unusable, steep hill) in Western Montana and our mortgage is about $980/month. We bought it nine years ago with 20% down, 30 yr. fixed rate mortgage.

OMG - I need to move! We are in Los Angeles, bought in 2004, we have a 3BD/2BA, 1800 sq ft, one car attached garage and we pay $3000 NOT including taxes or insurance, which adds another $700/mo. But, we are at the end of a cul de sac, are surrounded by huge mature trees and the area is well maintained. Too bad hubby can't do his job from somewhere else! (movie biz)

A real eye-opener. Thanks for asking this.

blahh i rent a small 2/could be 3 bedroom 1 bath cottage on an acre right outside of new hope pa for 1400 a month.
I chose the more expensive area because anywhere else was 1200 a month and in a school district where Emmy would miss the cuttoff so I am currently living there primarily because their cut off is 9/15 and not 9/1 so I save 700 a month on daycare since i only have to pay for before and after, but i get nauseous seeing all of the huge hms in other areas i could rent for less but then Id be paying an arm and a leg for daycare.

$860 (including escrow). 1300 sq ft, 3/2/1 corner lot in the DFW Area of Texas

Which is cheaper than the average 2 bedroom apartment with as much square footage in my area.

Which always makes me laugh then they say, "If you have a hard time with a house, why don't you move into an apartment"...well, cause an apartment here is $1100. LOL

And I wanna move to Oklahoma evidently cause that's like dirt cheap for a house....lol

We are in Texas and yes we have seen a major economic downturn in housing (contrary to another post), but we have always had cheap, cheap real estate compared to the rest of the country.

We paid 130,000 for 3BR/2BA, 2800+ sg ft. on an acre lot w/ 10,000 down. We pay 1200 a month that includes taxes & insurance (taxes are 3000.00 and insurance 1500.00 a year). We are also on the accelerated payment plan - we pay 600 every two weeks. That cut our mortgage from 30 to 21 years.

OMG. I need to move. I live in south Orange County, California.

We just sold our home which was 1,900sq ft. Our mortgage was $4,300 with taxes and homeowner's ins.

We moved to a 2,100sq ft rental home and we now pay $2,900....AND we don't have to pay for any repairs. We haven't rented in over 10 years and are liking it!

We have several acres, and our home is an old farmhouse that I love. It's only about 2000 sq. ft., but we have a barn/workshop, and a stockpond. Our mortgage is $1150 per month, but that doesn't include taxes or insurance. Taxes are about $5000 per year, and insurance is about $1000.

*We're paying it off early, so we always pay $1400 per month instead of $1150.

Rental property, townhome in chicago suburbs, 3+2 between 1000-1500 /mo for rent.

Wow, I find that incredible. I guess California is the most expensive state to live in. I lived in the Inland Empire,Southern Ca. for over 10 yrs. and was paying $1,400 for a 2bd. condo. It was about 1200 sq. ft.I lived in it for 5 yrs. We just moved to the high desert (Victorville ca.) and were amazed that we found a 1800 sq. ft. 3bd. home for rent for $1,125. We are now looking to buy and have been amazed that we can get a 2800 sq ft home here for about $1,300 (mortgage payment.)

We bought our house in 2005 in San Diego's North Park area. It's an up and coming, artsy area with a lot of Spanish & Craftsman houses built in the 20's, 30's & 40's. We bought it at the height of the market for $660,000. It is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath craftsman home just under 1400 square feet. It is small, but has a lot of built ins, etc. they knew how to find space back in the day. We sold a condo at the same time, so we had more than 20% to put down - we put down $200,000. Not including property taxes, we pay about $3500/month. Property taxes are about $6,000.

It's not cheap to live here for sure. But we love it and wouldn't trade it for the world. We live in a neighborhood where we know, see and are friends with our neighbors. There is a market, a coffee shop, a pottery place, a pizza place and a local nursery within 2 minutes walk and we know all the owners. There are other major restaurants, etc. in walking distance as well. We have a community garden in the works. We have a teeny little carriage house (not really a garage) that is separate from our house. A small, but decent size yard and a nice size front yard with a porch.

Seriously though, the best part is the people. We know and are good friends with so many of our neighbors.

EDIT: I guess the real key here is cost of living compared to salaries. My guess is the ratio is still ridiculously high in California - we just pay so much for our homes. But, overall, the salaries are probably a bit higher too. I just question if the salary increase is commensurate with the home price increase ya know? We definitely both have to work here to afford to live in our home.

We borrowed @$400K, and our mortgage with taxes and everything is $3300 a month. We escrow $1060 a month just for property taxes and insurance. Texas doesn't have state income tax so they have really high property taxes. Our house is 4BR/3.5BA 4200 sqft. We are not the norm for our area, we are on the high side. However, when we lived in Virginia, we borrowed $585K and our mortgage with everything was closer to $4000 and we only had 2400 sq ft. It all depends on your area. We are moving back to Virginia and this time we are renting. We are going back to the DC area and everything there is very expensive, so we are looking at $2500 a month in rent for a 3BR/3BA at least and we will have to live at least 30 miles from DC just to stay in range.

Ha! I wish I had your mortgage. Mine is $4200 including insurance and taxes for my 4 bedroom 3 bath 2000 sq ft home in la crescenta, CA.

$641 3BD/1BA, living room, dining room, hard wood floors, a great apartment in Washington DC ( Yeah I know LOL !!!) we got so lucky with this apartment, close to schools, I 95-495, Metro , shopping, quiet and nice neighbors. We do not plan to move EVER lol !!!

Our mortgage is almost $2300/month, but that includes taxes, insurance, etc.
Our home is a 1200 sq. ft. 3/2 fixer upper. We live in Southern California so things are really expensive here, but you can't beat the weather, it's a beautiful 82 degrees here today.

My first house @ 0% down is $1100 @ 3% apr 1300 sq ft TH, 2nd @ 0% down $1650 @4% apr 2400 sq ft SFH, now with that being said the two houses are in different states and that makes a huge difference but the cost of living in the NCA is WAY high

We live in a two bedroom townhouse. It's 1070 sq. feet and we pay almost 1200 a month. We have been looking into renting a house but the cheapest we could find in a decent area is probably 1500. Our rent is also on the cheaper end then most places out here. When we were looking around most two bedrooms in our area were between 1300 to 2000 for an apartment. Southern California is beautiful and it's true the weather is great most of the year but living here you really pay for it. We are always think of moving out of state, we just can't afford to buy a house here. Thanks for your question it was very interesting to see what people all over pay and what they get for the money.

We rent and we pay 675.00 a month and we have a 3/1 it's an old house in the historic district...

1600 sq ft
3 bedroom, 2 bath
Central Colorado
Paid $189,900 in 2006 - mortgage right around $1300

Underwater due to terrible housing market (sigh lost $15k in value in one year when our neighbor decided to short sell her home) and hope to someday get full value back!

We bought our first home at the peak of the market in march 2005. Bought it brand new for $590,000, 1450 sq. feet, 3 bed/2.5 bath. Put 10% down and interest only mortgage was $2700 (NOT including taxes and insurance or HOA fees!). Our rate adjusted down in 2010 and we paid a little less per month and over half our payment started going to principal. We are in San Diego- location is obviously a huge factor. 3 kids later we couldn't fit so we sold it and are renting 2300 sq. feet, 4 bed/3 bath for $2900. After hearing what other people get for their money I want to say I'm ready to move but I don't think I could leave the sunshine or the beach! Interesting to hear what it costs around the country. Great post!

a little under 1100 sq feet and 1050 per month, includes taxes, insurance, etc.

bought our house 5 years ago (RIGHT before the housing market crashed)
30 mins outside of milwaukee, wi
800 sq (2 bedroom, 1 bath, 2 car garage)
cost $132,000, put 20% down, paying about $1200 monthly

We pay more then what we have to monthly so we can pay down the house faster. The morgage includes the tax, pi and all tha tfun adding cost stuff. We know we are going to barely break even when we sell because had to repair the basement (cost about $20,000). Just looking forward to the bigger house that hopefully is in our future some day.

Sigh... We have a 1800 sq ft home built in the 1920's, which we bought in 2007. The realty market described it as "a step above tear-down", which wasn't far from the truth.

We put 25% down and our 30-year mortgage payment is about $12,000...

Why? We live in the most exclusive neighborhood in Santa Monica, California, where the average home price tops $3 million, even in today's economy.

Location, location, location.

I have a 4/2, 1900 sq and we pay $1918 per month, including tax and insurance.

I live in Vegas...In 2009 I bought a 1900 sq ft house, 3bedroom/2.5bath/3 car garage for $160,000. Currently it is only worth ~$140,000. I put 20% down and pay extra every month so I'm not underwater. Mortgage payment for principle, interest, tax, and home owners insurance is $930. HOA is overpriced at 65.00/mo.

I own a manufactured house, so my situation is a little different. I pay $500 for my mtg and $520 for space rent. This does not include property taxes, homeowners insurance or utilities. My house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and is 1088 sq ft. I bought it for 80,000 with @10% down. It's little, but we bought it new and you can't beat the San Diego weather. :)