What is your outstanding mortgage balance to household income ratio?

[Emilio Lizardo]

Ours is about 1.17 now. We've owned the house for less than 3 years, but it was pretty cheap, we put 20% down, and we've gotten decent raises since then.

[Queen Tonya]

Just under 1.5 here. I've owned it for seven years, but did refy and pull out some equity for major renovations.

Is there a 'healthy' ratio we should be aiming for?

[Ravenman]

About 3.56,

[Poonther]

.60

We put 20% down and have a 15yr fixed plus houses in our market are still relatively cheap when compared to the major metro markets in the Northeast and California.

[Trunk]

About .9 including the loan we took out to improve the kitchen. But my wife's income is hard to estimate.

It was a 30 year ARM that we shifted to a 15 year fixed. It has about 12-13 years left but I bet I can get through it in less than 10 if I want.

[kunilou]

About .6

Of course, we've lived in the same house for 20 years and designed our refinancing around having the house paid off by the time Mrs. Kunilou is ready to retire in several years.

[RealityChuck]

Zero. Just paid it off last month. :)

[Wrenchslinger]

Zero. Just paid it off last month. :)

Nobody likes a bragger. Congratualtions.

About 1.8 here. But we live in Manhattan and everything real estate plays by different rules here.

Wrenchslinger

[Walkabout]

About 0.2. We have 3 or 4 years to go to get it paid off. I owe more than twice as much on my car than on my house.

[F. U. Shakespeare]

0.6

I plan to pay it off in about five years.

[Uncommon Sense]

Just bought the house two years ago with 20% down.
Pay about $300 extra every month on the principle.
The current ratio of balance verses income is about 2 to 1.

[Maeglin]

Like Wrenchslinger, I live in Manhattan. We bought the apartment in December, 20% down. Roughly speaking, we're looking at a 3.8.

[SandyHook]

1:1

Which, before looking at some of the other replies, I thought would allow some bragging on our superior position.

[down by law]

i live alone, 5 years out of college, and i bought my house about 18 months ago. my ratio is about 1.4. that seems pretty reasonable to me, at least at his point in my life. in five years it could be under 1.

[Jonathan Chance]

0.5.

One year into owning (a hair less) we're about double the income on the balance. I love having a cheap mortgage.

Of course, ya gotta live in Ohio.

[Lamar Mundane]

1:1

I have five years left on a seven year balloon, and I intend to have it paid off (or damn near) by the time the balloon payment comes due.

[Philster]

We're at around 1:1.

Bought the home new about seven years ago, and about two years ago dropped down to a 15 year mtg and 4.8% rate. We have less than ten years left.

[furthur]

We're at 1.5. Looks like that puts us a little higher than average on the SD.

We bought the house almost 9 years ago with about a 5% down payment, no points, 8.25% 30 year fixed. OPP $91,500. We've re-fi'ed twice and are now down to 5.75% with about a $75,000 balance.

Interesting thread!

Mrs. Furthur

[Giraffe]

Jesus. We're saving for a house. If we save our asses off, I think we can get our ratio down a bit below 3.0, but it'll take a few years. This thread makes me sad.

Stupid Bay Area housing market...

[TroubleAgain]

1.09 and rapidly dwindling. We're paying extra on principle each month.

[Emilio Lizardo]

A quick google search reveals that the median household income in 1999 was $41,994, and the median home price in Q1 2001 was $139,700 for a ratio of 3.32, assuming nothing down. With 5% down, that drops to 3.16.

[NicePete]

About 1.25. Not exactly sure on the exact payoff of the exact income in '04. Two years into a 20 year fixed.

[Unintentionally Blank]

A little under 3.0 (if you're thinking Total Cost of House/ Annual Income) but this is kind of an odd metric. It doesn't, in any way, factor in the value of the house, or the equity involved. Owning 50% of a 50,000 house is NOT the same as owning 20% of a 400,000 house.

While a 15 year mortgage sounds like a good idea, and I realize that the tax wroteoff the interest creates is a robbing peter to pay paul situation, We bought quite a bit more house than we really needed with the following criteria in mind:

1. Every time you move, it cost a TON in unrecouped moving and equipping expenses
2. We hate moving, get in a house you can't forsee outgrowing and STAY there.
3. Hope that it's an investment we can use while investing.

My parents, about 32 years ago, were lamenting getting a home loan for $22,000. If you add a zero to that figure, and their salary, and the cost of their car, you get a ballpark figure if where we are now.

Still hard to believe that in another 30 years, some young whippersnapper will buy THIS house for 3.5 mil, make 300,000 a year and drive a 120,000 car. :O

[Voyager]

About 0.9, not bad for the Bay Area. And our equity is twice what we owe. The other good thing is that 1/3 of our mortgage is to my in-laws, so paying them is a pleasure. They're also both 89.

[kniz]

Zero. Just paid it off last month. :)
And there I was trying to remember if you could divide into zero. The problem with paying off the house, is finding out how much of the monthly payment was really insurance and taxes. :smack:

[Cunctator]

About 0.39 at the moment.

[Kaitlyn]

Old House before selling it: 3.7

New house when it closes (50% down): 0.8.

[Aspidistra]

6.6:1 or 5.3:1, depending on how you count income.

I win! :eek: But our income is waaaay down from when we bought the house in the first place.

[Shagnasty]

2.2 but I am pretty proud because we live in the Boston area and bought it only three years ago. It is also worth $240,000 more than we paid (thanks to massive work on our part).

[jweb]

I don't own yet, but I hope to buy a place in about 6 months or so. I'm currently assuming my ratio will be about 3.6. Pretty high, but if I can get a roommate (I want a house I can afford without one, but the rent money would help put a dent in things) it'll be a lot easier.

Plus, if I get a fixed-rate mortgage, the ratio will go down that much more rapidly, as I assume I'll be making more money in the future....

[Gatopescado]

Another zero here. Good thing I paid it off just before losing my job! Guess I'll retire now.

[Ravenman]

6.6:1 or 5.3:1, depending on how you count income. Wow. I had no idea that Australia had 75 year mortgages. :)

[kelly5078]

About .4. Taxes are a lot more onerous than the mortgage payment itself.

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

My Hero, Zero! Only 28 years old, and no car payments either!
No, I do not deal drugs.

Rancid

[Aspidistra]

Wow. I had no idea that Australia had 75 year mortgages. :)

Nah, we're just currently paying about 50% of our income into our mortgage. Ssh, don't tell the bank, they'll have a heart attack :)

[DoctorJ]

We're at almost exactly 2:1. We bought the house about three years ago with nothing down, and we're planning to sell it this summer (since we're moving).

This time next year it will probably be less than 1:1, because we're moving to a place with much lower property values, we don't want a much bigger place, and our household income should roughly triple.

[LSLGuy]

6.75 to 1.

Took a 50% pay cut last year, which sorta trashed the ratio from our original plan.

We originally set ourselves up a little house-heavy with a good sized fixed rate mortgage in the expectation that inflation will eat that to pennies on the dollar over the next few years. So far GWB is playing right into our hands ...

[Sublight]

After juggling around a lot of BS relating to visa status and past illness (long story short, the government didn't recognize my existence and the bank didn't think I'd exist much longer), we were looking at a down payment of 40% and a mortgage:income ratio of about 1.6 (2.5 if my wife quit her job).

After a bunch of wrangling, we realized we'd saved enough to just buy the damn place outright, so that's what we're going to do.

Zero. We move in next month.

[Magiver]

10 years, zero. You'd think I would have cable by now.

[USCDiver]

I'm 5.12 at the moment based on after tax income. I can expect my salary to increase roughly 5 fold in 2.5 years though. Also I have a roommate who's rent pays about a 1/3 of the mortgage.

[Elza B]

We don't close for another month and a half, but when we do, the ratio will be somewhere around 1.8. That's with both of our salaries, though, and the mortgage is only in his name - but we're both paying it.

E.