Buying a House on a Nurse's Income: How Do Nurses Afford $450,000+ Houses?

Nurses General Nursing

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One of my goals is to eventually be able to purchase a house.  Many of my nursing colleagues are purchasing homes that are worth $450,000, $500,000 or even more.  Sadly, my budget is about half of that or even less, which means the houses I have to choose from are not appealing.  Most of them are small, old, or both. 

I am just curious how other nurses manage to purchase decent houses? I've been looking through my income, and I just can't find a way to make it possible to incorporate such a house into my budget.  I am salary, so there are no opportunities for overtime.

What are other nurses' experience with buying houses? How did you make it work? Did it require switching jobs? Inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks ? 

Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.

I think your mileage may vary depending on where you live. I bought a very cheap home that was actually quite nice for the price and am extremely glad I did. Having a mortgage payment that I don't dread paying because it won't leave me broke is worth not having a more desirable home.

I do have friends that have an entire paycheck dedicated to their mortgage, and they're always picking up overtime and usually quite stressed. I think as a nurse you can have a home but I think it is wise to live below your means so that when times are bad you still have a roof over your head.

This is a question for your investment counselor. We are nurses.

 

LovingLife123

1,592 Posts

I think it truly depends on the cost of living in your area.  I bought a house on my own about 10 years ago.  I would suggest speaking to a loan officer.  They can help guide you.

I could not though afford my house and my lifestyle by myself.  If I were on my own, I would have to live extremely frugally to afford my house and all that goes with it.  

NightNerd, MSN, RN

1,130 Posts

Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I think it's also a challenge based on how long you've been in the workforce and house much you've been able to save toward a down payment. I don't own a home but hope to in a few years. My house fund is way lower than I would like by this point in my life, but now that I'm not going to get any more tuition bills, I hope to see this change. I will probably temporarily forgo certain fun stuff, like vacations, until I have the down payment I want, and will definitely stick to a home that doesn't have a massive mortgage payment attached to it. I don't need anything huge - too much to clean! And if it requires some updating, that's fine; I can deal with an older house as long as it's livable in the short term.

As others said, cost of living in the area you're looking is a huge factor too. We plan on moving away from our current area for this very reason once I graduate to hopefully have better luck with housing in another place.

Specializes in Gerontology.

Stop spending money on buying Diet Pepsi’s at work.

Budget.

 

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Having a spouse with a decent income certainly helps.

And don't compare someone else's fifth house (bought with the equity gain from the previous four) and a typical starter house (where you start building that equity).

We gave up even the thought of annual vacations and newer vehicles to be able to afford the home we wanted for our four kids. It was a trade-off we were willing to make. Despite what media would have you believe- you really cannot have it all. 

Envy gets you nowhere except unhappy. Buy what you can reasonably afford. 

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN

2,776 Posts

Specializes in school nurse.
2 hours ago, Pepper The Cat said:

Stop spending money on buying Diet Pepsi’s at work.

Budget.

 

Or buy stock in PepsiCo and self-fund the dividends...

Wuzzie

5,116 Posts

My house is small and old (120 yrs old to be exact) in my budget and all my friends want it so I wouldn’t dismiss those kind of homes out of the gate. 

Also, after some sweat equity my house is adorbs! ?

JBMmom, MSN, NP

4 Articles; 2,537 Posts

Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

Mortgage lenders will give you much more money than you can reasonably afford to pay back. You need to do the math yourself and figure out what you can spend on a monthly basis for a mortgage. There are also the taxes, costs associated with home ownership and maintenance, and many other aspects to consider. Just because someone else says you can buy a $450,000 house, doesn't mean you should.

Specializes in Community health.

I live in Connecticut, which is one of the more expensive states. You will hear a lot (a LOT) of people say “Oh you have to spend half a million dollars (or a million dollars) to get a decent home in Connecticut.”  People love to say things like that, no matter where you live. Ignore them, research your area, and explore. I live in a very cute, desirable suburb of a city, we have great schools etc. My home is lovely and we paid around $200,000 for it. I know the exact dollar amount of my one experience is likely not relevant to exactly where you live, but my overarching and vehement advice is, ignore what “everybody says” about your area. Find a good realtor, level with them about what you want to spend, and take some time to find out your options (apartment, condo, single-family; lot size; suburbs that may be less cool or popular but are great places to live, etc). 

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

Easier to buy more house with 2 incomes. Our house was over 400k. He pays the mortgage (~2k/mo), I do most of the bills and groceries. We don't share accounts.

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