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

LibraNurse27, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2021

Wow, I did not know that about UK nurses! I think there are some areas here that pay that poorly for nurses (when I traveled to Arkansas I made $19/hr!!) but it is not the norm. What a way to treat essential workers. I hope you get a raise now that the pandemic has spotlighted how important nurses are!

And, @hppygr8ful I feel your CA pain! Where in CA do you have bears in your yard?? OK if you don't want to share of course! I have to stay here because of my family (and I don't mind the weather!), but not excited for the traffic to come back after the pandemic and for the property taxes when I buy a home (if ever). And not excited about choosing where I want to buy my million dollar shack: on a fault line, in wildfire country, or in a dangerous neighborhood away from the natural disaster zones! LOL still love Cali though! But yes, don't be too jealous of our big salaries... it only goes far f you stuff it in your pocket and take it to a cheaper state!

Merrie82, RN · Mar 14, 2021

It's funny how perspective changes depending on the side of the cliff you are looking at things from. I have worked in mental health as a direct care worker for many years, and my husband is a restaurant manager. We live in Maine, and the payscale here is probably lower than some other states (because its so cold no one wants to live here full time LOL).

I was, and am, so so excited to be going from earning roughly 15$ an hour to earning $27/hr + shift differentials. My annual base salary is going to be about 50k, which is more than my husband makes at his job of 40 years. I have a plan all written out for how I'm going to pay off the 10k in medical bills I owe within 3 years, and use my night shift bonus to save for a down-payment on a house, which will hopefully not be any more than 250k MAX. I've already bought and lost 1 home, I don't intend to make that journey twice. This time I'm going to save enough to have 6 months in mortgage payments backed up just in case bf I buy my home. I finally am catching up on back rent and bills I owe, and damn that feels good.

Point being, while being a nurse may not make me rich, I feel pretty excited right now to be earning a living wage, and being able to buy groceries AND my prescriptions, And pay rent, without having to choose one over the other bc there just wasn't enough for all.

And a house isn't a status symbol. It's the place you go to to feel calm, and comforted, and like you can breath again after a long stressful day. It's a Home with a capital H. For me, my husband is my Home, wherever he is, wherever we are together, that's where I want to be. When we lost our home and were facing the real possibility of having to hang in our car for a bit, we had to make peace with what was important to us about where we lived, how we lived. It wasn't an easy peace to come by, because we felt like failures, and we raged and fought against reality for a good long expensive while before we got there.

I say this with only kindness as my intent, SilverBells. Please try to take a step back, and think about what is important to you. Is a status symbol that you can't really afford the be-all end-all? Will a 450k house make you happy?

allnurses Guide · Mar 14, 2021

11 minutes ago, LibraNurse27 said:

Wow, I did not know that about UK nurses! I think there are some areas here that pay that poorly for nurses (when I traveled to Arkansas I made $19/hr!!) but it is not the norm. What a way to treat essential workers. I hope you get a raise now that the pandemic has spotlighted how important nurses are!

And, @hppygr8ful I feel your CA pain! Where in CA do you have bears in your yard?? OK if you don't want to share of course! I have to stay here because of my family (and I don't mind the weather!), but not excited for the traffic to come back after the pandemic and for the property taxes when I buy a home (if ever). And not excited about choosing where I want to buy my million dollar shack: on a fault line, in wildfire country, or in a dangerous neighborhood away from the natural disaster zones! LOL still love Cali though! But yes, don't be too jealous of our big salaries... it only goes far f you stuff it in your pocket and take it to a cheaper state!

I live in the general vacinity of the San Gabriel Vally so we get bears, coyotes, skunks, racoons and the occasional Mountain lion. Look at retiring to the Carolinas, Tennesee, or Texas. I don't relish the thought of having my retirement savings taxed a 2nd time.

guest1163268 · Mar 14, 2021

7 minutes ago, Merrie82 said:

It's funny how perspective changes depending on the side of the cliff you are looking at things from. I have worked in mental health as a direct care worker for many years, and my husband is a restaurant manager. We live in Maine, and the payscale here is probably lower than some other states (because its so cold no one wants to live here full time LOL).

I was, and am, so so excited to be going from earning roughly 15$ an hour to earning $27/hr + shift differentials. My annual base salary is going to be about 50k, which is more than my husband makes at his job of 40 years. I have a plan all written out for how I'm going to pay off the 10k in medical bills I owe within 3 years, and use my night shift bonus to save for a down-payment on a house, which will hopefully not be any more than 250k MAX. I've already bought and lost 1 home, I don't intend to make that journey twice. This time I'm going to save enough to have 6 months in mortgage payments backed up just in case bf I buy my home. I finally am catching up on back rent and bills I owe, and damn that feels good.

Point being, while being a nurse may not make me rich, I feel pretty excited right now to be earning a living wage, and being able to buy groceries AND my prescriptions, And pay rent, without having to choose one over the other bc there just wasn't enough for all.

And a house isn't a status symbol. It's the place you go to to feel calm, and comforted, and like you can breath again after a long stressful day. It's a Home with a capital H. For me, my husband is my Home, wherever he is, wherever we are together, that's where I want to be. When we lost our home and were facing the real possibility of having to hang in our car for a bit, we had to make peace with what was important to us about where we lived, how we lived. It wasn't an easy peace to come by, because we felt like failures, and we raged and fought against reality for a good long expensive while before we got there.

I say this with only kindness as my intent, SilverBells. Please try to take a step back, and think about what is important to you. Is a status symbol that you can't really afford the be-all end-all? Will a 450k house make you happy?

You got it going on Merrie ?! It all comes down to what makes you happy. Especially being with someone you care about.

LibraNurse27, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2021

36 minutes ago, Merrie82 said:

It's funny how perspective changes depending on the side of the cliff you are looking at things from. I have worked in mental health as a direct care worker for many years, and my husband is a restaurant manager. We live in Maine, and the payscale here is probably lower than some other states (because its so cold no one wants to live here full time LOL).

I was, and am, so so excited to be going from earning roughly 15$ an hour to earning $27/hr + shift differentials. My annual base salary is going to be about 50k, which is more than my husband makes at his job of 40 years. I have a plan all written out for how I'm going to pay off the 10k in medical bills I owe within 3 years, and use my night shift bonus to save for a down-payment on a house, which will hopefully not be any more than 250k MAX. I've already bought and lost 1 home, I don't intend to make that journey twice. This time I'm going to save enough to have 6 months in mortgage payments backed up just in case bf I buy my home. I finally am catching up on back rent and bills I owe, and damn that feels good.

Point being, while being a nurse may not make me rich, I feel pretty excited right now to be earning a living wage, and being able to buy groceries AND my prescriptions, And pay rent, without having to choose one over the other bc there just wasn't enough for all.

And a house isn't a status symbol. It's the place you go to to feel calm, and comforted, and like you can breath again after a long stressful day. It's a Home with a capital H. For me, my husband is my Home, wherever he is, wherever we are together, that's where I want to be. When we lost our home and were facing the real possibility of having to hang in our car for a bit, we had to make peace with what was important to us about where we lived, how we lived. It wasn't an easy peace to come by, because we felt like failures, and we raged and fought against reality for a good long expensive while before we got there.

I say this with only kindness as my intent, SilverBells. Please try to take a step back, and think about what is important to you. Is a status symbol that you can't really afford the be-all end-all? Will a 450k house make you happy?

I love this so much!! A great reminder to keep things in perspective. Here I am complaining about not being able to afford a nice home in one of the most expensive areas in the WORLD, while all around me there are people living in tents or straight up in sleeping bags on the streets. Thank you for reminding me that just having ANY home is a blessing.

Just as you are admiring others' homes, others out there would be thrilled to have what you have, @SilverBells. It's cheesy but practicing gratitude goes a long way. Wealth doesn't equal happiness. Here in the Bay Marin County is one of the RICHEST areas, but has the highest rate of domestic violence. I would rather be in my apartment with my partner who treats me well than in a mansion with an abusive partner. Even if I could afford a home in Silicon Valley, I would still choose Oakland because I am gay and married to a black woman. Silicon Valley has beautiful homes but I wouldn't be happy there due to lack of LGBT and black people. Choosing somewhere to live depends on factors other than just getting the most expensive house you can. It's great to strive for bigger things, but learning to be happy with what you have and who you are is the most important. To quote Whitney Houston: "Learning to love yourself.... Is the Greater Love of All!"

Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA · Mar 16, 2021

On 3/14/2021 at 6:27 PM, hppygr8ful said:

I live in the general vacinity of the San Gabriel Vally so we get bears, coyotes, skunks, racoons and the occasional Mountain lion. Look at retiring to the Carolinas, Tennesee, or Texas. I don't relish the thought of having my retirement savings taxed a 2nd time.

Hiw do you get Yates twice. Money put into an IRA doesn't get taxed until you take it out, plus it saves you income taxes while you are still working. Yes, you get taxed now with a Roth, but you don't get taxed when you take it out n retirement. Proposition 13 really messed things up for a lot of house owners. My sister lives in SoCal in a house she bought before Prop 13 and pays almost nothing in taxes while others who came after pay through the nose. Correct me if I am wrong (because I don't think there is anything right about this) that the wealthy of Orange and San Diego counties can move around within those counties but get to keep their Prop 13 status leaving others to pay for them. My college roommate who lives near LA lives in 2 million $ house they bought for 250,000 back in the day bit pay only $5000 in taxes. I'd rather freeze where I am than live there:)

Workitinurfava, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2021

Sometimes family members are assisting them. It is the case with my friend. Her parents give her 2000.00 dollars a month to help her live in a half-million dollar home.

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Mar 17, 2021

I think this has a lot to do with where you live. Between me and my husband supporting one child, there is no way in hell we could afford a house worth 450-500k comfortably and maintain our standard of living. We are currently looking to upgrade to a larger house. Since we bought our small property just before the crash I. 2006, we are finally at a stage that we could probably sell it 10-20k less than what we paid and still have some equity. Since the property wasn’t worth much, we’ve kept our income the past year liquid rather than paying off the money pit-we are still looking Thor properties under $300k-and can get something nice with about a 30-45 minute commute to work. I will not say what we make together, but after taxing out our medical costs, retirement contributions, etc, we barely made the recent covid relief that we will have to pay for either way in the end.

300k-this is with good income and a huge down payment. It takes time to get something really nice, shiny, and new. We are looking at something just that, about 15 years after dealing with a financial blow when we bought our starter condo and are not tripping over each other, our 10 year old that was not here before, and two active kittens.

Be flexible with your housing choices-the property we are looking at goes for over 600k if it were in our current county-35 minutes away. Something tin consider. Are you looking for your forever home (like us-older) or a starter? You don’t have to start our big if you don’t need it. Always live within your means. Mortgages are long term and incidental costs have to be figured in to the repayment plan.

Aliens05, ASN · Mar 17, 2021

On 3/6/2021 at 12:00 AM, SilverBells said:

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 ?

What state are you in? I ask because a couple of things come to mind depending on your location.

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · Mar 17, 2021

I've been looking at some campers like this one https://www.rvtrader.com/Jayco-Jay-Flight-33rbts/rvs-for-sale?make=Jayco|2272274&model=JAY FLIGHT|764841965&trim=33RBTS|36147 and I could get one for about 50K and put it on about an acre or five in Wyoming. All together with a truck to hall I think we could be under 200k. Looking at the layout my SO could see patients at the kitchen "table" and I could use the end of the bed (or even the bed with a lap table for my computer) to see my patients. We would need good internet (meaning Satellite in many cases and it would mean poor gaming performance). However, I think for under 200K we could afford a place. At least for us that might be one option.

allnurses Guide · Mar 18, 2021

6 hours ago, myoglobin said:

I've been looking at some campers like this one https://www.rvtrader.com/Jayco-Jay-Flight-33rbts/rvs-for-sale?make=Jayco|2272274&model=JAY FLIGHT|764841965&trim=33RBTS|36147 and I could get one for about 50K and put it on about an acre or five in Wyoming. All together with a truck to hall I think we could be under 200k. Looking at the layout my SO could see patients at the kitchen "table" and I could use the end of the bed (or even the bed with a lap table for my computer) to see my patients. We would need good internet (meaning Satellite in many cases and it would mean poor gaming performance). However, I think for under 200K we could afford a place. At least for us that might be one option.

I have nothing against camper or off-grid living but I might think twice from a professional standpoint about seeing my practitioner in what ammounts to their bedroom. Plus Whyoming is really cold in Winter when you are in a well insulated home. I woudl probably freeze in a camper.

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · Mar 18, 2021

22 minutes ago, hppygr8ful said:

I have nothing against camper or off-grid living but I might think twice from a professional standpoint about seeing my practitioner in what ammounts to their bedroom. Plus Whyoming is really cold in Winter when you are in a well insulated home. I woudl probably freeze in a camper.

Some good points there. Maybe a manufactured home such as this one https://www.claytonwyo.com/homes/BL2003604TXAB combined with a 15 acre plot like this https://www.trulia.com/property/9077318434-Highway-16-Manderson-WY-82432?mid=0#lil-mediaTab . This would put me at around 150K. Certainly under 200k even with "extras" like some solar/wind generators and water purifiers. Getting the financing could be tricky we would probably have to put at least 20% down. Plus we could dine at our choice of any of these fine local establishments https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=restaurants&find_loc=Manderson%2C+WY+82432 .