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!
I’ve done some more looking and there’s actually a few options that could work and are probably more reasonable for someone in my position. A couple of small but cute houses although older than I’d prefer. I’m still not enthusiastic about condos or apartments but there are a few that are nice. A lot of times I forget that some of these newer houses probably weren’t really intended or built for someone who is single and still relatively new to the workforce. I can’t afford them because they weren’t meant for me to afford and I don’t belong to the population of buyers they were targeting.
Yes, they are nice, but they are likely overpriced as they still use "cheaper" materials. Thus, you can imagine that anything that is actually something I could probably afford is complete trash.
How about reframing these thoughts into "I would rather buy something with better materials that will reflect a great design style and need less upkeep. I will find these in a better quality house that I can afford."
I would feel terrible paying half a million $$ for a house with a cookie-cutter design (maybe with 6 gables or 7 if you want to say I own the House of the 7 Gables). With that comes cheap trim, contractor grade toilet, bath and sink, the cheapest of refridgerators, stoves and dishwashers, vinyl flooring, trendy paint and a fireplace that will be out of style in 5 years or less, and an HVAC system undersized for the house (saves money and the buyer won't have to fix /upgrade it until the warranty I give will expire :))"
How about reframing these thoughts into "I would rather buy something with better materials that will reflect a great design style and need less upkeep. I will find these in a better quality house that I can afford."
I would feel terrible paying half a million $$ for a house with a cookie-cutter design (maybe with 6 gables or 7 if you want to say I own the House of the 7 Gables). With that comes cheap trim, contractor grade toilet, bath and sink, the cheapest of refridgerators, stoves and dishwashers, vinyl flooring, trendy paint and a fireplace that will be out of style in 5 years or less, and an HVAC system undersized for the house (saves money and the buyer won't have to fix /upgrade it until the warranty I give will expire :))"
a. Less ability to lose what you have. (It is unlikely that even if I am sued by a creditor or patient that they will go so far as to take my "nomad life" vehicle).
b. The ability to live in many states and at least in the West in free BLM land.
c. If you don't like the laws in one state maybe you can move to a state where they are less restrictive or different.
d. There is a "build in" community of nomads dedicated to helping one another. Just check out the channel on Youtube cheap RV living.
e. You can "move with the seasons" Arizona in the Winter, Montana or even Alaska in the Summer.
f. Most campers can be fitted with extensive solar arrays to facilitate life even in an extended "grid down" scenario.
Where I live, a brand new house is still and always will be out of reach for even a $260k yearly income from two nurses who are married. Unless they want to commute 3 hours each way. A little 2 bdrm fixer-upper can easily go for over a million if one wants to live close to work....in my area. It truly is disgusting when you have to pay $3-4k in rent on a house that was purchased 20 or more years ago for $100k. Gross. Gross. Gross.
Where I live, a brand new house is still and always will be out of reach for even a $260k yearly income from two nurses who are married. Unless they want to commute 3 hours each way. A little 2 bdrm fixer-upper can easily go for over a million if one wants to live close to work....in my area. It truly is disgusting when you have to pay $3-4k in rent on a house that was purchased 20 or more years ago for $100k. Gross. Gross. Gross.
Your point is well taken. Here are some actual home prices from 1970:
If we consider a similar "nice" home going four around $350.000 today and an average RN nurses income to be around 60K then it would take almost six years to earn enough to "pay" for that home if all of the income could be utilized to pay for the home. Using the 1970 7K figure it would have taken around 3 years. Thus, we can conclude from this very simple analysis that homes have become roughly half as affordable as they were 50 years ago. Given that RN's have probably done better than the "average" American we might be able to conclude that for the average person homes have become much, less affordable.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
13 hours ago, SilverBells said:
It probably seems as if I'm not listening and/or saying the same things again and again. I'm "hearing" everyone's suggestions and have taken everything into consideration--it's just that at this point, the future (which includes that of the housing market) is pretty bleak. And yes, I have an appointment with someone but not for another 2 weeks.
Two weeks ago you said you had a appointment with someone in two weeks. Why not use your employers EAP It's free and confidential.
It probably seems as if I'm not listening and/or saying the same things again and again. I'm "hearing" everyone's suggestions and have taken everything into consideration--it's just that at this point, the future (which includes that of the housing market) is pretty bleak. And yes, I have an appointment with someone but not for another 2 weeks.
SilverBells you seem depressed. Things will get better. When a person is depressed they are not seeing or thinking clearly. Therapy and even meds do help. I've dealt with depression in my life too and used both to help me thru periods of depression. I do wish you the best and want you to find peace, happiness and joy.
If we consider a similar "nice" home going four around $350.000 today and an average RN nurses income to be around 60K then it would take almost six years to earn enough to "pay" for that home if all of the income could be utilized to pay for the home. Using the 1970 7K figure it would have taken around 3 years. Thus, we can conclude from this very simple analysis that homes have become roughly half as affordable as they were 50 years ago. Given that RN's have probably done better than the "average" American we might be able to conclude that for the average person homes have become much, less affordable.
Housing prices are related to the population size. Since I've been alive , the US population has increased just under 200%.. This is not sustainable unless people decide to live where there are no jobs.
I’ve done some more looking and there’s actually a few options that could work and are probably more reasonable for someone in my position. A couple of small but cute houses although older than I’d prefer. I’m still not enthusiastic about condos or apartments but there are a few that are nice. A lot of times I forget that some of these newer houses probably weren’t really intended or built for someone who is single and still relatively new to the workforce. I can’t afford them because they weren’t meant for me to afford and I don’t belong to the population of buyers they were targeting.
I’ve done some more looking and there’s actually a few options that could work and are probably more reasonable for someone in my position. A couple of small but cute houses although older than I’d prefer. I’m still not enthusiastic about condos or apartments but there are a few that are nice. A lot of times I forget that some of these newer houses probably weren’t really intended or built for someone who is single and still relatively new to the workforce. I can’t afford them because they weren’t meant for me to afford and I don’t belong to the population of buyers they were targeting.
Again, as I pointed out above houses are less affordable and becoming ever more so. Why? Because they are a "hedge" against inflation and our economy is very inflationary for a plethora of reasons including: rapidly expanding money supply, Covid inventory and production constraints, rising cost of labor due to increasing minimum wages and improving wages in places like SE Asia, increasing costs to comply with climate change provisions. Thus, however "unaffordable" you feel homes are now they are likely to be much more so in about five or ten years. If you buy in one of the states with rising demand you are likely to have one of the better "hedges" against inflation.
Again, as I pointed out above houses are less affordable and becoming ever more so. Why? Because they are a "hedge" against inflation and our economy is very inflationary for a plethora of reasons including: rapidly expanding money supply, Covid inventory and production constraints, rising cost of labor due to increasing minimum wages and improving wages in places like SE Asia, increasing costs to comply with climate change provisions. Thus, however "unaffordable" you feel homes are now they are likely to be much more so in about five or ten years. If you buy in one of the states with rising demand you are likely to have one of the better "hedges" against inflation.
That was the prevailing wisdom before 2008 housing crash. It could happen anytime. My house lost an enormous value but the mortgage had been paid off. After Trump was elected, the price went down even more because of the lack of deductibility of the entire property tax bill. The OP is a single women who shouldn't buy more house then she needs. We no. longer have the luxury of unvolatility. IMHO.
SilverBells, BSN
1,108 Posts
I’ve done some more looking and there’s actually a few options that could work and are probably more reasonable for someone in my position. A couple of small but cute houses although older than I’d prefer. I’m still not enthusiastic about condos or apartments but there are a few that are nice. A lot of times I forget that some of these newer houses probably weren’t really intended or built for someone who is single and still relatively new to the workforce. I can’t afford them because they weren’t meant for me to afford and I don’t belong to the population of buyers they were targeting.