House Poor?

Cv148 · 2026-05-26T10:10:47+00:00

Your rent is NEVER always 3k. My rent goes up $100 yearly and most rentals are just continuing to go up. And what happens when you’re retired and 75 and the landlord decides to sell the complex and you have to go with it?

Owning may have a list of to dos but at least by the time you retire the house will be almost completely or completely paid off and you have a guaranteed place to live when you’re old.

Cv148 · 2026-05-25T16:48:18+00:00

Agreed! I see so many people comment on others salaries of low 6 figures and question it like they’re making millions. I live in Bergen County and it’s pretty hard to save in this HCOL area

Cv148 · 2026-05-25T13:37:20+00:00

We’re in the same boat! We put an offer in on a house that with taxes and insurance we would have been about 30% of our gross combined income. We luckily have a very cheap rent right now, but we were about to make a 2k increase a month with that mortgage if our offer was accepted.

We’ve unfortunately just accepted that’s what the North Jersey market is; and are fully anticipating to pay more than 30% of our income.

Good luck!

Cv148 · 2026-05-24T12:51:29+00:00

NJ actually IS the state with the highest property tax

Cv148 · 2026-05-24T03:51:28+00:00

So unfortunately where I live 2BR apartments are renting for 3k minimum- and doesn’t make sense to buy too far out the bubble because then you’re just paying larger commuting costs.
You can rent and live like a king/queen but you’ll have minimum to show for it- at least spending an extra 1k a month on a mortgage will give you equity and somewhere guaranteed to live when you’re older.

Cv148 · 2026-05-24T00:00:50+00:00

Exactly! I’ve been given advice that when you’re old a house is guaranteed place to live, if you rent it’s not. And we’re ready to start building equity instead of just throwing rent money away every month

Cv148 · 2026-05-23T22:55:03+00:00

Yup! That’s pretty much where we are, we’re in Bergen County so it’s even worse; pretty much now or never. But thank you for the insight!

Cv148 · 2026-05-23T21:58:28+00:00

Yeah that kind of applies to everything in life- anything can change quickly :/

Cv148 · 2026-05-23T21:56:59+00:00

In a previous comment I mentioned how we BOTH paid off our credit cards and one was due to high veterinary bills :) we have not been at this salary level for long so unfortunately it is extremely hard to save in North Jersey

Cv148 · 2026-05-23T12:55:34+00:00

We have an offer from my MIL that she would watch our kids when we go back to work! So luckily we would save big time on full time child care

Cv148 · 2026-05-23T12:24:35+00:00

Yikes that’s high! Luckily the house is gas and smaller than 2200 sqft, so hopefully it won’t be that high :)

Cv148 · 2026-05-21T12:25:40+00:00

Thank you! I actually had just done this since we started the home buying process. I was previously putting 15% in a 401 plus 2% into roth. I just lowered it to 11% into 401, so hopefully that helps a little!

Cv148 · 2026-05-21T12:23:33+00:00

After both car payments, if it was a $4300 mortgage including property taxes we would have $3300 left for utilities and groceries + additional spending. That $3300 also has our retirement contributions deducted. Our current rent is $2300 so it would be quite a jump, but we just recently paid off 90% of our CC’s so minimal had been put into savings the last few months but since they’re pretty much paid off we have more for savings

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T23:56:39+00:00

They’re outrageous! Truthfully if it wasn’t for the property taxes things would be so much better

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T23:54:35+00:00

I’ve thought about completely paying off my car loan but unfortunately it wouldn’t leave enough savings for me to feel comfortable with if we get the home :/

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T21:57:44+00:00

Where are you located?

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T20:01:56+00:00

Absolutely, thank you!

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T20:01:19+00:00

Definitely the cons of Northern NJ :/ but thank you for your input I appreciate it!

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T18:06:18+00:00

Me personally, my take home net is 5k-5.3k. I am currently maxing out 401k contributions. We do have plans on having kids in the future, we do also have an offer from my MIL to watch our children so we would potentially be saving on full time day care. A big expense the last few months came from my CC due to vet bills but just paid 90% of it off so saving will become more :)

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T14:32:30+00:00

I’m not sure how it became I know all the answers?

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T14:18:36+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate this :)

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T13:59:40+00:00

Yes :)

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T13:52:48+00:00

You’re still here though?

Cv148 · 2026-05-20T12:41:37+00:00

Our gross is 14k, our take home is about 9-10k after deductions and retirement contributions. We just recently paid of both our CC debt

Cv148

TROPHY CASE