A Home? Finally?!
So. My hubby and I learned yesterday that our lease comes up on February 28th and we thought that it was in March. We have been wanting to move into a house for a while just so we could have a space that is all ours without the hassle of next door neighbors across the hall. We have to give a 60 day notice so that puts us in a month to month
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The usual maximum ratio quoted by landlords and the like -- 1/3 of gross income -- is not actually very realistic. If you gross $3000 a month, take home $2000, and spend $800 on rent, once you've paid your water bill, LGE bill (which will be higher in a house than an apartment, simply because you're heating or cooling more square footage), and cable bill, you're already looking at around $1400 out the window. That leaves only $600 a month for groceries, gas for the car, incidentals, entertainment, and savings. When you estimate your LGE bill, in particular, I would double it, if you're moving into a house (and add $50/mo for water, sewer, and trash).
The effect is less drastic if you're making significantly more money, because the costs of water, utilities, cable, groceries, and incidentals won't change all that much unless you have kids or take in a stray relative or something(so if you're taking home 6000 and paying 2000 in rent, you'll have much more left over after all the necessary bits are paid for) -- but for your income level, I would *not* recommend renting a place that will cost you 1/3 of your combined gross. If possible, I'd shoot for no more than 1/3 of the *net* income of whichever one of you brings in less money.
You can take this as an opportunity to reduce, rather than increase, your expenses, which would be a wise choice if you want start paying off (as opposed to simply paying) student loans, buy a house in the future, and work on rebuilding your credit.
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