High Priced Rental Market Question
This question is for those of you who live or have lived in expensive housing areas: New York, DC, Boston, their west coast counterparts, etc.
What percentage of your monthly disposable income would you expect to spend on housing? Is spending over a third of your income on housing pretty standard? Half your income?
I'm coming from the perspective of someone who has previously lived in moderate housing cost areas. I'm now looking at studios that cost twice what I paid for studios in Philly and nearly as much as my parents' monthly payment on their 2-bedroom home in Richmond. I have more income than I used to, but I feel like that doesn't mean I should throw it all into an apartment. I hope to put some in the bank for grad school, pay down my pre-existing student loans, etc. But perhaps I also need to revise my idea of what's *appropriate* to spend on housing.
Or, another way to put it: Do you struggle to find a decent place at less than the going rate, or do you suck it up, so to speak, and accept the reality of the market?
What percentage of your monthly disposable income would you expect to spend on housing? Is spending over a third of your income on housing pretty standard? Half your income?
I'm coming from the perspective of someone who has previously lived in moderate housing cost areas. I'm now looking at studios that cost twice what I paid for studios in Philly and nearly as much as my parents' monthly payment on their 2-bedroom home in Richmond. I have more income than I used to, but I feel like that doesn't mean I should throw it all into an apartment. I hope to put some in the bank for grad school, pay down my pre-existing student loans, etc. But perhaps I also need to revise my idea of what's *appropriate* to spend on housing.
Or, another way to put it: Do you struggle to find a decent place at less than the going rate, or do you suck it up, so to speak, and accept the reality of the market?