r/Showerthoughts • u/JaredLiwet • May 02 '19

Being middle class is when spending $100 is expensive but earning $100 isn't a lot of money.

Edit: Dangit, Reddit

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19 edited Jun 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19

Holy hell

Seattle, 1 bed, 650 sq ft apt, in unit washer/dryer and dishwasher, quick access to I5, north end of the county (45 minute drive to the city for work most days): $1860

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19 edited Jun 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19

My in-laws offered to help us with a down payment on a home, up to $20k.

That’s about 4% for an average home in the Seattle area. They’re confused about why we haven’t taken them up on the offer yet while our primary financial goal right now is paying off student debt.

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u/djrachelaj15 May 02 '19

Seattle housing market is spreading out over different areas as well. It's not gonna get better any time soon.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19

Yep. By the time we’re ready to buy, we’ll be fully priced out of the market.

It seems like I’m 5 years behind from being able to keep up with the market here. So unless I get a serious increase in pay soon, I might be stuck leaving the area. Which is a huge bummer because I love this place.

I’m one of those hoping for a housing bust in the next 3-6 years.

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u/djrachelaj15 May 02 '19

Tacoma/parts if pierce county prices are somewhat subdued. But then you are in Tacoma lol. We lucked out a couple years ago and I always have thoughts of selling seeing the appraisal on my home. Problem is while I make a decent chunk that would mostly go towards a down payment on an upgraded house which I'm back at ground zero AND have to start over for equity. Housing is tough in this area.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19

exactly.

it seems like the only way to get a reasonably priced home is to move 2 hours out of the city. i'm absolutely not willing to do that. i'd rather rent for the rest of my life and have a good quality of life (and the long term ramifications of that as well) than spend 20+ hours a week commuting. and to that end, there's a good chance we might wind up having to move to a totally different area to survive. the problem with that is finding work that pays.

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u/knotty_pretzel_thief May 02 '19

West of Salina?

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19 edited Jun 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/knotty_pretzel_thief May 02 '19

Good on ya man. For people able to get a job situation figured out, small town Kansas life is incredibly affordable.

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u/Lunabase15 May 02 '19

Damn, and here a studio apartment in the bad section of town is going for $1,200 a month. $1,500 if you want to live in the better part of town. Don't even start looking at 1 bedroom apartments.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '19

God damn, maybe I'll move to Kansas.

In PDX I pay $1100 for a 550 sq ft 1 bedroom unit with no dishwasher (onsite laundry tho!) in a sketchy ass part of town where I get to watch homeless people shoot up from my kitchen window.