How much should your rent payment be if...

[CrunchyDoula]

...If you are making around $3200 a month, after taxes?

[wifeandmom]

We've always found it works best to have no more than 25% of our take home pay going towards rent/mortgage. That would mean around $800/month on $3200/take home.

You'll typically find much higher percentages suggested as "typical" or "average" or "expected", but for us, the only time we went over 25% of take home, things were much, much tighter than we ever want to experience again.

Of course, YMMV.

[tinuviel_k]

Ours is about 20% of our take home pay right now. Our place is quite small, but in a good area. Skimping on size and price is letting us save right now, which is good. I'd feel comfortable renting for up to 25% of our current take-home.

[Liquesce]

Totally depends on other expenses and desired savings. All the "no more than X%" advice in the world had me in a bit of a panic moving into a situation in which our rent went well over the recommendations, but for us it's ok -- we have no debt to pay down, we're not accruing any, and our expenses are low. It's a very individual matter.

[RiverSky]

What other fixed expenses do you have? Car payment? Student loan? Credit cards? Loan payments? I think those are more important questions than just saying a percentage, though certainly if you can get a place for 25% - 33% of your net income, then that's fabulous.

[KatieBonita]

: Everything I've read says no more than 1/3 but we spend more than that. We're like a pp, though, no other debt and low expenses.

[CrunchyDoula]

Originally Posted by RiverSky

What other fixed expenses do you have? Car payment? Student loan? Credit cards? Loan payments? I think those are more important questions than just saying a percentage, though certainly if you can get a place for 25% - 33% of your net income, then that's fabulous.

We own our cars outright, have NO debt, no Loans. We also have no savings at this point and are really trying to get moving on that. I feel like $800-900 really is a safe amount for us. I want to start saving as much as we possibly can and have money to play with, something we haven't had in awhile.

[astrophe27]

I agree with the 25% of income.

There are budget calculators out there as percentage of income too.

Here is one

http://www.msfinancialsavvy.com/calc...et_percent.php

A.

[leximom]

I have always heard that it shouldn't be more than 33%

[Delicateflower]

The rule is 30%, I've never seen 25%.

Ours has been as high as 50%, but we were fine, we still had $1200 a month for everything else. Percentages aren't the be-all and end all, a gallon of milk isn't priced at 0.5% of your income.

[Denvergirlie]

We make just about the same amount as the OP, and we pay $850 a month in rent. But then have utilites too, which on an average month would make the housing line up to $1K a month.

We don't have any debt anymore of any kind, and I still wouldn't be comfortable with paying much more than that even being debt free.

[cristeen]

It really depends on other factors. Ours is under 25% and we still struggle to stretch the monthly income without touching savings. In part because of the COL around here and in part because of the 2 debts we have left (student loan + car = $600+/mo).

[Godaime]

depends on where you live...if you live in a high cost of living area then theres no way to find a place for 25% of your income

[Drummer's Wife]

I was going to say no more than $1000... not sure if that amount should include utilities, too, but since you don't have a ton of debt, I could see being comfortable paying $1200. But that's higher than 25% of your income.

Not sure which part of CO you are, but there are definitely small homes or townhouses in that range, depending on how many bedrooms/sq. ft you are looking for-- in the suburbs, though, not so much the city of Denver.

[Denvergirlie]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

Not sure which part of CO you are, but there are definitely small homes or townhouses in that range, depending on how many bedrooms/sq. ft you are looking for-- in the suburbs, though, not so much the city of Denver.

I know you were referring back to the OP, but I'll chime in and say that my $850 rent is smack dab in the middle of the city, just a few blocks from Washington Park, so I am in a very good neighborhood as well.

However, like all good things it took me some time to find this place. 3 BR house, 1 BA, 2 stories with additional 1/2 basement for storage. We have put in a garden, took out the weeds.

I found a rental from an older person that owns a bunch of properties. He's more interested in having stable tenants that keep the place up, than charging "market rates". The house is a little run down, but it's entirely safe and respectable. Neighbors houses recently sold in the $325K range, we pay 1/3 of that in rent as to their monthly mortage.

The apartment across the street is 1 BA, and rents for just $50 less a month, althou they also most likely have lower utility bills due to a lot less square footage and shared walls.

It can be done, just have to also try and find a landlord who has additional priorities than what ever they can get in monthly rental rates.

[Drummer's Wife]

That's a great deal, Denvergirlie! We paid that amount for an apartment in Arvada before moving out of state... and my sister lives in the Highlands where houses sell and rent for pretty high amounts despite not being that close to downtown. You guys got a really good price, especially for wash park. That's how it was when we lived in Lowry, because we were renting a house from family.

[CrunchyDoula]

Originally Posted by Denvergirlie

I know you were referring back to the OP, but I'll chime in and say that my $850 rent is smack dab in the middle of the city, just a few blocks from Washington Park, so I am in a very good neighborhood as well.

However, like all good things it took me some time to find this place. 3 BR house, 1 BA, 2 stories with additional 1/2 basement for storage. We have put in a garden, took out the weeds.

I found a rental from an older person that owns a bunch of properties. He's more interested in having stable tenants that keep the place up, than charging "market rates". The house is a little run down, but it's entirely safe and respectable. Neighbors houses recently sold in the $325K range, we pay 1/3 of that in rent as to their monthly mortage.

The apartment across the street is 1 BA, and rents for just $50 less a month, althou they also most likely have lower utility bills due to a lot less square footage and shared walls.

It can be done, just have to also try and find a landlord who has additional priorities than what ever they can get in monthly rental rates.

That is exactly what I'm trying to find!!! We are in Littleton and I've had a little luck finding townhomes here but no houses. In Lakewood we can get a small home, which would be just perfect! I would love to live downtown, but even though I've lived here for 12 years, I'm not sure what neighborhood to look at! We are trying to find a place with at least a one car garage (or basement), as we have a small boat, kayaks and bikes as well as plenty of other sporting equipment that takes up a ton of space!

[Denvergirlie]

Originally Posted by Crunchy Doula

That is exactly what I'm trying to find!!! We are in Littleton and I've had a little luck finding townhomes here but no houses. In Lakewood we can get a small home, which would be just perfect! I would love to live downtown, but even though I've lived here for 12 years, I'm not sure what neighborhood to look at! We are trying to find a place with at least a one car garage (or basement), as we have a small boat, kayaks and bikes as well as plenty of other sporting equipment that takes up a ton of space!

Have you checked Craigslist?

How much space are you looking for?

Here's a few that quickly caught my eye:

2BR - $750 - Denver - Highlands (unknown garage/ basement)
http://denver.craigslist.org/apa/1104878317.html


4BR in Lakewood for $800 - 2 car garage - nice area
http://denver.craigslist.org/apa/1104545478.html

1BR in baker District for $900 - utilities paid
http://denver.craigslist.org/apa/1105251988.html

As for neighborhoods, DU, Capital Hill, West City Park, Highlands, Baker District, Wash park. I even like Englewood just off Broadway south of 285/ Hampden. Seems solid working class neighborhoods, with a bit larger lots and still very accessible to the city and highways.

When you search on CL, you can almost always then map the location. Personally, I would stay away from pretty much everything directly north of downtown (5-points) and then the closer to I-70 the more is smells like the dog food factory ALL the time. Yuck!
Also, stay away from anything really close to Alameda Ave any place between I-25 and Sheridan, as far south as Jewell and as north at Colfax. Once past Sheridan and the closer to Wadsworth the better that area will be.

Good luck!