4 ms·

I make a decent salary as a programmer (150k) but my house only cost 250k and my mortgage is about 1400. How I see it, if I have to flip burgers to keep my hous

I make a decent salary as a programmer (150k) but my house only cost 250k and my mortgage is about 1400. How I see it, if I have to flip burgers to keep my house, I can pull it off. I can't imagine have a mortgage that's 10gs a month.

mvdtnz 2y ago
For a lot of people this isn't possible. You won't find a liveable home in my country for under 600k.
- xeromal 2y ago
  For sure but that would mean saving for it is even more impossible.
- jokethrowaway 2y ago
  And salaries are likely not 150k either
- andruby 2y ago
  I'm curious what country that is. Monaco? How are housing prices in the neighbouring countries?
  - mvdtnz 2y ago
    New Zealand.
    - andruby 2y ago
      That doesn’t leave you with a lot of neighboring countries. When you said 600K, did you mean NZ dollars or US dollars? If the former that would be about 360K USD. On a median NZ income of NZ60K per year, that’s indeed rough. Top 3 worst affordable according to claude.ai, behind Hong Kong and South Korea. The most affordable housing countries are USA, Germany and Ireland
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  Sounds like any major city in Canada. Maybe Edmonton, and in not great parts. The parts that give it the reputation as "Stabmonton". Rural is a different story -- seen some damn nice places for $300-400k CAD -- but rural Canada has its own challenges.
jrs235 2y ago
>if I have to flip burgers to keep my house Sadly it seems it's unlikely they'll hire you even though they might need the help that bad because they're afraid of paying to train you and then you leaving once something better, and in your line of work, comes along.
- xeromal 2y ago
  I mean I just meant a low paying job. During COVID which even have more oversupply, I was bored and I was drive around doing doordash and other delivery services even though I had my tech job. There is always a surefire way of making one or two thousand a month here in the states if you're properly motivated.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    You underestimate how bad the job market's been the last 2 years. And no, 1k a month is under minimum wage in my state. It's not even covering my mortgage, which is much cheaper than rent.
    - angoragoats 2y ago
      Not sure what you mean. Job growth is continually rising, and unemployment continues to remain at historic lows (where it has been since 2021-ish). [0] The job market is doing just fine, unless you’re in very specific areas such as the automotive industry or certain types of manufacturing. [0] https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5140039/labor-market-jobs-economy-interest-rates https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5140039/labor-market-jo...
      - johnnyanmac 2y ago
        These charts use "employment" in a very pedantic way. They don't look much at underemployment nor the shifts in proportions of salary ranges. I believe they also count gigs. So I could run Doordash for under minimum and be "employed" technically. The other dangerous thing is "averages". This is one of the special cases where you need to look at the lower quartiles. The average/median can look great, but if we have an entire quartile unable to pay rent we'd be in trouble as a whole.
firesteelrain 2y ago
> my house only cost 250k I find it hard to believe you can flip enough burgers to pay that mortgage and still survive. Not many fast food places will pay over 30 hours a week to burger flippers. Managers yes. You would barely survive.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > find it hard to believe you can flip enough burgers to pay that mortgage To keep a $1,400 within the 28/36 rule [1] you need to make $60,000 a year. That's around the median wage for a fast-food manager [2]. [1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/twenty-eight-thirty-six-rule.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/twenty-eight-thirty-six... [2] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/fast-food-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,17.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/fast-food-manager-salary-...
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    Can I just walk in with no management experience and ask for a manager job anywhere?
    - red-iron-pine 2y ago
      Even fast food managers will want to know you've been slinging burgers for 2-3 years. like it's not an amazingly complex job, but you can't just hire some rube off the street because he had a CS degree and knows a bunch of node.
Izikiel43 2y ago
> I make a decent salary as a programmer (150k) but my house only cost 250k I'm guessing remote work, or a high position in the midwest or some other place? In SF/Seattle/NYC, 250K is not enough for a studio apartment.
- Grazester 2y ago
  That is nonsense. That's more than enough to afford a studio in New York City. You can easily afford a luxury studio with a doorman and a pool making half of that!
  - marcuskane2 2y ago
    Is a "luxury studio" a real thing in NYC real estate or was this a joke? The term itself sounds absurd and oxymoronic to me, but also I know NYC housing is absurd and I can imagine that there are places that do nice interior finishes on studio apartments and call them luxury so maybe it's real?
    - Grazester 2y ago
      A door man is considered a luxury here bud and an indoor pool is as luxury as you get.These apartments also include a patio, a washer and drier.
- HDThoreaun 2y ago
  There are tons of apartments for less than 250k in nyc right now, just gotta accept the bronx or maybe far out queens. https://www.zillow.com/new-york-ny/?searchQueryState=%7B%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%2C%22isMapVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-74.13065718103026%2C%22east%22%3A-73.8199500887451%2C%22south%22%3A40.72634756398208%2C%22north%22%3A40.87837981068342%7D%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22New%20York%20NY%22%2C%22regionSelection%22%3A%5B%7B%22regionId%22%3A6181%2C%22regionType%22%3A6%7D%5D%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22globalrelevanceex%22%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A250000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A1267%7D%7D%2C%22isListVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapZoom%22%3A13%7D https://www.zillow.com/new-york-ny/?searchQueryState=%7B%22p...
johnnyanmac 2y ago
really depends on CoL and remote work and a half dozen other factors. My house is around the same mortgage but also twice as expensive in a suburb that is arguably the boonies. Even with the $20/hr miniumum wage for flipping burgers It'd be a tight fit after utilities and other payments.

mvdtnz 2y ago

For a lot of people this isn't possible. You won't find a liveable home in my country for under 600k.

xeromal 2y ago
For sure but that would mean saving for it is even more impossible.
jokethrowaway 2y ago
And salaries are likely not 150k either
andruby 2y ago
I'm curious what country that is. Monaco? How are housing prices in the neighbouring countries?
- mvdtnz 2y ago
  New Zealand.
  - andruby 2y ago
    That doesn’t leave you with a lot of neighboring countries. When you said 600K, did you mean NZ dollars or US dollars? If the former that would be about 360K USD. On a median NZ income of NZ60K per year, that’s indeed rough. Top 3 worst affordable according to claude.ai, behind Hong Kong and South Korea. The most affordable housing countries are USA, Germany and Ireland
red-iron-pine 2y ago
Sounds like any major city in Canada. Maybe Edmonton, and in not great parts. The parts that give it the reputation as "Stabmonton". Rural is a different story -- seen some damn nice places for $300-400k CAD -- but rural Canada has its own challenges.

jrs235 2y ago

>if I have to flip burgers to keep my house Sadly it seems it's unlikely they'll hire you even though they might need the help that bad because they're afraid of paying to train you and then you leaving once something better, and in your line of work, comes along.

xeromal 2y ago
I mean I just meant a low paying job. During COVID which even have more oversupply, I was bored and I was drive around doing doordash and other delivery services even though I had my tech job. There is always a surefire way of making one or two thousand a month here in the states if you're properly motivated.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  You underestimate how bad the job market's been the last 2 years. And no, 1k a month is under minimum wage in my state. It's not even covering my mortgage, which is much cheaper than rent.
  - angoragoats 2y ago
    Not sure what you mean. Job growth is continually rising, and unemployment continues to remain at historic lows (where it has been since 2021-ish). [0] The job market is doing just fine, unless you’re in very specific areas such as the automotive industry or certain types of manufacturing. [0] https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5140039/labor-market-jobs-economy-interest-rates https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5140039/labor-market-jo...
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      These charts use "employment" in a very pedantic way. They don't look much at underemployment nor the shifts in proportions of salary ranges. I believe they also count gigs. So I could run Doordash for under minimum and be "employed" technically. The other dangerous thing is "averages". This is one of the special cases where you need to look at the lower quartiles. The average/median can look great, but if we have an entire quartile unable to pay rent we'd be in trouble as a whole.

firesteelrain 2y ago

> my house only cost 250k I find it hard to believe you can flip enough burgers to pay that mortgage and still survive. Not many fast food places will pay over 30 hours a week to burger flippers. Managers yes. You would barely survive.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> find it hard to believe you can flip enough burgers to pay that mortgage To keep a $1,400 within the 28/36 rule [1] you need to make $60,000 a year. That's around the median wage for a fast-food manager [2]. [1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/twenty-eight-thirty-six-rule.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/twenty-eight-thirty-six... [2] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/fast-food-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,17.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/fast-food-manager-salary-...
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  Can I just walk in with no management experience and ask for a manager job anywhere?
  - red-iron-pine 2y ago
    Even fast food managers will want to know you've been slinging burgers for 2-3 years. like it's not an amazingly complex job, but you can't just hire some rube off the street because he had a CS degree and knows a bunch of node.

Izikiel43 2y ago

> I make a decent salary as a programmer (150k) but my house only cost 250k I'm guessing remote work, or a high position in the midwest or some other place? In SF/Seattle/NYC, 250K is not enough for a studio apartment.

Grazester 2y ago
That is nonsense. That's more than enough to afford a studio in New York City. You can easily afford a luxury studio with a doorman and a pool making half of that!
- marcuskane2 2y ago
  Is a "luxury studio" a real thing in NYC real estate or was this a joke? The term itself sounds absurd and oxymoronic to me, but also I know NYC housing is absurd and I can imagine that there are places that do nice interior finishes on studio apartments and call them luxury so maybe it's real?
  - Grazester 2y ago
    A door man is considered a luxury here bud and an indoor pool is as luxury as you get.These apartments also include a patio, a washer and drier.
HDThoreaun 2y ago
There are tons of apartments for less than 250k in nyc right now, just gotta accept the bronx or maybe far out queens. https://www.zillow.com/new-york-ny/?searchQueryState=%7B%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%2C%22isMapVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-74.13065718103026%2C%22east%22%3A-73.8199500887451%2C%22south%22%3A40.72634756398208%2C%22north%22%3A40.87837981068342%7D%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22New%20York%20NY%22%2C%22regionSelection%22%3A%5B%7B%22regionId%22%3A6181%2C%22regionType%22%3A6%7D%5D%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22globalrelevanceex%22%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A250000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A1267%7D%7D%2C%22isListVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapZoom%22%3A13%7D https://www.zillow.com/new-york-ny/?searchQueryState=%7B%22p...

johnnyanmac 2y ago

really depends on CoL and remote work and a half dozen other factors. My house is around the same mortgage but also twice as expensive in a suburb that is arguably the boonies. Even with the $20/hr miniumum wage for flipping burgers It'd be a tight fit after utilities and other payments.