act1980

in order to afford a $500k house??

dbd33

How much cash do you have?

act1980

Well we would put about $50k down but was just wondering what salary you would have to be on to afford that?

Matt UK

Depends on the size of deposit.

I own a home in that bracket but put a hefty deposit down so I could (not that I do / or is anything wrong with) work in Walmart and not worry too much.

What do you do?

dbd33

In the current climate one could borrow $400,000 toward that house. That implies an income of 133,333 or so.

act1980

Me and OH are in accounts. We have worked out that we will be on joint minimum of $70k when we get there. So not sure what house we could afford which is why I am asking the question!!

AlexInBC

Ouch! Our mortgage is $165k (although we owe a little bit less than that now, as that was the figure that we borrowed in 2005) and our monthly repayments are just over $1000 (but that payment includes the property tax, too.) Still...given that, if anything, rates are a bit higher now (we're on 4.6%) that would imply that a 450k mortgage would be in the (very approximate) region of 3 grand a month!!!

dbd33

$210,000 in mortgage + the fifty grand deposit = $260,000. You'd need another five grand or so to pay the legal fees and whatnot and to avoid having to take a high ratio mortgage with its expensive insurance.

Matt UK

Putting it bluntly, with a $50K deposit, a joint income of $70,000 wouldn't do it. You'd need to be earning double that. Sorry

act1980

Well we wouldn't be getting a mortgage for 2 years so our salaries would have gone up by then. We are taking into consideration the discrimination thing as I have been told that when you have no experience in the Canadaian workplace they don't pay you very much. After that I would earn 40k and OH would earn anything from 70k minimum

dbd33

One thing you have going for you is that the Canadian economy and so the price of houses lags the US by a couple of years; houses might well be a lot cheaper in a couple of years.

act1980

Yeah i have heard that. fingers crossed that it happens!!!

XCMTBer

Your are both working in the field of accounting and can't work out the income required to service a $450k mortgage ?

Rob_999

CMHC mortgage calculator is a good tool to use. Don't forget that you'll need to pay mortgage insurance if you're putting down less than 20% deposit.

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/buho_007.cfm

Tuppence

And remember your property tax could be horrendous on that. Around here you could be looking at $4 - $6k a year for a house of that value.