How on earth do people afford mortgages?

I jsut got pre-approved last night on Lending Tree.com and they calculated my monthly mortgage to be 2200 a month if we only took 360,000 out. Add in approx 500 for taxes, 300 for homeowners and flood insurance, 5-600 for utilities -- we are up to 3500 and that is not including car payments, insurance, food, credit card bills, cell phone bills, and general life expenses! Is this a similar scenario for many of you or does this sound like it is a bit much? If this is accurate, we will be living with my parents forever!

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That sounds about right. UNFORTUNETELY! It is verrry difficult to get out into your first house these days

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that sounds right, unfortunately thats what it costs theres days... u make it work the beginning is always hard, but I find it gets easier.

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Tell me about it. Our mortgage, taxes and insurance total $3,200 not including car payments and utilities. It is VERY expensive around here.

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its expensive, no doubt - but FH and I bought a house on LI with no help from anyone, if we can do it anyone can.

I would make a spreadheet of all your bills, you would be surprised how much you can save with a litte bit of budgeting.

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Also dont forget that you will get pretty good tax deductions for both your mortgage and property taxes. I found that the first year is always way harder than the rest!

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my mortgage will be double my rent- but it's worth it to me to own my own home and have a driveway

make a spread sheet with you total take home on top and then start subtracting your expenses-

maybe start out with a co-op to build equity

buying a house on LI is not easy-

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welcome to long island...where you cant afford to live, and you cant afford to leave!

your estimate sounds about right. thats why most people look for houses with some kind of rental unit to help subsidize the mortgage. good luck!

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we brought a co op for that reason alone about mortages and taxes etc...
Our mortage is similar to that of a 2br apt and we just pay our maitence/taxes and thats it

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that's why they started offering 40 and 50 year mortgages - so people can afford to buy a home!

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You just do it. DH and I bought a house and got married in the same week.

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sounds right..it's sick!! but we are not willing to relocate so...we are doing it and complaining a whole heck of a lot about it.

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$300/MONTH for homeowner's?? Our insurance is only $750/YEAR. When you break it down, it is just $62/MONTH.

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we are in the same scary boat - i do not know how we will ever afford to own our own home

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$500-$600 sounds a little high for gas, electric and water, and $300/month for homeowners also sounds off. i was forced by the bank to insure my house for way more than needed PLUS I needed flood. that comes out to $200 month.

But yes, unfortunately, having a house is expensive.

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We only spend $500-600 a year for homeowners insurance and only $150 a month for each gas and electricity. It's still an expensive purchase, but it can be done. We bought our house 6 months after getting married with no help from our parents.

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Unfortunately things are relative. Depending on the size of house that you purchase, your bills may be higher. The homeowner's insurance is off though. Ours is $87per month.

Our electric, oil, phone costs about $530 a month. Of course, oil & electric go up & down. Our taxes are $875 a month! If you include all the car payments & insurances, our monthly expenses are $5500!!!!

I never understood how we would do it, but you just do it. You make a lot of sacrafices, but in the end, they are all worth it! It is a place to call your own & we love it.

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We learned that for some reason sometimes it doesnt look like it will always work out on paper but it does in real life. When we bought our house we thought we would be living paycheck to paycheck and my godmother kept telling us not to worry it works out and if you have to make some scrafices some months it's ok. She way so right! Our spending cut back a little but I didnt really notice. After a few months you learn what your budget will be. I think once you figure out what your budget is then you go from their, even if you buy a smaller fixer up type house, you can always sell it and move up.