Average retirement savings

[disykat]

One thing no one's mentioned: it's not always possible /advisable to stay in that small house you bought when you were young. Neighborhoods change for the worse, far-away jobs are offered, all sorts of things happen that make moving look very attractive -- even if "upgrading" isn't the goal.

LOL! I literally said that in the next sentence of my post you quoted. (It wouldn't let me quote myself. Is that a thing?) We moved for a better school district, but into another modest home.

 

[DLgal]

I am in California, as is my daughter. She stayed at home an extra year to save money for a down payment because rents here are nuts. She bought a small (919 square foot) 3 bedroom 1 bath duplex. She just refinanced to 2.65% for a 30 year mortgage, dropped her payment from $1,100 to $950 plus $300 a month for insurance and property taxes. She is surrounded by the same floor plan duplexes and they RENT for $1,700. She couldn't AFFORD to rent. Her duplex is all electric and her highest electric bill was this summer when it was 100 degrees out, and she keeps her house cold. Bill was $75.

An $1200 housing payment for a 900sq ft duplex is still insane. How much did she pay for that house?

Just to contrast your story, if we wanted to buy the house we rent, our mortgage would be $6700, so we are cleaning up by renting.

 

[disykat]

sorry, double post!

 

[kymom99]

LOL! I literally said that in the next sentence of my post you quoted. (It wouldn't let me quote myself. Is that a thing?) We moved for a better school district, but into another modest home.

We did the same. A relative bought my first home so I still go there occasionally. The neighborhood is getting run down. I bought a decent house in a very nice area. We are the ones who drive the accord in a neighborhood of Mercedes and Jaguars.

 

[tvguy]

An $1200 housing payment for a 900sq ft duplex is still insane. How much did she pay for that house?

Just to contrast your story, if we wanted to buy the house we rent, our mortgage would be $6700, so we are cleaning up by renting.

$250,000 Rents are out of control here

 

[DLgal]

$250,000 Rents are out of control here

Houses sell for around $500/sq ft here. They rent for about $2/sq ft. Rent prices down here in OC are reasonable, relative to buying. Sometimes I see ridiculous rental rates around $7k/month for a 2000 square foot home and I just laugh. Clearly that owner isn't very good at the "investment property" game. No one is paying rents that high for a cookie cutter 3bd/2ba, although I would not be surprised if that is close to the owners total housing expense every month.

 

[tvguy]

Houses sell for around $500/sq ft here. They rent for about $2/sq ft. Rent prices down here in OC are reasonable, relative to buying. Sometimes I see ridiculous rental rates around $7k/month for a 2000 square foot home and I just laugh. Clearly that owner isn't very good at the "investment property" game. No one is paying rents that high for a cookie cutter 3bd/2ba, although I would not be surprised if that is close to the owners total housing expense every month.

I'm in Sacramento and since the panedmic we have been flooded with San Francisco Bay area residents who are now working on remote for the forseeable future. They are snapping up our bargain (by their standards) rentals and buying since they no longer have to stay in the Bay Area.

 

[crjack]

So many factors to consider when evaluating your retirement status. (COL, other sources of income like a pension, inheritance, etc) Despite being good planners for many years (and living a modest lifestyle in a costly area) I am always mindful that planning only does so much when something significant or unexpected happens.

DH and I have seen firsthand how issues such as job loss, a disability or special needs child, parental care, etc can upend the best of plans. We have lived through several of these events and count our blessings that their impact wasn't more significant but others are not as fortunate.

 

[Skyzlmt]

Late to the thread.. read a bunch. New Jersey person here, and just saying warmth is not the only reason so many New Jersey people retire in florida (from the north east). It costs alot to live around New York and Philadelphia, and it costs much less to live in Florida.

Someone else shared an article about "middle class" in New Jersey and how expensive it is. Sure there are cheaper blue collar towns especially south jersey, but if you just want to live a normal family life that affords you a Disney trip every 4 years or so... you are making combined 100k easily. 150k more like it. $10,000 a year in real estate taxes for a basic home is not crazy in NJ.

So for 30 years ya dump into your 401k cause all the financial analysts base retirement living off your current higher NJ salary. Your basic north jersey cape cod sells at retirement for 550k. You take your cash from North Jersey, buy a nice place in a 55+florida community for $80k. Load up your savings with the rest, pull from 401k.. and life is good in Florida paying no income taxes in the warm weather.

I am in my 50s and know a dozen or more who have already moved to Florida and fully expect that in 10 years I'll know many dozens!

EDIT: made "south" clearer to be "south jersey"