Forum Archive

Affording a Brownstone

In response to a comment in another post, I have some questions. I know I could speak to a mortgage broker or bank but at this time I am quite a bit away from buying so thought I would ask the knowledgable people here.

What kind of income do you think you need and downpayment to buy a brownstone around $900k?

I make about $150k but due to some family medical issues a few years ago, I have little cash saved right now – about $25k – and saving as much I can. I have zero other debt.

I guess I would need a minumum of $100k in cash to buy something for $900k with a $150k salary? Actually, I guess even more when taking into closing costs, plus some left over cash in the bank for emergencies, etc.

But the ones in the $1.5m range, I would need either double salary or a good $600k down to be able to make the payments, and that is assuming around $2k a month in rental income as well.

It seems the ones in the lower price range, say around $700k, need a lot of work and that means I would need more cash to fix/renovate.

I am wondering how others do it, are there that many making $300k+ ? Actually, I guess there are quite a few $300k income two-earned households around.

I know the basic answer is right now I am not in the right financial position to buy one, but wonder what people think is possible for me to do, in say 1 to 2 years?