Slappo Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 My wife and I just succesfully paid off the last of her student loans today! Granted we still have a loooot of student loans, but we're looking to have them fully paid off in about 4 more years on a single income budget! Moving back to the mid-west is a lot less feasible while we still have student loans to manage, so this is one big step in the right direction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilllabettt Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Isn't that a great feeling.What was your strategy? Dave Ramsey "snowball" effect? I love that one ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 How is the cost of living where you guys are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappo Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Isn't that a great feeling.What was your strategy? Dave Ramsey "snowball" effect? I love that one ... Nope... I actually just went for highest interest rate loans first, except for a few small pesky ones. Dave Ramsey may say finances is 20% intellect 80% behavior, but I'm an intellectual and an accountant by profession. Finances is 80% intellect and 20% behavior for me :). Also, going into marriage with both of us having the mindset of student loans come 100% first has really helped. How is the cost of living where you guys are? On most things we are about 135-145% of the average USA COLA, but on housing we are at 195% and that may be a low estimate. The spare bedroom in our 878 sf. condo we were able to rent out for $500 a month. Your average 3 bed 1 1/2 bath house on 1/5th an acre is $250-300k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 On most things we are about 135-145% of the average USA COLA, but on housing we are at 195% and that may be a low estimate. The spare bedroom in our 878 sf. condo we were able to rent out for $500 a month. Your average 3 bed 1 1/2 bath house on 1/5th an acre is $250-300k. I guess that must be up to geography, right? I looked up Calgary the other day. We are in the top 100 most expensive cities to live in worldwide. This year we are one place above San Francisco. Average sale price on a house so far this year is over $450. I would like to live somewhere that is somewhat less expensive. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappo Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Lets just say a $320k house we were looking at in WI for kicks and giggles was 4 bed 5 bath 4300 sf. with a full cedar bar. The outside of the house looked like a mansion. The kitchen was huge and beautiful. It's only 2x as expensive as my 878 sf. condo... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Lets just say a $320k house we were looking at in WI for kicks and giggles was 4 bed 5 bath 4300 sf. with a full cedar bar. The outside of the house looked like a mansion. The kitchen was huge and beautiful. It's only 2x as expensive as my 878 sf. condo... lol Lol, srsly. I remember last year when I was visiting Katy I happened to see a real estate flyer in the newspaper or something. Houses in there for like... $50 000, easily would go for $300 000 over here. For the $400-500 range down there, you'd be well above one million, often into two million in Calgary. :P Crazy to see variation like that. I guess it really is all about location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn Dusk Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 High rent places stink!!! It's amazing what differences can make in location. Telecommuting is where it's at...then you can have a high-income city job and live on acres for cheap. Northeastern prices are pretty high...around 300k for a 3-bedroom ranch with a decent bit of a yard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HisChildForever Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Congratulations! Because I commuted and my accelerated MA program, I'm fortunate that my loans for a BA and MA - while scary - combined are around what some students pay for a BA, if not a little less (I've heard of BA students with 100k in loans, mine is significantly less than that thankfully). An "average" house here is minimum 600k and I think I'm being very generous with my estimate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn Dusk Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Congratulations! Because I commuted and my accelerated MA program, I'm fortunate that my loans for a BA and MA - while scary - combined are around what some students pay for a BA, if not a little less (I've heard of BA students with 100k in loans, mine is significantly less than that thankfully). An "average" house here is minimum 600k and I think I'm being very generous with my estimate. *sigh* good luck on paying off your loans HCF! And houses....where was this bubble they spoke about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Congratulations!!! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Congrats Slappo!! Congratulations! Because I commuted and my accelerated MA program, I'm fortunate that my loans for a BA and MA - while scary - combined are around what some students pay for a BA, if not a little less (I've heard of BA students with 100k in loans, mine is significantly less than that thankfully). An "average" house here is minimum 600k and I think I'm being very generous with my estimate. And this is why I don't want to teach in your state. :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 An "average" house here is minimum 600k and I think I'm being very generous with my estimate. New Jersey, right? On that graph I was looking at, New York City comes up as being the 33rd most expensive, even ahead of Rome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HisChildForever Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 New Jersey, right? On that graph I was looking at, New York City comes up as being the 33rd most expensive, even ahead of Rome. Yes, northeastern NJ - areas closest to the city are very expensive, whereas south Jersey not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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