$75k salary needed to buy median Tampa home?

Median home price is….. (looks at my stats report) 430k in Pinellas county and 400k in Hillsborough county.

Interestingly, Pinellas has bounced up and down between 400 and 440k the last 6-8 months. I chalk this up to drastically reduced demand swinging median price more than it normally would. Hillsborough though has been steady eddie at 400k for months.

Anyways, these sorts of reports miss a lot of nuance in the home owning process and are needlessly discouraging to low end / first time buyers. The truth is it can be both more expensive and considerably less expensive depending on your specific financial situation and what your priorities are. The only way to know your outlook and possibilities is to actually start the process. There’s just way too many variables for an infographic like this to have any significant meaning.

I know plenty of people buying homes that make $30k – $50k a year household… they just are buying homes below the median and either have some cash saved OR are taking advantage of the many programs available.

There’s first time buyer programs available that if you qualify (not as hard as you think), you will receive a deferred loan/ low interest loan / grant of typically $5,000 – $20,000 towards down payment and closing costs. Details of the plans vary by location, but they exist and I have 4 clients utilizing them currently.

Also depending on down payment amount the savings can be huge. While interest rate buy-downs are much talked about currently they only last a year or twos. ARMs are something many are now evaluating, though I always recommend full awareness of potential liability with them. And at any point in history if you are able to put 30% – 40% down you will drop your interest rate by 1%-2%.

While many scoff that that’s impossible given today’s job market, I promise there are plenty of people in a wide, wide variety of circumstances that make it a priority and make it happen. I have a client currently that is purchasing a home in Clearwater with roughly $3000 cash out of pocket all told, which is lower than many apartment deposits now.

Is it a $600,000 4/3 with 2500 square feet? No. And honestly that would probably be more like $800,000 nowadays. BUT it is a home that they will own and that they will be able to build a life for themselves with and will be able to ride the real estate market up and down long term with, versus paying rising rents for years.