Save Your Pennies
This is how much money you need to save each day for a down payment on a house in Houston
What could you be doing with the money that goes toward small purchases like your daily latte, an impulse magazine, or eating out for lunch? Saving up for a down payment, says Realtor.com, especially if you're looking to buy in Houston.
The real estate website did the math for the nation's 15 largest cities, determining how much buyers need to save to eventually purchase a home. Texans actually have to save more per day over five years than residents of Chicago ($19.44), Philadelphia ($15.57), and Atlanta ($14.78).
Future Houston homebuyers need to save $23.29 a day in order to accumulate enough cash for the average 12.7 percent Houston down payment of $42,532. The website says the median Houston home price is $334,900, and our hot real estate market is fueling ever-rising prices. If $23 a day is steep, you could save $11.65 a day over 10 years instead.
In Dallas, the median home price is a little lower, but the down payment goal for five years is slightly higher, at $25 per day. It's only $12.42 a day if you spread it out over a decade.
Not surprisingly, house hunters in San Francisco need to tighten their purse strings the most, putting aside roughly $104.46 a day to reach a down payment goal of $190,750 within five years. Next comes Los Angeles, with about $68 a day, then Boston, with $40.41. New York City seems positively cheap at only $39 a day, but that's still a lot of coffees.