Roughly $190,000 to $250,000 at a rate near 6.5 percent, and less wherever there is an HOA: $60,000 a year is $5,000 a month gross, which caps the housing payment at $1,400 under the 28 percent rule and at about $1,650 to $1,750 under the 43 to 45 percent debt-to-income limit once a car payment is counted.
This is the income where the arithmetic stops being about the house and starts being about the fixed costs attached to it. At $5,000 a month gross, the property tax, the insurance, the mortgage insurance and the HOA together can eat a quarter of the housing payment before a single dollar reaches the loan.
Worked all the way through, with the two shapes of home this budget actually reaches in the Las Vegas valley.
The ceiling
Gross monthly income at $60,000 a year is exactly $5,000. Twenty-eight percent of it is $1,400, and that is the comfortable total housing payment: principal, interest, taxes, insurance and HOA.
The debt-to-income limit lenders actually approve to is 43 to 45 percent across all debts, which is $2,150 to $2,250 here. A $350 car payment and $150 of student loans leave about $1,650 to $1,750 for housing. Carry no other debt at all and the approval can go higher still, which is worth knowing and is not the same as being able to live on it.
What $1,400 a month buys, two ways
A 30-year loan at a rate near 6.5 percent costs about $6.32 a month per $1,000 borrowed. Two worked examples, both at 10 percent down.
A condo at $165,000. The loan is $148,500, so principal and interest run about $938. Property tax at 0.6 percent is $83 a month. An HO-6 condo policy, which covers the interior rather than the building, runs commonly $400 to $700 a year, call it $50 a month. Mortgage insurance at 0.5 percent of the loan is $62. HOA dues of $250 finish it: $1,383 a month, right at the ceiling.
A single-family home at $210,000, which in the valley means an older single-story in the neighborhoods near downtown or the east side. The loan is $189,000, principal and interest about $1,194, tax $105, insurance $115, mortgage insurance $79, no HOA: $1,493 a month. That is above the 28 percent line and comfortably inside the 43 percent one.
Stretch the housing payment to $1,700 with no HOA and the reachable price is about $240,000. That is the honest top of this income without help.
The HOA is the whole conversation
Notice what happened between those two examples. The condo costs $45,000 less and its payment is only $110 lower, because $250 of dues canceled most of the saving. At this income every $100 of monthly dues removes about $15,000 of price at a rate near 6.5 percent.
That does not make condos the wrong answer. Dues buy the roof, the exterior and the master insurance policy that a detached-home owner pays for separately and unpredictably. It does mean the dues figure belongs in the search filter from the first day rather than being discovered at the offer, and that an association with amenities and thin reserves is a special assessment waiting to land on a budget that has no room for one.
Where the extra room comes from
Three places, in the order they are usually available. A co-borrower, because lenders total both incomes and both debts, which raises the ceiling if the second person brings more income than obligations. Down payment assistance, which does not raise the ceiling but removes the cash barrier that usually stops a purchase at this income before the payment does. And time, since paying off the car is worth more here than any rate shopping.
The fourth place is the rate itself, and it is worth less than people expect. A half point saves about $70 a month on a $150,000 loan. Removing a $350 car payment is worth five times that.
General information, not lending advice. A pre-approval from a lender who has seen your credit, your debts and your documented income is the only number that binds.
Questions people ask
Can I buy a house in Las Vegas making $60,000 a year?
Yes, at the bottom of the market: condos, townhomes and older single-story homes rather than the valley median. The binding constraint is usually cash at closing and HOA dues rather than the salary itself.
Is $60,000 enough to buy a $300,000 house?
Not on the 28 percent rule, which allows a $1,400 payment against the roughly $1,950 a $300,000 home needs at 10 percent down. It can work with a co-borrower, a large down payment, or no other debt at all and a lender willing to approve at the top of the debt-to-income range.
How much do I need saved to buy at this income?
On a $200,000 purchase, about $7,000 at 3.5 percent down plus roughly $6,000 in closing costs, so $13,000 before reserves. Assistance programs and a seller credit toward closing costs are the two normal ways to shrink that.