Numbers Are In And Washington County Definitely Has This Problem

Recent numbers released to the public by Washington County officials are enlightening.

The county (as of November) has 202,452 residents. Of those, 88,900 of us are employed full or part time, leaving (after accounting for children) an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent, down .3 percent from the previous quarter, but up from 2.6 percent a year ago.

But the most revealing number is something we all feel intuitively.

The average full-time worker in Washington County makes $54,000 a year, while the average price of a house is $465,600.

That means at today's interest rate of 6.875 percent, buying one of those houses with a 10-percent down payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage would make your payment $2,752.79 a month.

A couple with just one person working full time at that average wage of $54,000 brings home (after taxes) about $3,000 a month. If both adults work, double that to $6,000 a month.

Banks and loan institutions operate on a critical number when issuing loans. It's called your debt ratio.

If you have a car loan, a student loan, credit card payment or any other such "debt," it counts against your debt ratio. And banks will very rarely offer a loan to anyone with a debt ratio that is at or near 50 percent (that number would include the payment amount of the new loan).

The first number, with just one person working, would equal a debt ratio of 91.7 percent ($3,000 income and $2,752 payment) -- no chance of getting that loan.

If both people work full time, the debt ratio would be 45.9 percent ($6,000 income and a $2,752 payment). That might get issued, but only if the couple had no other debt -- no car loans, no credit cards, no student loans).

Truthfully, most young couples don't combine for $108,000 in income and don't have any other debt.

So basically the numbers reveal that the idea of a young couple getting into an average home in Washington County is maybe not impossible, but certainly improbable.

Realtors and loan officers will tell you that the numbers can be played with -- tweaked. A larger down payment could lower the debt ratio (you know, because we all have 50 grand laying around).

Or you could buy down the interest rate in the first couple of years to qualify for the loan.

Or you could get your parents to co-sign on the loan.

But the bottom line is this -- if a young couple wants to buy a house, they're probably going to have to leave Washington County and find a place that pays just as much (there are plenty), but where the houses are a lot cheaper.

And that's just sad.

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