itself. I went with the median sale price over the past year, then rounded down a bit to $525,000 for our Bend “starter home”. This seems like a justi able gure as the sales mode in March 2021 was in the $500,000 to $550,000 range and there were only 15 houses for sale in Bend at $500,000 or below that month. Second step, we need to know how much that house will cost as a monthly mortgage. Using a 3% xed mortgage rate and estimating taxes/ insurance I created three different scenarios based on the level of your down payment. If someone could scape together 20% ($105,000) then their monthly mortgage would be $2,320, but the mortgage would be closer to $3,070 with zero down. Third step, what are the income needs to afford the mortgage on this Bend “starter home”? Before we know how much income you need to afford that mortgage we need to identify a normal or appropriate amount of your household income that would go towards housing. You cannot apply 100% of your wages to housing as that would leave no room for things like food, childcare, or other household expenses. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) de nes households that spend between 30-50% of their income on housing as being cost burdened. At that level households begin having a dif cult time affording other necessities. So I am using an income level that intentionally places the household into a cost burdened state to see who can afford housing when stretched as far as possible. With a 20% down payment you need a household income of around $70,000 to buy that Bend starter house if you are spending 40% of your income on housing. With a lower down payment you will need an annual income of $85,000 to $92,000.
Last step, how do those income requirements align with local wage earners and household incomes? The good news is the income requirements to buy the median house with 20% down aligns nearly perfectly with the current median household income. The problem is that very few of our median households have $105,000 for a down payment sitting around in the bank. At 10% down (still a very large down payment) the median household cannot afford this Bend “starter home”. I included a variety of occupational wages for context. As you can see, most households must rely on multiple wage earners to afford housing in Bend. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly 66% of the wage earning family households in Deschutes County have more than one wage earner. This analysis has focused exclusively on buying a home in Bend. However, if you are a renter then the household income needs are over $50,000, roughly equivalent to the median wage for all yearround, full-time workers. Housing has been and continues to be dif cult to afford for many local wage earners in Bend. The more someone must spend on housing, the less they can spend on other necessities or more discretionary purchases. I won’t get into policy solutions or ideas, but it is important to understand that many hardworking households in our community face the very real question, can I afford to live here?
Could your personal data be kept hostage for ransom? Just shortly after clearing up the issues caused by ransomware in the national gas pipeline system, ransomware caused stoppages in meatpacking facilities across the country. While major corporations are hustling to ensure tighter security protocols are in place to prevent ransomware, you may be wondering if your computer or home network could be susceptible to this hack. Yes, absolutely. In fact, amateur hackers gain skills by in ltrating individual people’s home networks. Ransomware is a malicious software program that people download to their computers, typically disguised as legitimate links or downloadable items. To reduce your risks, use a malware blocking software program on your devices, keep your operating system and your antivirus software updated, and avoid clicking on links in emails or downloading attachments if you’re uncertain about the sender. If you become the victim of ransomware, immediately contact your local of ce of the FBI for instructions: https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/ eldof ces.
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Southern Oregon Business Journal June 2021 | 15
