Here's how much you have to make to afford a starter home in the U.S.
CBSN
Americans must earn at least $76,000 a year to afford a basic home in the U.S., a sharp increase from the recommended income to become a homeowner before the pandemic, according to Redfin.
Only four years ago, people with annual earnings of $40,500 could afford a typical starter house, the online estate firm said in a new report. But the double whammy of rising mortgage rates and record high home prices has lifted the cost beyond the means of many Americans.
"The pandemic housing-market boom changed the definition of a starter home," Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa said in a statement. "A decade ago, many people thought of a starter home as a small three-bedroom single-family house. Now that type of home could cost seven figures, especially in expensive parts of the country."
Early on Halloween morning 2019, Colby Trickle called 911 saying his 26-year-old wife, Kristen Trickle, shot herself in their home in Hays, Kansas. Sergeant Brandon Hauptman from the Hays Police Department was the responding officer. After speaking with Colby Trickle, and looking at the scene, he was suspicious. Hauptman wondered if Colby Trickle had something to do with his wife's death. But three days later, the coroner, Dr. Lyle Noordhoek, ruled Kristen Trickle's death a suicide. Colby Trickle was free to go on with his life, but investigators kept working the case.