If your HHI is 200K, how much house would you buy?

[Anonymous]

Borrow as much possible at these low rates

[Anonymous]

Single black female here, HHH was 80k at the time and I purchased a 300k house with a 1800 mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Our situation is extremely similar to yours, and our mortgage is 2500k a month. We don't feel house poor, and feel okay to have a second kid. We did, however, buy out in the burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

[Anonymous]

700 dollars per month on the gym?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:700 dollars per month on the gym?!

Yea, I know. Personal training, it adds up fast!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

how does your housekeeper live off of 24,000 a year before taxes for full-time work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

how does your housekeeper live off of 24,000 a year before taxes for full-time work?

At 20/hr, the housekeeper is doing ok and probably much better than many other workers in the region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Single black female here, HHH was 80k at the time and I purchased a 300k house with a 1800 mortgage.

really?

I was making just under $100K as a single female, and I refused to buy anything more than $150K. My mortgage was half of that, and I ended up selling my TH for $325K.

Why would you do that to yourself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

My head hurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

how does your housekeeper live off of 24,000 a year before taxes for full-time work?

She works noon-5, 25hrs a week, works 48 weeks a year and gets paid for 52.

Why are you so worried about my housekeeper who makes $18/hr, when you probably shop at Target, grocery stores, clothing stores, and toy stores supporting businesses who pay their employees half of that with no PTO for their PT employees? How about first year teachers, teaching assistants, lunch ladies, bus drivers and everyone else at your kids school who probably make less than my housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

Why are you posting on a thread about people who make $200K? Bragging? You didn't even buy recently.

Please go start your own brag thread. OP needs input from people in her situation. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Single black female here, HHH was 80k at the time and I purchased a 300k house with a 1800 mortgage.

really?

I was making just under $100K as a single female, and I refused to buy anything more than $150K. My mortgage was half of that, and I ended up selling my TH for $325K.

Why would you do that to yourself?

My first home was actually $150k when I was making 40K. I'm not house poor. Don't have student loans and I still drive the car my parents bought me at 16. I'm now making 100k and doing just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

Why are you posting on a thread about people who make $200K? Bragging? You didn't even buy recently.

Please go start your own brag thread. OP needs input from people in her situation. Thanks.

Why is anyone posting on a thread 2 years old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:280k HHI, 800k (initial) mortgage. Two kids in elementary school. Feeling very comfortable. No pressure at all.
I don't understand people whining about being house poor with 500k HHI and 600k mortgage.
It seems that it's a fashionable trend on DCUM to brag about their financial conservatism. I wonder how much of these brags are true.

I agree with the above. We have about $270k HHI and mortgage of close to $700k. Really very affordable and plenty of cushion. Sure if one of us loses our jobs, it'll pinch but that's why we have lots of emergency savings. And frankly, any amount of mortgage will be painful if you suddenly lose your job. There's such a thing as acceptable levels of risk though. We save plenty for retirement, college and emergency funds. Beyond that, life is meant to be enjoyed. We're all gonna die someday....

Our HHI is 330K and our primary mortgaged amount is 398K (we got in the real estate game very early and turned a 400K tax free profit on a townhouse back at the peak in spring of 2006).

We do also have a vacation home (that brings in some rental income) that has a mortgage of 140K, so our total monthly payments are $3500 and our net income after retirement and insurance is 13,000/mo. We also have two school aged children and a PT housekeeper that we pay $1950/mo. We all just spend differently, but the difference in my scenario is that I can up my rentals on the vacation to cover all expenses if I choose and can ditch the housekeeper if a disaster strikes. A big mortgage is hard to get out of. Here are our fixed monthly expenses:

-Mortgages $3500
-Housekeeper: $2000
-Food/Entertainment: $1,000
-Utilities/Technology: $1,000
-gas: $500
-gym/fitness :$700 (yes, yikes!)

Leftover: $4,300 (plus we make about $450/mo on rental income)

So, no we do not carry heavy mortgage, but do spend a lot on the housekeeper (who comes each day from noon-5PM) and she makes it so that I do ZERO chores and am able to have a healthy meal each and every night. I don't go to the grocery store, Costco, drycleaners, and I don't do any laundry. I would ditch the vacation home before I ditched her.

Everyone spends differently. Sure we could have purchased a 7 figure home, but we would have one home and probably not nearly 5K left over each month!

how does your housekeeper live off of 24,000 a year before taxes for full-time work?

She works noon-5, 25hrs a week, works 48 weeks a year and gets paid for 52.

Why are you so worried about my housekeeper who makes $18/hr, when you probably shop at Target, grocery stores, clothing stores, and toy stores supporting businesses who pay their employees half of that with no PTO for their PT employees? How about first year teachers, teaching assistants, lunch ladies, bus drivers and everyone else at your kids school who probably make less than my housekeeper?

Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me. She's laughing all the way to the bank! But seriously, let me know if she ever quits...