Is this too much to spend on a house?
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Anonymous
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Current HHI is about $350k, will be up to $400k within the next five years. No kids. Would it be crazy to spend $1.4M on our dream house? HOA fee would be $1000/mo. Selling our current place would give us enough for the 20% down payment. I think I know the answer is that it’s unaffordable, but would value perspectives/input. |
Anonymous
| It would be doable if not for the high hoa fee. |
Anonymous
| No way would I spend $1000 a month on HOA fees. |
Anonymous
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Really depends on your finances other than house.
How's your retirement? Do you have kids to put through college? How's that looking? Will you have parents or family to possible support? |
Anonymous
| The HOA fee is the dealbreaker for me, not the price point. That's insane and you can't deduct a dollar of it. If you're willing to pay that you could look for a 1.6M home (not that I'd advise it). |
Anonymous
+1. Why is it so high? |
Anonymous
| What does that include, spa access? |
Anonymous
| Why is the HOA so expensive? |
Anonymous
Thanks for the thoughts. Like I said above, no kids (now or future). Retirement (TSP) is maxed plus additional investments of about $500k that we theoretically could, but wouldn’t want to, sell. |
Anonymous
I definitely hear the point that it’s not deductible, but that HOA amount is pretty normal for a DC condo with standard amenities. |
Anonymous
| Damn, what do you get for that $1000? |
Anonymous
| Does the HOA fee include the property taxes? Utilities? |
Anonymous
| At that budget just buy a house. You can get a nice rowhouse and then you never have to deal with a condo association, which are literally one of the worst things in the world. |
Anonymous
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Yes you can absolutely afford it without kids.
Our HHI is 300k and We are going to buy a house at 1.5M (with a higher deposit, close to 50%, only because we received inheritance that allows us to go from 20 TPE 50% down payment). Like you we max out retirement but we also have very good 529 savings for our 2 kids and have to deal with their expenses (easily 2k a month with after school, activities and cost of life and we don’t pay for private schools). I know the inheritance part plays a role but even without we could have done it without being house poor. However, it is about life preferences and what you sacrifice for a nice house. Write your budget down, check how much you spend a month, how much your summer holidays cost etc.. and then decide. Only you will know the right answer. I don’t buy luxury handbags or fly business or get 500$ spa treatments every months. I have friends who do all those things and yes, they don’t have the extra 3k a month for a bigger mortgage. Priorities. |
Anonymous
| You can afford it but if there isn't a pool that HOA is insane. Surely you can find a different house that you like with a normal HOA. |