You can buy lower cost houses, you choose not to. We spent under $400K. We could afford to upgrade but choose not to. No way I'd risk just 6 months of living expenses. |
Some of you must be horrible at budgeting. |
They have roommates or live in affordable housing. https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/ |
That would absolutely terrify me. Like, not even an option.
Many on this board might say I am too conservative, though. On a home worth $1.15M I owe $396,000 on a 15 year mortgage at 2.25. I'm 45 and a single mom on an income of $380,000 ~ But its sales so can always vary. Again, I'm conservative with debt and was once house poor with small kids (because ex was a moron) and I hated it. |
You cannot buy a SFH in DC area for 400K period. |
Reading comprehension fail. Our children will NOT have student loans, therefore will NOT complain, because we put aside enough $ for them to attend the school of their choice and not be constrained by the lack of savings and planning. Some parents decide to buy less house so they can save more for college. |
Where do you live, Ashburn? Frederick? A $400K house in the boonies is not worth it if you have to spend 3-4 hours a day commuting to DC. Or did you buy in 2006 and simultaneously brag about your home appreciation while tut-tutting people paying that price for a house? A tear-down lot costs more where we live, and I'm an hour out, not in Arlington/McLean/MoCo. |
I don't know what this lady is smoking but Midwest is no longer super cheap. You can't find a house in a good school district for 200K. 4bed/3bath under 2500 SF in Upper Arlington, suburb of Columbus is $450K https://www.redfin.com/OH/Columbus/1968-Fishinger-Rd-43221/home/75607379 4bed/4bath, 4000 SF in Leawood, suburb of Kansas City is $440K https://www.redfin.com/KS/Leawood/13030-El-Monte-St-66209/home/83191666 5beds/2bath, under 3000 SF in Lincolnshire, 35 miles from Chicago is $425K with over 1K MONTHLY in property taxes https://www.redfin.com/IL/Buffalo-Grove/681-Silver-Rock-Ln-60089/home/17636140 3bed/2bath, under 2000 SF in Chanhassen, a suburb of St Paul is $419K https://www.redfin.com/MN/Chanhassen/171-Fox-Hollow-Dr-55317/home/51012622 Unless you win the lottery big time so you don't have to work and love to be in the woods and hunt your food, there's nothing in Midwest at 200K. |
I lived in a group house in Columbia Heights, when I was single making $50-80k. |
I'm looking at redfin and the cheapest SFH in Ashburn is over 700K lol. |
$7k a month sounds like a lot but what about after school care ? That’s $500 a kid. What about a family vacation? A modest family trip involving an airplane is at least $5k (that’s $500 a month). What about summer camp ($200-500 a week if day camp). What about renovations a few years away. If you are going to pay cash you’ll need to save thousands of dollars over years (500-1000 a month). What about when your car dies. Furniture and clothes and equipment for stuff. It adds up for a family living that DMV life. We make $310 and our mortgage is $350 on a fifteen year. If your kids are older you’ll have a mortgage into your 60s or 70s!! |
What?? Sure you can. Kensington (zoned for Einstein). One of those very small capes. |
I don't think the OP knows either her household's income, or after tax takeaway. My husband and I make about 25K more than the OP, and we net a little over $11K after taxes, insurance, and retirement. I would've never considered a $800K+ home on our income. Our mortgage is $2K a month less than yours on our recent home purchase (with 20% down).
Either way, everyone has their comfort levels, but I would be uncomfortable with that mortgage. Basically, you will be house poor. I figuring you have another 3K in monthly expenses (food, gas, phones, car/life insurance, streaming subscriptions, cleaning service, internet, maybe a gym membership etc.) Unexpected expenses will come up that will add to your monthly expenses (eventual new car, added utility costs, before/after care, summer camps, or extracirculars for kids, college savings, seasonal clothing) that you don't factor in, and unless they are coming from another source, will further erode your discretionary pot of money. There is little left over for a vacation, home repairs, etc. I'd suck it up for a couple years, pay down some of the mortgage, hope the home appreciates and doesn't need any big repairs, then sell and get something more affordable so you don't have to stretch yourself so thin financially. |
We bought a 1M place on a ~$250K/year salary and haven't had any issues. We gross ~$20K/mo and net ~$13K/mo after taxes, health, max retirement and HSA (employer effectively matches 1:1 for both).
4K PITI leaves 8.5K/mo. More than enough for us. Now we came into this with a 500K retirement and 500K non-retirement assets, but we haven't touched either and still manage to invest 2-3K/mo on top of retirement. Free PK3 and no need to pay for transport really help us out (work metro pass + walk + my old grad school beater that we sometime lose). |
You have $7000 left over, which is more than most people's monthly gross income (including mine). You will be fine. |