HHI 350k, how much house would you buy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP sounds like a perfectly nice person, and it's great that she is trying to educate herself, but I have to admit even though I am in the 1%, that there is something grating about someone coming on the site who has a single earner income of $350k in their 30s asking for financial advice. It's not even first world problems-- it's problems of the .1%. Sorry I try to not post negatively but I thought it might be relevant to some of the other negative posts.

OP here, I do understand this is a 1st world problem and I know there are many more important things in life. Right now we are about to make the biggest financial decision of *our* life so I'm just trying to make sure we are headed down the right path.

I'm not sure if this helps you understand our situation, but dh has been a resident and fellow for the first 7 years of our marriage. We lived very minimally- small apts, ikea or garage sale furniture, thrift store finds for the kids. The last two years that he has been out of training, we still lived minimally and tried to pay off the bulk of his enormous student loans (college and med school) and all of mine (just college).

Now we are in a good place and I am very thankful for that and this is our next step. To the PP that said let Dh handle the finances- he works around 80 hours a week and they didn't teach anything about finances in med school or during his years of residency. He pretty much had to just learn his trade and survive the sleepless nights. He's a fantastic and dedicated doctor, but managing finances is not his thing. I've been trying my best to take care of things at home.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you aren't comfortable with it, don't take out such a large mortgage. There are PLENTY of great houses in great locations for much less money. You sound hesitant. We just purchased below our means, and it feels great to know we have a more than manageable payment. Don't cause yourself any stress by buying more of a house than you really need, even if you can ultimately afford it.

[Anonymous]

$750k -$1m max.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you aren't comfortable with it, don't take out such a large mortgage. There are PLENTY of great houses in great locations for much less money. You sound hesitant. We just purchased below our means, and it feels great to know we have a more than manageable payment. Don't cause yourself any stress by buying more of a house than you really need, even if you can ultimately afford it.

I agree with this. I never took possible mortgage payment calculators as real, and buying less than we "could" afford now means that we feel pretty well-off in day to day life because we have plenty of money to save and still travel, go out, etc.

That said, real estate prices around here are crazy so if you have to spend a little to get a close in house you like I would consider it (esp. as I consider close in prices to be relatively stable/safe).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP sounds like a perfectly nice person, and it's great that she is trying to educate herself, but I have to admit even though I am in the 1%, that there is something grating about someone coming on the site who has a single earner income of $350k in their 30s asking for financial advice. It's not even first world problems-- it's problems of the .1%. Sorry I try to not post negatively but I thought it might be relevant to some of the other negative posts.

I know that you posted this in as nice of a way as possible, but your message really annoys me. Why is OP not allowed to ask questions about buying a house because she has a better financial situation than most people? I can't stand this attitude on DCUM. I appreciate that you at least communicated it nicely, but she's no less entitled to ask questions or have concerns than someone with less money. You're basically marginalizing her because of her financial situation. You would NEVER even consider doing that if her financial situation were that she has no money. Again, PP, I appreciate how nicely you worded your comment, but it still really bothered me. I feel like I see this kind of "you're not allowed to have any problems or difficulties because you have money" ALL OVER DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP sounds like a perfectly nice person, and it's great that she is trying to educate herself, but I have to admit even though I am in the 1%, that there is something grating about someone coming on the site who has a single earner income of $350k in their 30s asking for financial advice. It's not even first world problems-- it's problems of the .1%. Sorry I try to not post negatively but I thought it might be relevant to some of the other negative posts.

OP here, I do understand this is a 1st world problem and I know there are many more important things in life. Right now we are about to make the biggest financial decision of *our* life so I'm just trying to make sure we are headed down the right path.

I'm not sure if this helps you understand our situation, but dh has been a resident and fellow for the first 7 years of our marriage. We lived very minimally- small apts, ikea or garage sale furniture, thrift store finds for the kids. The last two years that he has been out of training, we still lived minimally and tried to pay off the bulk of his enormous student loans (college and med school) and all of mine (just college).

Now we are in a good place and I am very thankful for that and this is our next step. To the PP that said let Dh handle the finances- he works around 80 hours a week and they didn't teach anything about finances in med school or during his years of residency. He pretty much had to just learn his trade and survive the sleepless nights. He's a fantastic and dedicated doctor, but managing finances is not his thing. I've been trying my best to take care of things at home.

OP you have nothing to apologize for. Most of the real estate posts are about houses in your price ranges and people who want to spend less than 600K and told they are insane and their kids will be doomed to bad schools.

You are jsut as deserving of financial advice as anyone else.

[Anonymous]

I think if I were you, I wouldn't go over $900k.

But that is just me.

For comparison, we have a HHI of $500k and bought a $1M house. We have pretty much no other debt (like $15k in school loans).

We also put down more.

You may have mentioned this, but do you have childcare costs? If you expect to have more kids or higher childcare costs, definitely be conservative and err on buying closer to $850k max. We bought our $1M house after our 3 kid was born and our childcare expenses are only decreasing, and that is really a big expense (childcare).

[Anonymous]

Oh wait - just reading now - single earner $350k.

Hmmm...that would scare me no matter how "stable" you think your husband's job is. I've seen too many people who think they have a stable job (like income partners) get pushed out into lower paying jobs. So while your DH may always be able to get a job that pays well, you need to ask yourself if he will absolutely always have a job that pays THAT well...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP sounds like a perfectly nice person, and it's great that she is trying to educate herself, but I have to admit even though I am in the 1%, that there is something grating about someone coming on the site who has a single earner income of $350k in their 30s asking for financial advice. It's not even first world problems-- it's problems of the .1%. Sorry I try to not post negatively but I thought it might be relevant to some of the other negative posts.

OP here, I do understand this is a 1st world problem and I know there are many more important things in life. Right now we are about to make the biggest financial decision of *our* life so I'm just trying to make sure we are headed down the right path.

I'm not sure if this helps you understand our situation, but dh has been a resident and fellow for the first 7 years of our marriage. We lived very minimally- small apts, ikea or garage sale furniture, thrift store finds for the kids. The last two years that he has been out of training, we still lived minimally and tried to pay off the bulk of his enormous student loans (college and med school) and all of mine (just college).

Now we are in a good place and I am very thankful for that and this is our next step. To the PP that said let Dh handle the finances- he works around 80 hours a week and they didn't teach anything about finances in med school or during his years of residency. He pretty much had to just learn his trade and survive the sleepless nights. He's a fantastic and dedicated doctor, but managing finances is not his thing. I've been trying my best to take care of things at home.

Then the obvious answer is to hire a financial planner. If you make 350K per year you should have a CPA doing your taxes and giving you financial advice.

[Anonymous]

We had almost your HHI but a little more savings for down payment and closing costs. We bought a house for $760. 20% down. We could have afforded more, but felt more comfortable at $760. No regrets so far.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you looking close in? Arlington/Bethesda/DC? If so, I'd be more inclined to stretch your money, but if you are at all in a suburb, I'd say you could do pretty well in the $800-$900 range and give yourself some monthly breathing room. You don't want to stress over vacations or home renovations or saving for college if you don't have to.

Our HHI is a lot less than yours (just over $200k) and we bought way less than we could afford. Sometimes we drool over what we could have had, but we do not have to budget things like groceries, classes for the kids, small trips, etc. and its really liberating. We still budget for college/large trips/home reno, etc. but not the day to day stuff.

[Anonymous]

13:28 here. Also wanted to add (for the curious) that most young doctors are eligible for special mortgages that require lower down payments with good interest rates. At least this was the case with our neurologist friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP sounds like a perfectly nice person, and it's great that she is trying to educate herself, but I have to admit even though I am in the 1%, that there is something grating about someone coming on the site who has a single earner income of $350k in their 30s asking for financial advice. It's not even first world problems-- it's problems of the .1%. Sorry I try to not post negatively but I thought it might be relevant to some of the other negative posts.

I know that you posted this in as nice of a way as possible, but your message really annoys me. Why is OP not allowed to ask questions about buying a house because she has a better financial situation than most people? I can't stand this attitude on DCUM. I appreciate that you at least communicated it nicely, but she's no less entitled to ask questions or have concerns than someone with less money. You're basically marginalizing her because of her financial situation. You would NEVER even consider doing that if her financial situation were that she has no money. Again, PP, I appreciate how nicely you worded your comment, but it still really bothered me. I feel like I see this kind of "you're not allowed to have any problems or difficulties because you have money" ALL OVER DCUM.

That's because if she had no money an anonymous internet board might be the only way she could get any help, whereas a person with a $350k income can, and probably should, pay for financial advice like this. Of course people with money can have problems and difficulties, but it's not clear that questions about how to spend 150k in savings and 350k/yr is a "problem or difficulty".

[Anonymous]

Similar situation, we bought for $500 and put about $250 in, it is nice to build up a big 529, max out 401k and savings, and still find time to support charitable causes.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I confess, I offered up some snarky comments. Now I feel bad.
Okay OP: seriously, in short, any lender WON'T lend you money to buy a house if you can't make the monthly payments. There is no such thing as predatory lending. But losing jobs does exist. What no one here can say is, what kind of house fits your lifestyle? Some people eat out 6 nights a week. Some insist on only driving BMWs less than 3 years old. Some MUST go away to Hawaii every Xmas. So, when you ask what you cn afford, how do you live? Before you buy, take a look back at the last 3 months. What did you spend each month on food, utilities, cars, insurance, entertainment. Do you want all that to continue? Will hubby mow the lawn after 80 hrs of work? Yours is a really tough question.