$200K and just getting by

[Anonymous]

Sure, there is the article and what the $ was for housing, but here in this area, people with this income are buying the 2400 sq ft (or more!) homes in the best areas and wondering why they feel stretched. It's because they are. People don't need to spend that much to live in fairfax county; knock off $500 - $1000 or more a month by buying a 1500 sq ft townhome a little further out than you'd like, or o a street that isn't the nicest, but is still safe. It's possible, people just don't want to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or buy a home as early as possible. We got our first starter home when we were dating at age 22. We are 40 now and are on our 5th house with one as a rental.

By the time we started having kids at 27, we were established with equity and it just kept building

Most people can't afford this. Not everyone get's daddy's help with buying a house. A lot of people have school debt. A lot of people don't make that much that early in life. Etc.

It's not as easy for everyone as it was for you.

Right. I said this in another thread, it's so easy to be smug when you have a leg up.

[Anonymous]

We bought a townhouse in 2000, and back then we didn't need a DP! Things have changed making it more difficult to buy and afford things now for people under 40.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or buy a home as early as possible. We got our first starter home when we were dating at age 22. We are 40 now and are on our 5th house with one as a rental.

By the time we started having kids at 27, we were established with equity and it just kept building

Good thing you don't buy in 2006.

[Anonymous]

Okay, wow. The financial samurai seems like a moron. 5700 in leftover money after spending 18K of it on vacations, children's lessons, consumer debt, and charity, all non essentials?

That breakdown includes ALL expenses including a high 24K a year for childcare and almost 20K a year in 401K contributions.

And they still have 5700 left over every year plus 3000 in miscellany to "get by on?"

I am not seeing how this budget makes the point the "samurai" was trying to make.

Did I miss some dramatic irony?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a townhouse in 2000, and back then we didn't need a DP! Things have changed making it more difficult to buy and afford things now for people under 40.

That's what I was about to say. PP who bought when she was 22 - that was 1998 or so. We bought in 1999 and had a 10% DP but could have done 5%, and the house was $200K.

[Anonymous]

Buying a house at 22 for most is not realistic, but there are many that post here who are unable to delay gratification. They want their nice house in a close in neighborhood that they "deserve", and they want it now. No ability to live cheaply and save to make the mortgage manageable. It is tiresome. If you make 200k in this area and you are complaining, I have no patience for you. You are a fool. You can whine about the year you came out of college, the job market, the housing market, but the problem is you. You make more than 95% of the country and you poor mouth. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a townhouse in 2000, and back then we didn't need a DP! Things have changed making it more difficult to buy and afford things now for people under 40.

That's what I was about to say. PP who bought when she was 22 - that was 1998 or so. We bought in 1999 and had a 10% DP but could have done 5%, and the house was $200K.

Pp bought before they were married, and many many people break up with their significant other once they are working and in real life; they committed to a mortgage but not to each other. Very responsible.

And as for buying with 5% down, how can you even pretend that is reasonable; it's all about timing and PP got lucky. If it was 2006 you would have been sunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, wow. The financial samurai seems like a moron. 5700 in leftover money after spending 18K of it on vacations, children's lessons, consumer debt, and charity, all non essentials?

That breakdown includes ALL expenses including a high 24K a year for childcare and almost 20K a year in 401K contributions.

And they still have 5700 left over every year plus 3000 in miscellany to "get by on?"

I am not seeing how this budget makes the point the "samurai" was trying to make.

Did I miss some dramatic irony?

+1. Apparently you are supposed to get every single thing you want AND have 50k left over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or buy a home as early as possible. We got our first starter home when we were dating at age 22. We are 40 now and are on our 5th house with one as a rental.

By the time we started having kids at 27, we were established with equity and it just kept building

Good thing you don't buy in 2006.

I am a new poster and I did buy in 2006. But where our bank cleared us for a loan up to $1 million (!) we only took a loan of $300k and bought a lovely house for $500k. Don't "stretch" to buy. The people asking you to are real estate agents who stand to get paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buying a house at 22 for most is not realistic, but there are many that post here who are unable to delay gratification. They want their nice house in a close in neighborhood that they "deserve", and they want it now. No ability to live cheaply and save to make the mortgage manageable. It is tiresome. If you make 200k in this area and you are complaining, I have no patience for you. You are a fool. You can whine about the year you came out of college, the job market, the housing market, but the problem is you. You make more than 95% of the country and you poor mouth. Yuck.

Strawman master.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or buy a home as early as possible. We got our first starter home when we were dating at age 22. We are 40 now and are on our 5th house with one as a rental.

By the time we started having kids at 27, we were established with equity and it just kept building

Good thing you don't buy in 2006.

I am a new poster and I did buy in 2006. But where our bank cleared us for a loan up to $1 million (!) we only took a loan of $300k and bought a lovely house for $500k. Don't "stretch" to buy. The people asking you to are real estate agents who stand to get paid.

+1 and the same applies to college. A lot of people struggling with student debt seemed to have bought the line that education debt is "good debt" just like a mortgage is "good debt". Garbage. Yes, some people may have to go into some debt for college but it should be minimized as much as possible. Live at home, do the first two years at a CC, do your research and choose a lower cost option. DH and I were very comfortable with his $100K salary when I was a SAHM and now as 2 working parents with a $240K income and lots of savings. A big part of that is that we both went to affordable state colleges for undergrad. I also went to a state U for grad school and had it paid for by my employer. He also lived at home during undergrad. I could have gone to an Ivy but was offered no aid so my parents counseled me, wisely, to go to the affordable state school. Graduated debt free. Had a great college experience and been very happy in my career.

We also got lucky with market timing in our house purchase but part of that was that we were willing to buy a little 1940s house that had virtually no improvements since the 1950s. We made modest improvements early on but waited to do a larger renovation until after my stretch as a SAHM.

[Anonymous]

I hear you OP. We make $330K, have 2 kids and are also just getting by!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a townhouse in 2000, and back then we didn't need a DP! Things have changed making it more difficult to buy and afford things now for people under 40.

That's what I was about to say. PP who bought when she was 22 - that was 1998 or so. We bought in 1999 and had a 10% DP but could have done 5%, and the house was $200K.

Pp bought before they were married, and many many people break up with their significant other once they are working and in real life; they committed to a mortgage but not to each other. Very responsible.

And as for buying with 5% down, how can you even pretend that is reasonable; it's all about timing and PP got lucky. If it was 2006 you would have been sunk.

My point was that 10% (or 5% which we didn't do) of $200K for a 3-BR, 2-BA in a close-in burb was not that much money - for those asking how people had a downpayment that young.

And there are a ton of people on this board who bought in 2006 and have done just fine. Almost everything close-in and under $1M is up since then, with some DC neighborhoods way up.

[Anonymous]

We make 125k, have two kids and are doing fine. We live within our means. We are in a modest home but love our neighborhood. It is definitely possible.