Won the bid on a 900k house and now I feel sick

[Anonymous]

Sorry I mistyped-we purchased our home for 900k but the mortgage was only about 700k.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is doable if you cut costs on things like eating out and vacations. Our HHI is about 280k and we have a 900k mortgage, a full-time nanny, and about 700/month in student loan payments. We still manage to save about 2k/month. But we also brownbag our lunches, make good use of our CostCo membership, etc. Budgeting is key.

Wow, can you list your monthly budget, net, etc? This is really, really impressive.

A bit over 15k/month take home after taxes and 401k

4200 mortgage
4000 nanny (including taxes and breedlove fees)
1000 groceries
800 utilities (electric, cable, cell, water)
700 student loans
300 car gas/maintenance (we own our car outright so no loan)
500 kid's clothing/toys
500 our clothing
500 eating out (usually less than this)
750 misc costs (like car taxes, gifts, kid activities)

That leaves about 2k/month for savings. We put work bonuses, tax refunds and other one-time windfalls directly in savings.

We have a 900k mortgage and our payment with taxes is 5,600!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I mistyped-we purchased our home for 900k but the mortgage was only about 700k.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is doable if you cut costs on things like eating out and vacations. Our HHI is about 280k and we have a 900k mortgage, a full-time nanny, and about 700/month in student loan payments. We still manage to save about 2k/month. But we also brownbag our lunches, make good use of our CostCo membership, etc. Budgeting is key.

Wow, can you list your monthly budget, net, etc? This is really, really impressive.

A bit over 15k/month take home after taxes and 401k

4200 mortgage
4000 nanny (including taxes and breedlove fees)
1000 groceries
800 utilities (electric, cable, cell, water)
700 student loans
300 car gas/maintenance (we own our car outright so no loan)
500 kid's clothing/toys
500 our clothing
500 eating out (usually less than this)
750 misc costs (like car taxes, gifts, kid activities)

That leaves about 2k/month for savings. We put work bonuses, tax refunds and other one-time windfalls directly in savings.

We have a 900k mortgage and our payment with taxes is 5,600!?!

Ok. That explains a lot. Your mortgage is 700k not 900k.

[Anonymous]

In the DC area, being house poor is less risky than in other parts of the country. At least if you are close-in, it's unlikely that you'll be under water during a recession. If worse comes to worse, you can sell your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is doable if you cut costs on things like eating out and vacations. Our HHI is about 280k and we have a 900k mortgage, a full-time nanny, and about 700/month in student loan payments. We still manage to save about 2k/month. But we also brownbag our lunches, make good use of our CostCo membership, etc. Budgeting is key.

Wow, can you list your monthly budget, net, etc? This is really, really impressive.

A bit over 15k/month take home after taxes and 401k

4200 mortgage
4000 nanny (including taxes and breedlove fees)
1000 groceries
800 utilities (electric, cable, cell, water)
700 student loans
300 car gas/maintenance (we own our car outright so no loan)
500 kid's clothing/toys
500 our clothing
500 eating out (usually less than this)
750 misc costs (like car taxes, gifts, kid activities)

That leaves about 2k/month for savings. We put work bonuses, tax refunds and other one-time windfalls directly in savings.

We have a 900k mortgage and our payment with taxes is 5,600!?!

We do too and our payment with everything is 4700. Our interest rate is 3.25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is doable if you cut costs on things like eating out and vacations. Our HHI is about 280k and we have a 900k mortgage, a full-time nanny, and about 700/month in student loan payments. We still manage to save about 2k/month. But we also brownbag our lunches, make good use of our CostCo membership, etc. Budgeting is key.

Wow, can you list your monthly budget, net, etc? This is really, really impressive.

A bit over 15k/month take home after taxes and 401k

4200 mortgage
4000 nanny (including taxes and breedlove fees)
1000 groceries
800 utilities (electric, cable, cell, water)
700 student loans
300 car gas/maintenance (we own our car outright so no loan)
500 kid's clothing/toys
500 our clothing
500 eating out (usually less than this)
750 misc costs (like car taxes, gifts, kid activities)

That leaves about 2k/month for savings. We put work bonuses, tax refunds and other one-time windfalls directly in savings.

We have a 900k mortgage and our payment with taxes is 5,600!?!

We do too and our payment with everything is 4700. Our interest rate is 3.25.

I'm the poster with the 5,600 payment - our interest rate is 3.5%. I'm shocked at how much more our taxes are. Are you in VA, MD or DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah,it might be tough sledding for a bit, but that 900000 will soon be 1.7 million. This is Arlington, and prices are never going down again. So you made a reasonable move.

It's a decent investment, of course, but only if they can afford the mortgage.

I live in N. Arlington and you guys are nuts. I wish my 1.2 m place would appreciate that
quickly, but you have nothing to base your overly optimistic forecasts.

[Anonymous]

I wonder how OP feels about the decision now. Any update?

[Anonymous]

I started reading now realizing this is from 2015 and had been wondering how OP got into N. Arlington for only $900K.

Anyhow, I could have posted something similar in 2015. We're still in the house (likely our forever house) and finances got a lot better over time.

[Anonymous]

220k and a mortgage of 4100….glad to see DCUM has not changed and y’all are still comically under leveraged. Like when people say to not spend over twice your HHI on a mortgage

[Anonymous]

Probably everyone buying a house these days feels like you do. But your monthly payment will be fixed while your salary increases. Your kids will be in school soon, so you won't have crazy expensive child care. Odds are high that sometime in the next couple years that interest rates will come down and you can refinance. Before long your income will be 1/3 higher and maybe your monthly payment will be 10-25% lower. Hang in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:220k and a mortgage of 4100….glad to see DCUM has not changed and y’all are still comically under leveraged. Like when people say to not spend over twice your HHI on a mortgage

Except OP prob has a HHI of 500k now and the house is worth $1.8M...and their mortgage is at 3%, so they are sitting pretty...

[Anonymous]

Weird to read this knowing how we were all so innocent in 2015 with no idea what was to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:220k and a mortgage of 4100….glad to see DCUM has not changed and y’all are still comically under leveraged. Like when people say to not spend over twice your HHI on a mortgage

Indeed. I can only imagine how well this couple did if they decided to stay in the area and their job prospects were stable. They almost certainly refinanced at a 2% interest rate. They almost certainly saw a leap in their home valuation/now have significant home equity. Their incomes also probably grew.

If they were under-leveraged before just think about how pretty they are sitting now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird to read this knowing how we were all so innocent in 2015 with no idea what was to come.

I love it when posts like these get bumped. Brings us all back down to earth. 2015 was literally right after the U.S. real estate market bottomed. OP made out like a bandit, if they kept their house. Congrats!

[Anonymous]

This is an amazing retread. It's also funny to see how all the same arguments are being made 10 years later.