How much take home pay would you personally want to buy a $1.5M house right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

This seems like an odd thing to say and yes, people are buying what they can safely afford.

You're not making enough to comfortably afford a $1.5M home. Could you just go for it? Sure. Would that be foolish? Yep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:where did you find all these stable job that pays 300k+ each? I would love to get into that career path!

Big law, at least for many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:where did you find all these stable job that pays 300k+ each? I would love to get into that career path!

Big law, at least for many.

Doctor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Minimum 30k take home

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

[Anonymous]

As a rule of thumb, housing costs should be no more than roughly 33.33% of your take-home pay. So, is your take-home in the neighborhood of $30K?

[Anonymous]

Why not ask a more intelligent question: What kind of house do I actually need that I can actually afford?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

When you already have a full-time nanny, daycare for the older kid is an optional extra expense you've decided to have. A nanny is childcare, and babies can go to daycare. You're choosing the most expensive option for each kid, while and mixing and matching to maximize expense. Based on these facts, it's really hard to believe that 1) your kids will go to public school, and 2) you're "not big spenders."

Aim to spend no more than 1/3 of your take home income on PITI. You have multiple kids to send to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

When you already have a full-time nanny, daycare for the older kid is an optional extra expense you've decided to have. A nanny is childcare, and babies can go to daycare. You're choosing the most expensive option for each kid, while and mixing and matching to maximize expense. Based on these facts, it's really hard to believe that 1) your kids will go to public school, and 2) you're "not big spenders."

Aim to spend no more than 1/3 of your take home income on PITI. You have multiple kids to send to college.

OP here. That’s an interesting perspective. I’d think a 3 year old and especially a 4 year old would benefit greatly from the socialization and structure of daycare. I can’t imagine that a nanny could nurture them properly while having their hands full with an infant.

Yes I plan on sending my kids to public school. Childcare isn’t free before then so I pay for it…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

When you already have a full-time nanny, daycare for the older kid is an optional extra expense you've decided to have. A nanny is childcare, and babies can go to daycare. You're choosing the most expensive option for each kid, while and mixing and matching to maximize expense. Based on these facts, it's really hard to believe that 1) your kids will go to public school, and 2) you're "not big spenders."

Aim to spend no more than 1/3 of your take home income on PITI. You have multiple kids to send to college.

OP here. That’s an interesting perspective. I’d think a 3 year old and especially a 4 year old would benefit greatly from the socialization and structure of daycare. I can’t imagine that a nanny could nurture them properly while having their hands full with an infant.

Yes I plan on sending my kids to public school. Childcare isn’t free before then so I pay for it…

OP, we were similar to you a few years ago. Had lived in a very HCOL city prior to DC and hadn't bought until moving here, and were balancing childcare for 2 kids. People on here just love to jump all over high earners. I don't think your childcare situation is unusual (we have a nanny and 2 kids in part time preschool--this is common). Also agree a lot of people making $500k+ are buying homes in the $1.5 range. FWIW we take home $30k/month before factoring in bonuses, and are comfortable with our $8k PITI. Have you tracked your spending for a few months to know your actual burn? That will be much more accurate than trying to predict future expenses because it's very easy not to factor in the "one-time" expenses that seem to come up every month (the expensive dental bill, the last minute flight when there's a family emergency across the country, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

When you already have a full-time nanny, daycare for the older kid is an optional extra expense you've decided to have. A nanny is childcare, and babies can go to daycare. You're choosing the most expensive option for each kid, while and mixing and matching to maximize expense. Based on these facts, it's really hard to believe that 1) your kids will go to public school, and 2) you're "not big spenders."

Aim to spend no more than 1/3 of your take home income on PITI. You have multiple kids to send to college.

OP here. That’s an interesting perspective. I’d think a 3 year old and especially a 4 year old would benefit greatly from the socialization and structure of daycare. I can’t imagine that a nanny could nurture them properly while having their hands full with an infant.

Yes I plan on sending my kids to public school. Childcare isn’t free before then so I pay for it…

Sure. So send the baby to daycare too.

You've made some financially less than optimal decisions, OP. Paying off very low interest student loans rather than saving/investing. Having three kids (I realize that's much more than a financial decision, but is also *is* a financial decision). Don't compound them by extending yourself too far on a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make 400 and are very comfortable with our 4,200 mortgage on our 1.2 house.

How in the world did you pay so little? to get a $4200 PITI on $1.2M you need a 1% rate assuming 20% down??

NP. I'd point out they said their *mortgage* was $4200, not that it was the PITI.

my payment on 1.4m is $5600, but taxes and insurance are separate. our PITI averages out to around $7100 for a now-approximately $2m house, HHI is ~$400k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

When you already have a full-time nanny, daycare for the older kid is an optional extra expense you've decided to have. A nanny is childcare, and babies can go to daycare. You're choosing the most expensive option for each kid, while and mixing and matching to maximize expense. Based on these facts, it's really hard to believe that 1) your kids will go to public school, and 2) you're "not big spenders."

Aim to spend no more than 1/3 of your take home income on PITI. You have multiple kids to send to college.

OP here. That’s an interesting perspective. I’d think a 3 year old and especially a 4 year old would benefit greatly from the socialization and structure of daycare. I can’t imagine that a nanny could nurture them properly while having their hands full with an infant.

Yes I plan on sending my kids to public school. Childcare isn’t free before then so I pay for it…

Sure. So send the baby to daycare too.

You've made some financially less than optimal decisions, OP. Paying off very low interest student loans rather than saving/investing. Having three kids (I realize that's much more than a financial decision, but is also *is* a financial decision). Don't compound them by extending yourself too far on a house.

Wow, so much judgment and so many assumptions! 1. I have 2 kids. 2. The baby is literally too young for daycare right now as in daycares don’t take babies that young. Plus I don’t just pick the cheapest childcare option possible since I actually care about their well being. 3. You don’t know what the interest on the loans are and I don’t see anything wrong with paying them off and being debt free if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is in the 450ish range and I would not want a 10k mortgage payment. We live in a 1m dollar home and had a high down payment so our total monthly payment including tax (but excluding insurance) is around 4K.

We make ~$530K, and have a $4100 PITI, and I wouldn't want to double that. Could we do it? Yes. But it would come at the cost of both savings (retirement, college and other) and experiences that we would rather keep in our budget.

At the end of the day, it's all about choices.

I would love to keep it at $4000 but what is that with rates these days, a $700k house? Is that really what people making half a million are buying these days?

Is this OP? How much equity do you have in your current place? I think it's strange you have a full-time nanny, and expensive daycare, and 2+ kids but have just paid off your student loans on $550-600k/year HHI, and are apparently just now getting on the property ladder? Don't get me wrong, I had ~$200k in student loans, but you seem to be doing things in a strange order here.

I think plenty of people making half a million take out mortgages for $700k, yes. That does not mean that's the value of the house they're purchasing.

That was me. We’ve never owned a home. We’ve lived in different cities for various reasons and didn’t want to buy until we knew we would stay. We paid off student loans a few years ago (was just explaining why we haven’t saved enough to make a huge down payment). I’m not sure what you mean by expensive daycare, we need childcare so we do daycare and have a nanny for the baby until she’s older enough for daycare.

Ah you mean 700k mortgage - I agree. I meant a 700k house.

When you already have a full-time nanny, daycare for the older kid is an optional extra expense you've decided to have. A nanny is childcare, and babies can go to daycare. You're choosing the most expensive option for each kid, while and mixing and matching to maximize expense. Based on these facts, it's really hard to believe that 1) your kids will go to public school, and 2) you're "not big spenders."

Aim to spend no more than 1/3 of your take home income on PITI. You have multiple kids to send to college.

OP here. That’s an interesting perspective. I’d think a 3 year old and especially a 4 year old would benefit greatly from the socialization and structure of daycare. I can’t imagine that a nanny could nurture them properly while having their hands full with an infant.

Yes I plan on sending my kids to public school. Childcare isn’t free before then so I pay for it…

Sure. So send the baby to daycare too.

You've made some financially less than optimal decisions, OP. Paying off very low interest student loans rather than saving/investing. Having three kids (I realize that's much more than a financial decision, but is also *is* a financial decision). Don't compound them by extending yourself too far on a house.

Wow, so much judgment and so many assumptions! 1. I have 2 kids. 2. The baby is literally too young for daycare right now as in daycares don’t take babies that young. Plus I don’t just pick the cheapest childcare option possible since I actually care about their well being. 3. You don’t know what the interest on the loans are and I don’t see anything wrong with paying them off and being debt free if you can.

1. You wrote, "I’d think a 3 year old and especially a 4 year old would benefit greatly from the socialization and structure of daycare." Not sure how anyone is supposed to understand that you are talking about one child.
2. If the nanny is such a short-term expense, you shouldn't have included it for consideration.
3. You're right, I don't know the interest rates - what were they? I do know that we are coming out of an extended period of historically low rates. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with paying off low interest debt, but it's undisputed that it isn't financially optimal. That's compounded, in your case, by the fact that you cleared low-interest debt and now have to take on much higher interest debt in order to buy a house.