How does a single person buy a house around here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should be saving a lot every month. On take home of 16K, your should be saving at least two-thirds of it, hopefully even more. If you're not, then re-examine your spending habits and whether they're consistent with your desire to buy a $1.5 million house.

+1 It sounds like you're spending too much. You could easily save half your take home and still have a decent fun budget if you keep your rent down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You buy a townhouse. The SFH was an artifice of the particulars of the 20th century.

SFHs in much of the US is reaching the end of its useful life. Will be very expensive to keep those homes in functioning order for the next 20-30 years.

The end of useful life person is back. SFH are here to stay and most people want to live in one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 31, 350k job, I’m already past the age of average marriage and first born child and don’t run into too many other people my age with this income. Statistically in the top 1-2% income for my age bracket.

Still I feel I cannot afford a decent house around here. Take home pay is 16k a month after 401k and a 1.5M house runs 10k a month at least.

How are people my age buying homes when almost nobody earns my income?

You are making an extraordinary amount of money for a single person, it should be much more easy to save a down payment.

We have never made more than 200k a year between the two of us, and purchased a 700k SFH in an unfashionable area of MoCo near the end of the red line.

If you can't save a down payment for at least a townhome on a 350k salary, something is wrong.

[Anonymous]

OP, you need to save more. I started saving for a house with my first job. DH did the same so we each owned a home when we met.

I lived with roommates and saved a lot. I still had a lot of fun with friends and traveled on the cheap. Just not the baller lifestyle with luxury everything.

So many people spend way too much on rent then turn around and wonder why they don't own a home. At least you don't have kids so it should be easy for you to save 50-60% of your take home pay.

Find a place with cheap rent and cut the spending. Look at your spending for the past year and really take a hard look at what you can cut. You're spending way too much somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You buy a townhouse. The SFH was an artifice of the particulars of the 20th century.

SFHs in much of the US is reaching the end of its useful life. Will be very expensive to keep those homes in functioning order for the next 20-30 years.

The end of useful life person is back. SFH are here to stay and most people want to live in one.

Most of Gen Z will never own a SFH if they desire to live within 20 miles of a major American city. Their kids will be raised in multifamily housing.

[Anonymous]

OP, you need to think about a couple of things and what it means for your true after-tax income.

First, mortgage interest is tax deductible...your' $10k monthly payment is say $6500 mortgage which is mostly interest in the first 10 year. So, you will be receiving a $78k tax deduction.

2nd, they increased the SALT deduction to $40k. So your state tax and property tax on your income level will be mostly deductible.

So, you will now have call it $118k of tax deductions, which on your $350k income will result in call it $30k-$40k less in taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You buy a townhouse. The SFH was an artifice of the particulars of the 20th century.

SFHs in much of the US is reaching the end of its useful life. Will be very expensive to keep those homes in functioning order for the next 20-30 years.

The end of useful life person is back. SFH are here to stay and most people want to live in one.

Most of Gen Z will never own a SFH if they desire to live within 20 miles of a major American city. Their kids will be raised in multifamily housing.

Most Gen Z will be living in suburbs just like everyone else. They'll buy the houses of previous generations. Rinse and repeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the single people I know buy townhouses because they don’t want to deal with yard work.

Townhouses at the Hamptons in McLean are very expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Define your version of: “decent house”. That might immediately identify some of your -um- hurdles.

^ this is usually the issue. If you're narrowly focused on a small set of neighborhoods or a particular style or size of house it will make for a longer search.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a cheaper house.

+1

Why does a single 31yo with no kids needs a $1.5M house?

+1 Get a condo or a cheaper house. Lots of couples save til far older to afford a house cheaper than the one you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can have my gorgeous 2500 square foot townhouse in Falls Church for $800K. Mortgage on that is totally doable with your salary.

Word of advice. If you really want a SFH, look for ones built in the 80s or 90s. Construction quality was good and the neighborhood infrastructure is likely better than older subdivisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 31, 350k job, I’m already past the age of average marriage and first born child and don’t run into too many other people my age with this income. Statistically in the top 1-2% income for my age bracket.

Still I feel I cannot afford a decent house around here. Take home pay is 16k a month after 401k and a 1.5M house runs 10k a month at least.

How are people my age buying homes when almost nobody earns my income?

I am married, but my spouse and I saved a ton before we had kids / bought a house. We had no car, didn't eat out, no tv or streaming, only cell was work cell, etc. Our goal was to live in a particular are and we knew we needed a large downpayment so we would feel comfortable buying a home there. We didn't take a vacation unless we were using points from business travel.

Before I lived with my now spouse I always lived with roommates, even when I made a good salary because I saved and invested my salary and knew one day I wanted to buy a home.

I have many friends who live large. They drive fancy cars, take fancy vacations, always go out, rent insane apartments, etc. They live alone, don't have roommates, etc. Then they complain they can't afford to buy.

If you're single and have no kids why do you need a $1.5 million house. I have a sibling who is single and looked at SFH and decided to buy a condo. She lived with roommates until they bought in their 30s. This is in Boston/Cambridge MA so it is different as condos have gone up way in value. House maintenance can be annoying, so you can also look at townhomes or row houses. You could also look for a home with a rentable basement to offset your mortgage.

If you're determined, buy a smaller cheaper home that you can renovate in an area that you like. Then you have the opportunity to grow equity and sell if you need something bigger in future.

[Anonymous]

You in a great spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a cheaper house.

+1

Why does a single 31yo with no kids needs a $1.5M house?

+1 Get a condo or a cheaper house. Lots of couples save til far older to afford a house cheaper than the one you're talking about.

Don’t buy a condo, you will stick with a money pit and potentially locked out of buying SFH or TH forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You buy a townhouse. The SFH was an artifice of the particulars of the 20th century.

SFHs in much of the US is reaching the end of its useful life. Will be very expensive to keep those homes in functioning order for the next 20-30 years.

The end of useful life person is back. SFH are here to stay and most people want to live in one.

Most of Gen Z will never own a SFH if they desire to live within 20 miles of a major American city. Their kids will be raised in multifamily housing.

Many people will literally refuse to have children altogether if they cannot find a SFH to live in. More than 80% of homeowners live in SFHs. This is why birthrates are collapsing, SFHs are being replaced by apartments and THs due to greedy developers and overly permissive zoning laws