HHI for $700K house?

[Anonymous]

$150K down
$500K mortgage
$250K HHI

It's worked out perfectly.

Our house isn't huge, but it's in a good school district and within reasonable commuting distance of our jobs. And we're not taking exotic vacations or eating out regularly at fancy restaurants by any means, but it's nice that we still plenty of money left over for college savings, kids' activities, emergency things that come up, and one "flying" vacation a year (always domestic). And actually be able to furnish our house nicely.

I definitely wouldn't have gone higher.

[Anonymous]

I really depends a lot of what stage of life your in when buying that $700k home. We did it when our kids were in high school already, so many years of built up equity from our first home somewhere else, no child care expenses (but approaching college costs).

We have a $750k home with a $410k mortgage and at that time we bought our HHI was $150k.

[Anonymous]

A few years ago, 170 K and a 450 K six bedroom house on an acre with 20 percent down in a beautiful suburb by the lake of a rust belt city. HHI is now up to 250 K. The financials just didn't work for us in DC. But I still like this site!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.

I'm the 270HHI PP. We have one paid-off 15 year old car and haven't left the country in two years. But sure, maybe we're just spendthrifts.

[Anonymous]

This discussion of "risk" -- and people's tolerance for it -- should not be confined solely to how much of a monthly payment people are willing to assume. Now obviously, that should be a major factor for everyone -- nobody should take on an unaffordable mortgage. But in some instances, it may actually be less "risky" to take on a marginally larger mortgage (even if it exceeds your self-imposed cap) if the house is in an area that is either in higher demand or that has a greater potential for appreciation than the area where the more budget-friendly house is. And that is because most people will not be staying in their house for the duration of their 30-year mortgage. Many will be out within 5 years, and often for reasons unforeseen at the time of purchase. And if that is the case, you might find yourself losing money because of a decision that you thought at the time was financially prudent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.

Nope. Maybe you actually want to furnish your home, save aggressively for retirement, dress well as opposed to most DC women, travel etc.

NP here. For some people, foregoing those things at least for a while is the only way to keep a short, car-free commute downtown, while still having at least a small house in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Those were our priorities, so while we still save for retirement (probably less aggressively than you do), we don't travel much, aren't as well dressed, and buy our furniture at Ikea. Worth it to us in order not to spend hours every day in the car and not to live in a condo with 2 kids (although we would have chosen the latter before the commute). Less than 700K house here on 140K with 20% down, no other debt and currently very low childcare expenses.

[Anonymous]

We bought 1.5 years ago out near Mount Vernon VA - household income around $300k and house was $700k.

[Anonymous]

hhi 300k, mortgage 850k

[Anonymous]

I agree with the poster who said to work backward. Figure out what your budget for everything else will be and then use the number left over to determine how much mortgage you can afford. I opted for a lower mortgage so we could have more experiences as a family. But you might want the opposite.

FWIW, we bought a $550k house and put 25% down. Taxes have increased each year so we now pay just under $2500/mo PITI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the poster who said to work backward. Figure out what your budget for everything else will be and then use the number left over to determine how much mortgage you can afford. I opted for a lower mortgage so we could have more experiences as a family. But you might want the opposite.

FWIW, we bought a $550k house and put 25% down. Taxes have increased each year so we now pay just under $2500/mo PITI.

HHI was $160k when we bought and is now $180k.

[Anonymous]

HHI: 180k. 2 kids: 1st grade & 3rd grade.

Moved from Ashburn with a 700k mortgage to an older, smaller home in Fairfax. New mortgage is 350k and no HOA. The house is smaller but we have half an acre of land. With the extra savings, we enjoy more trips throughout the year.

[Anonymous]

Just bought.

HHI: 340k
House: 785k
Mortgage: 628k
HOA: $350 a month

We are also putting in 60k of work into the place.

[Anonymous]

I think it's doable on $160k if you have no other debt AND you are willing to forego eating out and travelling. But, only you really know your budget. Track your expenses for a couple of months (it's easiest if you can just put everything on your credit card), add that to your fixed expenses (childcare, utilities, cable), subtract it from your take-home and see if you have enough left to do the PITI on the 700k house.

DCUM-ers love to brag about how fiscally conservative they are - don't put too much stock in the HHI $250k posters who can't IMAGINE having a mortgage higher than $400k. A lot of them probably have other significant expenses they aren't mentioning.

[Anonymous]

Your take home is around 7500 a month right? You could do it if you lead a frugal lifestyle but it won't leave much wiggle room for unexpected expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.

no in both cases

We have a HHI of $210K. We save $12K/year in college funds and have investments of about $300K - not a ton but good enough. Yes, we travel, but we're not touring Europe . . . yet. Plus, we'll retire on a combined pension of $120K.

It's not risk averse; it's simply stupid to be house poor.