Would you buy a 1.2 million dollar home

[Anonymous]

To me-you sound well positioned with savings, an emergency fund retirement. We did pretty much comparable. The one income went up 30% 3 years in so the worry of being a bit stressed lessened. A year or so later other spouse created second income and at that point we actually added on a huge addition.

We didn’t doubt we could pull off obligations but also we bought the house because it fit where we wanted to live and schools right for kids (one went to private because it ended up being right for her.) We were also ready to go back to nothing if the worst came. Having nothing but housing debt gave us flexibility

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t, but I prioritize travel and expensive hobbies like golf over house. I also have a distaste for big houses (although I recognize that the $1.2 million house might not be big). If I were you, with your income, 3 kids, and $350 for a down payment, I would seek a house in the $800-$1 million range.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't because you only have one income. On two incomes it makes sense to stay as close as possible to a mortgage you can cover on one income, so on one income you definitely don't want to stretch past 3xs HHI with no backup plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 180k income and bought a 420k house with 20% down

People are crazy

This is us too. We are comfortable, have plenty saved in case of an emergency and could now pay off our house if we wanted/facing unemployment and be ok.. How you could even think to do that without a huge savings, college funds for THREE kids, etc. is beyond me and very risky. You choose to have three kids. If you can afford it, you should fully pay for college and give them a good start to life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: it is one income which is likely to increase in the future. Not only savings. Would have another 100k insavings outside of 401k and 529’s. Not the only home we could buy, could spend less but don’t wants to move to far out of the metro area.

$100K is not a lot in savings if you need a new HVAC or roof, or job loss. You can spend that very quickly. Or, what if you need a new car or someone gets expensive health issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: it is one income which is likely to increase in the future. Not only savings. Would have another 100k insavings outside of 401k and 529’s. Not the only home we could buy, could spend less but don’t wants to move to far out of the metro area.

$100K is not a lot in savings if you need a new HVAC or roof, or job loss. You can spend that very quickly. Or, what if you need a new car or someone gets expensive health issues.

What? HVAC is 10K
Roof is like 20K
Job loss: How quickly is job replaceable? 6 months? Fine. 1 year? Fine.
Healthcare issues: Insurance

100K is enough of a savings for shit to go south and they can keep building that up if they want, as nothing has gone south yet. That 1.2 mil house won't need an HVAC or new roof, anyway, or they won't buy it. If one of them gets cancer and can't work, presumably they have insurance for that. It's all a money game and we can't really answer OP's question without knowing all of their financial details and where the risk is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 180k income and bought a 420k house with 20% down

People are crazy

Yep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: it is one income which is likely to increase in the future. Not only savings. Would have another 100k insavings outside of 401k and 529’s. Not the only home we could buy, could spend less but don’t wants to move to far out of the metro area.

$100K is not a lot in savings if you need a new HVAC or roof, or job loss. You can spend that very quickly. Or, what if you need a new car or someone gets expensive health issues.

What? HVAC is 10K
Roof is like 20K
Job loss: How quickly is job replaceable? 6 months? Fine. 1 year? Fine.
Healthcare issues: Insurance

100K is enough of a savings for shit to go south and they can keep building that up if they want, as nothing has gone south yet. That 1.2 mil house won't need an HVAC or new roof, anyway, or they won't buy it. If one of them gets cancer and can't work, presumably they have insurance for that. It's all a money game and we can't really answer OP's question without knowing all of their financial details and where the risk is.

Most insurance has co-pays and deductibles. Assuming this is a large house, a new HVAC would be $20K. Our small house was 10K. That's very risky, especially with three kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: it is one income which is likely to increase in the future. Not only savings. Would have another 100k insavings outside of 401k and 529’s. Not the only home we could buy, could spend less but don’t wants to move to far out of the metro area.

$100K is not a lot in savings if you need a new HVAC or roof, or job loss. You can spend that very quickly. Or, what if you need a new car or someone gets expensive health issues.

What? HVAC is 10K
Roof is like 20K
Job loss: How quickly is job replaceable? 6 months? Fine. 1 year? Fine.
Healthcare issues: Insurance

100K is enough of a savings for shit to go south and they can keep building that up if they want, as nothing has gone south yet. That 1.2 mil house won't need an HVAC or new roof, anyway, or they won't buy it. If one of them gets cancer and can't work, presumably they have insurance for that. It's all a money game and we can't really answer OP's question without knowing all of their financial details and where the risk is.

Most insurance has co-pays and deductibles. Assuming this is a large house, a new HVAC would be $20K. Our small house was 10K. That's very risky, especially with three kids.

Arguably a new AC isn’t a requirement. They sell window units for $100 at Home Depot.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t live in the DMV area please stop responding to financial threads. There is no way anyone with kids in this area can find a habitable house for $420k. Stop trying to fool everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: it is one income which is likely to increase in the future. Not only savings. Would have another 100k insavings outside of 401k and 529’s. Not the only home we could buy, could spend less but don’t wants to move to far out of the metro area.

$100K is not a lot in savings if you need a new HVAC or roof, or job loss. You can spend that very quickly. Or, what if you need a new car or someone gets expensive health issues.

What? HVAC is 10K
Roof is like 20K
Job loss: How quickly is job replaceable? 6 months? Fine. 1 year? Fine.
Healthcare issues: Insurance

100K is enough of a savings for shit to go south and they can keep building that up if they want, as nothing has gone south yet. That 1.2 mil house won't need an HVAC or new roof, anyway, or they won't buy it. If one of them gets cancer and can't work, presumably they have insurance for that. It's all a money game and we can't really answer OP's question without knowing all of their financial details and where the risk is.

This.

Even in the case of a job loss, I’d assume the other spouse could get a job pulling in 3k per month. Heck , one could babysit at night and pull in at least 1k per month. So 7k - 3k(spouse gets a job)- 1k (unemployment) = 3k. Means OP can live 30 months not even working.

The people who are warning op he might lose his job, not be able to find one and need a roof and AC replaced at the same time are nuts. Most people wouldn’t own a home by these standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t live in the DMV area please stop responding to financial threads. There is no way anyone with kids in this area can find a habitable house for $420k. Stop trying to fool everyone.

+1. It’s so unhelpful. It’s like us telling you to find a house for 50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t live in the DMV area please stop responding to financial threads. There is no way anyone with kids in this area can find a habitable house for $420k. Stop trying to fool everyone.

+1. It’s so unhelpful. It’s like us telling you to find a house for 50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: it is one income which is likely to increase in the future. Not only savings. Would have another 100k insavings outside of 401k and 529’s. Not the only home we could buy, could spend less but don’t wants to move to far out of the metro area.

$100K is not a lot in savings if you need a new HVAC or roof, or job loss. You can spend that very quickly. Or, what if you need a new car or someone gets expensive health issues.

What? HVAC is 10K
Roof is like 20K
Job loss: How quickly is job replaceable? 6 months? Fine. 1 year? Fine.
Healthcare issues: Insurance

100K is enough of a savings for shit to go south and they can keep building that up if they want, as nothing has gone south yet. That 1.2 mil house won't need an HVAC or new roof, anyway, or they won't buy it. If one of them gets cancer and can't work, presumably they have insurance for that. It's all a money game and we can't really answer OP's question without knowing all of their financial details and where the risk is.

Most insurance has co-pays and deductibles. Assuming this is a large house, a new HVAC would be $20K. Our small house was 10K. That's very risky, especially with three kids.

Isn’t this in dc? A 1,600 sq foot rowhouse is $1.2 million. Doesn’t require a 20k hvac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t live in the DMV area please stop responding to financial threads. There is no way anyone with kids in this area can find a habitable house for $420k. Stop trying to fool everyone.

You absolutely can.