How much mortgage can we afford?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a job!!!!!

OP already said she’s a lawyer.

OP, I would focus on your debt and building up a larger DP before buying. You can rent and it will be cheaper until you are ready.

Then how do they have 2 kids and no childcare expenses?

My coworker’s mother and MIL take turns watching her 2 kids during the week. They don’t go to daycare. Family often helps. Is that a hard concept to grasp?

[Anonymous]

When we had student loans from DH's law degree we bought a cheap townhouse in a gentrifying area, and we didn't have any car or consumer loans. We drove an old sedan until the student debt was paid off.

750k is insane. Look for a condo or townhouse where your PITI costs are as close to rent as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we had student loans from DH's law degree we bought a cheap townhouse in a gentrifying area, and we didn't have any car or consumer loans. We drove an old sedan until the student debt was paid off.

750k is insane. Look for a condo or townhouse where your PITI costs are as close to rent as possible.

Agree that trying to reduce expenses with that much in loans is really important. $722 for a car lease sounds high, but I don't know when OP and her husband got their lease and if interest rates were already high. It would be a shame if they were driving around in a BMW and not paying off loans/funding retirement/funding 529s.

[Anonymous]

Have you spoken to a lender to see what you can are preapproved for? It will probably be more than you SHOULD spend, but could be a good starting point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a job!!!!!

OP already said she’s a lawyer.

OP, I would focus on your debt and building up a larger DP before buying. You can rent and it will be cheaper until you are ready.

Then how do they have 2 kids and no childcare expenses?

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2014/bu-research-riddle-reveals-the-depth-of-gender-bias/

THE SURGEON WAS THE BOY'S MOTHER

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would advise that you rent a cheaper place and save up for a DP. Aim to get a job not in an expensive city center (Tysons, Columbia, Baltimore). Save save save and in a few years, have a sizable DP on a nice house that is 900K as opposed to 1.5M.

In what world is Tyson’s not expensive? Some of you are really out of touch. Rents are very high. There is no cheap rental. I own a few rentals and they are small older townhouses. Rent for those is 3k/mo on average. Only a few hundred bucks cheaper than if you purchased the same house with 20% down.

But when the kitchen sink leaks, I don't pay $2k to the plumber, when the roof leaks, I don't pay $10K for a new one, etc. Renting you know your costs. Owning an older home is expensive and interest rates are high right now. They need to get control of their finances before buying. With her income they have the ability to do just that in 3-4 years and be in a much better place.

I actually feel like it's sort of this - but sort of the opposite. If you own a home you know what your mortgage is every month - and you know it's not going up. You aren't going to have to move because your landlord decides to sell or renovate, or whatever.

Owning an older home is expensive - we have one, and that's true - but you can factor that into your budgeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we had student loans from DH's law degree we bought a cheap townhouse in a gentrifying area, and we didn't have any car or consumer loans. We drove an old sedan until the student debt was paid off.

750k is insane. Look for a condo or townhouse where your PITI costs are as close to rent as possible.

Agree that trying to reduce expenses with that much in loans is really important. $722 for a car lease sounds high, but I don't know when OP and her husband got their lease and if interest rates were already high. It would be a shame if they were driving around in a BMW and not paying off loans/funding retirement/funding 529s.

Op here: it’s not a bmw, it’s a Toyota and we bought in 2021 because our 14 year old Camry ran into the ground.

[Anonymous]

Op, we were in a similar situation and my DH also had $250k in law school debt. We bought a $500k townhouse in burbs when the rates were 3%. It’s doable but I think you should wait until the rates come down.

[Anonymous]

I second suggestions to wait until rates come down. See if you can get some kind of a deal on a rental in Ward 4 or 5 to get free preschool while you aggressively save money &/or pay down debt. If you can do that for two years, you should have a big down payment, an idea of what you can afford when your budget also includes debt repayment, and maybe you'll be closing in on knocking the car note off for good. And once the kids are in preschool DH can find some kind of side hustle to bring in some money to accelerate the whole process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a job!!!!!

OP already said she’s a lawyer.

OP, I would focus on your debt and building up a larger DP before buying. You can rent and it will be cheaper until you are ready.

Then how do they have 2 kids and no childcare expenses?

My coworker’s mother and MIL take turns watching her 2 kids during the week. They don’t go to daycare. Family often helps. Is that a hard concept to grasp?

It is hard for me to grasp this concept. I can’t imagine two attorneys being able to rely solely on unpaid family members to watch young kids. Most attorneys work long hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we had student loans from DH's law degree we bought a cheap townhouse in a gentrifying area, and we didn't have any car or consumer loans. We drove an old sedan until the student debt was paid off.

750k is insane. Look for a condo or townhouse where your PITI costs are as close to rent as possible.

We did the same (except with a cheap car loan on a used car), and it was the right decision. We now have $500-600k in equity in our rowhouse, almost appropriately funded retirement and 529 plans, and less than a year left on student loans. Savings are too low, but we keep our expenses down and have a HELOC (and family money) we could tap into in case of a true emergency. Once student loan payments are gone, that payment amount is going right into retirement savings and not back into our budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a job!!!!!

OP already said she’s a lawyer.

OP, I would focus on your debt and building up a larger DP before buying. You can rent and it will be cheaper until you are ready.

Then how do they have 2 kids and no childcare expenses?

My coworker’s mother and MIL take turns watching her 2 kids during the week. They don’t go to daycare. Family often helps. Is that a hard concept to grasp?

It is hard for me to grasp this concept. I can’t imagine two attorneys being able to rely solely on unpaid family members to watch young kids. Most attorneys work long hours.

If you bothered to read you would have seen OP mention that she’s the lawyer, not both.

[Anonymous]

OP, is the plan for your SAHP to return to work when the youngest starts school? Is he a lawyer as well? Or is this a long term SAHP situation? I’m trying to decipher if you plan for your HHI to increase significantly in a few years.

[Anonymous]

All this “we bought cheap townhouses” advice is meaningless now because the interest rates are more than double what all these posters paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we had student loans from DH's law degree we bought a cheap townhouse in a gentrifying area, and we didn't have any car or consumer loans. We drove an old sedan until the student debt was paid off.

750k is insane. Look for a condo or townhouse where your PITI costs are as close to rent as possible.

Agree that trying to reduce expenses with that much in loans is really important. $722 for a car lease sounds high, but I don't know when OP and her husband got their lease and if interest rates were already high. It would be a shame if they were driving around in a BMW and not paying off loans/funding retirement/funding 529s.

Likely what they are doing. They should have been paying down the student loans even during the deferral period. And certainly should be renting for the near future until they can get a grip on their finances. It should only take 2-3 years to pay off the student loans and another 5-6 months to pay off the car/lease.