How can anyone afford a huge expensive home?!

[Anonymous]

We just purchased a 410k home and thought we got a fantastic deal on it. The payments are right at the top of our budget though. How can anyone afford a home in DC?! House poor or what?

[Anonymous]

Inheritance
Family help
Make a lot of $$

Not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

They make a lot more money than you do.

[Anonymous]

what's your HHI?

[Anonymous]

Get lucky and buy in trough of the real estate cycle. Pay mortgage and gain equity. Sell at the high end of the market. Use your good fortune as a down payment for something bigger and better. Rinse and repeat.

[Anonymous]

We are able to swing our $425,000 mortgage just fine, with our monthly payment being under $2,000. That doesn't seem outrageous to me at all, and we are not super high earners relative to the DC area.

We might upgrade in a few years if we decide we are comfortable using money from DH's trust for a hefty downpayment.

[Anonymous]

A huge expensive USED home. Boggles my mind.

[Anonymous]

I have a $700K home on a HHI of $100K or so, because I bought a smaller, further-out place back in 1999, renovated and rode the real estate wave up. Then I took advantage of low interest rates (30-year fixed) to buy a much better place the second time around, using the equity from the 1st home.

Plus I have extra bedrooms so I rent one out to friends who need short-term situations for whatever reason. That generally brings in a few thousand a year.

[Anonymous]

We bought 15 years ago for $600K (not inexpensive, I know) but to buy in our neighborhood is now $900K. A lot of it is timing. And for us, the rest is having a dh who works entirely too much at a good paying job. Not worth it.

[Anonymous]

DH and I each have multiple trust funds. Plus, my parents are divorced and my father mailed me directly my child support in college. I banked over half each month and then bought a two bedroom condo in foreclosure where I went to college and then had two roommates sharing a room paying me rent. So when I moved away from that area, I sold the condo for a profit and we used that money towards our house.

[Anonymous]

We bought at 630k in 2012. HHI was about $240k at the time.

[Anonymous]

This is not that HARD. They make more money than you.

[Anonymous]

We just bought and have a 600K mortgage. HHI of 165K. I know most DCUM would consider us overextended but the key for us is no other debt and an full emergency fund (6 months income), plus we have the option to rent out the basement if things get tight and cover 1/3 to 1/2 our mortgage. We are managing fine, paying for daycare and still saving 20%. We bought a condo at rock bottom prices right after we got married. Stockpiled savings while our mortgage was low. Sold the condo for 150% of purchase price 5 years later, rolled the proceeds into a down payment and voila!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not that HARD. They make more money than you.

Seriously. Op, you are a moron if you can't figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Np.

So... with a 230k income you all would think 600-700k is doable?