Reply to Just bought an $800,000 house on a $186,000 salary and now I'm panicking....

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Reply to "Just bought an $800,000 house on a $186,000 salary and now I'm panicking...."

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We weren’t comfortable with more than a $200k house on a HHI of $100,000/yr so that would be a big no from us. But we are resisting the two income trap and live in the Midwest. [/quote]

Same, we make ~$200K a year and live in the Midwest and have a remaining mortgage of $180K-ish. We continually look at new houses, but we absolutely do not want to be house poor or work forever.[/quote]

So, basically, you have no idea what it's like to live in a HCOL area or how much houses cost in the DMV, but you'd like to weigh in to share your entirely irrelevant opinion why?  $200K is a studio/one-bedroom condo that's a mile walk from the metro, likely with stupid high condo fees.  There are no $200K houses here.  But, hey, living in the Midwest is a big no from us.[/quote]

Seriously, I wish the Midwestern folks would refrain from giving advice on the RE boards like it's actually feasible here. A 200K house is not an option in the DMV unless you want to have a 4 hour round trip commute. Do a search and see what 200K gets you and where.

And this isn't a case of wanting a "new" house. An 800K house around here is not a brand new, decked out McMansion. And a move to the Midwest is not an option for all of us.

OP - don't panic. You will be fine. Do you have savings? You will be able to pay your bills but will likely not be able to save much for a few years until your income goes up.

We bought an 800K house on an HHI of about 220K, with 20% down. We had no debt but did have daycare costs for two young children. We were able to make it work just fine but not able to save as much as we wanted initially, so not maxing out our 401Ks and not contributing much to the kids' 529s. This resolved in a few years with incomes going up. However, I must note we did have a cash cushion that would have gotten us through about 6 months of living expenses if both of us were to become unemployed at the same time. Still, I'm sure DCUM would have told us we were crazy. [/quote]

You can buy lower cost houses, you choose not to.  We spent under $400K.  We could afford to upgrade but choose not to.  No way I'd risk just 6 months of living expenses.[/quote]

You cannot buy a SFH in DC area for 400K period. [/quote]

Exactly! Where the heck are these houses that are more than 1000 square feet in the DC area that are 400k? Never seen that unicorn. I see old homes running 600k built in 1920.[/quote]

Here are some: https://www.redfin.com/city/26038/MD/Silver-Spring/filter/property-type=house+townhouse,max-price=400k,min-sqft=1k-sqft
And some more: https://www.redfin.com/city/10503/MD/Hyattsville/filter/property-type=house+townhouse,max-price=400k,min-sqft=1k-sqft
More: https://www.redfin.com/city/12839/DC/Washington-DC/filter/property-type=house+townhouse,max-price=400k,min-sqft=1k-sqft

They exist.[/quote]

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