Reply to First Post -- How much house ($$$) can we afford??

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "First Post -- How much house ($$$) can we afford??"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]OP here.  As mentioned in initial post, this is my first post on DCUM.  Thanks for all of your suggestions (even the ones where I've thanked God that I don't have sensitive skin, lol).

I should have probably included more in my posts, so here it goes:  I'm in my late 30's and GF is in her mid 30's; after 18+ years we're hopefully not going anywhere.  Marriage is on the table, and something we would either do before or right after relocation.  Only after GF has found a full-time position here in her field (HR hiring coordinator) will we consider purchasing a home.  We are worried about her finding a job, but hopefully it will not be an onerous task (she's mid-level and seeking additional HR certifications).  If she doesn't find a job within the federal government (she's Schedule A), she may apply for a position with the State or a local municipality.

While we'll be renting initially, we still want to be prepared for 2-3 years down the road when we're ready to buy.  This post is for us to gauge what other's thoughts are, and we appear to be on track.  We also thought that we should be conservative and not take a mortgage more than 2 to 2 1/2x our HHI.  We're just surprised to find real estate here so expensive for what you get (that's coming from NYers), and wondered if others are borrowing more than the 2 to 2 1/2x HHI rule.  I guess one note of mention is that we're planning on applying for a VA loan, which we've heard is extremely strict on containing buyers within the HHI rule and really looks at debt ratios.  GF has no CC debt, but does have student loans.  I have no student loans, but CC debt of which will all be paid off by time of purchase.  Even though VA loans require minimum down, we'd still like to put down more than what is required (will save once CC debt is down).

A large TH would serve us well; however, my somewhat elderly mother will more than likely be joining us (yes, I'm nuts, and yes, GF and my mom have a good relationship).  As such, we've had to look at larger and more expensive SFHs.  My mother has about $500k equity in her home, and has volunteered to assist, but we rather do it all on our own.  Was just really trying to determine how much home we could afford without her assistance.  While I'm not looking for a McMansion, I'd like to have enough room to where everyone is comfortable.  Frederick Co seems to fit that bill.

As I mentioned previously, for the last year or so, I've been working out of Rockville for a week every few months.  It has given me a chance to ride I-270 on occassion, and while it's a nightmare of a commute at times, it's not undoable.  But all of this will greatly depend on where GF finds employment.  If it's down in DC, Frederick is completely off the table and we'll look at other areas close-in.  Not to get into politics, but we've even looked at parts of PG county, and while their homes are affordable, we're surprised by the school ratings, which we know are not everything.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics