Reply to HHI 200K - how much house can/should we afford

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree with PPs that have said DCUM posters tend to be overly conservative and would recommend you look elsewhere or do your own calculations to see what YOU are comfortable with - not that PPs are wrong or bad, but there are just so many variables and such a wide range of comfort levels it's hard to get advise here.

FWIW, our HHI is a little higher than yours (about 260K) and we have a 700k mortgage (yes, this is our mortgage, house was more like $1M).  We are fully funding 401ks, saving for the kids college (we have 2), have an emergency cushion of about $50k and between one in daycare for one more year and aftercare for the other our monthly childcare expense is about 1700.  We have no other debt (car and student loans paid off) and are living very comfortably... go out to dinner often, take modest vacations, fly to visit family out of state twice a year, etc...  [/quote]

PP would you be willing to share your monthly or annual budget? I don't see how you can do all this. I must be doing something wrong.[/quote]

I agree.  Our HHI is a bit higher than 260k, and with maxing our retirement, saving for college and about the same in daycare but no debt, I do not see how we could carry a 700k mortgage.  We have a 400k mortgage.[/quote]

It isn't so much the mortgage that you carry as your monthly payment...  You can't really compare a $400K to a $700K mortgage without knowing interest rates and whether you have a 15 year or 30 year term.  At the current low interest rates (assuming you qualify), the monthly payment difference may not be as large as you think.  In any event, all this comes down to basic budgeting. Track your expenses to the penny for a year and see where you are spending money and make tweaks where necessary. Sometimes I think people on this board don't know how to build a basic household budget. [/quote]

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