We are in a very similar situation, though our daycare costs are higher ($2200). No other debt payments besides mortgage. Our total monthly payment is $2800. It is fine - I would love it to be lower so we could save more cash, but it's doable.

similar HHI and expenses and quite comfortable with our $3000 total monthly payment (mortgage, insurance, etc). we can buy what we want, eat out, occasional vacation, etc but we really aren't big spenders. it will get more interesting with another unpaid maternity leave and 2 kids in daycare for awhile next year, but i think we can swing it because we are able to save some extra now.

We are a little less than 200k and manage a $3,500 mortgage with one kid in day care ($1500/month) and one car payment. We are making good contributions to, but not maxing out, on retirement and college savings. We both have very stable jobs that will provide additional income, so I expect that payment to become a smaller portion of our income every year.

We found a house we love in an area we expect to be in for many years, so I felt comfortable stretching for the first couple of years.

Our HHI and expenses are almost identical (though we have less in retirement and more in liquid savings) and our PITI all in is just shy of $2500 which is no problem. We are looking to trade it in for a new home that would push us into the $3200 all in range and this is the highest we would be comfortable with.

Our HHI and expenses are similar, and our mortgage of $2800 is very comfortable for us. Would not want to go above $3000.

Our HHI is almost exactly 200k (varies a tad based on bonuses).

No kids, but a mortgage of $2750 is VERY comfortable here, no issues. One car with a low payment. Saving 5% into tax advantaged accounts, and another $15k-20k/yr into index funds.

Once kids come into the picture this may change, but we'll hopefully have the car fully paid off shortly as well to ease that.

I think you can do $3000 easily and could stretch to $4000 if you think there's an upward trajectory to that HHI. I bought my first house 7 years ago on a ~$150K HHI and the PITI at that point was $2800. I wasn't saving much beyond fully funding a 401K, but we lived comfortably and weren't stressed. Fast forward 7 years and my HHI had risen and the house was not even close to a stretch and I was saving plenty in a personal account in addition to the 401K.

If you think your incomes will appreciate ... even if only at the pace of inflation ... you can probably afford more mortgage long-term than you would feel 100% comfortable with on today's takehome. But even w/ $9000 per month net, you could do a $4000 PITI and should be living quite easily (p.s. $4000 PITI is probably in the $700K mortgage range).

We have a HHI of about the same. One child in FT preschool and one in part-time daycare. One car payment, no other loans or CC debt.

Our mortgage (including taxes, insurance) is about $1,800/month and we find this very comfortable. Meaning, we still afford vacations, eating out when we want, save for retirement and college, etc.

How old are you and how many kids do you have? College savings?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 203K, we have daycare expenses of about $1400 per month, that should go down to $900 a month or so once youngest is in school in a year. We have no student loans and no car payments right now, although we will probably need to replace an old car in the near future. Our take home pay is about $8900 a month after taxes, health insurance and retirement contributions.

What monthly mortgage payment would you be comfortable with?

how much do you have in retirement and liquid savings?

We have about 400K total in retirement and about 50K in liquid savings.

How are you going to make a downpayment?

If you like to have a life style (vacations, extras for DC, eat out) and so on, not more than $3000 month.

Don't forget you have to roll in taxes and homeowners insurance to the payment. I make in the mid 100s, and while my mortgage payment is around $1900 a month, when you roll in all the other stuff, my monthly check is about $2400. So you can probably afford something in the low 2000s per month, and keep the total payment under $3k. You could pay more and be house poor if you want to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 203K, we have daycare expenses of about $1400 per month, that should go down to $900 a month or so once youngest is in school in a year. We have no student loans and no car payments right now, although we will probably need to replace an old car in the near future. Our take home pay is about $8900 a month after taxes, health insurance and retirement contributions.

What monthly mortgage payment would you be comfortable with?

how much do you have in retirement and liquid savings?

We have about 400K total in retirement and about 50K in liquid savings.

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 203K, we have daycare expenses of about $1400 per month, that should go down to $900 a month or so once youngest is in school in a year. We have no student loans and no car payments right now, although we will probably need to replace an old car in the near future. Our take home pay is about $8900 a month after taxes, health insurance and retirement contributions.

What monthly mortgage payment would you be comfortable with?

how much do you have in retirement and liquid savings?

Our HHI is 203K, we have daycare expenses of about $1400 per month, that should go down to $900 a month or so once youngest is in school in a year. We have no student loans and no car payments right now, although we will probably need to replace an old car in the near future. Our take home pay is about $8900 a month after taxes, health insurance and retirement contributions.

What monthly mortgage payment would you be comfortable with?