Anonymous
Post 09/19/2014 22:28     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Guess we were frugal about our wedding (only 75 guests) but willing to spend money in real estate if it means a long term investment with a good return. Glad to hear that a $1.2 M house is doable but helpful to be reminded that it would be very dependent on our two incomes remaining the same or higher.


A 10k wedding must have blown. My parents spent around 100 for the same amount of guests.


Well we did it on that budget in a more affordable part of the us. Jokes on you.
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2014 21:42     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Guess we were frugal about our wedding (only 75 guests) but willing to spend money in real estate if it means a long term investment with a good return. Glad to hear that a $1.2 M house is doable but helpful to be reminded that it would be very dependent on our two incomes remaining the same or higher.


A 10k wedding must have blown. My parents spent around 100 for the same amount of guests.
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2014 21:14     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
This is the OP. Guess we were frugal about our wedding (only 75 guests) but willing to spend money in real estate if it means a long term investment with a good return. Glad to hear that a $1.2 M house is doable but helpful to be reminded that it would be very dependent on our two incomes remaining the same or higher.
Anonymous
Post 09/19/2014 14:18     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:This is the OP - to the 14:14 poster. We have about $1k in childcare costs (extended day), $1k for cars (car payments and insurance), $500 for law school loans, and then standard expenses (food, utilities, etc) each month. Our savings is low, for sure, and we know that. We need to save more and soon! For better or worse, we've chosen to enjoy life more than save for life. That means we travel a lot (Europe with kids once/year) and do eat out. But, we don't have gym memberships, we buy clothes once/year (from the outlet malls) and don't have fancy furniture, electronics, cars etc. We're always amazed when we learn that people spend $6k on a couch - ours from Ikea works fine. Part of our low savings is also the big law school debt I incurred and the fact that we paid for our wedding ourselves ($10k) - between the two, probably around $150k.


10k wedding? Even ten years ago it would have been hard. You guys are frugal.
Anonymous
Post 09/18/2014 06:58     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the previous posters who are doing additions/renovations in the range of $250,000 to $350,000, would you be willing to recommend your contractor? We are thinking of doing this ourselves, and are in the process of gathering recommendations. Thank you.


I would also be interested in hearing how these additions are being financed. We want to do something similar, we have a house worth about $900K that we owe about 500K on, we are interested in spending around $300K on the addition/renovation. Our HHI is about $325K and we have no significant debts other than the mortgage.


Well, in our case, in just getting a HELOC and some cash. We are still in the renovation now so I don't have a precise cost but roughly, we are doing $200k in cash and $150k in HELOC. The plan is to pay down the debt with our annual bonuses which should clear it back out in about 4 years, possibly less if things go well. We also picked a HELOC amount that we could front if one of us lost our job without going into a total tailspin.
Anonymous
Post 09/18/2014 06:57     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
We have a $1.250 house w/ a 900k mortgage and it is doable on your salary b/c ours is similar, but what keeps me up at night is that we can't pay that mortgage on just my spouse's salary so if I lost my job we would be in trouble. Before taking on a mortgage of that size make sure you have a VERY secure job.
Anonymous
Post 09/17/2014 22:09     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:For the previous posters who are doing additions/renovations in the range of $250,000 to $350,000, would you be willing to recommend your contractor? We are thinking of doing this ourselves, and are in the process of gathering recommendations. Thank you.


I would also be interested in hearing how these additions are being financed. We want to do something similar, we have a house worth about $900K that we owe about 500K on, we are interested in spending around $300K on the addition/renovation. Our HHI is about $325K and we have no significant debts other than the mortgage.
Anonymous
Post 09/16/2014 12:03     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
For the previous posters who are doing additions/renovations in the range of $250,000 to $350,000, would you be willing to recommend your contractor? We are thinking of doing this ourselves, and are in the process of gathering recommendations. Thank you.
Anonymous
Post 09/16/2014 09:52     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:New poster here. OP -- this gives me hope. Our HHI is just a bit lower ($325K), and we are hoping to either put an addition on our small house or buy a bigger house. Our current mortgage is $300,000 (small house), but we're now in a position where we'd like to get more space. It's good to know someone with a similar HHI can swing a mortgage of $700K or more.

Just curious -- do you have babysitting costs as part of your expenses? (That's a big one for us at the moment because our HHI is from two full-time workers.) We've got two kids --6 and 8. My DH is happy with our little house, but I would really love more space. (Also OP, not to make you feel bad at all, but your retirement savings seem a bit low for your HHI. Is that becaude you have a pension in the future?) Thank you!


We are at $300k Hhi and a mortgage of $350, and are doing a $350k extension. It's almost exactly what you describe above financially. Posters will tell you that you shouldn't do an extension remodel, but in our experience your $ goes further this way. We can't find a house we like for $350k more than our current one - more like $500 or $600, and with $350k we are all but gutting the house. It gets us what we want/what works for us and makes the home a house we can stay in for 20+ years as the kids grow (currently 4 and 7).

Posting just to say your plan sounds reasonable.


This is true. Some tedious people pipe up on every thread to tell people not to add on and that they should only consider knocking down or buying new. It's really not always the best choice but they don't seem to understand that. We just finished an extensive addition and are thrilled with the results. We got the house we want for easily $100,000 less than a new build would have been. At our age, that's not an insignificant difference.
Anonymous
Post 09/15/2014 20:00     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:
Just curious -- do you have babysitting costs as part of your expenses? (That's a big one for us at the moment because our HHI is from two full-time workers.) We've got two kids --6 and 8. My DH is happy with our little house, but I would really love more space.

Are you paying for your babysitting costs with pre-tax dollars? If not, your missing out on a significant tax break.
Anonymous
Post 09/15/2014 19:53     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: Personally I would never go over a monthly payment of 25% net monthly income.

That depends on your income. If you were making $100K net a MONTH, would you still keep your 25% ratio?

Yes, but I would save more and perhaps spend more and eventually retire earlier. And if I made say $1M net a MONTH I would spend less than 25% on a home, not more. So if anything, the more I earned the lower percent I would dedicate to a home.
Anonymous
Post 09/15/2014 18:23     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote:New poster here. OP -- this gives me hope. Our HHI is just a bit lower ($325K), and we are hoping to either put an addition on our small house or buy a bigger house. Our current mortgage is $300,000 (small house), but we're now in a position where we'd like to get more space. It's good to know someone with a similar HHI can swing a mortgage of $700K or more.

Just curious -- do you have babysitting costs as part of your expenses? (That's a big one for us at the moment because our HHI is from two full-time workers.) We've got two kids --6 and 8. My DH is happy with our little house, but I would really love more space. (Also OP, not to make you feel bad at all, but your retirement savings seem a bit low for your HHI. Is that becaude you have a pension in the future?) Thank you!


We are at $300k Hhi and a mortgage of $350, and are doing a $350k extension. It's almost exactly what you describe above financially. Posters will tell you that you shouldn't do an extension remodel, but in our experience your $ goes further this way. We can't find a house we like for $350k more than our current one - more like $500 or $600, and with $350k we are all but gutting the house. It gets us what we want/what works for us and makes the home a house we can stay in for 20+ years as the kids grow (currently 4 and 7).

Posting just to say your plan sounds reasonable.
Anonymous
Post 09/15/2014 17:56     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
Anonymous wrote: Personally I would never go over a monthly payment of 25% net monthly income.

That depends on your income. If you were making $100K net a MONTH, would you still keep your 25% ratio?
Anonymous
Post 09/15/2014 16:38     Subject: Re:Max house price with $350k HHI
What is your net monthly income? Personally I would never go over a monthly payment of 25% net monthly income.

Anonymous
Post 09/15/2014 15:26     Subject: Max house price with $350k HHI
No matter how much you save you cannot bring it with you after you die. Don't let savings get in the way of enjoying your life.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”