Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 07:44     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
We had $120K to put down and a HHI of about 220K, but are still paying off student debt after several years of "high prestige, low pay" jobs that are hopefully setting the stage for higher earnings down the pike.

So...we bought at around $600K in a solid but not fantastic school zone, and in a neighborhood that had some other amenities we wanted.

Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 07:37     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
We make $220k and will have $230k in equity from the sale of our current home. We are only willing to take a mortgage of $500 max. We are limiting our search to homes under $650
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 07:22     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
We have a 700k house on 160 HHI but our mortgage is only 300k. Payments are about $2300. That's comfortable for us but we don't have childcare (3 school aged kids). Sounds like you're looking at a 5-600k mortgage after the down payment? Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with that mortgage on our income especially with childcare. That wouldn't leave any money for retirement or college savings. Plus you'll have unexpected homeowners expenses. We also were homeowners during the recession and learned that incomes aren't guaranteed.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 07:06     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wow! It appears we are much more conservative than some posters here. We have an HHI of $200K, and felt like $600K was the absolute upper limit we were wanting to go. We had $40K to put down.


You only had 40k to put down?!? No wonder you had to buy a cheap home. Wow.


Yes. Between student loans, a kid with special needs, daycare, and some other circumstances (and the fact that or HHI had only recently risen to that level) we weren't able to save a ton before buying. do you want me to apologize for the fact that we're not all richy rich like you, or...?


No. It's just silly to brag about buying an inexpensive home when really you dos so because you have high fixed expenses and couldn't save a lot of money. You didn't buy an inexpensive home because you're frugal.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 07:04     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wow! It appears we are much more conservative than some posters here. We have an HHI of $200K, and felt like $600K was the absolute upper limit we were wanting to go. We had $40K to put down.


You only had 40k to put down?!? No wonder you had to buy a cheap home. Wow.


Yes. Between student loans, a kid with special needs, daycare, and some other circumstances (and the fact that or HHI had only recently risen to that level) we weren't able to save a ton before buying. do you want me to apologize for the fact that we're not all richy rich like you, or...?
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 07:01     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:Wow! It appears we are much more conservative than some posters here. We have an HHI of $200K, and felt like $600K was the absolute upper limit we were wanting to go. We had $40K to put down.


You only had 40k to put down?!? No wonder you had to buy a cheap home. Wow.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 06:57     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
I think the question needs to be more about what kind of mortgage you can afford. We make $210k, but we put enough down so that our mortgage was around $525k. It's affordable for us and allows us to have a relatively short commute and live in a good school district - all this while maxing out retirement, etc.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 06:45     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.

I guess I'm not really sure how the price of one's home influences their ability to sit around and watch TV or drink a glass of wine on the deck.

I have a small, non-expensive home, that cost way less than what we technically could've been "approved" for. For me, it's the best of both words. We can putter around the house and live simply (the things you describe) AND we can travel, eat at nice restaurants, buy nice clothes, etc. (not luxury, BTW). Had we stretched the budget on the house, we'd not be able to the latter.


Yep. If you buy less than what you can afford, you can do both things. If you really stretch yourself for the house, you can only do one of those things.

I'm all about options and flexibility, so choice was really obvious to me, personally.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 06:43     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.

I guess I'm not really sure how the price of one's home influences their ability to sit around and watch TV or drink a glass of wine on the deck.

I have a small, non-expensive home, that cost way less than what we technically could've been "approved" for. For me, it's the best of both words. We can putter around the house and live simply (the things you describe) AND we can travel, eat at nice restaurants, buy nice clothes, etc. (not luxury, BTW). Had we stretched the budget on the house, we'd not be able to the latter.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 06:34     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.


Nope. Maybe you actually want to furnish your home, save aggressively for retirement, dress well as opposed to most DC women, travel etc.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 06:27     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
To all you $200k+ HHI thinking you shouldn't spend that much- it's probably that you're either extremely risk averse or that you find yourself constantly needing luxury things. Neither is a bad thing, but it just means that others who plan their money better or enjoy simple life style find they'd prefer the house versus the weekly dinner out at Rose's Luxury etc.

And we fit in that second category. HHI or $170k. We don't go out to eat at all really- and when we do a treat for us Dog Fish Head where our bill is $40/$50. Our main entertainment is sitting at home watching TV, or on our deck with a glass of wine reading/listening to music. It's a simple life- but it's our life and we love it.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 05:47     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Wow! It appears we are much more conservative than some posters here. We have an HHI of $200K, and felt like $600K was the absolute upper limit we were wanting to go. We had $40K to put down.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2016 05:44     Subject: HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:If you've recently bought a house around $700K, what is your HHI? Ours is $160K, and the "how much house can you afford?" calculators all tell me we can swing a $700-$800K house. We have about $200K in equity in our current house that would be available for downpayment, and no other debt. Right now we are paying for daycare x2, so $700K sounds way out of reach. But it feels like it will be a little high even in a few years, when daycare will be over. I'd been thinking we could afford more like $600K then. But going up to $700 would really open up a lot of options for us. Are other people buying those houses with a similar income?


You're crazy to spend that much.

Our HHI is $210K and we paid $550K for our home in a great area. But it needs renovations. We put down 20%.

Anonymous
Post 03/09/2016 20:59     Subject: Re:HHI for $700K house?
Anonymous wrote:Wow. Our HHI is 225 and we bought a 450k house


Where?
Anonymous
Post 03/09/2016 20:45     Subject: Re:HHI for $700K house?
Wow. Our HHI is 225 and we bought a 450k house