Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like 125k is a lot for a family of 4

your feelings may not align with reality.

The reality is this:

Real median household income was $70,784 in 2021, not statistically different from the 2020 estimate of $71,186.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family feels perfectly comfortable at $160K.
With 2 kids.
2K Mortgage payment.

Unfortunately you can’t get a 2k mortgage in a good neighborhood anymore (Good neighborhood is essential for this question since "good public school" falls in line with reasonable, we’re assuming we don’t have enough money for private). You’d have to try 3-5k mortgage payment for a SFH in a decent school district with the current rates and house prices.

Good is subjective but you absolutely can. We also live very comfortably and had a $2K mortgage. We worked hard to pay it off and now very comfortable with no mortgage.

You seemed to have missed the point- considering you already paid off your $2k mortgage, I'm guessing you bought a long time ago, no? When $2k per month would have been considered expensive....but what is the mortgage in your neighborhood for someone who has purchased a home recently?

We paid around $380 for our house and had to do lots of repairs. However, we paid in extra each month and made it a priority. You can still get houses in that price. Look at 20906, for example. Ours is a very small house.

What would your house sell for today? We have a small house in silver spring that we paid ~$400k for 8 years ago. Comparable houses are selling for a lot more than that now.

But yeah, as PP said you need to be a bit careful with schools in that area. A family friend who is a sub warned us against a couple ESs where she herself will turn down sub positions beyond K/1st because the behavior is out of control. Not worth saving money for those kinds of challenges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family feels perfectly comfortable at $160K.
With 2 kids.
2K Mortgage payment.

Unfortunately you can’t get a 2k mortgage in a good neighborhood anymore (Good neighborhood is essential for this question since "good public school" falls in line with reasonable, we’re assuming we don’t have enough money for private). You’d have to try 3-5k mortgage payment for a SFH in a decent school district with the current rates and house prices.

Good is subjective but you absolutely can. We also live very comfortably and had a $2K mortgage. We worked hard to pay it off and now very comfortable with no mortgage.

If you had a mortgage long enough to pay it off, you bought your house a long time ago

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family feels perfectly comfortable at $160K.
With 2 kids.
2K Mortgage payment.

Unfortunately you can’t get a 2k mortgage in a good neighborhood anymore (Good neighborhood is essential for this question since "good public school" falls in line with reasonable, we’re assuming we don’t have enough money for private). You’d have to try 3-5k mortgage payment for a SFH in a decent school district with the current rates and house prices.

Good is subjective but you absolutely can. We also live very comfortably and had a $2K mortgage. We worked hard to pay it off and now very comfortable with no mortgage.

You seemed to have missed the point- considering you already paid off your $2k mortgage, I'm guessing you bought a long time ago, no? When $2k per month would have been considered expensive....but what is the mortgage in your neighborhood for someone who has purchased a home recently?

We paid around $380 for our house and had to do lots of repairs. However, we paid in extra each month and made it a priority. You can still get houses in that price. Look at 20906, for example. Ours is a very small house.

This gets back to the OP’s question about a “reasonable” lifestyle. All the high schools serving 20906 appear to have a GreatSchools rating in the bottom 50%. A lot of DCUM would likely claim that isn’t “reasonable.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family feels perfectly comfortable at $160K.
With 2 kids.
2K Mortgage payment.

Unfortunately you can’t get a 2k mortgage in a good neighborhood anymore (Good neighborhood is essential for this question since "good public school" falls in line with reasonable, we’re assuming we don’t have enough money for private). You’d have to try 3-5k mortgage payment for a SFH in a decent school district with the current rates and house prices.

Good is subjective but you absolutely can. We also live very comfortably and had a $2K mortgage. We worked hard to pay it off and now very comfortable with no mortgage.

You seemed to have missed the point- considering you already paid off your $2k mortgage, I'm guessing you bought a long time ago, no? When $2k per month would have been considered expensive....but what is the mortgage in your neighborhood for someone who has purchased a home recently?

We paid around $380 for our house and had to do lots of repairs. However, we paid in extra each month and made it a priority. You can still get houses in that price. Look at 20906, for example. Ours is a very small house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family feels perfectly comfortable at $160K.
With 2 kids.
2K Mortgage payment.

Unfortunately you can’t get a 2k mortgage in a good neighborhood anymore (Good neighborhood is essential for this question since "good public school" falls in line with reasonable, we’re assuming we don’t have enough money for private). You’d have to try 3-5k mortgage payment for a SFH in a decent school district with the current rates and house prices.

Good is subjective but you absolutely can. We also live very comfortably and had a $2K mortgage. We worked hard to pay it off and now very comfortable with no mortgage.

Did you buy that house in 2002 or 2022?

Agree that a 2k mortgage does not seem doable. I'm struggling to find a condo (in DC, good neighborhood) with a 2k mortgage and 20% down.

The issue is the locations you are choosing. You can do it, but you want specific areas that aren't realistic.

400k now
We makes 300k and feel ok, but we bought our house when market was 50% lower

Anonymous wrote:Median income for family of 4
-DC $182,068
-VA $121,793
-MD $138,054
Based on 2022 census
https://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/20220401/bci_data/median_income_table.htm

Wow, this is a lot higher than I thought.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define “around here” - DMV suburbs inside the beltway? Outside the beltway? In DC specifically? What area (Falls Church, McLean, Bethesda, Silver Spring?)

I would say you can “scrape by” on 150k, and be comfortable (but still feel middle class and worry about money) at 300k. To not feel middle class, 600k+.

Anyone who feels middle close on an HHI >$400k either has a spending problem or a very warped sense of middle class. Middle class is not private school, luxury cars, and regular international vacations.

400-600k is not those things, either. A decent private in this area for two kids is ~80k in after tax dollars. If you're doing that on 400k you're absolutely stressed about money. Add in international travel and a couple of BMWs and you have a real problem.

Moral of the story here is that anyone can be stressed about money if you overspend. Many multimillionaires blow through their money too, but it still didn’t mean they were middle class while doing it.

Anonymous wrote:Median income for family of 4
-DC $182,068
-VA $121,793
-MD $138,054
Based on 2022 census
https://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/20220401/bci_data/median_income_table.htm

Thank you for sanity PP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Reasonable lifestyle?” $250k. It would include penny pinching & thrift, though.

NP. Our HHI is $250k and we have one kid in private ($40k full pay). Feels very reasonable, and no penny pinching.

And yes, before someone asks, we paid off lots of student loans, bought a house a few years ago with a low interest rate, mostly vacation to visit family, and have generally inexpensive tastes.

Anonymous wrote:“Reasonable lifestyle?” $250k. It would include penny pinching & thrift, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family feels perfectly comfortable at $160K.
With 2 kids.
2K Mortgage payment.

Unfortunately you can’t get a 2k mortgage in a good neighborhood anymore (Good neighborhood is essential for this question since "good public school" falls in line with reasonable, we’re assuming we don’t have enough money for private). You’d have to try 3-5k mortgage payment for a SFH in a decent school district with the current rates and house prices.

Good is subjective but you absolutely can. We also live very comfortably and had a $2K mortgage. We worked hard to pay it off and now very comfortable with no mortgage.

Did you buy that house in 2002 or 2022?

Agree that a 2k mortgage does not seem doable. I'm struggling to find a condo (in DC, good neighborhood) with a 2k mortgage and 20% down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define “around here” - DMV suburbs inside the beltway? Outside the beltway? In DC specifically? What area (Falls Church, McLean, Bethesda, Silver Spring?)

I would say you can “scrape by” on 150k, and be comfortable (but still feel middle class and worry about money) at 300k. To not feel middle class, 600k+.

Anyone who feels middle close on an HHI >$400k either has a spending problem or a very warped sense of middle class. Middle class is not private school, luxury cars, and regular international vacations.

400-600k is not those things, either. A decent private in this area for two kids is ~80k in after tax dollars. If you're doing that on 400k you're absolutely stressed about money. Add in international travel and a couple of BMWs and you have a real problem.

what zip code are we talking about?