Anonymous wrote:The recent long thread on mortgage payments made me feel like I live in an alternate universe, what with the vast majority of responses seeming to be $2500ish. Was everyone responding to that thread 50 years old? We’re in our early 30s and have a $650k mortgage on a small old house in Arlington we bought for $850k last year. I share these details because our payment is $4k and we are not getting much for it, so it seems nuts that we pay so much more than everyone. Do people our age have similar payments or does everyone have 50% down payments?

When did you buy OP? Unless you bought recently, this simply does not add up. You should be under $3k.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought $1,325,000 on 2017 with $750k down. But I was trading up and old house I had paid off mortgage already as owned it 17 years and was prepaying. So had that plus savings.

Boring way to do it. By small run down fixer upper in second tier neighborhood live there 17 years and fix it yourself and sweat equity then when paid off move up. Now that rates are high will be back in style

Elder millennial here (1986)- I graduated middle school in 2000 when you were buying your house. You're not a millennial.

+10000000

I spit out my water when PP said they owned 17 years ago before 2017. GURLLLLLL….

I’m a millennial who grew up in DC and there’s just no way in hell I could comfortably afford to live there now. My childhood home - a townhouse on Capitol Hill - is now valued at more than $1m. I’m pretty sure the same is true for my childhood friends. The housing market is just out of control.

I live in a large college town with my DH and we have a HHI of $250. We live very, very comfortably and have a mortgage cost of $1600/month. I like to travel to large cities when I yearn for the experience - happily, we can easily afford to do so. We’re going to Europe with our 2 kids next month.

Outside of a few key fields, I just don’t see how living in DC is worth it for most people. I would weep with a mortgage payment of $4k a month.

OP, I’m in the same boat as you. A ~$4.5K mortgage payment for a $730K home in close-in NoVA

Mid 30s millennial, mortgage is like $2,200.

Put 5% down on a $430K house in NE DC in 2017. Income has grown significantly since then but why would I give up such a cheap place to live in this market?

As others have said, you seem to have those classic "Arlington/Bethesda/NWDC are literally the only neighborhoods that exist" DCUM blinders on and refuse to even consider the possibility that there are dozens and dozens of far more affordable neighborhoods in the area.

You pay so much more than everyone because you chose to live in an neighborhood that cost so much more than everyone.

Two millennials, $6k PITI on a SFH in upper NW.

We are two millennials, 4k PITI -- financed about 750k on a 1.5M house. Downpayment was from rolling previous house appreciation into this one.

Anonymous wrote:I bought $1,325,000 on 2017 with $750k down. But I was trading up and old house I had paid off mortgage already as owned it 17 years and was prepaying. So had that plus savings.

Boring way to do it. By small run down fixer upper in second tier neighborhood live there 17 years and fix it yourself and sweat equity then when paid off move up. Now that rates are high will be back in style

You are not a millennial if you mount your first home in 2020. You are a gen x at best.

Anonymous wrote:I bought $1,325,000 on 2017 with $750k down. But I was trading up and old house I had paid off mortgage already as owned it 17 years and was prepaying. So had that plus savings.

Boring way to do it. By small run down fixer upper in second tier neighborhood live there 17 years and fix it yourself and sweat equity then when paid off move up. Now that rates are high will be back in style

Elder millennial here (1986)- I graduated middle school in 2000 when you were buying your house. You're not a millennial.

I'm a millennial with a mortgage of $1100. This is my 2nd home though. When I sold my first (500k selling price) I rolled it all into my new house (700k). And then I refinanced 2 years ago. PITI is another 1k a month. We make 250k now, but made under 200k when we bought.

It's hard for me to imagine a mortgage of 4k. I spend 5k a month on daycare and aftercare though, which wouldn't be feasible if I had a high mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent long thread on mortgage payments made me feel like I live in an alternate universe, what with the vast majority of responses seeming to be $2500ish. Was everyone responding to that thread 50 years old? We’re in our early 30s and have a $650k mortgage on a small old house in Arlington we bought for $850k last year. I share these details because our payment is $4k and we are not getting much for it, so it seems nuts that we pay so much more than everyone. Do people our age have similar payments or does everyone have 50% down payments?

We’re in our mid-30s and have a $300K mortgage on a $2.8M home. 80-90% down is pretty standard post-COVID. If you can’t afford to do that, you should be renting.

LOL

Elder millennial who has a slightly sub-$3k mortgage. The reasons are: 1) we bought in 2015 - prices seemed high then but have gone pretty nuts since then, and 2) we refinanced last year and locked in a really low rate. So we have been lucky once and smart once.

I thought we might be looking for a next house by now, but with these interest rates we're going to bloom where we've been planted.

Anonymous wrote:The recent long thread on mortgage payments made me feel like I live in an alternate universe, what with the vast majority of responses seeming to be $2500ish. Was everyone responding to that thread 50 years old? We’re in our early 30s and have a $650k mortgage on a small old house in Arlington we bought for $850k last year. I share these details because our payment is $4k and we are not getting much for it, so it seems nuts that we pay so much more than everyone. Do people our age have similar payments or does everyone have 50% down payments?

We’re in our mid-30s and have a $300K mortgage on a $2.8M home. 80-90% down is pretty standard post-COVID. If you can’t afford to do that, you should be renting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the pps are either 1. Liars. 2. Bought more than a decade ago or 3. Got major assistance from family/inheritance that they used toward down payment

Or most of the posters here live in a bubble and are completely unaware of or unwilling to consider any house outside of a few of the most highly desirable and sought after areas. The majority of people cannot afford a 4000 a month mortgage. Where do you think they live? There are neighborhoods in Montgomery county where SFH do not cost 850k.

OP here. Are those people on DCUM, though? If you look at any of the threads citing HHI on this board our HHI of $250k sounds VERY middle of the road.

Maybe more DCUM posters making a "middle of the road" 250k (haha) should be looking in more affordable areas. I think a 650k mortgage on a 250k HHI is too much of a stretch. You did not need to buy a house that expensive. You wanted a house that expensive and are complaining that your mortgage is 4k/month and cannot fathom how people afford it without inheritances or having bought years ago or being liars. Some people choose to live farther out, buy something that needs updating, or buy something in not the most coveted schools in order to have a more affordable mortgage.

I'm not complaining, it's well within our budget and we save plenty. I was just surprised to see that everyone else seems to be paying so little.

You aren't alone. We are millennials and bought a 1m house with a 800k mortgage on 260k income 5 years ago (Arlington) and our mortgage feels very comfortable. Even with 2 daycare payments and maxing out 401ks. Our PITI is around 4600 and we pay 6k.

We are millennials (1983 and 1987) who bought our first home in 2020 for $1.3M. We put 20% down and our PITI is $5300. Our HHI is close to $600K.