Anonymous wrote:Hi, I have about 600K saved up and would like to buy a house. I am a single mom of 2 young elementary school kids, currently living at my parents place (paid off) in Arlington. The houses I’m looking at in Langley school district are around $1.1-1.4M range, townhouses and SFH. I make $200K and have been pre approved for 1.45M with 5.25 ARM rate for 5 years. Do you think I should put down all my money or just 20%, obviously putting down a bigger chunk will lower my monthly payment. Or should I just put down 20%? The SFH are in the 1.3 to 1.4M range, is that stretching it (about 7-8K) monthly payment. I don’t have any other debts. I have it all currently invested in a brokerage account.

I thought we learned our lesson with ARMs in 2009? No to this

Anonymous wrote:Single mom is better off in a town home. It takes a lot of work to maintain a SFH. A LOT!!! If you must pay for everything (mowing, fertilization, aeration, potentially irrigation expenses, leaf collection, mulching, tree and shrub service, pest control subscription, gutter cleaning, occasional landscaping and so many more) it will cost you a lot of money to keep it up. Living in a SFH for someone on a fixed salary (and no silver spoon in mouth or trust in their name), takes a lot of money after the monthly mortgage and taxes are paid up.

Np here and 100% agree! Having moved from a townhome to a single family home as our family grew, there are sooo many more expenses in a single family home. Also , in that price range, you’ll be getting an older home with an older home which is likely have a lot of issues and require a lot of maintenance.
I’d definitely go for a newer townhome in your situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Single mom is better off in a town home. It takes a lot of work to maintain a SFH. A LOT!!! If you must pay for everything (mowing, fertilization, aeration, potentially irrigation expenses, leaf collection, mulching, tree and shrub service, pest control subscription, gutter cleaning, occasional landscaping and so many more) it will cost you a lot of money to keep it up. Living in a SFH for someone on a fixed salary (and no silver spoon in mouth or trust in their name), takes a lot of money after the monthly mortgage and taxes are paid up.

You don't need most of this. In fact, a lot of it is actively harmful to the soil. To the extent OP wants to do some or all of this, 90% can be done herself for the cost of supplies. I cut my own grass, leaf blow, fertilize, and trim the shrubs. I'm a woman. It's not that hard.

However, it is fair to say that you can spend 1% or more of your home's value in annual maintenance. You have to have monthly cushion to account for this or you'll find yourself in a world of hurt.

When we first started looking 25 years ago we were approved for $400k we spent $200k. Just because you are approved for a certain amount doesn't mean you should use it all or most of it. The bank wants you to use it all, they make more money, your agent wants you to use it all they make more money, you should be wise and not spend and then you make money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Single mom is better off in a town home. It takes a lot of work to maintain a SFH. A LOT!!! If you must pay for everything (mowing, fertilization, aeration, potentially irrigation expenses, leaf collection, mulching, tree and shrub service, pest control subscription, gutter cleaning, occasional landscaping and so many more) it will cost you a lot of money to keep it up. Living in a SFH for someone on a fixed salary (and no silver spoon in mouth or trust in their name), takes a lot of money after the monthly mortgage and taxes are paid up.

You don't need most of this. In fact, a lot of it is actively harmful to the soil. To the extent OP wants to do some or all of this, 90% can be done herself for the cost of supplies. I cut my own grass, leaf blow, fertilize, and trim the shrubs. I'm a woman. It's not that hard.

Single mom on half an acre. It is hard when you are also single handedly responsible for everything else and two kids, and some of it requires physical strength I don’t have or (pest control) health risks I won’t take. I do my own gutters, leaf blow, shovel, and trim hedges but it takes ALOT of time and still have to pay for equipment. I still pay to outsource arborist, lawn mowing in summer, heavy digging, significant snow removal, junk/debris removal, hedge trimming requiring ladders, pest control and anything else requiring chemicals. It’s thousands a year.

OP won’t even be able to afford furniture.

This is how people get in trouble. They make really dumb decisions in life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Single mom is better off in a town home. It takes a lot of work to maintain a SFH. A LOT!!! If you must pay for everything (mowing, fertilization, aeration, potentially irrigation expenses, leaf collection, mulching, tree and shrub service, pest control subscription, gutter cleaning, occasional landscaping and so many more) it will cost you a lot of money to keep it up. Living in a SFH for someone on a fixed salary (and no silver spoon in mouth or trust in their name), takes a lot of money after the monthly mortgage and taxes are paid up.

You don't need most of this. In fact, a lot of it is actively harmful to the soil. To the extent OP wants to do some or all of this, 90% can be done herself for the cost of supplies. I cut my own grass, leaf blow, fertilize, and trim the shrubs. I'm a woman. It's not that hard.

Agree, that’s a silly response

Anonymous wrote:Single mom is better off in a town home. It takes a lot of work to maintain a SFH. A LOT!!! If you must pay for everything (mowing, fertilization, aeration, potentially irrigation expenses, leaf collection, mulching, tree and shrub service, pest control subscription, gutter cleaning, occasional landscaping and so many more) it will cost you a lot of money to keep it up. Living in a SFH for someone on a fixed salary (and no silver spoon in mouth or trust in their name), takes a lot of money after the monthly mortgage and taxes are paid up.

You don't need most of this. In fact, a lot of it is actively harmful to the soil. To the extent OP wants to do some or all of this, 90% can be done herself for the cost of supplies. I cut my own grass, leaf blow, fertilize, and trim the shrubs. I'm a woman. It's not that hard.

I make $250k, mortgage balance is $400k with $2700/month mortgage. 15% goes towards saving and investing. I have a $10k roof loan and no car payments. As a family of 5, we have little to no cash flow each month.

Buying a $1.m+ home on $200k is absolutely insane.

Thanks for the advice, you’re right. I will definitely think carefully about it.

OP, I’m concerned about the arm. 5 years can fly by quickly, especially when you are in the middle of raising young kids. What will you do if your mortgage jumps significantly over time? Given the insanity of our politics these days, our ballooning national debt etc etc I would look carefully at what your mortgage could look like in year 6 or 7 or 8 and could you swing the worst case scenarios? With two young children, unless you have family or other support with a financial net under you you really need to be planning for the worst case scenario. You definitely don’t want to have to downsize when your kids are established in their community bc you can’t afford a higher mortgage in a few years. Good luck!

Even the townhouses in those areas you mentioned are in the 1-1.2M range

Single mom is better off in a town home. It takes a lot of work to maintain a SFH. A LOT!!! If you must pay for everything (mowing, fertilization, aeration, potentially irrigation expenses, leaf collection, mulching, tree and shrub service, pest control subscription, gutter cleaning, occasional landscaping and so many more) it will cost you a lot of money to keep it up. Living in a SFH for someone on a fixed salary (and no silver spoon in mouth or trust in their name), takes a lot of money after the monthly mortgage and taxes are paid up.

200K is earned income w-2, child support is $1200/month.

OP, how much of that $200K is earned income, vs child support? Child support ends at 18, a mortgage is 30 years.