HHI is $200K (excluding bonus of about $20K per year).

PITI is $2300
Childcare is about $1500/month + preschool $800/month
No student loans, no car payments

We contribute the max every year to our retirement (about $33K plus matching)

No way would I have a higher mortgage at this point in my life. Pre-kids, I would have thought it was doable, but with childcare and preschool, we are just comfortable. We can still take a big vacation every year and have a comfortable emergency fund. We also contribute to 529s.

I expect our HHI will increase significantly in the next 5 years, but I don't see a lot of reason to get a bigger house -- we are in N Arl in a great school pyramid (just the tiniest house in the pyramid!). So hopefully we will have even more fun money in the future.

How much should you have as discretionary money each month?( we budget every month for vacation/gifts/ birthday parties)

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 185k and possible bonuses of around 25k. We have 2kids in daycare around
1400 a month and they will go to private school. Is it affordable to purchase home for 465k( house note 2760 a month)?

I think it will be tight but doable.

HHI ~200K, mortgage - ~4k, no other debts, no childcare costs, 3 kids. We're comfortable for now; I think it will be tight once our older DC goes to college this fall.

HHI is 240K. Mortgage is $2900. 3 kids. $2100 daycare costs and we use public schools. We don't have debt and save aggressively but it often feels like there is not a lot for "extras".

yes

Our HHI is 185k and possible bonuses of around 25k. We have 2kids in daycare around
1400 a month and they will go to private school. Is it affordable to purchase home for 465k( house note 2760 a month)?

Anonymous wrote:Question...when you all talk about your monthly mortage payments, does that include insurance, taxes, hoa fees? When someone posts what their monthly PITI is that what this means...that it includes everything?

Our monthly HHI is $215k, but this includes DH's $20k bonus that we rely on him getting each year, however who knows what could happen. We pay $3,400/month and that includes insurace, taxes, hoa. We have one baby and are hoping to have another in a year or two. Monthly daycare is $1,100. No car payments, but really need to get a new car soon. DH works for home so it saves an a lot on commuting expenses. $300/month for student loans.

Does the above sound reasonable for our HHI? We are def. comfortable with the monthly payment, but with all of our increased expenses (we just bought the house a few months ago) and having to buy lots of furniture, it just feels like we're not saving a dime. Eager for tax time, to see what our refund is like. Based on the above, any idea approximately what our refund could come to?

You don't mention retirement or college savings. I would say that if you're able to save for those big future outlays, and are comfortable with your other spending, then it's a reasonable mortgage (although, what are you going to do at this point if it's not, move?) Our PITI is $2500, and we make $250k, but we could easily go higher and still be comfortable.

Anonymous wrote:Question...when you all talk about your monthly mortage payments, does that include insurance, taxes, hoa fees? When someone posts what their monthly PITI is that what this means...that it includes everything?

Our monthly HHI is $215k, but this includes DH's $20k bonus that we rely on him getting each year, however who knows what could happen. We pay $3,400/month and that includes insurace, taxes, hoa. We have one baby and are hoping to have another in a year or two. Monthly daycare is $1,100. No car payments, but really need to get a new car soon. DH works for home so it saves an a lot on commuting expenses. $300/month for student loans.

Does the above sound reasonable for our HHI? We are def. comfortable with the monthly payment, but with all of our increased expenses (we just bought the house a few months ago) and having to buy lots of furniture, it just feels like we're not saving a dime. Eager for tax time, to see what our refund is like. Based on the above, any idea approximately what our refund could come to?

OP here: You can use the IRS witholding calculator to figure out your refund. http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html

It is accure if you put in the correct information

Really you want your housing cost to be no more than 30% of your monthly gross income.

Just for round #s sake - if you make 60k annually before taxes, that is 5k monthly. 5k x 30% = $1500 maximum housing cost for PITI (and preferably utilities too)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What should the HHI to total mortgage ratio be?

The max debt (total per month, not just mortgage)/monthly gross income ratio is 43%.

(For FHA loans)

What if my only debt is student loans that are in deferment and will be for another 2 years? Is that included in the debt?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What should the HHI to total mortgage ratio be?

The max debt (total per month, not just mortgage)/monthly gross income ratio is 43%.

(For FHA loans)

Anonymous wrote:What should the HHI to total mortgage ratio be?

The max debt (total per month, not just mortgage)/monthly gross income ratio is 43%.

What should the HHI to total mortgage ratio be?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I are expecting our first child as well as looking for our first home right now. Our HHI is $150K not including bonuses and we're looking at homes in the $650k-700k range with 10% down. Our monthly PITI would be about $3,500 according to our lender. We have no debt and have new-ish (2008 & 2010) cars that are paid off. The only future cost (besides those that come with home ownership) that we foresee is for daycare. Our potential mortgage will be about twice what we're currently paying in rent, but we're both relatively young (late 20s) and have a lot of future income growth, so don't mind being housepoor for now. Also, my brother will be living with us once we buy a house and will be paying about $500 a month, so that will help too.

I agree with the other posters; you are buying too much house for your income. You imply your wife works, which means you will have child care expenses - have you looked into this cost yet? You should expect to pay at least $1,000/month. Fast forward 2 years and now you are paying out $2,000/mo when your second is born. Are you saving enough for retirement? What about college savings? Do you plan to vacation?

We are looking at houses in all price ranges from $500k up to $675k. Ideally, we would buy something closer to $600k in one of our ideal neighborhoods in N. Arlington. We are only willing to spend on the high end of this range if we find our "forever" home. My wife and I both work and we do realize that child care expenses are in our future. Answering the PP questions above: we both put 10% into our 401Ks and max out our Roth IRA contributions as well and have 6 months salary in savings separate from what we have saved for our house. We'll most likely look into 529 plans for our child's college savings. Other than that, we have normal social lives and go out about once or twice a week. We're good with our money spend well within our means. We have vacationed extensively since college (international vacations almost every year) and since both of our parents have beach houses, that usually takes care of a week or two in the summers. We have family all over the country and plan on mostly road trip type family vacations when we have kids, much like the way we grew up. We realize that $650k-$700k is a stretch but we figure we're young and can stick it out for several years as we get more established in our careers.