I complete agree with the poster who said it's normal to feel sick after committing to such a large purchase, but hey, that's buying a house! Don't forget your tax benefits -- our mortgage is also around $4100 but with the tax benefits more like $3300. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In response to the OP, this would push me out of my comfort zone if I were you, but you have to decide what you can handle. There are always special circumstances for each situation. My wife and I make ~$300k combined and ~$900k is the top of our budget.

Agreed. We have a similar HHI and capped our search at $700K. Now, we have pretty significant student loans and one child still in preschool, but also stable and upwardly mobile careers. $900K is significantly above what we would have considered, even if we had been financed for that much, for all the reasons folks are sharing here.

+1, our situation almost exactly. HHI $275, 1 preschooler, and we capped out search at 750k (bought for a little less than this). We do have significant grad./prof. school student loans--without this we would've probably felt comfortable going to low $800s. With 900K we would've felt house poor--especially since our vacations would probably be less frequent and not as nice. We're planning for a Europe trip soon (travel abroad every few years, not very often) and would not absolutely not be able to have nice, non-budget vacations with a 900K home. Depends on what's important to you--at this HHI in the DC area with kids, it's difficult to have a posh home AND nice vacations.

PP here--whoops, quickly typing on phone, didn't mean to come off as so adamant.

One other point that I think I failed to make above. We are planning on stopping with our one child, and we would really like to expose her to the broader world out there. We are both children of immigrants and this exposure is pretty high up on our list of priorities. More so than having a spacious, airy home, although would love that too. But at what we bring in, we find it difficult to have both, and to be situated in a good school district. So we chose a lower-priced home in a good school district, with a little breathing room in our budget for travel, savings, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In response to the OP, this would push me out of my comfort zone if I were you, but you have to decide what you can handle. There are always special circumstances for each situation. My wife and I make ~$300k combined and ~$900k is the top of our budget.

Agreed. We have a similar HHI and capped our search at $700K. Now, we have pretty significant student loans and one child still in preschool, but also stable and upwardly mobile careers. $900K is significantly above what we would have considered, even if we had been financed for that much, for all the reasons folks are sharing here.

+1, our situation almost exactly. HHI $275, 1 preschooler, and we capped out search at 750k (bought for a little less than this). We do have significant grad./prof. school student loans--without this we would've probably felt comfortable going to low $800s. With 900K we would've felt house poor--especially since our vacations would probably be less frequent and not as nice. We're planning for a Europe trip soon (travel abroad every few years, not very often) and would not absolutely not be able to have nice, non-budget vacations with a 900K home. Depends on what's important to you--at this HHI in the DC area with kids, it's difficult to have a posh home AND nice vacations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We must be cheap. We make about $200K together. We paid $550K for our 5 BR home. We wouldn't even go up to $600K.

It's not worth being house poor. You never know what can happen in the future. sick spouse, divorce, fired

no way

I've seen too many foreclosures and short sales in my life.

not worth it

I doubt you live in the dc area

b/c you have ESP or a crystal ball!


lived in Silver Spring(close in) most of my life
now in Ashton

We owned homes in both areas before and after marriage.

We live w/in our limits. I would NEVER be house poor.

I've seen too many marriages break up, leaving the women practically destitute. sorry - But we have a home we can keep on one paycheck (if necessary) b/c we put down a hefty down payment. We make about the same in salary.

Furthermore, we save about $12K/year for college and have a good chunk tied up in investments.

Security is number one in my book, and we think of the kids first.

But hey- if you're making a shit load of money, an expensive home fits w/in your budget. $200K isn't a shit load in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you're still reading- just for another point of view, our HHI was a bit higher than yours when we bought (about $250k) and we bought a couple of years ago in N. Arlington for around $750k.

Anyway, our house is smaller than the one you bid on, and in some ways I regret that we didn't stretch a bit, and go for a slightly bigger house in the $900k range. I think that within 5 years, we're going to feel cramped, and either look at some renovations, or try to move to a different place. And who knows if it's going to be smart to put more money in this house, or feasible to sell and move to another place in this area (which we really love). So you may be more uncomfortable now, but in a better position in a few years...

+1 We were very conservative with our housing budget. We bought 8 years ago. We now have better cash flow because of reduced child care costs. DH and I both with we had stretched more. When child care costs go down, you will have more breathing room.

OP, if you're still reading- just for another point of view, our HHI was a bit higher than yours when we bought (about $250k) and we bought a couple of years ago in N. Arlington for around $750k.

Anyway, our house is smaller than the one you bid on, and in some ways I regret that we didn't stretch a bit, and go for a slightly bigger house in the $900k range. I think that within 5 years, we're going to feel cramped, and either look at some renovations, or try to move to a different place. And who knows if it's going to be smart to put more money in this house, or feasible to sell and move to another place in this area (which we really love). So you may be more uncomfortable now, but in a better position in a few years...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You'll be fine OP. People on this board are in competition to see who can spend the least money. A house is where you spend so much time. It's your haven. Worth every cent to love where you live.

Well sure. But you still have to pay for it.

What's your point? The OP didn't say she was going to squat in the house. She's going to buy it.

My point was that the person saying "it's your haven" is only appreciating one side of the housing question: do you like this place enough to live there. Not the other side: can you afford this place you like so much.

I have no idea if *OP* can afford this or not. The numbers she's throwing out would make me nervous. But it doesn't sound crazy for her to spend $900k on a house, in the DC market.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You'll be fine OP. People on this board are in competition to see who can spend the least money. A house is where you spend so much time. It's your haven. Worth every cent to love where you live.

Well sure. But you still have to pay for it.

What's your point? The OP didn't say she was going to squat in the house. She's going to buy it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah,it might be tough sledding for a bit, but that 900000 will soon be 1.7 million. This is Arlington, and prices are never going down again. So you made a reasonable move.

What about telework? How will property values in suburbs like North Arlington be affected in the near future when practically everyone in the DC area is working from home 3-4 days per week?

The rate of telework has actually gone down ...

I don't know if rates of telework have gone down overall, but our government office got rid of it (other offices within the same agency can telework). There are still many, many jobs in which people need to come into the city. Enough to support close-in housing prices, anyway.

At least for the government telework is increasing. Source: FEVS

For me, it allowed me to buy a nicer house in FFX county since I only have to go in 3 days a week. YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:In response to the OP, this would push me out of my comfort zone if I were you, but you have to decide what you can handle. There are always special circumstances for each situation. My wife and I make ~$300k combined and ~$900k is the top of our budget.

Agreed. We have a similar HHI and capped our search at $700K. Now, we have pretty significant student loans and one child still in preschool, but also stable and upwardly mobile careers. $900K is significantly above what we would have considered, even if we had been financed for that much, for all the reasons folks are sharing here.

In response to the OP, this would push me out of my comfort zone if I were you, but you have to decide what you can handle. There are always special circumstances for each situation. My wife and I make ~$300k combined and ~$900k is the top of our budget.

Anonymous wrote:You'll be fine OP. People on this board are in competition to see who can spend the least money. A house is where you spend so much time. It's your haven. Worth every cent to love where you live.

Well sure. But you still have to pay for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah,it might be tough sledding for a bit, but that 900000 will soon be 1.7 million. This is Arlington, and prices are never going down again. So you made a reasonable move.

What about telework? How will property values in suburbs like North Arlington be affected in the near future when practically everyone in the DC area is working from home 3-4 days per week?

The rate of telework has actually gone down ...

I don't know if rates of telework have gone down overall, but our government office got rid of it (other offices within the same agency can telework). There are still many, many jobs in which people need to come into the city. Enough to support close-in housing prices, anyway.

You'll be fine OP. People on this board are in competition to see who can spend the least money. A house is where you spend so much time. It's your haven. Worth every cent to love where you live.

Anonymous wrote:We earn 185k and have a mortgage of 300k. Sounds like every penny more than us you earn will go to your mortgage.

We make a little less combined ($150k) and have a $300k mortgage. It's doable and we do have savings and retirement accounts.

OP at $4100 a month that means 2 whole paychecks are going to the mortgage and the other 2 for utilities,cable etc. Your going to be house poor. At least I would be in your situation.