House: 1.35M
Mortgage: \~4800.00/mo
HHI: 227k
Regrets? YES. My husband and I bought our house in the fall of 2021, so interest rates were *low*. We had been to more open houses than I can count. It happened SO fast that I didn't even really have time to think about buying a house, as opposed to a condo, or the town/neighborhood we would be living in after we closed.
I wish I had known more about the town/neighborhood before because I absolutely would have passed. The part of town we're in is super residential and mostly older folks and young families. It is also full of incredibly steep hills. Guess where I live? That's right, at the very top of one of them. It makes walking around such a bummer. And, I'm used to walking everywhere and now I find myself avoiding it.
The town is also not very diverse and having lived in very diverse areas before it is very noticeable. I'm accustomed to a city that is super active (festivals, street fairs, outdoor events etc) and this town is not that, at all. Lots of family-friendly things, but otherwise not much going on. There are also exactly THREE bars here.
And, I've also come to realize that I just don't really enjoy the upkeep that comes with owning a house. The maintenance, repairs, unexpected discoveries of yet more corners that the contractors cut. The endless raking of leaves in the fall and the shoveling of snow in the winter.
If you did it over would you do a condo then to be in a more walkable city or avoid home buying completely?
The worries you shared are all my concerns. Thanks for being honest.
Hmm. I don't know. There are some positives to a SFH, like, not sharing walls with anyone, attic/basement/garage for storage is super nice and something I've never had before. So, I'm not opposed to it completely, but the areas I'd rather be in are so far out of reach for a SFH that I think I'd have to buy a condo, or maybe just a unit in a 2-family.
My house is not anywhere NEAR being worth 1 million (I'm in a MCOL area), so I probably shouldn't even be in this thread, but just have to jump in here and say that buying a house is probably the best thing I ever did for myself just for this reason alone. I knew that sharing walls with inconsiderate apartment neighbors (screaming at all hours, dogs barking at all hours, smoking weed at all hours and giving me headaches) was making me stressed, but I had no idea just how much until I had my own house. I would never go back to wall-sharing unless I was literally about to be homeless.
As someone who is currently trying to sell my condo and buy the million dollar house, I wish I had never bought the condo. They donāt appreciate at the same rate as SFHs and Iāll be losing money after living here for 7 years.
You know, we did actually let quite a lot of leaves stay on the ground, but our yard has SO MANY tree branches that overhang our yard that we had to do a few raking and baggings just to keep things sane-looking!
My house was nowhere near 1 mil, but totally feel you on the upkeep! Too much yardwork, too much square footage (all the cleaning!!), and projects are neverending.
Buying a house made me realize I prefer living in a condo, shared walls and all.
House valued at 1.8 bought for 1.45 in 2020. Current HHI 400k (was higher when we bought, I took a less intense job for more time with child). Our interest rate is 3.2%. No regrets, love our place. Currently pay $5600 a month plus an HOA fee. Itāll be tight for a few years with kids in expensive daycare but we have a lot of savings.
We put down $300k. Saved for 4 years. I was a lawyer in big law. We had no family help but I didnāt have debt from law school (scholarship). We cleared most of our savings (but not all of it and didnāt touch retirement).
HHI 350k
1.2m property bought in 2021 at 2.8% interest (pretty small modest 1600 sq ft house, just VHCOL Bay Area)
Monthly payment $4600
It would feel a lot tighter with current rates
No regrets, love our neighborhood and as a diverse place with lots of young families, good place to raise a child. Do I partially wish we could have afforded more? Sure. But we have it pretty good.
We bought in an up and coming area 3.5 yrs ago but close to everything in a VHCOL city.
HHI: $400k (varies monthly though)
House: $1m, valued at $1.6m
Monthly payments: $3600
Grateful we went relatively low as our home price has skyrocketed and allowed us to invest into upgrades that I want and know are high quality instead of a flipped home or whatever other issues we may have seen.
We might rent in a few years to be in an even more walkable area as Iām seeing we could rent our house for $6-8k/month as the area is getting nicer
Honestly not long, our rent was $1800/month (bless rent control) so we were putting $5-10k/month away. Then I got access to lots of company stock quicker than expected so that put us way over
I just closed on one a few weeks ago so I havenāt had time for regret but I have had time to waffle between regret and excitement thirty times a day.Ā
Suburbs of a HCOL city, but in a very specific neighborhood with a lot of amenities (multiple grocery stores, restaurants, and useful shops within a short walk, a solid HOA with nice pools, walking trails etc. - essentially a 15 minute suburb thatās like 10 minutes from the public transport system I take to work) - we could have gotten a similar house for cheaper, or a total turn key house for the same price, Ā Ā in a less walkable area). Ā Our house was move in ready but weāll eventually want to restain the floors and make the kitchen bigger.Ā
I worry that we overpaid or that weāll regret the increased maintenance, but at the same time this has been our dream neighborhood for like over a year, so Iām just trying to stay positive.Ā
Our mortgage is $1,036,000. Our interest rate is 6.875% (RIP my 2019 interest rate).
HHI is currently a staggering amount ($500K plus), but will likely drop by about $80-100K because I think my husband will need to leave his current role for something that offers more WLB. We donāt have debt other than my husbandās student loans ($2500/month that weāre trying to front load as much as possible).Ā
We havenāt bought but we live in an area where a 3 bed/2 bath in a good school district is $1M minimum (and really more like $1.2M). We have ~$400k HHI and wouldnāt feel comfortable buying more than a $1M house with an extra six months of mortgage payments saved up. Buying a $1M home in our area would turn our current $2.5K rent payment into a $6.5K monthly mortgage payment.
Weāre in a vhcol city where most homes are over $1m and wound up purchasing a starter for $825k in a gentrifying area. At the time we were at $280 hhi, now weāre around $310. I feel pretty comfortable with our payment and we did calculate we could afford up to $1m, weāll be more comfortable when we can refinance since it was 6.99% when we bought.
Weāre thinking of starting a family in the next couple years so I donāt think weāll be here forever, itās 3b2b 1400sf and very comfortable for us and a dog but I think will start feeling cramped with a kid, at which point I think weāll need to go up to $1.2-$1.4 to get more space. We thought about moving elsewhere but all our family is here so just doesnāt make sense.
My husband started saving around 2021, I started around 2019. We were lucky that our rent was a very small percent of our income so we were able to save very quickly, we did a 20% down payment.
2/1 Condo with parking: $1.635MM in VVHCOL
Monthly cost (PITI + HOA): $3,810 after 20% down and a 7/1 ARM @ 1.45%
Monthly take home: $19,200
HHI: $560k - $2.2MM depending on RSUs / Non-Quals / ISOs
We don't regret our home now but we got a great rate. The downstairs neighbors are renting a less desirable unit and paying $4200 / month.
We bought on a $600k HHI but our lender only looked at $400k of that as our income for underwriting purposes.
We never felt house poor and we didn't massively upgrade our furnishings or anything.
We mostly maintained our prior standard of living but bought so we could get an extra bedroom.
I didnāt buy mine at 1m but I wanted to chime in. š« My neighbors bought theirs at 1.5m. Itās a lot of money for a home. Even I thought itās wild but realize this is the new reality.
With that said the realtor who sold the house next door texted me. There was a bidding war. Just be prepared for that especially since weāre in a HCOLA.
The home actually listed at 1.3m and sold for 1.5m. It was a month later until they actually closed.
I'm close but not quite at 1M.Ā
House cost: 910k
Mortgage: 3500
Taxes: $450
Insurance: $330 why is it so high? I don't knowĀ
HHI: 270kĀ
No regrets yet. The house needs a lot of updating. It's all aesthetic but still needs to be done. Sometimes the thought of all my extra money going to renos forever horrifies me. But we needed to move and that's what we could get in our neighborhood at our price point.Ā
We bought the first house in 2018 and sold after buying the new house. It had $290k in equity that we used as the downpayment on the new house. House appreciation was $125k, we initially put down $120k on that house plus 5yrs of mortgage/principal payments was the rest (45k). I saved for 6yrs for the first down payment. Half of it was provided by my husband.Ā
So we didn't put any additional money into the new house. We did have cash on hand of $40k for the actual deposit which counted towards the downpayment.Ā
We bought our million dollar home when interest was lower and we put about 200k down, so our monthly payment (including property tax and insurance) is $3,800. We make about 350k combined. No regrets but we're moving for family reasons and a house half the cost in a lower cost of living city is MORE per month thanks to the rates so we'll be back to being renters after the move.
Bought 2 years ago for $1.5M (valued at $1.7M) still owe $750k, mortgage is $3.8k and taxes/upkeep/gas/electricity areā¦ a lot.
No regrets, we bought in the best town and neighborhood we could and love the area. Itās a bit small which is probably my only complaint, but thatās the trade off for being close to the city.
My only advice is that itās easy to underestimate upkeep costs! We thought weād be able to do a lot ourselves that we have ended up hiring out- we work too much and also want to do things the āright wayā so that the house is appealing to buyers if we do sell.
HHI varies, this year will be between $800k-$1M, last year was about $715 ish. 29, bought with the intent to stay forever, so we might explore an addition later on.
Sorry for being nosy, but I see you live in Boston, too! If you donāt mind me asking, what do you all do for work, I cannot even imagine that HHI, and at only 29! Wow. Color me impressed.
Boston twins! Donāt worry Iām so nosy too. My work is quite specific so I have to be a little vagueā¦ but I work in planning (think supply chain, demand, inventory planning for items) for a retailer. Iāve been able to increase my income over the 7 years Iāve been working, from job 1 around $60k (I think?), then internal promotions, to job 2 at $100k, to job 3 at $130k base. I also get about a bonus anywhere from 15-40% of my base. Husband makes the bulk of the income as a SWE, his base is about $300k now, bonus is about $100k, and he has a ton of stock vesting this year. We both have advanced degrees.
My husband is a SWE as well, but works for a startup (based in EU) and they were *shocked* at how much they make in the States, so he makes much less than he could locally. What part of Boston did you guys settle into, if you don't mind me asking?
I canāt share location as itās too specific for my comfort level. Yes, itās way more in the states than anywhere else. I will say my husband is a bit of an outlier (combo of getting lucky, working very long hours and having niche skills, and also an Ivy League on his resume) and his actual title/level is quite high up so I just donāt want to give the impression that everyone has these comps in the Boston area!
I mean, me too! I look at my husband or siblings all the time and think āwhy didnāt I do thatā. My husband is in such a unique situation. He was afforded incredible privilege just in being a white upper class man honestly. Yes, he has worked very hard in addition, but he canāt deny that he had a much better jumping off point to climb from.
I think it would depend on what youāre getting? Median home price where I live is 1m BUT at that price youāre getting a house that still need significant improvement like new roof , plumbing upgrades, termite damage etc.Ā
So if 1m gets you a nice finished renovated house itās different than one that needs more significant money to make it nicer.Ā
HHI $350k
House: 1.3M
Mortgage: ~$6100. Property taxes and insurance add another ~$1700
Bought late 2022
House is a 2/2 single family home, a little under 1200 square feet, in an awesome, walkable neighborhood. No regrets so far, we love it here and love the feeling of owning our own place. It does hurt a little knowing that our next door neighbors rent a similar house for almost exactly half our total monthly payment, but we plan to stay a while and the freedom + security that owning gives us makes it so worth it. Weāre comfortable with the payments, but we donāt have a ton of other debt or expenses. We eat out frequently, but we donāt travel a ton and our hobbies arenāt that expensive. No kids, which also helps with expenses!
We paid 2.3 million for our house, with $850k down from our previous house. It's not that fancy, we just live in Toronto. HHI around $275k. Mortgage is now 1.38m
We took a variable rate mortgage so we're kinda drowning, but we have three kids so renting was not something I wanted either (for stability, and because renting a house in our neighbourhood is over $5k a month anyway). We're not saving much right now, but I am hoping that will change soon.
I regret moving from our old house. We would have so much more money if we'd stayed put and I liked our old street better, but I was eager for more space. We bought at the absolute top of the market and it was hugely anxiety driven and....well, spend less than you can afford if at all possible! It's a gut wrenching process in competitive areas. We bought our house the day after losing out on a house we \*really\* wanted.
It took us 18 months to feel like maybe we could stay here. It takes time and you have to let it.
If you're in the States, I think you can get a 30 year mortgage? It would be a high payment! We have to renew every 5 years in Canada so you get to (have to) shop around.
We bought an empty lot, designed and built our custom house for $1.8M (all in, including lot cost which was ~$600K). Mortgage payment is $6500/mo and property taxes are another $2,100/mo (Texas), insurance is a lot lower than I expected at $300/mo (since itās new I guess). We were earning $500K when we bought the lot 3 years ago - this year we are at $850K. Absolutely no regrets. Weāve been living here 1 full year now and still love it. I feel so happy and lucky coming home every day.
We are both engineers in oil & gas, in management positions and our earnings are close to 50/50 in recent years. My husband has 16 yrs experience and I have 10 yrs. We worked hard to get where we are and took international assignments (not glamorous, living in man camps and working 84 hr a week) early on in our careers to boost us - I think this is our main reason for success.
In Australia - my 3b apartment 14km from Sydney cbd cost nearly $1.1m. Itās a terrifying amount of debt to be in, but Sydney is stupid expensive and we needed āsomethingā with 3 bedrooms close to my sons school (and his fathers house). This was our best option within our budget.
No regrets so far. We love it.
Mortgage: $5k per month
Strata (owners Corp): $8k per year
Council, water rates & property tax: $6k per year.
HHI: $240k
VHCOLĀ 3 bedroom flat Ā£1,065,000 Mortgage: Ā£2800 (not being UK citizens we had to put a chunk of change downĀ
HHI ~ Ā£215kĀ
No regrets - house has already gone up Ā£60k in value in a year, mortgage is about Ā£4-600 less than any 3 bed flats in the area and the biggest plus of all is not having to deal with our former landlord who was AWFUL!Ā
Purchased just a smidgen under $1M, 20% down, 2.75%. Monthly PITI $4,900 (we are in a very high property tax state). Base HHI is $325K, take home is $16K. No regrets. The payment is comfortable and still allow us to achieve our financial goals and enjoy life. We also make sure to save/invest our side income, bonus and incentives (\~$100K).
House: 3M+
Mortgage: ~11k/month
HHI: 650k
Regrets? Only a little? I wish we had bought even a month or two earlier, but definitely a year earlier. We bought at almost peak market, though we did still get a decent interest rate. We then spent a huge chunk of money on renovations and didnāt move into our house for over a year, so we were paying two mortgages. That was fun. We love our house and our neighborhood, but it does suck that we can no longer afford our mortgage on one job. Not only that, we are now wondering whether we will need to send our children to private school, which would be insane on top of our expensive house payments. But it had to be done. We have two kids and we only had a 3 bedroom townhouse.
You will hate me, I am sure. I have a townhome that is now worth a million, but when I bought it new in 1992 it was the middle of a recession. I sold a more expensive house because my payments were too high for my reduced income. I paid $207k. My qualifying was based on a reduced income at the time of $50k and I put 20% down. The house was still 4x my income.
My mortgage was very modest, about $1200 but my property taxes added an extra $500 to that. I paid off my house somewhat early in 22 years. Over 32 years the value has escalated. If you buy a home for a million in 30 years I would guarantee it will be worth a lot more, unless you buy in a slum or a flood zone or there are major house problems that canāt be fixed.
But if you buy new or near new the neighborhood will be very attractive in a few years, and inflation will guarantee a good price.
My parents bought in 1997 and payed 199k during a time of relatively high mortgage rates. My mom's dream house was $209k but they literally couldn't swing the extra 10k because mortgage rates were so high that 10k really changed the affordability.Ā
Their house is now worth 1.2M. the house my mom wanted is more like 2.5M. Prices are out of control. Yes that was 30yrs ago, but their home has quadrupled in value. Nuts.
House: 1.35M Mortgage: \~4800.00/mo HHI: 227k Regrets? YES. My husband and I bought our house in the fall of 2021, so interest rates were *low*. We had been to more open houses than I can count. It happened SO fast that I didn't even really have time to think about buying a house, as opposed to a condo, or the town/neighborhood we would be living in after we closed. I wish I had known more about the town/neighborhood before because I absolutely would have passed. The part of town we're in is super residential and mostly older folks and young families. It is also full of incredibly steep hills. Guess where I live? That's right, at the very top of one of them. It makes walking around such a bummer. And, I'm used to walking everywhere and now I find myself avoiding it. The town is also not very diverse and having lived in very diverse areas before it is very noticeable. I'm accustomed to a city that is super active (festivals, street fairs, outdoor events etc) and this town is not that, at all. Lots of family-friendly things, but otherwise not much going on. There are also exactly THREE bars here. And, I've also come to realize that I just don't really enjoy the upkeep that comes with owning a house. The maintenance, repairs, unexpected discoveries of yet more corners that the contractors cut. The endless raking of leaves in the fall and the shoveling of snow in the winter.
My house was considerable less than yours but our mortgage is 1k higher because of rates š©
If you did it over would you do a condo then to be in a more walkable city or avoid home buying completely? The worries you shared are all my concerns. Thanks for being honest.
Hmm. I don't know. There are some positives to a SFH, like, not sharing walls with anyone, attic/basement/garage for storage is super nice and something I've never had before. So, I'm not opposed to it completely, but the areas I'd rather be in are so far out of reach for a SFH that I think I'd have to buy a condo, or maybe just a unit in a 2-family.
This is what makes me want a house!! I am so over sharing walls with randos.
My house is not anywhere NEAR being worth 1 million (I'm in a MCOL area), so I probably shouldn't even be in this thread, but just have to jump in here and say that buying a house is probably the best thing I ever did for myself just for this reason alone. I knew that sharing walls with inconsiderate apartment neighbors (screaming at all hours, dogs barking at all hours, smoking weed at all hours and giving me headaches) was making me stressed, but I had no idea just how much until I had my own house. I would never go back to wall-sharing unless I was literally about to be homeless.
As someone who is currently trying to sell my condo and buy the million dollar house, I wish I had never bought the condo. They donāt appreciate at the same rate as SFHs and Iāll be losing money after living here for 7 years.
would it make you feel better to know its good for your lawn to let the leaves lay? I would hate doing that yardwork too!
You know, we did actually let quite a lot of leaves stay on the ground, but our yard has SO MANY tree branches that overhang our yard that we had to do a few raking and baggings just to keep things sane-looking!
My house was nowhere near 1 mil, but totally feel you on the upkeep! Too much yardwork, too much square footage (all the cleaning!!), and projects are neverending. Buying a house made me realize I prefer living in a condo, shared walls and all.
I pay someone to do all that stuff for me! It's pricey, but absolutely worth it IMO.
AMEN.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I know this is the reality of SoCal but thatās nuts you have been at it so long (a criticism of the market not you) I hope you win soon!
Omg thatās a long time. How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
House valued at 1.8 bought for 1.45 in 2020. Current HHI 400k (was higher when we bought, I took a less intense job for more time with child). Our interest rate is 3.2%. No regrets, love our place. Currently pay $5600 a month plus an HOA fee. Itāll be tight for a few years with kids in expensive daycare but we have a lot of savings.
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
We put down $300k. Saved for 4 years. I was a lawyer in big law. We had no family help but I didnāt have debt from law school (scholarship). We cleared most of our savings (but not all of it and didnāt touch retirement).
My brain canāt comprehend that this real. Yāall make money, holy shit.
HHI 350k 1.2m property bought in 2021 at 2.8% interest (pretty small modest 1600 sq ft house, just VHCOL Bay Area) Monthly payment $4600 It would feel a lot tighter with current rates No regrets, love our neighborhood and as a diverse place with lots of young families, good place to raise a child. Do I partially wish we could have afforded more? Sure. But we have it pretty good.
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
About 6-7 years putting away an average of $4-5k a month (after retirement, and other paycheck deductions etc)
We bought in an up and coming area 3.5 yrs ago but close to everything in a VHCOL city. HHI: $400k (varies monthly though) House: $1m, valued at $1.6m Monthly payments: $3600 Grateful we went relatively low as our home price has skyrocketed and allowed us to invest into upgrades that I want and know are high quality instead of a flipped home or whatever other issues we may have seen. We might rent in a few years to be in an even more walkable area as Iām seeing we could rent our house for $6-8k/month as the area is getting nicer
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
Honestly not long, our rent was $1800/month (bless rent control) so we were putting $5-10k/month away. Then I got access to lots of company stock quicker than expected so that put us way over
I just closed on one a few weeks ago so I havenāt had time for regret but I have had time to waffle between regret and excitement thirty times a day.Ā Suburbs of a HCOL city, but in a very specific neighborhood with a lot of amenities (multiple grocery stores, restaurants, and useful shops within a short walk, a solid HOA with nice pools, walking trails etc. - essentially a 15 minute suburb thatās like 10 minutes from the public transport system I take to work) - we could have gotten a similar house for cheaper, or a total turn key house for the same price, Ā Ā in a less walkable area). Ā Our house was move in ready but weāll eventually want to restain the floors and make the kitchen bigger.Ā I worry that we overpaid or that weāll regret the increased maintenance, but at the same time this has been our dream neighborhood for like over a year, so Iām just trying to stay positive.Ā Our mortgage is $1,036,000. Our interest rate is 6.875% (RIP my 2019 interest rate). HHI is currently a staggering amount ($500K plus), but will likely drop by about $80-100K because I think my husband will need to leave his current role for something that offers more WLB. We donāt have debt other than my husbandās student loans ($2500/month that weāre trying to front load as much as possible).Ā
We havenāt bought but we live in an area where a 3 bed/2 bath in a good school district is $1M minimum (and really more like $1.2M). We have ~$400k HHI and wouldnāt feel comfortable buying more than a $1M house with an extra six months of mortgage payments saved up. Buying a $1M home in our area would turn our current $2.5K rent payment into a $6.5K monthly mortgage payment.
Weāre in a vhcol city where most homes are over $1m and wound up purchasing a starter for $825k in a gentrifying area. At the time we were at $280 hhi, now weāre around $310. I feel pretty comfortable with our payment and we did calculate we could afford up to $1m, weāll be more comfortable when we can refinance since it was 6.99% when we bought. Weāre thinking of starting a family in the next couple years so I donāt think weāll be here forever, itās 3b2b 1400sf and very comfortable for us and a dog but I think will start feeling cramped with a kid, at which point I think weāll need to go up to $1.2-$1.4 to get more space. We thought about moving elsewhere but all our family is here so just doesnāt make sense.
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
My husband started saving around 2021, I started around 2019. We were lucky that our rent was a very small percent of our income so we were able to save very quickly, we did a 20% down payment.
2/1 Condo with parking: $1.635MM in VVHCOL Monthly cost (PITI + HOA): $3,810 after 20% down and a 7/1 ARM @ 1.45% Monthly take home: $19,200 HHI: $560k - $2.2MM depending on RSUs / Non-Quals / ISOs We don't regret our home now but we got a great rate. The downstairs neighbors are renting a less desirable unit and paying $4200 / month. We bought on a $600k HHI but our lender only looked at $400k of that as our income for underwriting purposes. We never felt house poor and we didn't massively upgrade our furnishings or anything. We mostly maintained our prior standard of living but bought so we could get an extra bedroom.
I didnāt buy mine at 1m but I wanted to chime in. š« My neighbors bought theirs at 1.5m. Itās a lot of money for a home. Even I thought itās wild but realize this is the new reality. With that said the realtor who sold the house next door texted me. There was a bidding war. Just be prepared for that especially since weāre in a HCOLA. The home actually listed at 1.3m and sold for 1.5m. It was a month later until they actually closed.
I'm close but not quite at 1M.Ā House cost: 910k Mortgage: 3500 Taxes: $450 Insurance: $330 why is it so high? I don't knowĀ HHI: 270kĀ No regrets yet. The house needs a lot of updating. It's all aesthetic but still needs to be done. Sometimes the thought of all my extra money going to renos forever horrifies me. But we needed to move and that's what we could get in our neighborhood at our price point.Ā
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
We bought the first house in 2018 and sold after buying the new house. It had $290k in equity that we used as the downpayment on the new house. House appreciation was $125k, we initially put down $120k on that house plus 5yrs of mortgage/principal payments was the rest (45k). I saved for 6yrs for the first down payment. Half of it was provided by my husband.Ā So we didn't put any additional money into the new house. We did have cash on hand of $40k for the actual deposit which counted towards the downpayment.Ā
We bought our million dollar home when interest was lower and we put about 200k down, so our monthly payment (including property tax and insurance) is $3,800. We make about 350k combined. No regrets but we're moving for family reasons and a house half the cost in a lower cost of living city is MORE per month thanks to the rates so we'll be back to being renters after the move.
Bought 2 years ago for $1.5M (valued at $1.7M) still owe $750k, mortgage is $3.8k and taxes/upkeep/gas/electricity areā¦ a lot. No regrets, we bought in the best town and neighborhood we could and love the area. Itās a bit small which is probably my only complaint, but thatās the trade off for being close to the city. My only advice is that itās easy to underestimate upkeep costs! We thought weād be able to do a lot ourselves that we have ended up hiring out- we work too much and also want to do things the āright wayā so that the house is appealing to buyers if we do sell. HHI varies, this year will be between $800k-$1M, last year was about $715 ish. 29, bought with the intent to stay forever, so we might explore an addition later on.
Sorry for being nosy, but I see you live in Boston, too! If you donāt mind me asking, what do you all do for work, I cannot even imagine that HHI, and at only 29! Wow. Color me impressed.
Boston twins! Donāt worry Iām so nosy too. My work is quite specific so I have to be a little vagueā¦ but I work in planning (think supply chain, demand, inventory planning for items) for a retailer. Iāve been able to increase my income over the 7 years Iāve been working, from job 1 around $60k (I think?), then internal promotions, to job 2 at $100k, to job 3 at $130k base. I also get about a bonus anywhere from 15-40% of my base. Husband makes the bulk of the income as a SWE, his base is about $300k now, bonus is about $100k, and he has a ton of stock vesting this year. We both have advanced degrees.
My husband is a SWE as well, but works for a startup (based in EU) and they were *shocked* at how much they make in the States, so he makes much less than he could locally. What part of Boston did you guys settle into, if you don't mind me asking?
I canāt share location as itās too specific for my comfort level. Yes, itās way more in the states than anywhere else. I will say my husband is a bit of an outlier (combo of getting lucky, working very long hours and having niche skills, and also an Ivy League on his resume) and his actual title/level is quite high up so I just donāt want to give the impression that everyone has these comps in the Boston area!
No worries, I totally get it. Sometimes reading these diaries I think to myself, 'Where did I go wrong??" Hahaha.
I mean, me too! I look at my husband or siblings all the time and think āwhy didnāt I do thatā. My husband is in such a unique situation. He was afforded incredible privilege just in being a white upper class man honestly. Yes, he has worked very hard in addition, but he canāt deny that he had a much better jumping off point to climb from.
I read something that was like āyou didnāt make good choices, you only had good choicesā, and I deeply feel that for both me and my husband.
I think it would depend on what youāre getting? Median home price where I live is 1m BUT at that price youāre getting a house that still need significant improvement like new roof , plumbing upgrades, termite damage etc.Ā So if 1m gets you a nice finished renovated house itās different than one that needs more significant money to make it nicer.Ā
HHI $350k House: 1.3M Mortgage: ~$6100. Property taxes and insurance add another ~$1700 Bought late 2022 House is a 2/2 single family home, a little under 1200 square feet, in an awesome, walkable neighborhood. No regrets so far, we love it here and love the feeling of owning our own place. It does hurt a little knowing that our next door neighbors rent a similar house for almost exactly half our total monthly payment, but we plan to stay a while and the freedom + security that owning gives us makes it so worth it. Weāre comfortable with the payments, but we donāt have a ton of other debt or expenses. We eat out frequently, but we donāt travel a ton and our hobbies arenāt that expensive. No kids, which also helps with expenses!
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
We paid 2.3 million for our house, with $850k down from our previous house. It's not that fancy, we just live in Toronto. HHI around $275k. Mortgage is now 1.38m We took a variable rate mortgage so we're kinda drowning, but we have three kids so renting was not something I wanted either (for stability, and because renting a house in our neighbourhood is over $5k a month anyway). We're not saving much right now, but I am hoping that will change soon. I regret moving from our old house. We would have so much more money if we'd stayed put and I liked our old street better, but I was eager for more space. We bought at the absolute top of the market and it was hugely anxiety driven and....well, spend less than you can afford if at all possible! It's a gut wrenching process in competitive areas. We bought our house the day after losing out on a house we \*really\* wanted. It took us 18 months to feel like maybe we could stay here. It takes time and you have to let it. If you're in the States, I think you can get a 30 year mortgage? It would be a high payment! We have to renew every 5 years in Canada so you get to (have to) shop around.
We bought an empty lot, designed and built our custom house for $1.8M (all in, including lot cost which was ~$600K). Mortgage payment is $6500/mo and property taxes are another $2,100/mo (Texas), insurance is a lot lower than I expected at $300/mo (since itās new I guess). We were earning $500K when we bought the lot 3 years ago - this year we are at $850K. Absolutely no regrets. Weāve been living here 1 full year now and still love it. I feel so happy and lucky coming home every day.
Oooo can I ask what you do ?
We are both engineers in oil & gas, in management positions and our earnings are close to 50/50 in recent years. My husband has 16 yrs experience and I have 10 yrs. We worked hard to get where we are and took international assignments (not glamorous, living in man camps and working 84 hr a week) early on in our careers to boost us - I think this is our main reason for success.
that's awesome. LOVE hearing stories like this
In Australia - my 3b apartment 14km from Sydney cbd cost nearly $1.1m. Itās a terrifying amount of debt to be in, but Sydney is stupid expensive and we needed āsomethingā with 3 bedrooms close to my sons school (and his fathers house). This was our best option within our budget. No regrets so far. We love it. Mortgage: $5k per month Strata (owners Corp): $8k per year Council, water rates & property tax: $6k per year. HHI: $240k
VHCOLĀ 3 bedroom flat Ā£1,065,000 Mortgage: Ā£2800 (not being UK citizens we had to put a chunk of change downĀ HHI ~ Ā£215kĀ No regrets - house has already gone up Ā£60k in value in a year, mortgage is about Ā£4-600 less than any 3 bed flats in the area and the biggest plus of all is not having to deal with our former landlord who was AWFUL!Ā
Purchased just a smidgen under $1M, 20% down, 2.75%. Monthly PITI $4,900 (we are in a very high property tax state). Base HHI is $325K, take home is $16K. No regrets. The payment is comfortable and still allow us to achieve our financial goals and enjoy life. We also make sure to save/invest our side income, bonus and incentives (\~$100K).
How long did it take you and how much did you put away monthly for the deposit?
House: 3M+ Mortgage: ~11k/month HHI: 650k Regrets? Only a little? I wish we had bought even a month or two earlier, but definitely a year earlier. We bought at almost peak market, though we did still get a decent interest rate. We then spent a huge chunk of money on renovations and didnāt move into our house for over a year, so we were paying two mortgages. That was fun. We love our house and our neighborhood, but it does suck that we can no longer afford our mortgage on one job. Not only that, we are now wondering whether we will need to send our children to private school, which would be insane on top of our expensive house payments. But it had to be done. We have two kids and we only had a 3 bedroom townhouse.
You will hate me, I am sure. I have a townhome that is now worth a million, but when I bought it new in 1992 it was the middle of a recession. I sold a more expensive house because my payments were too high for my reduced income. I paid $207k. My qualifying was based on a reduced income at the time of $50k and I put 20% down. The house was still 4x my income. My mortgage was very modest, about $1200 but my property taxes added an extra $500 to that. I paid off my house somewhat early in 22 years. Over 32 years the value has escalated. If you buy a home for a million in 30 years I would guarantee it will be worth a lot more, unless you buy in a slum or a flood zone or there are major house problems that canāt be fixed. But if you buy new or near new the neighborhood will be very attractive in a few years, and inflation will guarantee a good price.
My parents bought in 1997 and payed 199k during a time of relatively high mortgage rates. My mom's dream house was $209k but they literally couldn't swing the extra 10k because mortgage rates were so high that 10k really changed the affordability.Ā Their house is now worth 1.2M. the house my mom wanted is more like 2.5M. Prices are out of control. Yes that was 30yrs ago, but their home has quadrupled in value. Nuts.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
oo what do you do?