Your opinion for $500k House with $150k Income (Spring, West: apartment, rentals)

[Hacker1234]

I dunno about that, my neighborhood the homes range from the 400s and topping out in the upper 500s.

The guy that lives across from me drives a 15 year old Chevy truck. My next door neighbor has a 1990s Accord. Seems a lot of people drive older paid off cars.

A few of my neighbors have brand new cars, but they paid cash for them. Probably using their end of year bonus or whatever.

[DSL_PWR]

I said earlier and I will say it again. I would not buy a $500k house on a $150k salary.

And like someone else said in another post, I make a lot of money. I could have spent (based on my income and what the mortgage company pre-approved me for) several million on a house if I wanted to. I spent about $360k and am comfortable plus my home will be paid off in less than 10 yrs.

I said many years ago that I would never spend more than $400k for a house and I stuck with that, actually under it. I have a few friends with $10k, $14k, and $22k a month mortgages and I just don't understand why someone would want to burden themselves that much. It's just not worth it.

Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean that you HAVE to do it.

[JohnnyDA]

Compromise and go for 400K. 300K would be better but at least think about it.

[MiaMia411]

And this is why we had so many foreclosures in this country , people buying things they didn't need or thought they can afford until something goes wrong or someone loses a job , then your screwed. I have seen houses for sale in Houston that are huge for 300k , but hey to each their own .

[txdemo]

Originally Posted by Hacker1234

I think what people are missing, is that it is pretty much impossible to be house poor when you have a very high income.

Tell that to Jackie and David Siegel. The Queen of Versailles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[zoomzoom3]

Originally Posted by txdemo

Tell that to Jackie and David Siegel. The Queen of Versailles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wow

A lot of it depends on how much a home costs to maintain. Many of these 5,000+ sq. ft. places are expensive to heat & cool, and can use a lot of electricity especially if it's all lit up at night like a showcase or trophy home. Homes that size take a lot of effort to clean, so you might as well figure in the cost of a housekeeping or maid service. Pools can be expensive to maintain also. Property taxes are killer and HOA fees can be really high too depending on what services & amenities the neighborhood offers. If it's in a country club you'll have very expensive monthly or yearly dues.

It all can add up very quickly. As I've said before these types of homes aren't really for middle class or upper middle class folks, they're more suited for Fortune 500 CEO's, pop stars/rappers, MLB, NFL, and NBA players, etc.

[Augiec]

Originally Posted by Hacker1234

I dunno about that, my neighborhood the homes range from the 400s and topping out in the upper 500s.

The guy that lives across from me drives a 15 year old Chevy truck. My next door neighbor has a 1990s Accord. Seems a lot of people drive older paid off cars.

A few of my neighbors have brand new cars, but they paid cash for them. Probably using their end of year bonus or whatever.

My experience is similar to Hacker1234, heck I was enjoying my paid off corola until someone rear ended me and totaled it.

That said, my brother lives a couple miles away in a neighborhood where the starting prices are $600K+. They make the money and all, so it's no big deal to me. The funny thing is he is thinking about replacing his 10yr old acura. I suggested he go for an electric since he was really interested in them when I had to replace my car. He said that since he can't afford a Tesla, electrics are out of the picture. When I questioned the logic there, he said he didn't want to drive the worst car on his street.

The moral of the story is the more upscale your neighborhood, the more societal pressure you may feel to spend money & thus get trapped on that wonderful consumerism wheel.

[locotl]

I'm in a very similar situation but I would never do it if I had a double mortgage that's asking for trouble.
I sold my old house gave a 25% down and put the rest in savings just in case. Is very doable if you live frugal and get rid of that other mortgage.

[vwgto]

I remember when the mantra was that you buy as much house as you can because "of course" your income and home prices would must certainly be going up. With the influx of new homebuyers, many only have a very recent perspective of what can happen. Money pressures can crush a person and/or marriage. Buy something you can comfortably afford, and you will sleep much better at night.

[frankrj]

The conservative way to buy a home from banks was never spend more than 3x your gross income on a house and that was when rates were significantly higher in the 7s and 8s. My own conservative way of looking at it is what will your income be in 15 years. can you handle a mortgage payment that high in 15 years or will your income drop due to age, industry on the decline, etc.