Starter home or dream home with future family in mind? (Boston: apartment, rentals)

[mdovell]

Crypto is a bit of a joke. Only the very top are making as much. 50% loss from peak.

Tax liens and viatical settlements might be more secure

[Tsunade21]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Crypto is a bit of a joke. Only the very top are making as much. 50% loss from peak.

Tax liens and viatical settlements might be more secure

Yeah, we bought $1000 worth of doge in 2018 at a third of a cent just as a joke… never thought it would go this high. All our investments are in stocks or etf.

[simplexsimon]

What do you want in a house? Obviously further out is a trade off of commute time for money, but your range of 750k-1.2m is very wide.

[Tsunade21]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

What do you want in a house? Obviously further out is a trade off of commute time for money, but your range of 750k-1.2m is very wide.

If we buy a small house, I don’t want to pay more than $750k. Honestly, all we want is a good commute (<30min), 3 bed, 2 bath, at least one garage, central AC. Would be great if it is in a great school district since we might stay there for 7-10 years even though we have no kids right now. Maybe Lynnfield is the way to go?

Thoughts on septic vs public sewerage?

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by Tsunade21

Thanks for all your thoughts!

My spouse has been working for the past seven years and have had good luck in the stock market and crypto and I just graduated grad school and starting my first full time job as a software engineer. We make a combine of 215k and have no debt. Already got preapproval for the 1.2m. We are pretty cheap in terms of lifestyle. We don’t need fancy cars or expensive dinners. Just market basket and Costco. The only thing we really want is a final dream house where our future kids could grow up healthy. Our parents aren’t from MA, so it will be just us.

I am comfortable with 700k house (maybe even 850k) and can work on putting in some sweat equity on the house. What option do we have besides Winchester ? Should we consider Lynnfield, Arlington, West Medford, Melrose? Or should we go to Wilmington, Stoneham, Woburn, Wakefield, Malden? Even houses in these towns are 700+!

Here's the TLDR: pick a budget that you are comfortable with and find the best town where you can afford a normal house. By that, I mean you can afford a house that doesn't have a lot of weird compromises that make it unpleasant to live in. For example, there are some houses in Westwood that are otherwise pretty nice but are directly on US1 South. Upgrade if you can/want to later. If you get to the point where you can afford and still want a big house, you will know so much more about the details of what that is when the time comes.

My wife and I were in a similar situation 13 years ago so I can tell you what we did in your situation, even down to the not needing fancy cars or expensive dinners. I think in 2008 we had a comparable income and got similarly crazy pre-approval levels. That is simply a result of your income, no debt, having a sufficiently large down payment, and the crazy low interest rates. They are basically looking to make sure you can make the monthly payments if you devote a certain fraction of your income to the mortgage. And you can. We thought that was a bit too risky, though. Instead, we ran the same numbers with only one income and then used that to set our target.

As for the house, we picked a smaller house in a town that was possibly a reach for us then. We didn't scrape the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of houses, though. We basically found the "best" town that fit out budget and that we would be comfortable living in right away. I remember we looked at one house in Winchester and even in 2008 it was tiny and weird. I liked Winchester a lot more than my wife and it's probably good we didn't end up there because it was a good commuting location for my wife's job in 2008, but a bad location from 2010 until 2020. Needham was similarly expensive, "weird" houses would work in our budget, but not much else. Arlington was more affordable, but had too many compromises in terms of starter homes in our budget and so that was out. We didn't even bother with Newton or Belmont.

We ended up in Westwood. Our first house was very nice and had a great (at least for us) location, but probably not as big or on as big a lot as my wife would like. We stayed there for six years until our first about 6 months old and upgraded to a bigger house in the same town. At least when we sold, it was a fast market for smaller homes and a slow market for big homes. As stressful as home buying can be, it was nice to have a pretty broad window to search. We would have been happy in our first home, so it allowed us to find a larger home that was a good fit and a good value. We also knew exactly what we wanted and didn't want to pay for in a bigger house. I think the house we ended up with is a far better fit for us than the one we would have chosen if we just had the same budget in 2008.

[Tsunade21]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Here's the TLDR: pick a budget that you are comfortable with and find the best town where you can afford a normal house. By that, I mean you can afford a house that doesn't have a lot of weird compromises that make it unpleasant to live in. For example, there are some houses in Westwood that are otherwise pretty nice but are directly on US1 South. Upgrade if you can/want to later. If you get to the point where you can afford and still want a big house, you will know so much more about the details of what that is when the time comes.

My wife and I were in a similar situation 13 years ago so I can tell you what we did in your situation, even down to the not needing fancy cars or expensive dinners. I think in 2008 we had a comparable income and got similarly crazy pre-approval levels. That is simply a result of your income, no debt, having a sufficiently large down payment, and the crazy low interest rates. They are basically looking to make sure you can make the monthly payments if you devote a certain fraction of your income to the mortgage. And you can. We thought that was a bit too risky, though. Instead, we ran the same numbers with only one income and then used that to set our target.

As for the house, we picked a smaller house in a town that was possibly a reach for us then. We didn't scrape the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of houses, though. We basically found the "best" town that fit out budget and that we would be comfortable living in right away. I remember we looked at one house in Winchester and even in 2008 it was tiny and weird. I liked Winchester a lot more than my wife and it's probably good we didn't end up there because it was a good commuting location for my wife's job in 2008, but a bad location from 2010 until 2020. Needham was similarly expensive, "weird" houses would work in our budget, but not much else. Arlington was more affordable, but had too many compromises in terms of starter homes in our budget and so that was out. We didn't even bother with Newton or Belmont.

We ended up in Westwood. Our first house was very nice and had a great (at least for us) location, but probably not as big or on as big a lot as my wife would like. We stayed there for six years until our first about 6 months old and upgraded to a bigger house in the same town. At least when we sold, it was a fast market for smaller homes and a slow market for big homes. As stressful as home buying can be, it was nice to have a pretty broad window to search. We would have been happy in our first home, so it allowed us to find a larger home that was a good fit and a good value. We also knew exactly what we wanted and didn't want to pay for in a bigger house. I think the house we ended up with is a far better fit for us than the one we would have chosen if we just had the same budget in 2008.

Thanks for sharing your experience. My spouse alone can get a mortgage approved for a max of $850k, so I think that will be the way to go. Love to have a bit more freedom and peace of mind.

I drove around Westwood and love the big houses there. They are pretty affordable compared to Winchester. The issue is the commute. It will be hell getting to Somerville. Acton was another great town I liked, but I spoke with a few moms during my walk around Nara park and they said it takes 2 hrs during rush hour to get to Cambridge or have to leave town by 6am to get to the city in time. Don’t want to deal with a commute that is longer than 45min during rush hour post pandemic.

Some nice towns have private sewerage instead of public, I think that is another extra expense we have to be mindful of and also make sure we maintain it well if we decide to go to a town like Lynnfield.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by Tsunade21

Thanks for sharing your experience. My spouse alone can get a mortgage approved for a max of $850k, so I think that will be the way to go. Love to have a bit more freedom and peace of mind.

I drove around Westwood and love the big houses there. They are pretty affordable compared to Winchester. The issue is the commute. It will be hell getting to Somerville. Acton was another great town I liked, but I spoke with a few moms during my walk around Nara park and they said it takes 2 hrs during rush hour to get to Cambridge or have to leave town by 6am to get to the city in time. Don’t want to deal with a commute that is longer than 45min during rush hour post pandemic.

Some nice towns have private sewerage instead of public, I think that is another extra expense we have to be mindful of and also make sure we maintain it well if we decide to go to a town like Lynnfield.

Yeah, for your commute I would not recommend Westwood. It is much more suitable for a commute to Boston. I’d stay North of 90 for your specific commute.

Have you considered Bedford? It’s expensive but less crazy than Lexington/Winchester and a nice town. My wife had some coworkers that lived there and they said it was a great town to raise a family.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by Tsunade21

If we buy a small house, I don’t want to pay more than $750k. Honestly, all we want is a good commute (<30min), 3 bed, 2 bath, at least one garage, central AC. Would be great if it is in a great school district since we might stay there for 7-10 years even though we have no kids right now. Maybe Lynnfield is the way to go?

Thoughts on septic vs public sewerage?

There seem to be several acceptable alternative in Woburn, altho the schools are not the greatest. You might plan to move in 7-10 years from what seems the best option there. It's a 50's raised ranch with a 2-car garage and central air. The finished basement is great for entertainment space or home office, and there is a separate bath for kids. https://www.zillow.com/homes/2-Turks...56387149_zpid/

I agree, there are good options in Lynnfield. Four are between $650K and $750K, and all are 3 bedroom and 2 baths, in reasonably modern condition. The middle and high school are well rated.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by Tsunade21

Acton was another great town I liked, but I spoke with a few moms during my walk around Nara park and they said it takes 2 hrs during rush hour to get to Cambridge or have to leave town by 6am to get to the city in time. Don’t want to deal with a commute that is longer than 45min during rush hour post pandemic.

Definitely couldn't live in Acton and work in Somerville.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

Definitely couldn't live in Acton and work in Somerville.

I worked with a guy in Cambridge who lives in acton. He commuted in every day. This was pre covid so im sure things are much better now that he's been wfh.