Income (Reston, Fairfax: fit in, insurance, credit)

[airjay75]

With a $120k income, I would sort of use a rough estimate of take home pay being 70% of that, which, on a monthly basis, comes out to about $7,000 per month. Subtract your $1,500 debt payments, and you've got $5,500 to work with. Then, what's the monthly mortgage payment? Lets say you have 20% to put down on a $600k house, leaving you with a mortgage payment somewhere around $2,500 per month. Then, you said you need child care, so that probably takes another $1,000 per month (I'm just sort of guessing based on what I've heard child care costs). That leaves you with roughly $2,000 per month for bills, food, savings, etc. for a family of 5. I would think that would be very tight. Obviously, these are just rough estimates and you probably want to do a more specific calculation with your own numbers, but I think it sort of illustrates what you'd be looking at with $120k in gross income and that type of mortgage.

[michgc]

I think a lot will depend on how much you have for a downpayment for your house. That's going to be your biggest monthly payment. We just lived in Northern Virginia for about the same income (a bit more) and we are also a family of 5. The difference is that we only had one parent working, so there were no daycare costs, and I was able to supplement a bit with some side jobs as a stay-at-home mom.

We also had no car payment or student loans. Andn our mortgage was only about $200K because we bought over 10 years ago. So for us, we were able to live on that income and still save for retirement and college, but again no daycare costs, no car payment, no student loan, and a pretty small mortgage.

I think a $600K home will be very tight for you with your other debt commitments and daycare, unless you have a very large downpayment.

[CAVA1990]

Just total up the following:

Mortgage
HOA
Natural Gas
Electricity
Water
Trash
Cable
Phone
Internet
Car Insurance
Gas
Car maintenance and depreciation
Car registration
Personal property tax
Home Maintenance
Food
Child care
Summer camp
Clothing
School supplies
Uninsured medical and dental expenses
Veteranary care (if you have pets)
Vacations
Debt payments
Entertainment
College and retirement savings

If you can make that work on a $500K mortgage and $1,500 in other debt payments with $7K take home please let me know how.

[bavariantransplant]

Thank you for all your insight and thought provoking comments, they have been very helpful.

[CAVA1990]

I'm guessing you'd be spending around $10K/month+/-:

Housing- $3,500 (mortgage, upkeep, HOA, utilities)
Transportation - $1,000 (fuel, insurance, depreciation, taxes, interest, maintenance)
Groceries - $1,200 (food, supplies, dining out, incidentals)
Clothing - $250 (purchase and cleaning)
Child Care and Education - $1,000 (day care, summer camps, school lunches and supplies)
Entertainment - $400 (movies, vacations)
Charity - $100 (tithes, school fund drives, panhandlers)
Debt - $1,500
Savings - $1,000 (college, weddings, medical, rainy day, retirement)

[JfromReston]

There are my budget programs on the internet - here is one that estimates state and federal taxes.

http://www.ecsi.net/budgetcalc.htm

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by JfromReston

There are my budget programs on the internet - here is one that estimates state and federal taxes.

http://www.ecsi.net/budgetcalc.htm

The specified URL cannot be found.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by bavariantransplant

Thank you for all your insight and thought provoking comments, they have been very helpful.

What happened to Tampa Bay? I thought you already decided this area was too expensive for you?

[JfromReston]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

The specified URL cannot be found.

Strange because it works in my post on another thread

Possibly relocating to Mclean from Atlanta. Will my salary be enough?

[bavariantransplant]

Originally Posted by spencgr

What happened to Tampa Bay? I thought you already decided this area was too expensive for you?

Its a very complex decision. I am making a trip back to the States soon for a wedding and will be able to spend 1 full day in Loudoun County and 3 full days in Tampa.

We are very much leaning Tampa but its not 100%.