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I love that your dreaming big. It tells me that your not the average joe who is content with what life has given to them. Go after that house if that what motivates you. If you plan for it, work hard and set the goal it will happen. Looking back on my life I can't believe the things I have achieved financially. My only fear in life is that I will be complacent, and believe me I've had my moments. I'm not afraid to fail, but I am afraid of sitting around doing nothing to accomplish my goals.
hi,
so, we've passed by this neighborhood in McLean, VA that we've just fallen in love with. Houses are beautiful and range from 1.8 to 4M dollars (zillow).
I don't know about your area, but in OUR area, zillow.com gives the wrong values (underestimate) of the homes here by several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Zillow is a worthless site as far as I'm concerned.
Find out what these houses REALLY cost first...then create a plan.
thank you both...i can't say i disagree with your message and thanks for sharing.
I dream.....I do get excited when i see a beautiful house, when i see a Lamborghini, or a private island....and my mind races towards 'ways' to get that thing! I don't just necessarily 'recognize it for what it is (dream) and move on' as dmills suggested.....at least not at first
I do go over scenarios of whether i 'can' obtain that 'thing' and what i would need to sacrifice to make it happen. sometimes, in the case of a 30k car for example, or a cool off road show car, i can cut from here and there and 'make it happen'. other times, in the case of the 2.2M mansion, it's more of a dream than anything else....at least for the time being. but things like that do make me think....and i don't think there's anything wrong with wanting better things and improving ones life. I wouldn't want to be house poor or live into my 80s though, as you guys correctly suggested, if i was to buy the house given the 'current' non-plan.
So, in other words, this thread was basically helping with the process of thinking about that 'dream'....to see what would need to be cut in order for that 'dream' to be realized.....and based on what we're seeing, the answer is 'everything and then some'. so, the dream will go to the archives........for now!
31 must be a common age around here, count me in this demographic as well .
Huge mansions are fascinating to tour, beautiful to look at, and are easy to dream about owning...but when reality sets in, they just aren't practical to live in for the majority of Americans. A few years ago my parents bought their retirement "dream home" in N. Scottsdale and it's between 5000-6000 square feet for just the two of them. Beautiful home to look at and tour but my parents don't use half the rooms unless they have friends from out-of-town visiting or have their grandchildren over for the night.
I'm perfectly happy in my < 3000 square foot house; it's easy to maintain, has wonderful views, and is paid off. At this stage in my life I have no current live-in girlfriend/wife nor do I have kids so it's an ideal size for a bachelor. If I ever get married and have a family, I can see buying something between 4000-5000 square feet so there's plenty of room to grow but as of now, I'm quite comfortable where I'm at.
If you were to have the option, would you rather have a $500K home mortgage free in a nice area or a $2.2 million mansion which you have to work just to pay the house payment each month? I'd personally rather save the extra income for retirement, a big mansion would get old quite fast but living a very comfortable lifestyle in retirement doesn't get old .
I can understand the OP's dream of owning one of those mansions. I've had them myself. I live in the DC Metro area too, and I've seen some beautiful homes from the outside. I like to ride my motorbike out west, and some of the homes near Mt. Weather are absolutely gorgeous. It's good to dream big, it motivates me to try harder for more. In "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" Kiyosaki's Poor Dad would say "I can't afford it" while his Rich Dad would say "How could I afford it". So rather than think I don't have the money to buy that house, I imagine what I'd have to do to be able to afford it.
That's the reason I finally got off my hump and bought my first investment property at 29. That's the reason I fully fund my TSP account, have a ROTH-IRA and a regular IRA. That's the reason I also save a considerable chunk of my salary to fund the next investment property. That's the reason I educate myself on personal finance strategies. The list goes on and on.
I come from humble beginnings and I always want better. I also know sometimes it's not a good idea to own something for the sake of owning it. I currently own an 1800 sq/ft house with my brother. It takes enough of my time cleaning/maintaining it. I don't think I'd want to own a 6000 sq/ft house unless I had maids/butler and grounds maintenance staff.
Oh and I just turned 32 a few days ago, so I can I be part of the "cool kids club"?
I love that your dreaming big. It tells me that your not the average joe who is content with what life has given to them. Go after that house if that what motivates you. If you plan for it, work hard and set the goal it will happen. Looking back on my life I can't believe the things I have achieved financially. My only fear in life is that I will be complacent, and believe me I've had my moments. I'm not afraid to fail, but I am afraid of sitting around doing nothing to accomplish my goals.
"Complacent" is not the same as "realistic". The OP is not being realistic (if, indeed, he is serious at all and not just having fun with us). As for your assertion, "If you plan for it, work hard and set the goal it will happen", that's just a fairy tale. Planning, goal setting, and hard work are necessary elements to achievement, but luck plays an increasing role as we move beyond wanting an upper middle class lifestyle. The more absurd the goal is which we have set, the less likely we are to reach it despite all the planning and hard work in the world. My analogy would be the poor kid who dreams of making it big in professional sports; there are some who do make it (obviously), but even among those who work hard, what is the percentage who arrive? Miniscule. It's not a realistic dream, so a back-up plan is in order.
Personally, I think one would have to be a knuckle-dragging halfwit to go in the hole that much for a house. If I had won the lottery or was someone with piles of cash lying around? Sure.
Do yourself a big fat favor. Go on a tour of the place. Take lots of photos. Walk around with a measuring tape. Then hand the entire shebang to an architect and say, "I want this." Pick out a nice vacant lot in an area that's nice but not price and build the thing yourself. You'll likely come out at least $1,000,000 ahead.
Couldn't rep you so I'm doing it this way. You have given an accurate description of the situation in your first paragraph. The original post illustrates what is wrong with this country. The attitude displayed there is one of the major factors which brought this country to its knees. And that attitude is unrealistic greed coupled with willingness to take on insane levels of debt to attempt to satisfy that greed. I used "attempt" on purpose because for those people afflicted with the malady it will never be enough. Someone will always have a bigger house, bigger yatch, two Ferrarris rather than one, etc. Michael Jackson comes to mind; details of his life which ermerged after his death paint the picture of a miserable man who just could not be satisfied with what he had. Yes, he had debt problems!
A big house looks attractive at first, but the upkeep and cleaning and all that get to be really annoying after a while.
There are TONS of hidden costs involved in living in a large house.
Not to mention that every tradesman who walks in will upcharge the hell out of even a simple job they'd charge 30% less for in a regular neighborhood. Your gas will be more. Your groceries will be more. Everything will be more.
hi,
so, we've passed by this neighborhood in McLean, VA that we've just fallen in love with. Houses are beautiful and range from 1.8 to 4M dollars (zillow).
Of course we don't have the means to get a house on this block....but we were thinking about having a plan of perhaps getting something like that in the next decade or two.....(we are 31 now)
if we pay off our current house in the next 5-6 years as planned, and sell right away, and take the half a mil and apply it as down payment, we'd still need a 1.7M mortgage......that's assuming the house hasn't jumped in price to 3M by then!
My problem is that i want the things that i want, NOW, while young.....and not when i'm older and less able.....but that poses its own many problems as one might imagine.
paying down the current house is taking most of the extra cash that comes in....so there's no way to save ALOT more on the side to make this transaction happen......Any ideas?
Good work, OP. Three pages and people still seem to think you're not joking.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. 140K salary buying a 4 million dollar house. This thread has to be a joke.
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dream big
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