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So do I.
I don't care about the house that much, but I'd really like a 3 car garage.
There's a pretty good possibility that this could happen in the future.
That was one of my requirements. 2200 sq ft is plenty size for a house. I guess if you have a huge family....but utilities go up a lot on huge houses. I had a cap on the size price and payment. I could of bought more house but I rather have the financial freedom. I don’t want to be a shave to my house. The payment is very affordable to me. And even if I lost my job and had no work income the payment is paid by investments. And the reserves are there for long term sustainment.
I know too many people that are house poor
Last edited by Electrician4you; 06-23-2019 at 12:16 PM..
better to tie up that money in the stock market than a house. how much more can a million dollar 1500 sq ft one family starter home appreciate?
That depends entirely on the vicissitudes of the local market. Comparison of real-estate vs. the stock market is dicey. I love the stock market, and yet, over the past 20 years, real-estate in Los Angeles has absolutely crushed the growth of US large-caps.
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Originally Posted by sheerbliss
I can afford to tell my employer to **** off and find another job at my leisure. You can't do that when you're on a treadmill to pay for status symbols.
True, but don't be so sanguine about the supposed freedoms of high net worth. Paying income tax on the dividends and capital-gains distributions is a treadmill in itself. And if you work part-time as a consultant, you're paying both sides of FICA... effectively running on two treadmills simultaneously. Quite a workout!
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Originally Posted by aslowdodge
...My current cost in the McMansion of 5200 sq feet nets out to about 1200 a month including piti, utilities, hoa. Next year it will drop to about 950 a month.
I fail to comprehend how this is possible. In my locale, the taxes, insurance and maintenance alone would exceed $950/month on a 5200 sf house – and that assumes that the house is paid off, and there’s no HOA fee, and that utilities are magically free. Disregard the latter, and you’re spending $700/month on propane alone, to heat that house in the winter months. My area is rife with $500 one-bedroom apartments with giant posters in the front-yard, advertising that “heat is paid”. In the winter months, it would be cheaper to board-up my house, drain the plumbing, turn off the electricity, and just move into the apartment. And it’s not a big house.
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Originally Posted by aslowdodge
I don’t know if they are so much multi millionaires as much as just high earners. I’ve met people that amaze me how much they make there.
This, I think, is the broader point, that subsumes barbs about people being overextended in large houses. That is, one would think that a high-earner would become a multi-millionaire within a decade or so, so that by middle-age, the ratio of assets to income is 10:1 or more (perhaps vastly more). But generally that is not the case.
Location: Formerly Pleasanton Ca, now in Marietta Ga
10,351 posts, read 8,572,211 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ohio_peasant
I fail to comprehend how this is possible. In my locale, the taxes, insurance and maintenance alone would exceed $950/month on a 5200 sf house – and that assumes that the house is paid off, and there’s no HOA fee, and that utilities are magically free. Disregard the latter, and you’re spending $700/month on propane alone, to heat that house in the winter months. My area is rife with $500 one-bedroom apartments with giant posters in the front-yard, advertising that “heat is paid”. In the winter months, it would be cheaper to board-up my house, drain the plumbing, turn off the electricity, and just move into the apartment. And it’s not a big house.
I've posted several times how this is possible for me. I don't want to repeat the long posts I've already done but it is here on CD.
I am curious to how many people are out there that don't want large, nice, expensive homes, but can afford them? I'm not necessarily talking mansions, but larger nice homes that just show that you have a lot of money. The ones you see in affluent suburbs and they wow you. What percentage of people that have money would you say are like that?
I’m certainly not like that. It has zero to do with showing off or anything stupid like that. It’s a simple matter of what my lifestyle requires to be happy. Other people live such different lives they have trouble imagining anyone could need more space. My fiancé and I don’t like to sleep in the same room, we have different schedules much of the time and at least I don’t want that as my only option. Nothing is more valuable than a great night of sleep. Last night she had horrible allergies and I couldn’t have slept through sneezing and sniffling and all of that. We also both work from home all or part (her) of the time. Our new house has 5 bedrooms where the master is her office and bedroom, I have a bedroom, an office, there’s a guest bedroom, and a gaming room (5th bedroom) plus the loft is a home gym. That’s simply what I want from a home to be happy with it.
Some people seem unbelievably unimaginative with their spaces and they buy bigger houses without even using them. It honestly comes down to most people being just boring, no hobbies, no collections, just no need for the space. If you just come home after work and sleep, sure, you don’t need much of a house. If 90% of your time is spent at home, you better have an awesome house.
For me I don’t spend much money for my means, but when it comes to my house it’s the most important thing I do want to spend my money on. It’s still a small portion of my net worth, though, so I’d argue I’m frugal there because I could have afforded a much more expensive house. I just didn’t see anything much better frankly than what we got. The houses that were twice as much were often not my style and not what I wanted. Only houses in the $2.5-3M range started to wow and I’ll wait 15 years for that.
Well, I don't have that many more years of high earnings in front of me.
I would be perfectly happy to stay in my 1400 sq.ft. place if I could build a little studio off the garage with a powerful air conditioner. A few other modifications and I would be set. My wife is gradually coming round to my way of thinking, especially when I describe what it would be like to pay ever-increasing property taxes.
Because I'm old, and I understand what life has been like for those before us, I don't feel like you need a bunch of space to be a happy human being.
I am curious to how many people are out there that don't want large, nice, expensive homes, but can afford them? I'm not necessarily talking mansions, but larger nice homes that just show that you have a lot of money. The ones you see in affluent suburbs and they wow you. What percentage of people that have money would you say are like that?
I guess it depends on what "a lot of money" is. My husband and I make about $160K a year, and have about $250K in savings, no debt to speak of. We generally do not buy anything over $250K house, but that is because we move often, and the higher price ranges are hard to sell, and we like the option of turning the home into a rental home if we decide. Much easier to turn a lower price point home into an income property than a large home. We also had a significant amount of debt just 10 years ago, so having lower house payments has allowed us to crawl out of that debt and start savings/investments. We like living below our means because it means we never have to feel financially stressed, like we did in our early 20s. Not a feeling I like- so living below our means = no financial stress. I'd rather that, than show-off with a large house.
Additionally, because we move very often (like a new state every 3 years), we are waiting until we retire to find a dream house- so we buy based on location, rentability, market prospects for reselling. We've made money on a few of our homes after only 3 years, buy being very careful what we purchase. We also have significant equity in some of our older purchases that have renters in them. We buy based on those factors, not necessarily what our dream home would be. Dream home will come later. However, I highly doubt it will be a McMansion. We will likely still buy well under our means, so we can afford fun stuff like a boat, RV, Travel, maybe a really fun car, or land. How much sq footage would 2 people really need?
1) I live well below my means. 2) I like condo living. no lawn care, outdoor maintenance, pool maintenance, we have a gym and other stuff. very happy where i am!
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