2023 Real Estate Observations (warranty, girlfriend, deduction)

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

He wanted to see finances of people like this. There are a number of couples featured in the podcast who are spending a lot on housing and you hear how it is affecting them.

Usually it starts the other way around - that one or both people are feeling very tight with money and it's causing arguments about spending on little things like a $10 meal at Chick Fil A or one person getting annoyed at the other's small Amazon purchases. Then when the layers are peeled back and the numbers are looked at you see a significant portion of income going into fixed costs like housing and very little is left for discretionary spend.

That's exactly what i want to find out. I didn't mean to imply that statement from the perspective of jealousy or smugness. I'm more curious about what sort of sacrifices people make in order to carry these sorts of purchases. Are they sacrificing retirement savings, college savings, discretionary expensive, vacations etc.

Ultimately what I was getting at is whether a high payment like that sustainable in the long term? It just seems like a recipe for high stress and being on the edge of financial disaster pending any sort of emergency, or things like divorce.


EDIT: gave a quick listen to one over lunch. I'll save it and check it out when i have more time. Thanks for the suggestion

Originally Posted by gf2020

Is that so hard to figure out? Let's say you have an engineer and a nurse, both a few years out of school, that's probably a combined income of over $250,000 per year. They can pretty easily afford a $5000 per month housing payment.

I'm a $250K+ household. I don't want a $5K mortgage payment. However, I know where i would make my adjustments. I'm wondering about folks who might be doing this on lower income levels.

[msRB311]

Ashland to Boston is a 36 min commute right now. I know it's worse at rush hour...but that doesn't seem bad. People here are very unrealistic with commute desires i feel like

[Iced_Coffee]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I'm a $250K+ household. I don't want a $5K mortgage payment.

Similar situation here and my sentiment is the same. Current mortgage is in the mid-3000s and that's as high as I'd like to be. Once all other costs are factored in, especially childcare, I'm well on my way to $7k/mo just for housing, preschool, and basic utilities. All other expenses then add on top of that - groceries, clothing, birthday/Christmas gifts, tools/supplies, auto insurance, gas, maintenance, etc. I'm thankful we don't have a car payment. Sometimes I wonder where the F all the money goes but I look back through my budget and bank/credit card statements constantly and it's virtually all on necessities and normal cost of living stuff.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by Iced_Coffee

Similar situation here and my sentiment is the same. Current mortgage is in the mid-3000s and that's as high as I'd like to be. Once all other costs are factored in, especially childcare, I'm well on my way to $7k/mo just for housing, preschool, and basic utilities. All other expenses then add on top of that - groceries, clothing, birthday/Christmas gifts, tools/supplies, auto insurance, gas, maintenance, etc. I'm thankful we don't have a car payment. Sometimes I wonder where the F all the money goes but I look back through my budget and bank/credit card statements constantly and it's virtually all on necessities and normal cost of living stuff.

+1 Also vacations, going out to eat and activities/sports for kids. Botox, gym, hair and other plastic surgery that so many moms seem to get these days?

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Botox, gym, hair and other plastic surgery that so many moms seem to get these days?

Gotta look good for the Instagram feed amiright?

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by Iced_Coffee

Similar situation here and my sentiment is the same. Current mortgage is in the mid-3000s and that's as high as I'd like to be. Once all other costs are factored in, especially childcare, I'm well on my way to $7k/mo just for housing, preschool, and basic utilities. All other expenses then add on top of that - groceries, clothing, birthday/Christmas gifts, tools/supplies, auto insurance, gas, maintenance, etc. I'm thankful we don't have a car payment. Sometimes I wonder where the F all the money goes but I look back through my budget and bank/credit card statements constantly and it's virtually all on necessities and normal cost of living stuff.

Current mortgage of $1000 on the nose. Small house of ~1400 sq ft. Many would snub their nose up at a 1400 sq ft house....but I'll laugh all the way to the bank as everyone else is paying $3,4,5,6K and up a month lol

[Iced_Coffee]

I wouldn't mind a little extra to spend on some anti-aging treatments (only somewhat kidding). But that's laughably out of consideration right now - instead it's crows feet and forehead wrinkles for me.

[Iced_Coffee]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Current mortgage of $1000 on the nose. Small house of ~1400 sq ft. Many would snub their nose up at a 1400 sq ft house....but I'll laugh all the way to the bank as everyone else is paying $3,4,5,6K and up a month lol

$1000/mo sounds great. Is that all in (PITI) or just mortgage? Mine is just a hair under $3500 all in (mortgage itself is around 2400). I'd love to be lower, but I'm thankful I still got my house when I did. Same purchase price and down payment today would be in the $5100 range (). My house has appreciated approximately 100-125k on top of that so RIP to the young'ns trying to afford it without a massive down payment.

My house is also modest - 1600 sq ft on a fairly small lot.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by Iced_Coffee

$1000/mo sounds great. Is that all in (PITI) or just mortgage? Mine is just a hair under $3500 all in (mortgage itself is around 2400). I'd love to be lower, but I'm thankful I still got my house when I did. Same purchase price and down payment today would be in the $5100 range (). My house has appreciated approximately 100-125k on top of that so RIP to the young'ns trying to afford it without a massive down payment.

My house is also modest - 1600 sq ft on a fairly small lot.

No, that's just the mortgage. That would be insane if I could get mortgage, taxes, insurance all for $1K! Mine is more like $1400-1500 after taxes and insurance. I don't think this is going to be the 'forever' house though so I'm sure I'll be paying thru the nose if/when I do move!

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I'm a $250K+ household. I don't want a $5K mortgage payment. I know where i would make my adjustments. I have to imagine that there are folks out there that make less and have such high payments and don't have such flexibility.

Same here. It doesn't seem "easily" affordable to me, and we don't have kids or any significant debt beyond our current mortgage and a single car payment.

You're also not imagining anything. I know a couple who closed on a $650k home in May with 5% down. Single income, about $130k, and no help from families. He's in his early 30s and has saved well and lived modestly so there's a rainy day fund, but that nets them around $3k/mo after the housing payment. He is entirely convinced that rates will drop steeply in the next year or so and that he can drop that mortgage from nearly $5k to about $3,000.

I think there are a lot of buyers over the past several years in the same boat. There may be a lot of $250k+ households in Eastern, MA but there are also a lot of households under that stretching to the max (beyond, I'm sure) to afford homes right now. And not all of those $250k+ households are devoid of student loans, credit card debts, bloated car payments, childcare costs, and other expenses that would make $5k/month easy, even for them. I just can't imagine living that way.