How to afford a single family house with 4 kids in Loudoun? (Leesburg: condos, townhouse)

[snowdenscold]

Originally Posted by Flyers5150

We actually have ALOT of tax deductions so the $70k comes to about $48k give or take after taxes and retirement contributions.

I don't doubt you could get close to 48K combining retirement contributions and after-tax earnings, but just an FYI to the board: make sure you (that's a generic 'you') treat the optional earnings of the 2nd person all as a marginal addition, since almost every deduction and exemption comes regardless whether or not that 2nd person works. So you don't realize any extra 'savings' from a tax perspective by adding the 2nd income (with one notable exception being the small day-care credit which caps out for most people with 2+ children at $1,200).

[Flyers5150]

I worked with a tax accountant to figure out the total taxes owed with just me working @ $120k vs. both of us working @ $190k. The difference was about $16k.

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by Flyers5150

Hello all,

My wife and I currently live in Aldie, VA. We have triplets that are 21 months old and a son that is 3.5 years old. My wife makes $70k and I make $120k. You would think $190k would be plenty to afford a nice single family house in many parts of Loudoun in the $600k to $750k range. However, daycare for 4 young kids is $4k a month! This pretty much wipes out my wife's salary so it's really doesn't make a difference in our financial picture if she works or stays home with the kids.

On my salary of $120k, I can support our family in our 2600 sq foot town house (3 bedroom/3.5 bath) that we purchased for $417k in 2007. The mortgage payments are only $2200 a month which is do-able. The problem is that $120k really isn't an adequate income to purchase a home that will likely up my mortgage payment to $4k a month without being house poor. Since we both work in Fairfax County (Chantilly and Herndon), I really don't want to move out further to find cheaper housing.

We aren't desperate for a new house as our town house is a decent size. However, when the kids get bigger, we will want more space. Seems like I am stuck until the kids are in school and our daycare costs go down?

How about finishing your basement and making a couple rooms down there?

[Flyers5150]

Our basement has a full bath. The remainder is already finished and functions as a kids playroom/guest room. The laundry room is there as well.

[dmv101010]

This is one of the few areas in the country where we constantly want more. I think the big thing here is deep down to feel like we have the prime status here we want that 4/2.5 cuttie cutter. Stay put bigger isnt always better and like other have said 2650 is VERY large compared to other areas, we are just greedy. I recently bought a home and wouldnt even consider something that was under 2000 sqft, what does that say? This area has been programmed to believe that a 1500sgft home is inadequate but im sure most of were raised in a comparable size or smaller. I don't dont even see myself using my basement for years, in hindsight I should have been less dense. Take a step back and be grateful the kids are alright! Put your money elsewhere such as college funds or investments.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by dmv101010

This is one of the few areas in the country where we constantly want more. I think the big thing here is deep down to feel like we have the prime status here we want that 4/2.5 cuttie cutter. Stay put bigger isnt always better and like other have said 2650 is VERY large compared to other areas, we are just greedy. I recently bought a home and wouldnt even consider something that was under 2000 sqft, what does that say? This area has been programmed to believe that a 1500sgft home is inadequate but im sure most of were raised in a comparable size or smaller. I don't dont even see myself using my basement for years, in hindsight I should have been less dense. Take a step back and be grateful the kids are alright! Put your money elsewhere such as college funds or investments.

Do you really think that mentality is only prevalent in a few areas? A relative of mine just moved to North Carolina and bought a huge house. The difference between this area and that is the cost here is 3x as much. So you see alot more people struggling to do it here than there.

[Flyers5150]

There is more to it than just square footage though. Even when we bought the townhouse 6 years ago, we bought it because it was what we could afford and we wanted to build equity instead of wasting money on rent. I'd rather have a single family home with 2600 square feet than a townhouse. Here's what I don't like about townhouses and ours specifically.

1. Shared Walls
2. Very small yard
3. Storage area is basically the garage
4. Laundry room is in the basement (A pain with 4 kids)
5. Master bedroom is oversized while the other bedrooms are quiet small (9.5 by 9.5) and (11 by 11).
6. Interior unit so only windows on front and back of house.

I spent part of my childhood in a house that was about 2600 square feet. It had better space utilization than my townhouse (ie. 4 bedrooms plus a big bonus room over the garage.)

[NC211]

I'm not going to comment on "wants vs needs" for a family that has triplets, other than to say God Bless you guys! That has to be a handful, and I am sure 2,600sf can close in on you very quickly in this situation, not to mention the big brother at 3 years of age too! I have two kids, 5 1/2, 3, with around 4,500sf, and there are some days when I wished it was 45,000sf!

Have you looked at the Affordable Dwelling Unit provisions for your income alone? I'm not sure what those thresholds are that would allow you to qualify as a purchaser of a new home under this program, but $120k as a family of 6 doesn't seem to be that far out of scope for this area's cost of living index and median income scale. I'd google this for Loudoun county and see. These new developments are supposed to be assigning a certain percentage of their planned construction for this program, usually around 10-15% of the homes. If you qualify, you'll receive a certificate from the county and the builder will then be required to identify to you which homes in their plans are going to be "ADU" homes. These homes can't be significantly different from the market-rate homes either, so nobody will have open knowledge if you paid $400k or $600k.

Not sure about your wife's income in this calculation. But if $120k puts you into the program, then it might be worth playing the angle with your wife's job, even if temporary while you go through the process. But again, I don't know what these thresholds are for Loudoun County for you to qualify. Just a thought, might be worth the time to investigate this route!

[bsh5w]

Do you have any equity in your current home? With today's prices and given you paid $417K in 2007, you wouldn't have much left after selling and paying off the mortgage (unless you put in a large down payment in '07). We just moved from a 2000 sq ft townhome to a 3,900 SFH (both in Loudoun), but we had quite a bit of equity in the townhome, which we luckily purchased way back in 2000. That equity along with the (relatively) low home prices and historically low interest rates last winter gave us that small window of opportunity to upgrade. We make much less than you but have only two kids, so our net after daycare is probably fairly even.

[dmv101010]

Originally Posted by Flyers5150

There is more to it than just square footage though. Even when we bought the townhouse 6 years ago, we bought it because it was what we could afford and we wanted to build equity instead of wasting money on rent. I'd rather have a single family home with 2600 square feet than a townhouse. Here's what I don't like about townhouses and ours specifically.

1. Shared Walls
2. Very small yard
3. Storage area is basically the garage
4. Laundry room is in the basement (A pain with 4 kids)
5. Master bedroom is oversized while the other bedrooms are quiet small (9.5 by 9.5) and (11 by 11).
6. Interior unit so only windows on front and back of house.

I spent part of my childhood in a house that was about 2600 square feet. It had better space utilization than my townhouse (ie. 4 bedrooms plus a big bonus room over the garage.)

Yards are small on the SFH trust me I would have ponied up 50K if any of the SFH homes aroun here has larger than a .15 lot they all were pretty equal to a townhome.

I will agree witht he Master ours in the whole backs ide of the home leaving the other 3 bedrooms tiny, stinks!