Buying a house for ~900K in one of the Boston suburbs - my household income is ~230K. Am I stretching too far?

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I'm single and just bought a $500k house on $170k salary, and I could have easily afforded more. I think you should be fine.

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Household income of 580k and settled for a 800k house. Could have afforded more but this is enough space with great schools.

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My gut says yes - but only because I’ve been looking in the Boston burbs and am so frustrated by the prices that I’m now anti all options

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For reference. HH income is ~550 and bought a 1.8M property; put down 20pct. I’m not going to go buying a vacation home anytime soon, but it’s fine.

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HH ~280K with one toddler.. bought a house for $700K in the burbs and been fine with mortgage.. remember that the first year will be all about the house.. been spending at least $1000 a month if not more buying, fixing or upgrading.. I’d say $900K would be stretching it.

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Our HHI is about 330k and we bought for about 800k a year ago; after making payments for a year I’m glad we didn’t go any higher and honestly would be more comfortable a bit lower.

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Man, it's getting out of hand. Been trying to wrap my head around this for a year now. 200k hhi and trying to find a place for a family of 4 over 2000 sqft inside 495 is damn near impossible.

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Omg- I commented Mansfield > Newton for 2 years 15 years ago and I still get PTSD driving that stretch of 95. 2 hours each way if there’s any bit of trouble- rain, snow, accident.... it’s not commutable to Boston unless you do the Commuter rail and that’s $300+ a month!

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My hh income is $280K and we limited to $700K. Wanted to be financially comfortable when we had a kid. I’d just make sure that you’re in a suburb that will hold its value if you’re not planning to stay long term.

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Good rule of thumb is to keep your fixed costs below 50% of your take-home pay. That helps factor in other large recurring expenses like car loans and student debt.

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The remainder is 30% variable and 20% savings. This should really be the bare minimum, not the goal. I try to save 30% and keep the rest under 70%.

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Curious as to what suburbs everyone found homes for ~ $700k and whether that was recent or 3+ yrs ago

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We opted for new construction - bought a tiny two bedroom in Cambridge for $580k but we are DINKs. We didn’t want to deal with the bidding process which is out of control.

Depends what your other expenses are. Do you have kids in daycare/ after school/ sports? If yes, then you’re stretching it.

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I already have a kid and no HoA. I actually got a very competitive interest rate - so that makes things a bit easier. Taxes are on the lower side. In total I will be paying slightly under one paycheck for the mortgage.

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Hope you mean one person's.

My income was half that and I bought a house for $470k. Sometimes with 2 kids it’s a stretch but most of the time ok.

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Depends if you have kids...couple kids in daycare (if you need it) is ~$3k/month in metro Boston which would stretch your budget

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How much are you putting down?

Yeah I’d say $400-$600k mortgage is ideal to keep monthly payments low which will allow you to continue saving up for other big ticket expenses

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20% - interest rates are low - so I feel like I could increase my price by about 50K without changing my monthly mortgage compared to what I would have paid if I borrowed in say Jan.

Yes

Don’t think so.

Thank you P1, that’s helpful!

Yes, I am in one of the suburbs with good schools so hopefully it will hold value. Also, if it gets financially uncomfortable, we can always downsize

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