We have ~$400k HHI. Monthly expenses are ~$6k (1 child). We live in Austin. We’re seriously considering getting a 900k to 1M house which we wouldn’t be considering if the market in Austin wasn’t so crazy but we’re really big on proximity to culture/resources and need to stay in the area (can’t move to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio , etc.). We also just honestly feel like the suburbs out here are so very bland.

Thoughts on us doing this? Are we crazy? Is this understandable given where we live?

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Do it. Austin is hot. On 400k you can afford $1M house.

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Appreciate that affirmation.

You make plenty of money to afford that. Frankly that isn’t all the much money anymore in Austin if you want to be close I’m.

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I moved here from NYC, but I know what you mean.

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Omg. OP, come on. You make $33k a MONTH. Every MONTH.

Let that sink in.

Once it does, you’ll realize a $800k mortgage is a blip on the (monthly) radar, especially considering your income is likely to steadily increase for years to come.

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I understand how you feel. When my husband and I were looking for houses when we moved to Seattle, we had a hard time wrapping our heads around the prices. While we knew we could afford a house that cost $1M (or more), it felt so crazy and scary and irresponsible and bougie and overwhelming to buy one in that range. Yet, all of the houses that we liked in the areas we liked started at that price. We ended up buying a house that we loved in the neighborhood we wanted for over $1m. (😳). That was over three years ago and we have not regretted it at all. The value of our house has increased steadily. More importantly, we love living here and we are secure financially.

You can afford a house in that range on your HHI. Get what you love.

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It’s about 2400 sq ft. 3 beds, 2.5 baths. It’s nice but not Midwest huge or anything. That’s ok though. It’s just me and my husband so I am not entirely sure what we’d do with much more space. I like Chicago but it’s sooooo cold! I always thought I might end up there someday and looked at some opportunities there before I took the Amazon job. Now I am hooked on the mountains out here so might be hard to move.

You can easily afford it and also benefit from any equity gains in the future.

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Good point!

Yes I think that’s fine

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$6k monthly spend is great. I long for those days and we make significantly less (albeit with 1 additional child).

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If that amount is really that much of a concern to you both, then can attack that mortgage and put any extra (after retirement contributions) towards house payment. It's not most financially strategic move (because real estate gives you powerful leverage), but it certainly won't hurt and will give you the peace of mind you're looking for.

Need to just grab as low of an interest rate as possible.

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What’s the monthly mortgage come out to? I think if it’s less than 25% of your gross you’re good.

Rule of thumb is 2-3x income, though that kinda breaks down at higher income levels. Even so, you'd be right there at 2.5x if you go for a million dollar house.

Caution would be that a million dollar house likely means you need to remain a dual income household unless the breakdown is closer to $350/50 than it is to $200/200

You’re right! It’s 200/200. No quitting allowed for a while if we do this. lol

If it helps, I make 250k in austin and I'm building a 700k home in austin.

I think to someone else's point, just watch out for tax rates in some new areas of austin, average tax rate in austin is probably 2.4% but some of the new area property taxes are +2.9%

Building in Leander, Im born and raised in austin/cedar park

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Have you been to Houston? It has just as much culture as Austin with less Californians driving up prices.

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