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Mods: I wanted more exposure here in chit-chat, but if you need to move this somewhere else, please do!
By "worth it" I mean spending a BIG chunk of our income on the mortgage. DH and I have been looking at houses, and we've found our dream house! We had talked about relocating, but decided to stay in VT for many reasons, but family proximity being top priority. Anyway, this house is in the next town over, but within the same school district (excellent schools), dd may start kindergarted this fall~that's another thread.
A couple of important factors:I haven't asked so I don't know, but I'm not sure the two families I watch will be willing to drive the extra 7-8 minutes one way further than they're driving now to get to me. They absolutely love me, and are good friends of mine, so I would hope that they would stay with me, but I know, I have to ask them, and I do have to have thier income to make this remotely possible. When we sell our current house, we will use some of the profit to pay off dh's student loans AND our van. There goes about $500 a month. This house is just gorgeous though. It has 4 bedrooms (we're thinking about having a third, so this would be perfect) and so many well thought out built-ins and storage, custom kitchen, I could go on...and it's in a great family neighborhood.
My question really is: do you think paying about 50% of our take-home pay on a mortgage is too much? This is a house we would be in for many, many years, too. We just love it, but are really scared of the mortgage payment. Thoughts?
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We've asked ourselves this same question. The thing about your post that caught my eye was that you really needed the income from the families that you watch their kids. That means that this is a close call for you financially. I think you should start by sitting down and making a list of worse case scenerios and see if you would still be able to survive financially if something were to happen, like losing that income.
It's hard, my "dream house" is back on the market and for a split second I thought, what if I went back to work and we changed our standard of living.... then I thought, no paying off what we have right now would be the wiser choice for us.
Good luck with your decision!
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Truthfully, yes, I think 50% of your take home pay is WAY too much for a mortgage payment. Plus, your statement that says your income is needed to afford it. What that tells me is if something happened to you and you couldn't babysit for awhile, you'd be sunk. Nothing to fall back on or nothing to cut so you could swing it on your dh's salary alone. Plus, working as a sitter from home means no unemployment, disability, etc. if something should happen. I think it's too much and the stress of making it every month would not be worth it.
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YES! Even without what you said, 50% is too high, but WITH what you said it is definitely too high!
I would look at dh's income only to see what you can afford comfortably - not what the bank tells you you can afford. If those parents were to change their minds suddenly and you lost that income, you would be sunk. Honestly, that type of income doesn't seem all that stable to me. JMO
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See, in the area we live in, the house we're in right now is what we can afford "comfortably", with having a little left each month. However, I DO need to bring in some money, even where we are now. I have a good arrangement with the famlies I watch, they're teachers, so I can't complain about the schedule I have. I'm definitely not trying to justify this gargantuan payment, I guess I just can't get this house out of my head. We have had all the numbers drawn up, just yesterday, so we can see how this payment fits into our lives. Or not....Hmmm. Thank you for your opinions, I really needed to hear some practical responses to my impractical thinking right now.
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I think it's totally worth it! Think about how much time you spend in your house. You want to surround yourself with beautiful things that you love and that will reflect on your way of life.
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I agree with the other two posters...50% is WAY to much. Please consider this carefully before jumping into a huge mortgage you really can't afford. So many families today are extremely stressed because of this exact thing.
There will always be another "dream house" later on.
Good luck.
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I am in the situation you are talking about, we just moved in a really nice house back in Oct. It takes 50% of our pay check a month, its tight right now but we just moved into a new subdivision and they just built another bunch of houses beside us and our house went up $25,000 in value in just 4 months, so that means our house is worth more, that will be great in years to come when we want to sale.
If you need more room, I say go for it, I went from a 1700 squ ft home to a 4,000 squ ft home and I just love it. My 2 year old just loves to run all over and having hard wood floors are easy to keep clean then getting out the vaccuum. I say more room the merrier.. Its nice to have so much extra room to grow in..
We are on a tight budget but we know my husband will get lots of pay raises and bonuses over the years and I also have a home business that I am just starting because I am a SAHM. Its nice when people walk in my house and go Wow what a beautiful home you have, it just makes my day and I didn't really do any thing but buy a nice looking house and sometimes that does cost a little more but I would not trade my 5 bedrooms & 5 bath house for anything..
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I am in the same sitation, we do pay 50% to mortgage, insurance and taxes. It is tight, sometimes we have things come up and it is very tight. You really ahve to be deiciplined and you have to monitor your spending, no vacations, no expensive car ect. We have been doing it a year and we are managing, but i cant wait for it to get better, DH'd familyis emigrating here soona nd will live with us and pay rent!
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I don't know how to quote, so I'll just reply. That's a thought I had about the house, one being that part of it is a write-off, as well as all the utilities, etc., for having my business out of the house. It also means that I'd be IN the house all the time, so being in a place I love would be better to stomach than living in a house (our current one) that I don't love. It's not horrible, don't get me wrong, but it's on a fairly busy street, and we don't have good, useable space. Oh, and this is mortgage, taxes and insurance, not just the mortgage.
As far as income, I will definitely talk to the families that I watch right now. Their opinions do matter, but I know in the end it will be our decision. However, I would never sign on the line knowing that I didn't have kids to watch. You know? I'm ok with having to be part of the bread-winning, and actually like having kids come here, esp. for my kids to play with.
Decisions, decisions....Oh, and there's an open house (we've already been there for 2 hours the other night) on Sunday, and my mom happens to be coming into town.....we're going to check it out~again.