1.6 M NW with 350-400k house hold income depending on stock price. One kid. Living in North Seattle. Own an old house built in the 60s which worth ~950k with 360k mortgage left. Thinking to move to a better school district. I can afford a house but any decent house nowadays will make me house poor. Start to look into Townhouse with budget 1M - 1.2M. It could get me a 3 br in Kirkland/Redmond area. I know, townhouses don't appreciate that well and there is HOA. How many of you here gave up on house and move into townhouse? Do you regret it ? I know couple of friends in Bay bought townhouses , some even with 2 swe salaries. They all seem happy.
It depends. Reading HOA review carefully. I watched some scary stories about HOA where you literally can’t update anything in your dedicated backyard, front yard or change paint color. I rather have a smaller house but have more freedom.
That's a valid point. But I also view it as positive, since I would no longer need to do that much maintenance work myself.
Many SFH in Seattle also belong to a HOA. I'd wager the ones without a HOA are in the minority, like 10:1 kind of minority.
Old house + remodel >> fricking townhouse that will fall down after a heavy rain
thats what insurance is for to use 😊
Hmm 🤔 you will use the insured only if you can come out of it ok no?
i actually like townhouses because there is this hoa that all residents can talk and hate about and build friendships :) … jokes apart i truly think town house is better if ur kid has similar age kids and is in a good area
Community is what I care a lot about too. I would prefer to move into a big community, then my kid would find more friends about her age .
Exactly. We live in a townhome community with 4 other kids born the same year as our son. Instant social interaction for the kid and for us. We’ve made good friends without having to leave. Lots of issues with our building but worth it. We all work through it together.
I am in a townhome; Pros: Great school district, lower cost of living compared to owning a SFH, low maintenance; kids have a large playing area and friends to play any time Cons: Didn't appreciate in value as much as the SFHs in the same area; going up and down 3 levels gets tiring; less space to entertain guests; no room to expand the home
Appreciate your insights. Having a townhouse is mostly for the kid to have a good area, and a community with friends. I would do it for the next 10 years or so. Once kiddo goes to college, I might consider moving further away and have a SFH.
Yes; I am planning to do the same; we might move to a LCOL after the kids leave for college
Why not increase the budget? $1.6+ mil can get you a decent SFH in BRK. You have the NW and TC for it.
With current mortgage rate and TC of 400k do you think 1.6 mn home is possible to afford ? Can provide breakdown if you don’t mind please ?
Definitely not affordable. Max they could do is probably 1.2-1.3 while living comfortably and that's only because of all the equity in current home
What’s your combined base? You have 600k equity in your house. Put that down + extra cash and buy a 1.5-1.75M SFH?
Base 204k. 600k equity might be less when we sell due to agent fee , repaint some stuff etc . As I mentioned I don't want to be house poor, so I don't want to take beyond 700k of loan at current rate.
What’s your savings target per year? Do you want to save/invest all the stocks you get every year?
Also good idea would be to remodeled ? Any recommendations in Seattle area for contractors for remodel?
I keep hearing Bothel is cheap. Why not go there? All suburbs look the same
25 miles away from my office. Traffic nowadays is bad. That will be an hour and half commute one way.
Check out south Seattle. Columbia City / Seward park neighborhood is great and more affordable. Dunno about schools, but a lot of our neighbors have kids.
Just send your kid to private school…?
Stop it enough with private school!! No guarantee your kids will get into a good one!
Private school is a money grab. It will make your kids cookie cutter 1600 SAT IVY league feeder 5 AP extra credits person in exchange for their freewill and creativity. They may get into Harvard and possibly graduate as a B+ student in exchange for deteriorating mental health. Then they’ll join the workforce only to realize none of it mattered anyway. Parents (you) think tossing $30k/year for private school will paint your kid’s life with rainbows? Reality is you could’ve saved the money on the kid’s name so that can compound and become 1M by the time kid finishes a public uni debt free, and still has a soul left in them.