What should my range be for buying a condo?
Fixed income: Base : 140k, rsu : 45k Variable income : 20% bonus rsu's will increase every year , but I'm not counting that . Can i aim for a 600k house ? This is for bay area , condos in Fremont / san jose Edit: married , no kids , no plan for kids for another 5 yrs atleast . hoa that i usually see is around 500$ a month , and most include water + sewer no loans of any kind 120k for down payment , and an additional 30k savings
This is highly dependent on your DTI and additional HOA fees.
Updated, thanks!
Thanks. I have around 120k in savings, on top of 30k for emergency. You're right with the math, just considering base, my take home after tax is around 6200 per month. I max out 401k and hsa. My only worry is, I see articles where it's recommended to buy a house where mortgage is at the most three times after tax income. That seems very tricky, hence the post asking people for their opinion.
Yes, the 6200 is after 401k as well as hsa. Currently I pay around 2800$ for a 2 bed 1 bath. In a range of 580k-620k, there are decent 2 bed condos in Fremont as well as south /west san jose. As I said, hoa is around 500$ though, by my calculations, monthly expenses would come to around 3700$, which would include mortgage, home insurance, hoa, prop tax, and utilities of around 200$.
Condos are a bad idea - they depreciate in value compared to a house
I understand, but given the top tier salaries in hardware not being at par with software and single income, no choice but to have a condo... Also, as I understand, condos just don't appreciate as much as a sfh, but given the bay area, they do appreciate right?
Historically they have. Been a little flat lately coming off the peak. Your guess is as good as anyone elses whether we will stay plateaued for a while, go down, or atart going up again
In the same boat with similar savings. Additional risk is I am on an H1B. Having been renting 5+ years. Stuck in the Renting vs Buying conundrum. Sorry I wish I could add some value to the conversation
I'm on h1b too..
Why Fremont? Why not Dublin or Pleasanton? Fremont is over crowded and seems like over priced
I work in San Jose, and the potential companies for me to switch are all in san jose/Santa clara/ mtv/ Cupertino. Commute would be brutal. So I was looking around fremont /milpitas /san jose areas...
Yes. I work in Santa Clara. Same boat as you exactly. We preferred Fremont but not getting decent SFH below 1M. So looking at Pleasanton or Dublin. Schools are good there. I need to time my commute so that it doesn’t hurt. There are ppl traveling from mountain house everyday. So it should be ok. Even in Fremont if you get in north Fremont commute is equally bad.
I would say rent it out for another year, increase your TC and savings and then buy somewhere closer to work instead of Fremont.
In the same boat as OP. Did you decide to rent or to buy a condo at last?
I tried commuting from fremont to Santa Clara during peak hours to see how it goes, and it was terrible. There's no way I can do pleasanton to Santa Clara. Waiting for a year more to buy a condo in or around Santa Clara.
Savings? Emergency fund? Kids?
Updated, thanks!