Sell RSU to afford house

Feb 10 77 Comments

With my peanut TC, I am priced out of pretty much all desirable areas.

I don’t see us doing over 3K per month mortgage payments. That puts me under 600K. If I need to stretch to 650K - 700K, what would be the best option.

Edit:
Location: PNW
RSU: About 500K, all MSFT

Edit2:
Down payment cash saved up: 60K

Edit3:
Since this post is getting some traction, adding few more details about my finances:

I put 15% in ESPP, match 401K pre tax limit and contribute to HSA. These are good investments but the take home is around 5K per month. The car payment and other expenses can’t be brought under 2K per month. This is unfortunately the lowest I and my wife could be making. We just want to lock a sane interest rate + house price and pay 3K on mortgage while being house poor until she gets her EAD.

We might request for some money from parents in India as gift towards either the down payment or monthly payment (maybe 20K).

TC: 160K, single income, wife waiting for EAD

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TOP 77 Comments
  • New
    kNUJ50

    New

    kNUJ50
    Your msft stock should not be considered untouchable. it’s not a 401k or a college fund.
    Feb 10 2
    • Would you recommend selling 100K worth of stock to stretch the budget and get something in a better location then? Alas, If we had 1K more net income, we could use the savings we did for the house as 5 - 10 percent down payment and still pay 3K mortgage without touching the stocks.
      Feb 10
    • New
      kNUJ50

      New

      kNUJ50
      if i were you yes i would sell that to buy a home
      Feb 10
  • SAS
    dumpcake

    Go to company page SAS

    dumpcake
    If you leave the left coast you can buy a house cash
    Feb 10 6
  • Roblox
    .notsure

    Go to company page Roblox

    .notsure
    $650-700k barely gets you an 2bed apartment in the bay area let alone a townhome or SFH
    Feb 10 5
  • Spotify
    midlyfcris

    Go to company page Spotify

    midlyfcris
    What are you buying the house for is critical. Renting is not necessarily a bad thing. Don’t forget that most of your monthly mortgage contributions go to the interest. That combined with property tax is throwaway money.

    If you can rent for the same value of interest +prop tax then renting might be a better option.
    Feb 10 4
    • I actually am renting for 1800 a month. 2000 including utilities and garage fee. This will be hiked up during the lease renewal.
      Feb 10
    • Spotify
      midlyfcris

      Go to company page Spotify

      midlyfcris
      Makes sense. Trade off then is home appreciation vs RSU. If you feel home is a better investment, definitely worth selling off the RSUs and lower your mortgage payments. So you’re cutting the interest money.
      Feb 10
  • HP
    !dealth

    Go to company page HP

    !dealth
    How did you(and your wife) survive on 160K TC?
    Feb 10 5