Hey all, looking for some insight/advice.
Been scrolling thru this subreddit for a few months now and thought I’d finally just throw my situation out there. Wife (24F) and I (24M) live in a very HCOL county in southern CA. Like extremely high; starter homes range from 850,000-1,000,000. We’re trying to get a gauge of what we can afford (if anything), or at least how long we should expect/plan to continue saving.
For reference, we make a combined gross household income of a little over 200k. We currently have a really good deal on rent (for the area), 2000 per month. No debt for either of us. We’ve been budgeting for a while and have managed to save up about 115k, with an additional 3 month fully funded emergency fund. We both contribute 15% to our retirement, and also contribute a small portion of each paycheck to a Roth IRA, which will be maxxed out by the end of the year (i prefer to do it that way). We don’t currently have kids but would like to start trying in our later 20s. We live pretty well below our means and manage to usually save at least 50% of our combined income each month, sometimes more. We’d prefer to buy a house, but have accepted that we‘ll likely have to start with a condo, which realistically range from 700-850k.
My question is simply, what are your guys’ recommendations? With our current rent, we’re able to save a very good portion of our income for a sizable down payment (my goal is in the 35-40% range) which is pretty much the only way i can see being able to manage the monthly mortgage payment without being completely house-poor. We’re both eager to start building equity, but how realistic is it for us at the moment? Interest rates are horrible rn, and although ideally our plan is to eventually be able to live off of one income, I don’t see that happening, at least for a while. And before anyone recommends leaving the area/state, we’d love to one day, but unfortunately my job is tied to an industry in the area, and it’s fully in-person.
Appreciate any thoughts, comments, criticisms, or advice! Cheers!
original posted by External_Paint2644 to r/personalfinance on Sat, 02 Mar 2024 13:11:04 GMT.