Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How expensive of house, and do you regret it?

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MT is a massive upgrade from CA.

And WA....

Paid about 1.5 our annual salary. Is connected to my wife’s grandparents farm. Neighbors are folks we went to high school with and are some of the best friends I could ever ask for. I would have paid twice the amount to get this location. Our farm is about 8 miles away and joins my son in law’s family farm. I see us eventually building there.

1 1/2 times the annual income. 15 yr loan. We built our house. The wife got all of the bids. Plumbing, drywall, HVAC, siding,etc. Her brother is an electrician, so he showed me a few tricks, Pulling wire, where to drill the holes so they were up to code, etc. but he did the main box hook-up.. A friend (that was a framing carpenter) offered to frame the house for cash if I helped. The 2 of us framed and roofed it. (Putting in the beams and floor were the worst) My boy and dad helped stone the front of the house. Have 5 acres, 4 miles from town.

The biggest obstacle was finding a bank to give us a loan, as we were the general contractor with zero experience. Applied at 12 banks before we got an O.K.

Place is worth 3x what we paid. My sweat equity is part of that value. Best we could figure is it cost $80,000 less to do it ourselves.

No regrets, but I would not be physically able to do it now. Too old.

Close to 2 years salary in 2000.
Paid it off around 2017.



I wanted to own a home, not be owned by one.
Our payments took some cash, but we weren't pinched

We enjoy living modestly, with the cash to do
what we want. I laugh at friends who earn more than i, and
fret buying a gun for a grand. Can't imagine enslaving yourself
Like that.


Comparing home price to income and affordability is
fraught with danger if you use it for decisions.

Living costs everyone the same amount of money.
But those costs are absorbed differently considering income.

A family of four might live comfortably on $60k for instance.
Modest home, older but good cars, good food but not premium.
And they aren't saving much(or paying a big mortgage).

Same family, and income, if they have to drive new cars/big
entertainment, they cant afford to buy a home.


Give them $120k, and now they can buy a$500k home. If they
live like the first example.


It's all about priorities.

We are in eastern Iowa and lots of places not in town start at about $260k. We have looked at a few in the 300k - 350k range. No other debt and wife drives a 2 year old Toyota.

My biggest worry is I grew up in a house where they never took on debt. Lived in run down places and drove junk. Don’t want to be like that. Just turned 35 and we have 5 kids ranging from age 10 to 14 months, yes we know what causes it, I’m just thrilled I found something I’m good at. Lol.

As of now we invest about 20% of income. Just freaks me out talking to the lenders and hearing the numbers they are willing to “give” you. Just trying to see how others out there look at things.

David

When we built our first house at 24yo, my uncle who I worked for told me never spend more than 20% of gross income on mortgage. Sound advice, but not possible in a lot of situations these days. Every area and personal situation is a different animal. Do what’s best for you.

I was looking to buy earlier, since the house I'm in is a schithole that the previous owner duct taped together.

Looking at existing houses, the market is insane- basic 3 bedroom going for $350-$400K.

I decided to go for new construction. Getting a 2700 sq foot house with a 3 car garage built for $250K on land that I paid cash for. Plans appraisal came back at $475K. House prices are nuts right now. Now I can't wait till June when I can move in. Gonna have natural gas for the first time ever- I'm excited.

“I want” is way better than “I owe.”

Get a bigger house than you think you need. They shrink over time.

Disagree- get a small house than you think you need. You accumulate chit to fill whatever house you live in... smaller house, less chit.

(I'm moving from a 3400 sq foot house to a 2700 sq foot one... I have no idea what I'm gonna do with all this chit.

Ours was almost 3x my salary when we bought it 7.5 years ago. We went with a 15 year note for the better rate and because it was doable. More than I wanted to spend, but worth it to us for the location. We are in the middle of a bunch of farm land 2.5 miles down a [true] dirt road. Most people would despise living where we do and the occasional headaches of access, but we wouldn’t trade it. We get to raise the girls in an environment where they just have to “make do” sometimes, which we think will benefit them in the long run. I’ve got a range right behind the house, and neighbors are few and far between.

For us, the financial strain (compared to previous houses) doesn’t come from the mortgage, taxes, or insurance; the square footage and energy-inefficient construction methods of the time equal some hefty utility bills.

No one but you can know what’s best or most important for you. Good luck!

Another note-worthy item. We had a decent chunk of equity built up from our previous house, so we were able to make a pretty decent down payment, so I guess our loan amount was about 2x the salary.

Buy as much or as little as you want. Just have enough down to where your monthly payement isnt more than 25% of your monthly income on a 15 year fixed. I'm down to where I pay more into escrow for taxes and insurance every month than I do P&I. Hope to have it paid off in 2-3 years, I bought it 7 years ago this April.

We were approved for way more than need be.


Bought a 30 year old house for about 1.3 times our combined income.


Put some sweat equity into it, been a good deal.

Our house is about twice our annual income. I feel like this is a guy v. gal question. If it were up to me I’d be living in little more than a plumbed shack with more room to roam.

If only you had bought 3! How close to BART were you?

Our house in the lower mainland of bc was 160.00 when we bought it and we bought a house in Kelowna for 642.000 in 20020, then sold our house on the coast for 953.000 and then retired and moved permanently up here.

This has always been our approach. We stretched, both as to land and house, but most importantly location. We were always optimistic and confident that we could make it work. And it has - twice.

Current home is worth roughly 10x annual income, we owe about 2.5 yearly incomes on it. We'll be here at least until retirement age (20 years), then hopefully move out of the suburbs to more of a country setting with more land.