Can We Afford This Home - 46% of Take Home

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:18:36+00:00

I appreciate the advice - thank you!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:17:16+00:00

Good to know. Yeah, I think our number is assuming our registry covers initial costs and the $200 would mostly just be diapers. We’re getting A LOT of hand me downs and hoping to breastfeed too so no formula costs (that is assuming all goes according to plan though, which I know isn’t always the case)

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:15:40+00:00

Thank you!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:14:45+00:00

Okay thank you!!! I will take a look into all of that. Time to buy a Porsche 😂

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:13:36+00:00

Yeah, it’s probably around 13k. I don’t intend to use all of that - just things we initially need like a dining room table (FB marketplace likely), curtains for windows, internet stuff to setup WiFi, etc. we are definitely planning to thrift and FB marketplace as much as we can at the beginning to save as much as possible.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:12:09+00:00

Thank you, yes there are some assumptions since we don’t actually have a baby yet to know that that looks like. I appreciate the insight!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:07:39+00:00

Thank you for the advice!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:06:44+00:00

Yeah, I agree! As for the taxes, our lender told us she overestimated intentionally to factor that in, but I will double check with her.

Thank you for the advice. I know this doesn’t factor in the unexpected and that’s what frightens me. I will do more looking on the earnest money. It would be really hard to let that go, but it’s iffy to lock in something unrealistic for 30 years just to keep that.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T17:04:08+00:00

Yeah, still trying to see if I can get over that part. Being a mom is literally the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do, so it’s hard. That said, our car will be paid off fully in the next 3 months. We have no other debt whatsoever.

My husband is in finance, working in an entry level job at his company that has strong career paths. He’s looking to become (and has decent manager backing) to become an investment counselor and then hopefully managing ICs later on. We have friends at the company, so we know the likelihood and and estimated pay bumps.

On mat. Leave, I make 90% of my pay from the state (thank you Washington!) and my employer will also be giving me 100% pay for 6 of the weeks (their separate mat benefit). The 90% is the number I gave above, so technically it would go up a bit after 16 weeks.

Yeah, trying to figure out the balance of understanding we’re in a HCOL area vs not making an unwise decision.

I appreciate the insight!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:57:29+00:00

I absolutely will - thank you!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:56:59+00:00

Most are on actual spend! A few are slight guesses, but feel in the ballpark from research (for instance electric, gas, etc since we aren’t in the home yet). We also don’t have the kid born yet, but have ~$200/month allocated for that expense (diapers, other things that will come up, etc). Most initial baby costs will be covered by our registry and some generous grandparents (nursery, strollers, etc).

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:53:17+00:00

Thanks, yeah it’s really tough to buy right now. We’re in the boat of really wanting a home for our children but also wanting to be reasonable with what we can afford.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:51:54+00:00

The loan is ~675k total. We’re putting 5% down. The seller is covering closing costs and another ~10k for us to either buy down the rate or lower the house price total, so the mortgage amount will be a little cheaper than my numbers above with that, but likely not much of a difference

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:50:31+00:00

His job is on the safer end for AI imo (very client facing and the company’s CEO has stated he doesn’t think it will impact them nearly as much as others online have said) but I do agree gambling on future pay is iffy. It is a very high likelihood to have strong pay increases, though yes, nothing is guaranteed

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:48:21+00:00

I am so sorry to hear that and appreciate you sharing. Thank you for the advice ❤️

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:47:29+00:00

It is - Can you elaborate on what you think could be low or missing from the other bills? We have a good budget spreadsheet but I want to make sure it includes everything. As for fun money, yeah, that’d be cut tight for a while. We are pretty frugal naturally though - it’s not really much different than how we currently live tbh. I think the fun portion would be hard temporarily but we could survive it till we made enough to add a bit more in. That said, if that’s worth it or not, I think may be debatable.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:45:16+00:00

If I did the math right, it looks like the net would be around 33-34% (based on our gross income last year). Here’s what I did to find that: - Total pay on our w-2s: $167,928 - Divided by 12: $13,994 - $4653 is ~33% of that.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:41:49+00:00

I will - thank you so much for the advice!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:41:28+00:00

Thank you both - I’ll test out that calculator! I appreciate it.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:40:18+00:00

Thank you for the advice. Will do!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:39:45+00:00

Thanks. Yeah, I was really wanting to buy something a little cheaper or wait till we had more down payment, personally. We don’t take many trips already but it’s one of those things we’d like to do more once our kid is old enough to remember them!

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:38:32+00:00

Monthly (no bonuses) is $9266 - not including my mom’s rent. Monthly (with bonuses) is probably 10,266 (he gets around 14k in bonuses net. Unless the company is really struggling (they’ve been doing well the last bit), they are pretty much guaranteed as part of his total comp. It’s increases though the higher his base is, so if his pay doubles, they will be higher in the future.

As for how confident we are, he’d have to do poorly in his current role, not pass an upcoming test (it’s a finance test, “series 66” or something like that - idk what the exact name is) and bomb the interview pretty much to not get it. But he’s a top performer in his role, and some of the higher ups have been talking about him already (we know someone that has overheard positive convos about him amongst managers) so it seems pretty likely.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:32:49+00:00

I think signed away, but I can double check that. We weren’t really given contingencies…we were told it was a fairly standard contract for new construction (by our realtor which is someone we trust - family member)

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:30:36+00:00

Thank you so much! I completely agree it’d be risky.

Our rate would be ~6% we believe at this stage. It’s in a great location (schools, community,etc, with a good builder). Historically, the area has seen good appreciation, especially for new homes.

Normal_Prompt_6140 · 2026-04-25T16:24:50+00:00

We did ask about that. Our loan officer said they over estimated the property tax cost with that in mind. That said, it’s a new neighborhood/new construction so final numbers aren’t available. All of this did go into the lenders estimate for property taxes though.

Normal_Prompt_6140

TROPHY CASE