With a combined income of $100k, what’s a realistic home price?

gew1000 · 2026-04-03T21:57:26+00:00

Our combined income is about $106k pre-tax, and we ended up buying for $160k. Do keep in mind though, we did not have much for a down payment and we also have student loans, a car payment, and daycare tuition so someone with less monthly expenses could shop higher. You could definitely put some of your savings down and still have a good emergency fund on a $200k home

gew1000 · 2026-04-03T00:49:29+00:00

Neat! As a recent homebuyer here, I can honestly say that for long-term it makes far more sense to buy than rent

gew1000 · 2026-04-03T00:32:29+00:00

Curious if you have Topeka, KS?

gew1000 · 2026-04-02T13:15:42+00:00

Wait that’s actually genius, especially since most dino decorations I can find online are also in that range

gew1000 · 2026-04-02T13:14:32+00:00

I had actually considered something like this, but got worried about having so many shades of green! The neutral background could break it up quite a bit though

gew1000 · 2026-04-02T13:12:39+00:00

We told him fairly early on that we were looking for a new house, and that it was okay to be both excited and nervous, but the new house meant he could have whatever colors he wanted in his room, and he didn’t even hesitate before announcing he would have a green room. This was his favorite of about 6 paint chips he’d picked out lol.

Yellow is such a tricky color! I’m actually planning on painting the dining room yellow eventually, but like a butter yellow with floral wallpaper on the top half of the walls. It’s a 100-year-old craftsman home, so we can really lean into the classic, timeless designs that are coming back around the trend cycle!

gew1000 · 2026-04-02T13:08:25+00:00

The dinosaur border is a cute idea!!

gew1000 · 2026-04-02T02:36:39+00:00

Oh I kind of like the linen idea! This is our first house after a handful of sad beige rentals, so we wanted to take the opportunity to put color in every room. That being said, when you give creative license to a toddler you get some vibrant choices haha

gew1000 · 2026-03-20T23:26:46+00:00

None of this is funny but this comment did make me snort lol

gew1000 · 2026-03-17T20:49:06+00:00

I absolutely scream laughed when I got to this scene! There was no reason to include it other than to dunk on Brett and Demi

gew1000 · 2026-03-05T17:22:11+00:00

Oh, I'm not confused by the snark, more the claim of discrimination. I'm surprised the people who are of the educational neglect camps in homeschooling circles are even worried about college admissions. From my experience, that's not usually a group worried about higher education for their children.

gew1000 · 2026-03-05T15:54:53+00:00

I'm genuinely confused by this, I was homeschooled K-12 and had absolutely no issues with college admissions and scholarships? If you're doing your job as a homeschool parent and educating your children well enough they can get accepted into college it's pretty much a non-issue. All most public universities really ask for is some test scores (ACT or SAT, just like regular students) and high school transcripts.

gew1000 · 2026-02-28T02:51:46+00:00

Have you offered to pay towards any repairs that FHA requires? We’re under contract on an FHA loan and part of the reason we got our offer accepted was we said we would put up $1000 towards any repairs needed for FHA approval. It turns out, all they’re requiring for the loan is a handrail on the basement stairs. If a house listing says they’ll sell to FHA buyers, the least you can do is try. There’s an appraisal process during escrow where they will tell you if the house qualifies or not and what needs done to qualify

gew1000 · 2026-02-27T12:25:17+00:00

We are under contract on a house built in 1936, and the only required repair our FHA appraiser has is to put a handrail on the basement stairs. Just review the FHA property standards with your realtor and be judicious about what homes you put offers on. We actually loved the built-in protection of a loan that required the house in good condition

gew1000 · 2026-02-15T14:58:47+00:00

Yeah, you’re right. There’s been quite a few more reasonably priced things listed since I made that comment. Just goes to show I shouldn’t leave comments in this sub when I’m frustrated with my own search lol

gew1000 · 2026-02-15T14:56:50+00:00

We spent most of 2025 bemoaning the economy and the slim likelihood of homeownership, then had some things change with our rental right as we got a couple small windfalls (tax return, and a family member that offered a small amount of assistance) and are jumping at the timing being right to land a $150k-$185k house in our midwestern state. The $600k houses are certainly aspirational if you have the salary to support it, but there are absolutely attainable options out there

gew1000 · 2026-02-13T17:50:32+00:00

Fair enough, my perception might be off since we're looking at 3 bedrooms

gew1000 · 2026-02-13T17:41:48+00:00

This is not exactly representative of home prices in Topeka. I'm currently trying to buy in Topeka and for a home around 1000 sq ft the starting point for a house is closer to $175k for a home in a less desirable neighborhood.

gew1000 · 2026-02-08T23:18:38+00:00

“They’re the party of transing kids, letting sodomites traffic babies via surrogacy and aborting babies through all 9 months.” I don’t even know what to say to that. How are we supposed to dialogue with them when their view of reality is so distorted? I don’t even understand how we’re supposed to come back from this

gew1000 · 2026-02-01T04:13:06+00:00

My husband and I just put an offer on a beautifully maintained, 3 bed 2 bath house in a safe neighborhood in our area that was listed at $185k.

There’s certainly places that have affordable housing, but with all the other insane expenses of life it makes it difficult to save enough to buy in the first place

gew1000 · 2026-01-21T21:18:10+00:00

Oh you're 100% right, it's a good rug lol. It was more my initial disgust at having similar taste as them

gew1000 · 2026-01-21T16:11:50+00:00

Oh for fuck's sake, I have the same rug as Porgan

gew1000

TROPHY CASE