what should we do in the bay area?
We are renting now, and have a plan to move soon. Household base 400k (pre tax) Household TC about 500k Liquid NW about 400k Have a newborn. What should I do? #housing #mortgage
Why are people obsessed with moving to a good school district? A good portion of US college admissions is essentially a stack ranking of the people in your HS. And schools are good only bc of affluent tiger parents pushing their kids, not bc the teachers have this secret sauce. Source: grew up in a so-called “top” school district in the Bay Area
i had an impression that the appreciation is higher in good districts
Not true. House prices grow as a percentage. More expensive houses will grow “more” in total, but not as a percentage of original price. You could even make the argument that house somewhere in the middle (like 1.5M Bay Area SFH) are a better investment, since you have a significantly bigger market for them.
Keep renting. We don’t want another psycho in corporate America backstabbing everyone because they have to make the mortgage.
Will you be able to afford mortgage at current rates for 2M+ home?
If we just use most of our income to mortgage, yes
21-22k take home cash without any 401k or HSA contribution. 13k mortgage, 2-3k mandatory expenses, 3k for kid day care (if no kid then that money can go towards 401k) and 2-3k for misc expenses (travel or large purchase). Technically it can work out, but personally for me it is too close.
Buy a 1.3 mil townhome in peninsula and move to a bigger house in couple of years