Fiancé and I got our offer accepted on our first house. We graduated a little over 2 years ago and have been working in our fields ever since.
We both have lived at home with parents so that we could save every penny to be as prepared as possible for this crazy market.
We’ve been looking for several months and have been working with a very good loan originator and realtor that is close with our family. He assured us that our budget is sound and has room to improve as we progress in our careers.
Although we’ve been settled on this budget for months, it’s all starting to hit me now and the excitement is turning to serious dread. I haven’t slept in days as I’m sick that we’re now “house poor”
The home we are closing on has a purchase price of $285,000. We put 20% down and secured a 6.5% interest rate. Total mortgage comes to $1750.
It is a new construction so we don’t foresee any major repairs in the upcoming years.
We’ve totaled all bills/expenses including groceries and it comes to ~$3,320 per month.
Mortgage: 1750 Electric: 400 (higher end, could be lower) Gas for cars: 250 insurance for cars: 200 Garbage: 20 Groceries: 500 (could get this slightly lower) Internet: 80 Cell phones: 120
We both drive newer paid off cars so we’ll be fine there for years to come.
We have no debts. No kids or pets.
Our income:
Gross annual income is $94,000 combined. We both work in education so 7.5% of our pre-tax income is automatically deducted for our retirement.
Our net (take-home pay after retirement and tax deductions) is $5,400 per month. This ocassionally increases to $5,800 depending on paid after-school activities.
After all of the above bills/deductions, we are left with ~$2,100 per month. After our down payment and closing costs, we’ll have around $25,000 in liquid cash.
My above budget is the bare minimum and does not include eating out or other discretionary spending.
It seems ok on paper I guess. I just keep comparing it to my parents who make over double what we do and have a $800 monthly mortgage on a house that is now valued higher than the one we just bought.
It all just makes me sick. I feel like we’ve lived frugally and saved heavily for years so that we’d be in a good spot when this time comes. However, now that it’s here I’m second guessing everything.
I would really appreciate any guidance/input on this. Will we truly be comfortable for now with this income and budget?
How much discretionary income does everyone else have left after all bills/deductions?
Submitted September 30, 2023 at 11:41PM by IIIIIllllIIIIII https://ift.tt/n710jRV
