Buying a house over 1 million?

[Sugarphreak]

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[suntan]

Nah, people who are wealthy are lucky.

"Small things to save up cash"? Well, whatever. I have $18K sitting in my petty cash and I've been spending like a drunken sailor recently.

I find budgeting makes the biggest difference.

[ICEBERG]

I don't know. I live in a 900K+ home with my mortgage almost paid off. Wife want's to move into a bigger home and we were looking around 1.2 to 1.5 mil homes but they were not that much special than what i have now. Also i don't want another big mortgage that i will be paying for the next 20 years. I think you need to move up to like 2mil+ homes to be considered a baller these days.

My first house i bought almost 20 years ago was $126K. Sold that house for almost 300k To buy my next home which i sold for almost 600K to move into my house now. Back then it was easier to get into a nice home with low mortgage but now with average house prices around $450-550K it is though for young couple to start out.

The day i sell my house, i am moving into a nice condo paid off and pocketing rest of the money to travel with my wife. Also might sell everything to buy a nice house in Nice France for my retirement. Then drive around Europe like Monaco, Madrid, ect.. and enjoy life..

Now need the kids to grow up fast + get a nice education and to get the hell out. Hopefully 10 more years...:-D

[benyl]

Yup, the 1.0-1.5 range is just bigger yards or bigger houses. Nothing special.

[Sugarphreak]

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[max_boost]

Originally posted by ICEBERG
I don't know. I live in a 900K+ home with my mortgage almost paid off. Wife want's to move into a bigger home and we were looking around 1.2 to 1.5 mil homes but they were not that much special than what i have now. Also i don't want another big mortgage that i will be paying for the next 20 years. I think you need to move up to like 2mil+ homes to be considered a baller these days.

My first house i bought almost 20 years ago was $126K. Sold that house for almost 300k To buy my next home which i sold for almost 600K to move into my house now. Back then it was easier to get into a nice home with low mortgage but now with average house prices around $450-550K it is though for young couple to start out.

The day i sell my house, i am moving into a nice condo paid off and pocketing rest of the money to travel with my wife. Also might sell everything to buy a nice house in Nice France for my retirement. Then drive around Europe like Monaco, Madrid, ect.. and enjoy life..

Now need the kids to grow up fast + get a nice education and to get the hell out. Hopefully 10 more years...:-D

Yup. Agree with you and similar situation minus the kids part and my house not as much as yours lol

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by ICEBERG
Back then it was easier to get into a nice home with low mortgage but now with average house prices around $450-550K it is though for young couple to start out.

Two kids come out of college/university at the age of 22 with diplomas/degrees, go directly into jobs making $60k each. Its not hard for two people living together who are educated to afford a $450k-$550k house And that buys you a LOT of house compared to even the houses I grew up in back in the 90's that were new.

The monthly mortgage payment would be 1/3 of net take home, about 1/4 of gross monthly pay.

What it is harder to do nowadays is be SINGLE and own your own place IMO.

[D. Dub]

Hate to be holding that 1.6 million dollar house when a "black swan event" of some type or sort or kind causes oil and gas to catastrophically drop and Calgary becomes the next Detroit, Winnipeg, Manchester, or Gold Coast -- the only thing that lasts forever is, well, nothing.

I'd rather buy an affordable starter to mid range house in a "good" not great family or transitioning neighbourhood and let all you ballers inflate my value without taking half the risk.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
What it is harder to do nowadays is be SINGLE and own your own place IMO.

This has always been true. That's why it's been common for young single people to rent until they are in a stable dual-income situation.

Ask your parents or grandparents, this is nothing new.

[pheoxs]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


Two kids come out of college/university at the age of 22 with diplomas/degrees, go directly into jobs making $60k each. Its not hard for two people living together who are educated to afford a $450k-$550k house And that buys you a LOT of house compared to even the houses I grew up in back in the 90's that were new.

The monthly mortgage payment would be 1/3 of net take home, about 1/4 of gross monthly pay.

What it is harder to do nowadays is be SINGLE and own your own place IMO.

It comes down to priorities and debts. A house is easily affordable. Making 75k alone you'll take home 2k biweekly and a 400k house would be a 1700$ mortgage. Including taxes and utilities your at 2300$. That leaves 1700$ for living expenses, food gas etc which is doable.

But the people want a new car. Oh and new furniture might as well finance that. Plus a trip every year of course to somewhere fancy. And Starbucks daily. And all of a sudden they can't afford to live.

If you budget properly and not love beyond your means home ownership is easy. The problem is everyone wants to keep up with the jones and ends up paying a grand a month financing shit they don't actually need.

[benyl]

Originally posted by D. Dub

I'd rather buy an affordable starter to mid range house in a "good" not great family or transitioning neighbourhood and let all you ballers inflate my value without taking half the risk.

The upside on the $1.6M house is way better than the above. The downside is no different between the two. Can't go past zero / bankruptcy.

risk-reward.

[Sugarphreak]

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[msommers]

Originally posted by pheoxs


It comes down to priorities and debts. A house is easily affordable. Making 75k alone you'll take home 2k biweekly and a 400k house would be a 1700$ mortgage. Including taxes and utilities your at 2300$. That leaves 1700$ for living expenses, food gas etc which is doable.

But the people want a new car. Oh and new furniture might as well finance that. Plus a trip every year of course to somewhere fancy. And Starbucks daily. And all of a sudden they can't afford to live.

If you budget properly and not love beyond your means home ownership is easy. The problem is everyone wants to keep up with the jones and ends up paying a grand a month financing shit they don't actually need.

Everyone I know who has experience with budgeting has said that half your income (let alone over half) should not be going to your living expenses. You should leave money for car problems, emergency funds, putting some money into savings, etc.

The exception of course comes when you're a single person buying your first home, like myself. Unless you're living at home until your late 20's or getting major assistance it's very difficult to save up enough money for a large downpayment. Or you focus on everything going to your downpayment for a couple years and not do anything during your 20's, which is a personal choice I suppose. It is tough to find a good place as your first home on a single income in Calgary. Everyone knows (and something I learned) that property virgins want it all for nothing but Calgary is just in a whole other realm.

I'm not spending half my monthly income on living expenses and I'm not living some baller lifestyle or anything close either. However when looking at income vs. living costs in Calgary as a percentage, I bet Calgary has never been more expensive to live in than right now.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by pheoxs


It comes down to priorities and debts. A house is easily affordable. Making 75k alone you'll take home 2k biweekly and a 400k house would be a 1700$ mortgage. Including taxes and utilities your at 2300$. That leaves 1700$ for living expenses, food gas etc which is doable.

But the people want a new car. Oh and new furniture might as well finance that. Plus a trip every year of course to somewhere fancy. And Starbucks daily. And all of a sudden they can't afford to live.

If you budget properly and not love beyond your means home ownership is easy. The problem is everyone wants to keep up with the jones and ends up paying a grand a month financing shit they don't actually need.

I completely agree But on a comparative basis, I still think as a single income individual, it is harder to own a home now then it was before. On the flip side, especially in the 80's-ish, it the job market was a lot worse.

[RX_EVOLV]

It's not too hard to imagine two O&G Professionals affording a $1M+ house. O&G engineers, PMs and accoutants easily making 6 figures, making a combined household income of $200K+

The 3 immediate neighbours to my left here in mount pleasants are all working younger (~early to mid 30s) O&G professionals either expecting or have younger children and their houses are $1M+.

[pheoxs]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


I completely agree But on a comparative basis, I still think as a single income individual, it is harder to own a home now then it was before. On the flip side, especially in the 80's-ish, it the job market was a lot worse.

Oh I absolutely agree with you! But talking with my parents my 400k house and their 80k house have almost the same monthly payment (adjusting for inflation) due to stupidly low interest rates right now

It just frustrates me that I properly manage my finances so I was able to afford my home by myself at 25 and I have friends/coworkers complaining that things are too expensive and they can't keep up when they all have brand new cars, brand new furnishings, decided it's summer and wanted to ride a bike so bought brand new 1000$+ road cycles, etc. they just spend spend spend then complain they have no money

[SkiBum5.0]

Originally posted by msommers


Everyone I know who has experience with budgeting has said that half your income (let alone over half) should not be going to your living expenses. You should leave money for car problems, emergency funds, putting some money into savings, etc.

The exception of course comes when you're a single person buying your first home, like myself. Unless you're living at home until your late 20's or getting major assistance it's very difficult to save up enough money for a large downpayment. Or you focus on everything going to your downpayment for a couple years and not do anything during your 20's, which is a personal choice I suppose. It is tough to find a good place as your first home on a single income in Calgary. Everyone knows (and something I learned) that property virgins want it all for nothing but Calgary is just in a whole other realm.

I'm not spending half my monthly income on living expenses and I'm not living some baller lifestyle or anything close either. However when looking at income vs. living costs in Calgary as a percentage, I bet Calgary has never been more expensive to live in than right now.

Up to what point? Makes sense if you net 4,5 or $6,000 per month. But if you make 10,15, $20,000 per month? Why do you need so much safety net?
Provided you already have your rainy day fund, contribute to retirement, and can service your big ol mortgage.
My example would be two lawyers, or other professional with 7-10 years experience.

[msommers]

If you're making $20K/month and spending half on a mortgage, that's a 2M mortgage!

It's a general rule and certainly doesn't apply for people with gobs of money like two doctors out of residency, for example.

[ZedMan]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow

This has always been true. That's why it's been common for young single people to rent until they are in a stable dual-income situation.

Ask your parents or grandparents, this is nothing new.

I disagree. Both my parents and grandparents did buy after they were married, but the difference was they bought on single incomes. Having the wife working was definitely not common in our grandparents time, or even really our parents. Good luck doing that now. My grandpa was an Engineer and my dad a Geologist, so they made good but by no means insane money.

[nzwasp]

Originally posted by D. Dub
Hate to be holding that 1.6 million dollar house when a "black swan event" of some type or sort or kind causes oil and gas to catastrophically drop and Calgary becomes the next Detroit, Winnipeg, Manchester, or Gold Coast -- the only thing that lasts forever is, well, nothing.

I'd be interested why you lump the gold coast in with that bunch. Thought they were always ballin there with the beach and tourism.