House Poor

[7mm-08]

I had the Mrs read a couple of the responses. Let’s just say, she laughed and cringed at the same time. We bought our 1st home in 1989. Moved to our current home in 1985. As our income rose we looked around to upgrade several times. We said no, let’s just do some upgrades, stay put, have zero debt and I can retire at 60. That was 3 yrs ago. The Mrs has handled all the finances for 30 years, is a CPA and Comptroller. Yeah I feel pretty chill with her handling the finances no questions asked Never have been house poor.

I'd be pretty damned chill if I had that brainpower and earning power in a partner as well. You're a fortunate (and financially secure) man.

 

[The_Jim]

I've never been house poor, but we did have our first home paid off for 11 years. Decided to upgrade and the mortgage is much less than 25% of my take home(wife stays home). I guess I just don't like owing people money because I absolutely HATE seeing that mortgage payment every month.

I would never want to stretch my budget for a home, regardless of how bad I want it. Obviously a lot of guys feel differently and have a much higher debt tolerance. You just have to decide which one you are.

A side note - we looked at a couple acreages and decided that we didn't want to accrue all the extra drive time with running 4 kids around so we bought our new house in town.

 

[bz_711]

Moved in 2017 and refi to 2.75 a few years later...glad I made the move then.

If I had to move now I'd get a fancy camper or motorhome and live real estate tax free on a small plot of unimproved land (minimal RE taxes)

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Moved in 2017 and refi to 2.75 a few years later...glad I made the move then.

If I had to move now I'd get a fancy camper or motorhome and live real estate tax free on a small plot of unimproved land (minimal RE taxes)

That's what we're considering as well. Gotta get kiddos out of college and on their feet and then I'll have plenty more cash for payments.