Any Additional Considerations Before Purchasing a New Home

Hello,

My wife and I are looking to move and put an offer on a new house. I know this is long, but we would be greatly appreciative of any feedback that can be provided on the scenario. Save us from possibly making a $1M, lifelong mistake!

**Income**

* Gross Household Income: $270,000/yr

* Free Cash/Pay Period: $6,300 (This is net cash received, after tax withholdings, after retirement funding, after insurances, and after current “Household Debt” below of $417/pay)

* Free Cash/Year: $160,000 (above, but one pay period is bi-weekly and the other bi-monthly)

**Assets**

* Cash in Savings: $100,000

* Investments: $75,000 non-retirement funds but slated for retirement. Let’s consider it unavailable.

* We both own outright Honda vehicles with under 50,000 miles. Don’t intend to upgrade.

* Excess Cash in Mortgage Checking Account: ~$12,000 (monthly we slightly overfund mortgage in event anything happens, bank offered rate reduction for auto withdrawal from paycheck into their checking account for mortgage payments). Let’s consider it unavailable.

**Debt**

* Household Debt: $55,000 family debt (refi’d student loans to private @ 5% $417/pay period or for $834/month). This is held by a family member and not “reported” on credit scores as outstanding debt and intend to disclose to lender.

**Children**

* We don’t have children yet but anticipate having soon. My wife will continue to work. We are both offered relatively good maternal/paternal leave. 16 weeks/yr (80 days) each to be taken however chosen in the first year after childbirth. Meaning it can be all at once, or she can take some initially, and I can take some after. We could return to 2 days a week work/ 3 days a week off, etc. It’s flexible. The insurance policy we have enrolled in is good, low deductible, and will cover costs of childbirth. It’s expensive monthly but we elected it this year due to our family planning, and the cost is figured into Free Cash/yr figures.

**Current Housing**

* Estimated Sale Price: $515,000 – $550,000. Agent quoted @ $550,000, but let’s use low end.

* Outstanding Loan: $315,000

* Broker 4.5%: assume $25,000 of $515,000 sale price.

* Cash From Sale: $175,000 (yes there’s closing costs, but Cash in Savings should cover)

**Proposed Housing**

* Estimated Purchase Price: $875,000 + $125,000 renovation loan for $1,000,000

* Estimated Down Payment: $200,000 @ 20%

* Annual Property Taxes: $14,000

* Estimated Monthly Payment: $4,539/month including taxes @ 3% for 30 yr mortgage

**Analysis of Proposed Housing Costs**

In this scenario we would need to fund up to maybe $50,000 for the incremental costs between proceeds from sale, closing costs, etc. to move into this new home?

That doesn’t seem unreasonable to us given what we’re receiving. This new house is +1.5 bathrooms, +1 bedrooms, +3 car attached garage (we don’t have a garage), + finished basement (we have slab now), +1.5 acres (we have 0.25 now, this is 1.7+).

In the scenario, the $4,539/month housing cost is $54,474/yr. Our Free Cash/yr stated above is $160,000/yr, so that is ~34% of Free Cash/Yr. This would still leave us with ~$100,000/yr of Free Cash or $8,333/month to do as we wish. Remember Free Cash is after income taxes, retirement, insurances, and “Household Debt” for student loans.

The $54,474/yr housing cost is 62% and 75% respectively of any single individuals Free Cash/Yr. This is a sanity check meaning if anyone lost their job for some time, even a single individual could cover the entirety of the housing cost, albeit at a stressed level.

What, if anything, did we not consider? What additional information would you like to know?