I am 32, she is 30. I make roughly 75k, she makes mid 50s.
Currently living in a condo I bought in 2013, prior to having met her. Unfortunately it’s a one bedroom. Plan to have a few kids. Plan is to live here until she gets pregnant. As soon as she announces pregnancy, we will start looking for a house. No rush, could live here with a baby for a few months if need be.
We have discussed houses before and both agree on a specific town we want to live in. I have roughly 100k of equity in the condo. She paid me a nominal “rent” payment each month (650) and I pay all the bills, including the mortgage, HOA, gas, electric, cable, etc. she has student loans, which I wanted her to get paid off (they pretty much are now).
Anyways, I want to either buy a starter home (275-300k) or buy a duplex (varies, 500k plus). If we buy the starter home, it would later become a rental and we would move into a nice home within 5-6 years. She wants to just buy a 400k house or so and then never move.
We live in north jersey which has very high property taxes, so I think we need the rental property as a way to hedge and deal with the high property taxes.
Given I am bringing basically all of the cash to this deal for the down payment should I put my foot down on this? She is a teacher and the way her pay scale works, she will make like 90k in 8 Years compared to 55k now. Presumably I will be making a good deal more as well too.
Thoughts or suggestions?