Hi all, long time lurker, now reaching out for a sanity check or face punch or other.
Basically, this house seems to check a lot of boxes towards a frugal life, but it is really damn expensive. I'm also nervous as hell as a first timer. Suck it up, search elsewhere, buy fixer upper, don't buy now?
Background:
- early 30s couple, first home buy. We are not hardcore mustachians, but we are eager learners.
- We are about 75% of the way to a minimum FI number, OR we're 50% of the way to our goal of a very comfy FI number that would allow us to weather some very rough seas (If either of our jobs become not fun, we'll pull the trigger at minimum. But for now, we legitimately enjoy them and couldn't do them on as hobbies.)
- We save about 50% of our income per year.
- Kids are on our 1-3 year time horizon because biology.
House
- 3bd, 2ba, 1700 sqft
- Small yard, patio.
- Updated kitchen, 1 updated bathroom, rest is freshly painted 1980s stuff.
- Has owned (not-leased) solar
- Near bike trails
- Schools are 7 or 8/10, really close as well.
- 12 minute drive commute for one of us (time of day and location make bike commuting unsafe), 8 minute bike commute for the other.
- 5 minutes by bike to grocery store
- 5 minutes by bike to hardware stores and shops
- Located in Louisville CO, effectively a suburb of Boulder CO ($$$)
The Good
- To me, the house is not small, we can grow a family in it for 10+ years. Not huge either.
- The updates are valuable to us. We're not so handy that we could bang out an upgrade to a 40 y/o kitchen without derailing life for a year. Any future upgrades we can do at our own pace and shop carefully for them.
- Location is good, commutes are short, conveniences are at hand.
The Bad
- Asking is right around 600k (supported well by comps)
- Anywhere within a few miles (which retains commute balance) seems similarly expensive. Most places outside a 3 mile radius also have lower grade schools - no idea how to quantify.
- The house is not some magical unicorn in location, layout, or otherwise.
- Interest rates have risen meaningfully in the last 90 days (4.4%+ now)
Now that I've gotten to the bottom of this post, I almost feel that impending face punch. But I also know that the 530k house has no solar, adds to both commutes, and I'm sure we're probably biting some of the bullet with those upgrades... Still. 600k is boat load of money and I hate being so leveraged.
Also, comparable rentals are between 2400 and 2600 - exceeds interest + insurance + taxes.
Thanks in advance, I'm braced for impact.
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