Greetings, I am an avid Moustacher, but first time forum poster.
I recently relocated to Denver, CO with my wife. We are currently renting a small 650 sq ft apt downtown for $1650 with storage and parking. We own only 1 older car, and she walks to work and I commute about 15 miles one way. We collectively earn about 180k/yr. excluding bonuses and have a MMM approved savings rate and costs fully under control.
We are planning to be here awhile (5+ yrs), and I am looking to pickup up a place to buy. The MMM mantra is about picking up low cost real estate in a great community where you don't have to drive anywhere. Unfortunately that isn't in the cards - everything is expensive as shit (think 550+ for a 1915 home with 1200 sq ft. in a top neighborhood) and at least one of us will have to drive or sacrifice more time than I want to give up on public transit.
We want to stay as central as possible so we can maintain only 1 car, which puts us in the highlands, sloan lake, or capital hill, but I am having thoughts on whether buying is even the right thing to do - and if it is - how much is a good max amount to spend to keep the MMM dream in site (I want to end corporate in 11 years tops (I am 34). Theoretically we could still max our 401ks out and throw 3k+ a month towards this thing and maintain at least 2k a month growing cash savings, which is good, but not great. I am flexible on condo vs. townhouse vs. house, and what I have kind of settled on a newer build townhouse... which runs 480k for a new build, 1250 sq ft., top location, 2 car garage, etc., but just can't get over the nearly 1/2 mill price tag for a modest place to live in a nice location. What is the right thing to do to in this situation? Continue to rent? Buy a small econo-condo on the outskirts of town? Anyone have any thoughts?