u/ecommercecothrowaway

Trying to determine whether this is financially sane or whether we're letting emotions get ahead of us.

My wife (34F) and I (35M) are looking at buying our first home in a VHCOL area. We recently had our first baby after renting in the city for the past 7 years, and we're starting to outgrow our apartment.

The house we're considering is just under $2M. It checks essentially every box—great neighborhood, good public schools, enough space for a growing family, and we could realistically see ourselves staying there for 10-15 years (or longer).

Some numbers:

• Household W-2 income: ~$750k
• Net worth: ~$2.5M
• Liquid cash: ~$400k
• Remaining assets are primarily brokerage, retirement accounts, and HSA
• Annual spending before baby (excluding rent/utilities): ~$120k
• Current rent + utilities: ~$70k/year

We're planning on having more children, so daycare costs will likely increase over the next several years.

Our long-term goal is financial independence. We'd ideally like enough flexibility in the next 5-7 years that we aren't completely dependent on our tech jobs and could pursue other work without worrying about maintaining our current income.

On paper, we can afford the house. The concern is that buying it would meaningfully reduce our monthly investing and extend our path to FI. We would still have a healthy emergency fund and could comfortably handle a year of unemployment if one of us lost a job, but it would definitely slow wealth accumulation compared to continuing to rent.

For those who've purchased a ~$2M home with similar income/net worth, did you regret stretching for the house, or was it worth it? Looking back, would you have bought the house or continued renting while investing the difference?

Hi all, would appreciate some advice on a $2M home we really like and are thinking to put an offer on.

Husband (35M) and I (34F) are looking to buy our first home in a VHCOL area. For the past 7 years we've been renting an apartment in the city and have had no problems with it except now that we have a baby, we've really been feeling the lack of space. We both work in tech.

Some details -
- Total combined household W2 income from last year: $750k
- Net assets: $2.5M (most of it is invested in stocks, HSA & 401K. But we do $400k in cash)
- Annual expenses for two before baby (not accounting for rent & utilities): $120k
- Current rent and utilities (annual): ~$70k

Right now we both need our jobs to hit the FIRE amt, but financial independence is definitely a goal for both my husband and I, so that we can branch into doing something of our without the need to earn a lot to fund our lifestyles. Especially with the uncertainties in the industry, we want to be able to not be tied to our jobs financially in the next 5-7 years.

I have run the numbers, and given the FI constraint, buying a house never makes sense compared to renting. We have considered renting a bigger house instead of the apartment but we haven't really found anything we like unless we started paying significantly more in rent.

When it comes to buying, on paper we can afford a $2M house, but that would effectively mean very little to no savings for the FI given the current income numbers + child care costs. We're planning to have additional kids, so the child care costs will only increase.

Given all of this, does it make sense to buy the $2M home? The home fits all our requirements and I can easily see growing and raising a family there for the next 10-15 years at least (if not 30). It is big enough, is in a good school district and in a neighborhood we really like.

We have enough runaway in case of a job loss situation to survive for a year + some left over emergency cash. But buying the home today would effectively mean we'll have a longer path to FI that we like - since we'd be effectively reducing our liquidity and monthly cash flow by quite a lot.

What have your experiences been like? Anyone faced a similar situation before?