re: House = (x)household income

Two common ways to look at house price in relation to house hold income-times salary and percent of gross.

Household makes 200k in annual income, buys a 350K house. That's 1.5x.

Household makes 200K in annual income, has a monthly house note (principle, insurance, taxes) of 2,500. That's 15%.

gotcha, it was a lot simpler then how i was reading it

id love her not to work. but med school and residency aren't really quitable, and then she'll be an OBGYN. so we are playing it by ear.

we have a 5 month old, 2 car notes (trying to dump 1), and she has around $2,100 a month in student loan payments. and her income hasn't begun yet, and i'm not sure when it really will (1 year, 2 years, 3...)
i also want to have play money

so i'm just trying to be smart about it.

my biggest issue is the housing market in Lafayette is redonk for anything custom, or even half custom. and i refuse to be in some DR Horton shite.

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If youre bringing in 400k as a family with no kids, I wouldnt even look at price tags. You can pretty much afford anything except those houses that really make you step back and say "damn thats got to be expensive" haha.

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I would disagree with that. You will find that the realtor and broker guy are going to try to steer you to the highest priced house, especially if you give no guidelines. Tell them your max, and stick to it. If you tell them your income is 400k, expect to see 1M+ houses

and honestly you need 20% down to get a jumbo loan.

the zillow calculator tells me some rediculous number like 1.3m, but fuuuuuck that.

i'm in the midst of trying to convince wife to start small and comfortable then move up after she gets established

That's what we did and it's worked out well.

First house in early 20s was 2.5x and we upgraded a couple years after 1.5x.

Second and current house (mid 20s) was 2.5x and we are currently at 1.5x a few years later.

Now we are ready for that forever home and on pace to buy a 2.5x in 12-14 months. Which should then get to 1.5x in 3-5 years.

We've let our salary arch work in our favor in all these examples. The years at 1.5x have been key for both 1st and current homes. During those years we've been able to payoff student loans, purchase and payoff cars, and save up for down payments.

Every situation is different though, this is just what has worked for us.

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and honestly you need 20% down to get a jumbo loan.

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No you don't, not even regular guys like you and me.

And being a doctor, she can get 100% financing at a rate guys like you or me can't sniff for ridiculous amounts of $.

If you're making 400k, 1M isn't a very big number. With taxes and insurance where I live on today's rate with a 30 year on 1M financed your at 5,250/mo roughly. At 400k taxed at 35% still bring home 21.5k/mo. Leaves you 16k/mo for all your other endeavors. I could swing it.

Edit - That $5250.00includes taxes and insurance

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Yeh I could make that work

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If I was freaking out over my 9%, I would completely flip over 15% of gross.

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We are between 180 and 200 depending on bonuses etc. and are trying to knock out the wifes student loans as well (grad school added up quickly). I can max out 401k, pay 900 in car notes, all bills, 250 a week for daycare, etc, and swing a 315k house pretty easily. I'm sure we could cut back places and afford more. Thats all while trying to pay as close to 2k a month on her loans as possible. We're a little skewed on monthly due to crazy property taxes (like 800+ a month in taxes) in texas, but it evens out with no income tax.

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I'm in a very similar situation as you(if you include my wife's very good salary) but without student loans
my goal, however, is to try and afford everything on just my salary so that if one of us loses our job or we have a kid and we lose her income for a year or so, we'll still be fine.