Having kids and owning a home

DH and I are still pretty young (He's 27 and I'm 25). We were talking about it and he doesn't think we can afford to have kids AND buy a home.
We're pretty much debt free with the except of my student loans (about $800/month). Right now we live upstairs from my grandmother so our rent is only $700/month. Our combined incomes are just under $200k/year.

I know expenses vary from person to person, and finances are very individualized. However, as a young couple, we're still pretty new to this.

I just wanted to see if I could get some advice some those of you that have kids and own a home, or own a home and are TTC. I personally feel like it is a feasible option for us to own a home and have kids. Can anyone offer any experience or insight?

Re: Having kids and owning a home

i think anyone can own a home if you budget and find something you like in your price range. we got married in may, bought a house in august and now i'm pregnant and due in July!

Re: Having kids and owning a home

DH and I felt the same way we couldn't afford kids and a House. we stayed in our small coop and started our family when both of us were working. Our thinking was you can always buy a house 30,35, 40 years old it doesn't matter. there is only a short "ideal" time to have kids. we had both babies , in our small coop and have now purchased our house. DH is making a lot more, I"m a SAHM , and we are buying the house we always wanted so patience def paid off

Being that you are only 25 you have plenty of time to save save save before buying a home or having kids

Message edited 12/17/2010 9:01:20 AM.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

yes, kids can definatly be pricey, but you work it into your budget, and plan. We don't own a home yet, but the amount we pay for rent and utilites we SHOULD be owning LOL...and even tho I lost my job while I was pregnent, (when I made the money) we still make due. We may cut back on doing things for ourselves more often, but all in all it's worth it. We are almost debt free after last years lay off, and then we are going to start saving for a down payment to own. It's something we both want, and we know it can be done. Oh, and we make alot less then almost 200k LOL...sicne I still can't find a job! LOL

Re: Having kids and owning a home

you have plenty of time. but i will say, we are 31 and 32, I bought the house before we got engaged (sold my co-op which i had gotten some help buying). Honestly now, I still freak out about how much day care, diapers, formula, activites, etc are gonna cost. We make under 200K combined as well. But everyone says "it works out" so i believe it will. I had no idea how I was gonna manage the mortgage on the house by myself at first AND pay for the co-op that didn't sell until 8 months after I already owned the house... still a mystery, but it all worked out! Just be reasonable when picking a house... don't try to afford something you really can't! You have some time to save up before kids!

p.s. no kids yet, but plan to start trying in may/june!

Message edited 12/17/2010 9:09:07 AM.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

as long as you keep saving enough for a down payment you will be fine, DH and I saved up for the down payment and then budget for things that we need/dont need now, and we make a lot less than you guys do.. so i am sure you will be fine

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I'll share some advice I heard from a friend who had 2 kids, was renting an apartment, and bought a home within the past year or so: "If you wait til you have 'enough' money to have kids, you never will."

DH and I bought our house 2 months before our wedding.....That was about a year and a half ago, and we plan on TTC in June (DH is 28 and I'll be 27 the end of this month). I'm currently working part time, but am hoping to get bumped up to full time soon, and DH has a good paying job. The way we look at it, we'd rather pass up vacations, expensive cars, and dinners out so that we can have that money for our child. We'll probably always be on a budget, but we know how to manage our money and don't live outside our means. We know that we can live comfortably in our house and have enough to properly care for our child.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I personally wouldnt put anything on hold unless you were in severe financial hardship. Its all about budgeting.

IMO if you wait til you make more money it really doesnt get you anywhere cause as we (most people) make money we tend to spend more. So its not like "oh i got a raise let me put all that money in the bank".....we always find things to spend it on.

We bought our house in Dec. and we have been TTC for well over a year now. If I had waited until we were in perfect financial situation we would never have kids.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

Thank you ladies so much for the advice.

We have a decent amount in our savings and I really feel like we can afford a house. I'm going to talk to DH and see if we can work it into our budget.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

Re: Having kids and owning a home

i just have to be the odd ball but i do it to be informative. dh and i purchased a house and its not very expensive at first. We purchased what we could afford but we did some fixing in order to make it just livable for us (around 10-15K worth of work that was pretty necessary since the walls were caving in and there was so much filth we couldn't clean the house up) then the bills came in and then dh's OT was slashed. Even with my raise we are finding it very hard to keep up. My advice is try to do it under one income or as little of a part of income as possible. Think if you need to pay for DC that is easily 1200K a month, plus another mouth to feed, dress, needs/wants medical, etc. We can't have a child and we are 31 and 38 because we can't afford a 1200K hit.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I think people do it all the time with a lot less than you so you will be fine whenever you decided to have kids.

Just buy a house that fits in the life you want to have.

If you know you want to stay home, buy a house you can afford on DH's salary.

If you will continue to work, buy a house but factor in the kind of daycare you want for your kids.

If you want kids, the worst thing you could do is not have kids because you think you can't afford it when you can. Think of all the "things" you will have when you are past the TTC years, you would trade them in an instant to be able to have the kid you always wanted.

The second worst thing you could do is not set yourself up for the life you want. By that I mean-buy too much house such that you are working to pay a mortgage and can't enjoy your family. Or, buy a house you can only afford it you both work but one of you wants to stay home.

This is just my opinion. But with your income and debt ratio it sounds like you should have no issue affording kids and a house as long as you think first about the kind of lifestyle you want

Re: Having kids and owning a home

We don' t have any kids yet but we purposely bought a less expensive, smaller home that we could grow into if one of us wanted to stay home or just work part time. The best part of our house is that we have plenty of room to add on if we need to, but its just big enough that we could live as-is if we had to with kids. We make a lot less than you and DH per year. We have some credit card debt, but no student loans. Once our credit card bills are all paid off (about a year) then we will TTC
We are on the east end though so property taxes and houses in general seem to cost a little less in my area.

I think my general point is that you have to do what you can afford. We could have bought a bigger, 4 bedroom house but we knew that down the line with children there was no way we could afford that. So we bought something smaller, we both drive older cars and we are fine with that. Good luck

Re: Having kids and owning a home

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I suggest that you make a budget and stick to it as if you own a house, track all of your expenses (even if something costs a few dollars because it can really add up) and see what it is that you really spend and what you spend it on. I am a stay at home mom (our income is not even close to yours), we have a daughter, and we are in the process of buying a house and we are fine financially. But we are not big spenders and we budget ourselves well. It certainly can be done, you just need to figure out your situation and realistic expenses. Good luck!

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I think you guys sound like you are in great shape! We make less then that - have more bills, we own a great home and have a one year old Where there's a will there's a way! Good luck to you!

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I have two kids, a home and we are way less off than you.

You'd be fine financial wise.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

you will be fine. we own a home and make under 200k and have a small child. we are fine. we dont spend frivolously but we are a ok (with mortgage and daycare and student loans and normal bills!)

Re: Having kids and owning a home

We make about half what you guys make, have a lot more debt, own a home, have a beautiful four month old and couldn't be happier.

Message edited 12/17/2010 1:00:44 PM.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

Message edited 12/17/2010 1:12:02 PM.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

as long as you purchase a home planning children in the future you will be fine.

when we bought our home we were qualified for more and we chose to buy for a lot less so that I will be able to stay at home with kids in the future.

you could easliy buy a house around $400k and afford to have children

Re: Having kids and owning a home

I would only b/c housing prices are so low and maybe in 10 years they will go up and you will be happy you got it cheaper.
I would budget it like this Is your mortgage/taxes monthly the same or about 200 more than what you could rent the house for?
If yes, buy it.
Just don't get something beyond your means so you have money for your future children.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

We own a house in a nice neigborhood with a very managable mortgage. We make less than you guys and have a child. For me the biggest expense in our lives is daycare as its the second largest expense right after our mortgage, but we are doing okay.

Re: Having kids and owning a home

Yep... def possible.

many make less than you guys do and they have kids and own a home.

Just like the other ladies have said.. it's all about budgeting.