# You think I can afford HOW MUCH house? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249 "2016-06-01T19:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/21 "2016-06-08T15:14:48Z")
At the peak of the last boom, we “qualified” for houses well into seven figures. We also had employees who bought houses 4-5 times the price of ours, Because They Could. Sad to see it happening again. Even in the short-term, people can’t learn economic lessons. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/22 "2016-06-08T17:08:02Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Couldn’t you have just bought your current house, then sold and moved up into a nicer/larger house once you had the income to afford that larger house? Why stay 29 years in one place if you don’t like it and can afford better? Statistics show that a very large number of people do essentially this ([cite](https://www.creditsesame.com/blog/how-long-are-americans-staying-in-their-homes/)). Only about 20% make it past 15 years, and the 50% mark is closer to 5-7 years. I suppose many of them would cite reasons like job relocation or remarrying as their primary reason for moving (see lower on the page), but the net effect is that homes are much less permanent in practice than in theory. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/23 "2016-06-08T18:54:31Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m with Doreen. 20 years ago we paid 3.5X my salary for a bigger house than we strictly needed, but I’m glad that we did since its price relative to smaller houses has accelerated. Us too. We were going to do the responsible thing and buy a moderate priced place, but my mom told us to just jump to a potential forever home. We had the benefit of family to help us out if things got rough. And my mom stated similar thoughts that we were young and our earnings would increase over time. Thankfully, she was right. I also think she wanted to visit us in a nicer place and location. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/24 "2016-06-08T19:48:41Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Couldn’t you have just bought your current house, then sold and moved up into a nicer/larger house once you had the income to afford that larger house? Why stay 29 years in one place if you don’t like it and can afford better? Because there’s a difference between “don’t like it” and “would have been happier with something bigger”. If I had actually been unhappy, I’m sure I would have sold and bought something else. But I wasn’t unhappy and inertia has an effect. Spending more when i was buying the first one would just have cost money - I was buying a house and moving no matter which house I bought.Trading up only makes sense if I’m pretty sure my happiness will increase so much that it’s worth spending the money \*and \* going through two real estate transactions and moving at most a couple of miles away. (we’re sort of tied here by family and work, in addition to other things) And I was never sure it would be worth all of that. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/25 "2016-06-08T20:05:01Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Because there’s a difference between “don’t like it” and “would have been happier with something bigger”. If I had actually been unhappy, I’m sure I would have sold and bought something else. But I wasn’t unhappy and inertia has an effect. Spending more when i was buying the first one would just have cost money - I was buying a house and moving no matter which house I bought.Trading up only makes sense if I’m pretty sure my happiness will increase so much that it’s worth spending the money \*and \* going through two real estate transactions and moving at most a couple of miles away. (we’re sort of tied here by family and work, in addition to other things) And I was never sure it would be worth all of that. Fair enough. I just did pick up and move a few miles away (for the same reasons incidentally), and I’m very happy that we moved to a bigger/nicer house, although I freely admit I’m not immune to the psychological effect of “tell yourself whatever decision you made was the right one”. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/26 "2016-06-08T21:31:32Z")
Yeah, I remember the bank saying we could afford a 30-yr mortgage for about twice what we ended up borrowing (that was 15 years ago). We’ve since refinanced twice and pay \<20% of our take-home pay on the mortgage, and will be finished with it 8-9 years ahead of schedule. It’d be nice to have another bedroom - but even nicer to be mortgage-free at 50. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249/27 "2016-06-08T22:47:07Z")
I remember something I was told decades ago: > [@](#): > > “Just because the bank will loan you that much money doesn’t mean you can afford it”. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-think-i-can-afford-how-much-house/756249.md?page=1)