Who's buying?

[Angels_Baseball_2015]

I would thank the cops and firefighters for making Irvine one of the safest cities in America, thus keeping the land values high. They should get their fair cut for keeping our property values in-tack.

you have it backwards, the cops dont have anything to do with making irvine safe. its the high income residents/schools that drive the property value up and keep the riff-raff out as test likes to say.

Yes but you still need the police department to deter the "riff-raff" from coming into Irvine and burglarizing these high income homes. Otherwise, it'll be a field day for the "riff-raff," no?

 

[zubs]

I agree with qwerty.  The rich people came first...which caused the cops to keep the riff raff out....
Just like rich people & Asians made IUSD a good school district.  Not the other way around....

It all starts with the rich....errrr I mean upper middle class.

 

[jumpinjacks]

$150k for early to mid 30 is def not the norm, even with bonuses and stock options.  But kudos to those in that bracket

Totally, if you are talking PER person in a 2 income family. Maybe it's just me and my expenses/income ratio cushion talking, but I personally wouldn't consider anything $800k+ unless we made at least $200k/$250k+ combined even with 20% down. Now if you're rolling equity, have a large sum of cash (over 20%), different story. Just don't see a lot of first time home buyers in this situation w/o some help as others have mentioned.

 

[Perspective]

$150k for early to mid 30 is def not the norm, even with bonuses and stock options.  But kudos to those in that bracket

Totally, if you are talking PER person in a 2 income family. Maybe it's just me and my expenses/income ratio cushion talking, but I personally wouldn't consider anything $800k+ unless we made at least $200k/$250k+ combined even with 20% down. Now if you're rolling equity, have a large sum of cash (over 20%), different story. Just don't see a lot of first time home buyers in this situation w/o some help as others have mentioned.

Agreed. Even at 4%, you should be very uncomfortable with a mortgage approaching more than four-times your household income. Two to three-times your income is much more comfortable and will allow you to do all of the other things you want to do (pay off debt, invest in retirement, have cash saved, college savings, vacations, fun cars, etc.).

 

[Perspective]

I think the evolution of the top fifth of earning households pulling away from the rest, and doing so well, is a big factor in higher-priced areas like Irvine:
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/soci...15/09/03-separation-upper-middle-class-reeves

 

[Angels_Baseball_2015]

I agree with qwerty.  The rich people came first...which caused the cops to keep the riff raff out....
Just like rich people & Asians made IUSD a good school district.  Not the other way around....

It all starts with the rich....errrr I mean upper middle class.

"the cops dont have anything to do with making irvine safe" - If this is true, then we should just get rid of the police department entirely, because it appears that potential burglars from outside of Irvine are deterred by the very sight of a rich person.  That makes perfect sense - it is the rich that keeps the riff-raff out, without any help from the police. 

Based on this analogy, the U.S. should just get rid of its military because potential foreign enemies will be deterred simply by the number of rich folks we have in the U.S. 

I guess it's not the other way around, in which rich folks like to park their money in U.S. real estate because of its well-known strong military.

 

[qwerty]

Based on your analogy every city should be safe because they all have police forces. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the higher income a neighborhood is the less crime there is.

U must be a union rep for cops.

 

[eyephone]

I agree with qwerty.  The rich people came first...which caused the cops to keep the riff raff out....
Just like rich people & Asians made IUSD a good school district.  Not the other way around....

It all starts with the rich....errrr I mean upper middle class.

Based on this analogy, the U.S. should just get rid of its military because potential foreign enemies will be deterred simply by the number of rich folks we have in the U.S. 

I'm not sure your aware that the US army plans to cut 40k troops and 17k civilian employees over the next two years. Is this the time to cut troops? Apparently Obama thinks it's ok.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/07/army-plans-to-cut-40000-troops/29826423/

 

[LP]

Late 20s, combined salary >250k and there's no way we will consider 800k until our student loans are paid off. We both went to 4yrs undergrad + 3yrs grad school with ten year student loans. This puts us in our mid 30s before we start looking for 800k+. We went with 10% down on a 700k condo and have no regrets. We don't feel guilty travelling or going out with friends and that extra $500 a month we're not paying in mortgage really does help when our student loan payments are >3k a month.

I really don't think anyone in their late 20s is buying a 800k+ house in Irvine without help, whether it's help for down payment or that they didn't pay for school. Maybe  in NY or LA where there are careers with >50k bonuses but those kind of jobs don't exist in Irvine.

 

[JBean72]

Do you really believe Census Bureau income information?

That's like believing qwercpa's AGI on his tax return.

Always take it with a grain of salt, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was close to being accurate in present time.

 

[viobruin]

Late 20s, combined salary >250k and there's no way we will consider 800k until our student loans are paid off. We both went to 4yrs undergrad + 3yrs grad school with ten year student loans. This puts us in our mid 30s before we start looking for 800k+. We went with 10% down on a 700k condo and have no regrets. We don't feel guilty travelling or going out with friends and that extra $500 a month we're not paying in mortgage really does help when our student loan payments are >3k a month.

I really don't think anyone in their late 20s is buying a 800k+ house in Irvine without help, whether it's help for down payment or that they didn't pay for school. Maybe  in NY or LA where there are careers with >50k bonuses but those kind of jobs don't exist in Irvine.

So, I'm guessing two attorneys at mid-to-large size firms, haha. In any event, I like your plan. My wife and I were virtually in the same boat in our late 20's and, only now, in our mid-30's are we buying our first SFR. Good luck to you guys.

 

[eyephone]

Late 20s, combined salary >250k and there's no way we will consider 800k until our student loans are paid off. We both went to 4yrs undergrad + 3yrs grad school with ten year student loans. This puts us in our mid 30s before we start looking for 800k+. We went with 10% down on a 700k condo and have no regrets. We don't feel guilty travelling or going out with friends and that extra $500 a month we're not paying in mortgage really does help when our student loan payments are >3k a month.

I really don't think anyone in their late 20s is buying a 800k+ house in Irvine without help, whether it's help for down payment or that they didn't pay for school. Maybe  in NY or LA where there are careers with >50k bonuses but those kind of jobs don't exist in Irvine.

So, I'm guessing two attorneys at mid-to-large size firms, haha. In any event, I like your plan. My wife and I were virtually in the same boat in our late 20's and, only now, in our mid-30's are we buying our first SFR. Good luck to you guys.

Why did you decide to buy now? (Buy when prices are high)

 

[viobruin]

Late 20s, combined salary >250k and there's no way we will consider 800k until our student loans are paid off. We both went to 4yrs undergrad + 3yrs grad school with ten year student loans. This puts us in our mid 30s before we start looking for 800k+. We went with 10% down on a 700k condo and have no regrets. We don't feel guilty travelling or going out with friends and that extra $500 a month we're not paying in mortgage really does help when our student loan payments are >3k a month.

I really don't think anyone in their late 20s is buying a 800k+ house in Irvine without help, whether it's help for down payment or that they didn't pay for school. Maybe  in NY or LA where there are careers with >50k bonuses but those kind of jobs don't exist in Irvine.

So, I'm guessing two attorneys at mid-to-large size firms, haha. In any event, I like your plan. My wife and I were virtually in the same boat in our late 20's and, only now, in our mid-30's are we buying our first SFR. Good luck to you guys.

Why did you decide to buy now? (Buy when prices are high)

Need more room, interest rates are low, and looking to stay there long term (thus riding out market fluctuations). Also, my hunch is that prices won't go any lower moving forward with all the new developments being built at increasingly higher prices, thus driving the rest of the market up. With its school district, relatively central location, amenities, and established desirability, I'm hoping that Irvine will always be a highly sought-after place for people to live.

 

[JBean72]

Late 20s, combined salary >250k and there's no way we will consider 800k until our student loans are paid off. We both went to 4yrs undergrad + 3yrs grad school with ten year student loans. This puts us in our mid 30s before we start looking for 800k+. We went with 10% down on a 700k condo and have no regrets. We don't feel guilty travelling or going out with friends and that extra $500 a month we're not paying in mortgage really does help when our student loan payments are >3k a month.

I really don't think anyone in their late 20s is buying a 800k+ house in Irvine without help, whether it's help for down payment or that they didn't pay for school. Maybe  in NY or LA where there are careers with >50k bonuses but those kind of jobs don't exist in Irvine.

So, I'm guessing two attorneys at mid-to-large size firms, haha. In any event, I like your plan. My wife and I were virtually in the same boat in our late 20's and, only now, in our mid-30's are we buying our first SFR. Good luck to you guys.

Why did you decide to buy now? (Buy when prices are high)

Need more room, interest rates are low, and looking to stay there long term (thus riding out market fluctuations). Also, my hunch is that prices won't go any lower moving forward with all the new developments being built at increasingly higher prices, thus driving the rest of the market up. With its school district, relatively central location, amenities, and established desirability, I'm hoping that Irvine will always be a highly sought-after place for people to live.

Good decision - if you're staying in the long-term then you can't go wrong either way.