Continue making 400k+ in NYC or take remote job at 250k

chapan wrote:

But your title asks the question with the assumption that you make $400k in NYC. If you are now claiming that you can only count on $200k. then I would advise escaping. If you can count on $400k, put $200k down and buy a house for $2M. It will appreciate to $3M in 10 years.

200 base 200 bonus

I dont have 200 bonus flowing in my monthly cash flow to service a mortgage

Totally understand. One thing I neglected to mention was make sure it's an area/state you don't mind living in. If Washington doesn't fit what you are looking for, I wouldn't move there. One alternative would be to live in Spokane and drive into Seattle for a few days each month and spend a night in a hotel. Obviously more expensive, but homes will be cheaper and you may be able to avoid many of the downsides to Western Washington that way.

OP, you obviously have expensive tastes. Larchmont, Port Washington, Glen Rock are great areas but there are other decent areas with good school districts. I guess you only want to be with upper crust.

You could always go to the slums of Jericho or Merrick, Ardsley or Rye, Summit or Holmdell all excellent school districts.

Irrelevant. If you keep $100 liquid, you have a buffer for mortgage payments until the bonus is received. After a year or two, the buffer will be $250k. I can tell from your statement that you are not good with money. Anyone who worries about when their income comes in is in trouble. 99% of households earning less than $400k and you are silly enough to point out that $200k comes monthly and $200k is a lump sum.

chapan wrote:

Irrelevant. If you keep $100 liquid, you have a buffer for mortgage payments until the bonus is received. After a year or two, the buffer will be $250k. I can tell from your statement that you are not good with money. Anyone who worries about when their income comes in is in trouble. 99% of households earning less than $400k and you are silly enough to point out that $200k comes monthly and $200k is a lump sum.

You seem to be inferring that cash flow is not an important attribute to ones financial picture... me thinks you may be a pot and the OP may be a kettle.

chapan wrote:

Irrelevant. If you keep $100 liquid, you have a buffer for mortgage payments until the bonus is received. After a year or two, the buffer will be $250k. I can tell from your statement that you are not good with money. Anyone who worries about when their income comes in is in trouble. 99% of households earning less than $400k and you are silly enough to point out that $200k comes monthly and $200k is a lump sum.

I'm not worried about my money coming in. I am worried about buying a home like my "base" is 400k when there IS a chance end of year I get shafted on bonus.

Dude... look at my post above. You have a 350k net worth at 34 on a rather high income. You are pretty far behind the game from what I can tell. Focus on building up your investment portfolio for a few years. Life will be far less stressful if you have 1-2m in the bank. Consider your options then.

You are one job loss/financial downturn away from a bad situation if you buy a 1-1.5m house right now.

coach wrote:

OP, you obviously have expensive tastes. Larchmont, Port Washington, Glen Rock are great areas but there are other decent areas with good school districts. I guess you only want to be with upper crust.

You could always go to the slums of Jericho or Merrick, Ardsley or Rye, Summit or Holmdell all excellent school districts.

Rye is more expensive than both those towns (arguably the most expensive town in westchester county PERIOD)

Jericho?

LOL this is what 1 million gets me in Jericho.

Is literally facing the freeway - horrible location!

highhoppingworm wrote:

Dude... look at my post above. You have a 350k net worth at 34 on a rather high income. You are pretty far behind the game from what I can tell. Focus on building up your investment portfolio for a few years. Life will be far less stressful if you have 1-2m in the bank. Consider your options then.

You are one job loss/financial downturn away from a bad situation if you buy a 1-1.5m house right now.

respectfully, isnt everyone?

with all the bidding wars here worst case if I cant find a new job within a few months I sell my million dollar home in a week and downsize somewhere cheaper.

saying someone needs a net worth of 1.5mm before buying a home is pretty asinine. meanwhile my kids have spent their entire childhood in a crammed 2 bedroom apartment since I need a net worth of 1.5mm before buying a home in a decent school district.....

not really realistic anymore to be honest

either way - considering just going fully remote and buying a cheaper home somewhere with a true LCOL since im debating whether its worth even to live in crowded hellhole even WITH a high salary

Inferring? Heck yes. Most people like having the IRS hold about $5k for them every year so that they can make a large purchase next April rather than saving it themselves. But then would rather get $15k per month in income instead of $200k once per year.

No not everyone is in the situation you are in at your income level. You are in what should be your prime accumulation phase. You have a high income and enough time for compounding interest to do its thing.

I understand your point about your kids but you could easily tighten things up a bit and be at a mill in 2-3 years. The difference in security between where you are now and where you could be in 2-3 years is huge. It's an inflection point IMO.

Future you will thank me.

NYC sucks wrote:

Go remote.

NYC sucks. It's overrated, overpriced, and dirty. I lived there for many years.

There are plenty of other smaller cities and towns that offer a spectacular quality of life at much lower cost, and 250k will stretch much further than 400-700k in the nicer parts in and around NYC. You deserve a major life upgrade.

-Now in New Hampshire and loving life

Yeah NYC does kinda suck. I'm 29 and remote and seriously don't want to have to go back to the office. Like imagine commuting through that city every day, all the crazy idiots and vapid people to pass by etc. But I'm young and single.

I think people who have a family and even somewhat want to live there are absolutely crazy.

OP - your 250k won't be proper remote right? If you'll have to be by Seattle/SF/NYC it's not really that flexible. I'd probably slog it out in NYC area for another 3-5 years and stack cash + invest. Live in Greenpoint, it's super chill and clean. Close to LGA so you can take trips somewhere.

Then you'll be nearing 40 with over a mil liquid. Go proper remote then, live in the best place you can, buy the best house for your family, and your kids will just be hitting like 3/4th grade by then.

If the 250k can be truly remote, then I'd go for that (money isn't everything and you can buy a great house in some places for like 400k-600k)

it can be 100% remote if i want (im just not sure if ill become super depressed WFH all day on zoom calls and slack chats)

So you're saying you have an option to make fantastic money living wherever you want...

Dude. Take that.

You don't need the option to be able to go into an office to keep your sanity... Just use your less stressful life and more free time to enjoy some new hobbies or groups.

This is a complete no brainer to me.

You only have one life. Think about that. Literally. Why would you work a high stress job? There's absolutely no need and you obviously have the skillet or whatever to be financially stable doing other jobs besides this specific one in nyc.

2 kids is far less stress than 3. You really sure you need 3 kids? Why not 4 or 5? 2 is enough lol.

Renewed Marathoner wrote:

So you're saying you have an option to make fantastic money living wherever you want...

Dude. Take that.

You don't need the option to be able to go into an office to keep your sanity... Just use your less stressful life and more free time to enjoy some new hobbies or groups.

This is a complete no brainer to me.

You only have one life. Think about that. Literally. Why would you work a high stress job? There's absolutely no need and you obviously have the skillet or whatever to be financially stable doing other jobs besides this specific one in nyc.

2 kids is far less stress than 3. You really sure you need 3 kids? Why not 4 or 5? 2 is enough lol.

I like kids (srs)

I come from a big family

you and highhoppingworm having me undecided right now - my wife is the same way

Fair enough, and fair enough :).

Whatever you decide I wish you and your family the best of luck.

Why not live in nj and commute to the city? Cheaper homes and taxes and you'll be way better off.

Thewanderer wrote:

Why not live in nj and commute to the city? Cheaper homes and taxes and you'll be way better off.

Most of the desirable neighborhoods in NJ that are within reasonable commuting distance to NYC are just as bad in terms of home price inflation. Taxes aren't really that great. And the tradeoff is an absolutely miserable commute into the city, either by car (Holland Tunnel or GW Bridge with massive tolls) or by decrepit, outdated NJ transit train system.

NJ is congested and crowded (most densely populated state per square mile in the USA), and as overpriced as NYC/NY metro area in LI and Hudson Valley without any of the perks. No offense if you're from there, but living in the NJ burbs is my idea of hell.

Why not try somewhere like the Lehigh Valley? It’s a very nice area with tons of great places to run. Not too far from NYC or Philadelphia. You could probably get a nice piece of land and build a home from scratch. Paying over a million for a 60 year old home in north Jersey just seems like a recipe for disaster as soon as this bubble bursts.