Quote:
Originally Posted by delts145
If any of you are married with 3 plus children, and live in a large urban center condo/apt. or comfortable home, without having to blow your budget into bankruptcy, then please tell use how you do it. Aside of course from the fact that you have a six figure income, or inherited the property from your folks.
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While it's not exactly
easy, it's really not
that hard, either.
While I do not have children, I am married and we live in a single family home in downtown SLC that is definitely large enough (4 BR, ~2,500 sq. ft.) for 3 children. Both of us have mid-level government jobs (read: not great-paying; together, our salaries do not equal six figures!), and we bought our house near the height of the real estate bubble in late 2006---it'd be even cheaper to buy now. As far as equating the expense of children, we currently have some very expensive hobbies that will probably be disappearing when we do decide to have children.
So how did we do it? We prioritized urban living because we both grew up in the suburbs and really wanted to be in the city. We didn't go on a vacation beyond a weekend road trip for three years so we could save enough for the down payment. We both got second jobs. We stopped dining out. We downsized cars (which living in town helped with, since we don't drive nearly as often). We bought a house that needed significant updating and lived with the ugliness for a few years. We bought in a "marginal" (then) neighborhood and watched it gentrify around us.
My point is: It's very possible if you choose to make it possible. Yes, you'll probably have to make sacrifices. And no, for your first home you won't be able to buy a renovated Victorian in the lower Avenues or a Craftsman masterpiece in 9th and 9th. But you can get a bungalow on the west or south sides of Liberty Park, or a one-and-a-half Vic in the central 9th neighborhood or Sugar Hood.
People also seem to forget that many of downtown's "smaller" houses were once home to large families, and they did just fine; my mother and her SEVEN siblings grew up around the corner from my current home, in a 2-bed, 1-bath house adjacent to Liberty Park. We, as a society, have just become absurdly accustomed to every child having his or her own bedroom and bathroom, and the adults wanting a TV room, a dining room, a formal living room, etc. When it comes down to what really makes a happy family, all that STUFF is really just so wasteful and unnecessary.
</rant>
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