Buying most expensive house in the neighborhood

[Hank]

I don’t like HOAs and neighborhoods where everyone has a near identical house. Therefore, you’re going to get a broader range of house prices.

Assuming the houses aren’t all cookie cutter, you’ll have a range of sizes, prices, and possibly ages. Safest to keep your house between the 20th and 80th percentile. For me, I’d rather be closer to the 20th percentile in a nicer neighborhood with better schools and a shorter commute.

There’s some risk of peer pressure and desire to keep up with the Jones when most of your neighbors make more than doctor or attorney level income. That said, it’s useful for the kids to learn that you don’t need new German cars every year or two, designer jeans, and membership at more clubs than you actually attend.

On the other end of the spectrum, the nicest house in the ghetto is the one most likely to get robbed. There are valid reasons not to have a house at the 90th percentile or above in price. Selling in a timely manner for a fair price is tougher if your house is too far outside of the fat part of the Gaussian distribution. At least the 10th or 20th percentile house has appeal both as a starter home or as a possible flip or tear down.

[jfoxcpacfp]

I pretty much could have written that word for word. I too lived in a small house for 17 years that when people came and saw me and my house they asked - are you sure you are a doctor.

Now that I am FI and work to keep my mind from going crazy, I built the most expensive house in my neighborhood. Double of what some of the other houses are valued. I don't care. Even if it is a loss when I am gone , I would have enjoyed my wealth. The good thing is that in MCOL the most expensive house gives you a ton of space and upgrades that a tiny house in Bay Area will not, for the same price.

I like this! Just to reinforce your statement for other readers, Kamban is FI, which completely changes the decision process.

[ddd]

Thank you all for the responses. After reading them all I think the wisest move is to wait a little bit longer to buy the house. We are probably going to end up buying one of the more expensive houses in the neighborhood but it seems the only way it really becomes a drastic mistake is if we end up moving within a few years and can't sell or home prices have crashed. Waiting to be sure really diminishes that risk.