What's your (realistic) dream home? How expensive is it?
Given your current compensation and career trajectory (expectations of salary 10 years down the road), what's your realistic dream home? How much does it cost, and where is it located?
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$1-2M home in the RTP area in North Carolina. Aiming for the IB -> PE -> NC path #goheels
wtf is NC
edit: why is everyone throwing MS, I'm not from USA :*( .
North Carolina
Same but Charlotte
I've always eyed some of the large houses on the water in wealthy suburbs in Massachussets. I don't really value night-life or anything as much as I do scenery from nature. Sadly, even if I make the money to afford one of these (3M+), I won't be able to live so far away from NY (maybe Boston if I get a PE gig here lol)
I mean Westchester/Fairfield suburbs are basically the same thing as North/South Shore.
If you’re into Marblehead, Cohasset, Hingham etc -Rye, Larchmont, Darien look and feel the exact same, with Greenwich obviously being the daddy of all of them.
Hoping to do IB in a non NYC/SF, low COL city after school. I ideally want something with at least 6 br/ 8 bath on at least a half acre lot with a pool. I've looked in the area and that will run you anywhere from 2.5mil - 5mil. Hoping I can get into one of these by 45 and all my kids can go to the same high school. I honestly don't have any other big wants outside of this. If I made enough money to just have the house and a small enough nest egg to live off till I die I would be good.
Just purchased a 1500 sqft home w/ 1000 sqft garage. 3 Bed / 3 Bath. Plan to live in this until I have over 2 kids.
Grew up in a 4500 sqft home on an acre. Don’t plan on ever living in something over 3000 sqft unless I have a lot of kids. Hate the upkeep and enjoy living in a smaller home. Don’t spend a lot of time at my home anyways and when I do it’s in the garage working on stuff.
If I ever start making over a million a year I’d rather own vacation homes in locations I would spend when taking time off.
My friends dad is president for a large oil company and makes enough to have a custom $4 million dollar home built. It’s extremely nice and badass. But 90% of the time they spend in the house is just in a fraction of it. I just don’t see the point.
Forgot to add live in a LCOL city. If I was in a major hub like SF/NY my dream home would be different.
Good perspective to have!
That’s a huge garage
I collect and work on historic vehicles as a hobby. So needed as much sqft as I could get. Don't wanna have to leave in storage untended.
If I had that type of opportunity to make that much money most likely buy a home in one of the islands or buy a yacht and just relax. This of course will happen if I manage to own a firm and make strong investments.
Unpopular opinion - having a home bigger than 5000 square feet is fucking stupid unless you already have FU levels of money or live in a flyover state like Missouri. The average American house is already very big compared to the rest of the world. I can get wanting amenities, land, pool, gym, SEX DUNGEON, tennis court, etc, but realistically, if you'd rather spend years of your life working away from family to have an obscenely big house instead of just a really big house, your perspective is kind of messed up. The marginal utility of that extra square footage goes way down after 2000 square feet anyways, your time on this planet is way more valuable than whatever house you have.
Good point. Would it be better to pay a premium to get a "great view" for less land/smaller house?
I’d say so...
But Lloyd you would need at least 1000 sqft for a SEX DUNGEON. I'm sure the marginal utility of that is still pretty great.
You don’t need 1000 square feet for 3.5 inches :(
Sauna is definitely worth the splurge. I wish our culture was more like Finland - even lower and middle class people have saunas there I’ve heard
I agree, I think I’m pretty close to having my ideal setup, although there are always things I’m missing. For me it’s similar to what I have, 3-4 bedroom apt in nyc (downtown area), 2.5k sq ft or so, relatively private building with some outdoor space and a few amenities. The biggest thing for me is privacy and having it feel like a home instead of a big commercial building with hundreds of people. I find that this is more than enough room and would feel uncomfortable with much more than 3-3.5k sq ft. Biggest thing that is missing is that amazing view, but many of those buildings are in areas I don’t enjoy (by Central Park) or won’t even have a balcony.
The vacation home is the second part that I didn’t usually appreciate until now with covid. I have a second place in a very secluded area (Montana type place) that is nice to be able to escape the city. Think I would enjoy a ski destination though (Colorado at the top of my list), unsure if it is worth the investment as opposed to just renting a place when traveling (again can’t really do that right now).
But all of that makes me sound like a typical finance d*ck. If only one place, I love nyc, and have enjoyed my apt and the privacy and space more now than ever. As the post above me said you don’t need a ton of room, even with a family, just get a place you like with the nice touches/amenities/finishes you appreciate.
Watch the Netflix documentary, "Minimalism". https://www.netflix.com/title/80114460
Bigger =/= Better. They did a heat-map study in the documentary. In "McMansions", 90% of the time a family spent was in a highly limited set of rooms - kitchen, bedroom. Most of the house was entirely not utilized (yet you still have the mental and financial cost of maintaining everything).
When you own things like a big house (or nice car, nice watch, etc.) - more often than not they end up owning you than you owning it. It creates a huge mental burden in a lot of ways.
We've all been programmed in many ways to chase after a consumption-oriented life (big house, 'hot' spouse, nice jewelry, expensive cars, etc.). Take a minute and stop and think about why you want those things. Do they intrinsically have worth, or is it to satisfy some norm established by society? Be an independent thinker.
shut up loser
I don't think I necessarily want enormous homes, but would love to have a place in NY, LA, and a more outdoorsy area near good skiing like Montana.
Big sky is the move
To all the 19 year olds, just because you know what someone ‘can’ make in IB/PE, doesn’t mean you’re going to get into to it.
I mean, that’s true. Statistically speaking, most of us won’t make those exorbitant amounts. It’s nice to dream though and that’s what this thread seems to be about.
But if you do get in, isn't there a good chance?
I think I remember hearing somewhere that at most highbrow investment banks or consulting firms about one fifth of initial analyst hires make it to the middle management level (VP for banking) and only about one fifth of those get to top level positions (MD/partner) which would mean that only 4% of initial hires make it to those 7 figure positions, I think the proportion is similar for the number of biglaw associates that end up making partner. Not to mention getting to a position like that doesn't necessarily mean you'll stick around for a long time.
Those numbers might be off by quite a bit and also don't account for guys that move to the buy side and make 7 figures there, but in short, no you don't have a "good chance" of ending up making a ton of money just because you got hired as a first year analyst at a BB. There are a lot of people out there who have done stints working at investment banks and not that many clearing 7 figures annually.
That's why it's a dream house on current career trajectory.
Like an actual mansion. Could probably only pull that off AND be living somewhere not in the middle of nowhere in Texas. Still got a couple nice cities, but a nice low COL.
I often spend time on Zillow / other sites just browsing homes and a few months ago found my perfect dream home (link). It's in nicer Philly suburbs, nice plot of land, probably a tad too large in terms of square footage but there are some incredible rooms in that house.
The circle driveway is incredible as well and I think just all-around gorgeous.
11000 square feet for 2.5 MM :)
The parties your kids throw will be mighty fine!
It's quite a deal (at that price, if that can be said).
Definitely would be some wild parties there if I allowed it. Maybe have them stick to the garage
House is great, lack of fake shutters and a ridiculous roof make it not a McMansion. Good choice.
Agree 100%, that looks like the perfect house. Not sure if it has a pool, but throw in a nice one and that's all anyone could ever really want in life. Sadly, I've been spoiled by growing up 30 seconds away from the ocean in Mass, and putting that exact same house in MA would probably instantly bump it to 3mil. Add in an upper-middle class neighborhood and somewhere within a few minutes of the water, and you're looking at an easy 5 mil. By the time I'm old enough to maybe be able to afford it, I'm sure it will be 8mil and out of my reach. Perfectly happy to be cheap on myself if it means that my kids can grow up in a house like that with a nice car and a paid for education.
Agreed, a pool would really seal the deal (and there's a big enough backyard for one with plenty of room left over).
That's quite a catch, and in a great area too. I hope it's yours some day
3 mil apartment if working or 2 mil country house if retired
need me a tennis court, basketball court, soccer field, gym, theatre, game room, pool, sick views, and somewhere around hollywood hills
3000-4000 sq ft French country style home with a turret and a Porte cochere that’s in a lower COL city. Probably a 5 car garage since I want a nice little collection
Im eyeing a piece of land with direct lake access from the property, near the Swiss alps. lot is about 18k sqf and runs at 9 mil + house custom built prob 3 mil, so 12 mil. a man can dream
There is a roughly 40k square foot mansion in Alabama, known as the guitar house. It last sold at action for under 10 million ( 8 mil i think but im not 100 percent.) Since it sold for that cheap I think it is realistic in say my late 40s.
But you’d have to live in Alabama :/
yea id much rather live in California where everything is going to shit and my money goes less than half as far.
I love the old historic homes that were built in 1910 or so. I want a to live in a quiet neighborhood with big yards, a ton of oak trees, and the beautiful houses. I also want a study with wall to wall bookshelves and a massive desk. Think the Gilmore house.
I grew up in the country and it takes over 20 minutes to get anywhere. That gets annoying fast.
$3-5mm house in Del Mar, California
Love Del Mar, I would prefer Coronado if choosing in that area though
Same here, but you are practically waiting for someone to die before one of those houses becomes available
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