Timing really is everything — especially for a couple who say monthly mortgage payments have doubled in just three years — making it unaffordable if they were to buy their home today.
Brooklyn-based couple Sarah and Teddy bought their 1870s house in Bushwick for $1,040,000 in 2021, putting a 15 percent down payment and leaving them with an $880,000 mortgage.
“We knew we had a killer deal,” Sarah explained in a TikTok. ‘We certainly couldn’t afford to buy our house now, less than three years later.’
The homeowner admitted she and her husband couldn’t afford the monthly payments on their top if they were to buy it today — with the monthly mortgage payment doubled.
Brooklyn-based couple Sarah and Teddy bought their 1870s house in Bushwick for $1,040,000 in 2021, putting a 15 percent down payment and leaving them with an $880,000 mortgage
The homeowner admitted she and her husband (pictured together) couldn’t afford the monthly payments on their top if they were to buy it today – with monthly mortgage payments doubling
“We have a 30-year mortgage rate,” Sarah said in the clip. “And this is the luckiest part — at 2.125 percent, that means our monthly payment is about $3,131 a month.”
Sarah admitted that she and her husband were “super lucky” with their fixed rate mortgage, not realizing how lucky they really were as they had never bought a house before
“I didn’t actually realize how lucky it was,” she admitted.
“You know it’s absolutely crazy to have a whole house for $3,100 a month — it’s basically a studio apartment in Manhattan or like a one bedroom on our street in Brooklyn,” she added.
Sarah said that if they were to buy their house today, it would cost over $1.3 million – but that’s not the shocking part.
“You’d probably put 20 percent down, you’d end up with a mortgage that’s the same as our whole house cost,” she said incredulously.
“The worst thing is if you got a 30-year fixed rate of about 6.655 percent — which is what happened when I Googled what the mortgage rate is right now — you’d end up with a monthly payment of $6,680,” she said .
“That’s more than double what we’re paying right now, and it’ll be well over $7,000 once you put in all your insurance, taxes, all that kind of stuff,” she continued.
Sarah and Teddy’s comment section was filled with people amazed at the low mortgage rate they managed to get
“And it’s the same house in a very short time,” she pointed out. “Without taking into account any of the improvements we’ve made.”
“We’ll be here forever,” she ended the clip. ‘Not only do we love it, but we certainly can’t afford to buy anything else.’
Sarah and Teddy’s comment section was filled with people amazed at the low mortgage rate they managed to get.
‘It’s wild! My house is worth $330k and I pay almost the same mortgage as you! Timing really is everything!’ exclaimed one user.
‘People who bought during low interest rates hit the lottery,’ said another.
“This is really crazy and I can’t believe I’m paying the same as you monthly for a house in southern Maine that was about half the price of your house,” commented another.
Sarah and Teddy are documenting the transformation of their Bushwick home on their TikTok, @homeonwoodbine, as they renovate it themselves — jokingly admitting they thought they’d be done in a year.
So far, the couple has renovated the basement, the guest room and master bedroom, the master bathroom, the backyard, replaced the windows, fixed the stairs and painted the interior trim and some walls.