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Comment by tekla | Hacker News Reader

> Those limits are expected to jump to a baseline level of about $650,000 in most jurisdictions and to just under $1 million in high-cost markets.

> adding that some of his clients are unable to qualify for loans for modest-sized homes under the current limits.

Being unable to qualify for a loan on a $650,000-$970,800 limit makes me think you can't afford to live in that area, whatever "modest" size means.

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Just going to point out that there are very real cases where one may want a mortgage larger than they want at least temporarily.

For example, buying a home and selling another. If you want to minimize risk, easier to sell the old one, take a mortgage on the new one, and then clean things up once the dust settles.

At least for cities like Seattle, that’s been basically the only way to sell a home and buy a new one without assuming a ton of risk.

Contingent is how you do it.

In a hot market that's how you get your offer rejected. It's also how you are stuck in limbo for 6 months because you unknowingly got into a massive, stacked transaction.

Not sure whether you've looked at average prices in most tech areas lately, they're getting pretty steep. You can always move an extra 30 minutes away from work to cut your costs but then you're spending time and money on a longer commute, even if you can "afford" that lower mortgage.

We’ve ignored the increase in nominal home values as part of inflation. Eventually you trip over limits like this one. Most major metros in the US see at least the 75th percentile of homes at above 1 million.

> Being unable to qualify for a loan on a $650,000-$970,800 limit makes me think you can't afford to live in that area, whatever "modest" size means

Someone with half a million dollars in cash can't afford a $1.2mm home?

I think what that statement is trying to say is the price in unrelated to the size and quality of the house in high-cost areas.

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