Shocked at how many families in nice DMV neighborhoods are living in relatives' homes

[Anonymous]

I highly doubt OP did it on his own. I also bet that he doesn’t recognize how good he has it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kid (only-child) just finished kindergarten at a school in an upscale DMV neighborhood.

We've met at least a dozen families at our school who are living in a childhood home or a living in a house own by an elderly parent/relative and "paying rent" (whatever that means)

Though extracurricular activities we've met other families with the same arrangements in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and upper NW DC. This is, in fact, pretty widespread.

So, if you're slogging away saving for that down payment, paying for child care and wondering "how do all these people do it????"....just know that this is one of the ways you're getting shut out. I'm honestly surprised at how widespread this is happening.

Sounds peculiar to your wealthy bubble. No one I know lives like this. We all own our own homes or rent.

[Anonymous]

I am a Murch parent. I don’t know any adult living in their childhood home. But I am curious about OP - how do you do it, so independent as you are?!! Amazing. Congratulations 🎈 🎉 you are living the American dream.

[Anonymous]

Meritocracy is out and inheritance is in is the message from OP.

[Anonymous]

Some people have rich families? Thanks for the bombshell news!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I feel kind of bad for people who won't ever had a feeling of personal fulfillment from standing on their own two feet

This is silly cope. As a person who was raised LMC and earned my own wealth, I know many people who have inherited generational wealth, from standard “top 1%” to billionaires and I don’t feel bad for them at all. I know *one* wastrel “can’t stand on their own two feet” person. Thinking of all rich kids this way is confirmation bias. I know very many, many more with “generational wealth” who are successful doctors and lawyers, government employees, work on Wall Street and run the family business, etc. They absolutely had the advantage of family money and connections, but you wouldn’t know most of them came from wealth. Especially the ones who don’t have “household names - there are several I knew for decades before someone clued me in about their background. Carly Simon’s father ran Simon & Schuster. Do you think she never had “a feeling of personal fulfillment” because she had money and connections? How about Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the daughter of a billionaire? They don’t need your pity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy is out and inheritance is in is the message from OP.

OP is just jealous and doesn’t seem to have a clue about how the world works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I feel kind of bad for people who won't ever had a feeling of personal fulfillment from standing on their own two feet

This is silly cope. As a person who was raised LMC and earned my own wealth, I know many people who have inherited generational wealth, from standard “top 1%” to billionaires and I don’t feel bad for them at all. I know *one* wastrel “can’t stand on their own two feet” person. Thinking of all rich kids this way is confirmation bias. I know very many, many more with “generational wealth” who are successful doctors and lawyers, government employees, work on Wall Street and run the family business, etc. They absolutely had the advantage of family money and connections, but you wouldn’t know most of them came from wealth. Especially the ones who don’t have “household names - there are several I knew for decades before someone clued me in about their background. Carly Simon’s father ran Simon & Schuster. Do you think she never had “a feeling of personal fulfillment” because she had money and connections? How about Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the daughter of a billionaire? They don’t need your pity.

Your examples seem to support PP, though hard to know. Did Carly Simon get listened to as a favor to her family, or did she in fact turn her back on a “sure” career in publishing to pursue music. Same comment for Julia Louis.

Most successful families in traditional careers are horrified if their kid wants to be a musician or actor. Not uncommon to “cut them off”. I have no idea if that was the case for either.

The reason so many famous rock stars and actors come from LMC/poor backgrounds is that they have no trust fund or fallback position to success.

I bet 90% of the famous artists would have given up if they had millions to fall back on in family money, so it is a testament to the artists above they didn’t fall into the trap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I feel kind of bad for people who won't ever had a feeling of personal fulfillment from standing on their own two feet

This is silly cope. As a person who was raised LMC and earned my own wealth, I know many people who have inherited generational wealth, from standard “top 1%” to billionaires and I don’t feel bad for them at all. I know *one* wastrel “can’t stand on their own two feet” person. Thinking of all rich kids this way is confirmation bias. I know very many, many more with “generational wealth” who are successful doctors and lawyers, government employees, work on Wall Street and run the family business, etc. They absolutely had the advantage of family money and connections, but you wouldn’t know most of them came from wealth. Especially the ones who don’t have “household names - there are several I knew for decades before someone clued me in about their background. Carly Simon’s father ran Simon & Schuster. Do you think she never had “a feeling of personal fulfillment” because she had money and connections? How about Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the daughter of a billionaire? They don’t need your pity.

+1 I would love to try out benefitting from generational wealth. I'm even willing to put up with pp's pity in exchange for millions lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are offended why are living there? By fact of living in an “upscale DMV neighborhood” you are part of the same human drive of striving and wealth accumulation.

This is the point of striving - getting an education, getting a high paying job, accumulating property - so that you can make life easier for your kids and pass on wealth/property.

This. We're doing all this for our kids. An "upscale DMV neighborhood" isn't the place for OP if she wants to avoid this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are offended why are living there? By fact of living in an “upscale DMV neighborhood” you are part of the same human drive of striving and wealth accumulation.

This is the point of striving - getting an education, getting a high paying job, accumulating property - so that you can make life easier for your kids and pass on wealth/property.

This. We're doing all this for our kids. An "upscale DMV neighborhood" isn't the place for OP if she wants to avoid this.

Yes. In OP's opinion, we are supposed to sell our house as soon as we can, all in the name of "macro economic trends" or similar nonsense, rather than eventually allow our teenager to live here or inherit it. Sorry, no chance. I care more about my kid than I do about the hypothetical other people's kids who could potentially live here, and I make no apologies for that. This house is a non-trivial portion of our net worth, and I'm going to treat it like that.

[Anonymous]

Everyone missed the point that it’s a sign of how unaffordable housing is and that much of what you might think is people affording homes is actually an illusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone missed the point that it’s a sign of how unaffordable housing is and that much of what you might think is people affording homes is actually an illusion.

Yep. Welcome to America in 2024.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are offended why are living there? By fact of living in an “upscale DMV neighborhood” you are part of the same human drive of striving and wealth accumulation.

This is the point of striving - getting an education, getting a high paying job, accumulating property - so that you can make life easier for your kids and pass on wealth/property.

This. We're doing all this for our kids. An "upscale DMV neighborhood" isn't the place for OP if she wants to avoid this.

Yes. In OP's opinion, we are supposed to sell our house as soon as we can, all in the name of "macro economic trends" or similar nonsense, rather than eventually allow our teenager to live here or inherit it. Sorry, no chance. I care more about my kid than I do about the hypothetical other people's kids who could potentially live here, and I make no apologies for that. This house is a non-trivial portion of our net worth, and I'm going to treat it like that.

I still only see this in maybe 1 of 100 homes. A neighbor in their late 70s still lives in the home in which he was born and “bought” it from parents in like 1980.

His kids don’t want it so it will be sold…another 90 year old neighbor with 5 kids that all live close and none want the house so the estate will sell it when that neighbor dies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid (only-child) just finished kindergarten at a school in an upscale DMV neighborhood.

We've met at least a dozen families at our school who are living in a childhood home or a living in a house own by an elderly parent/relative and "paying rent" (whatever that means)

Though extracurricular activities we've met other families with the same arrangements in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and upper NW DC. This is, in fact, pretty widespread.

So, if you're slogging away saving for that down payment, paying for child care and wondering "how do all these people do it????"....just know that this is one of the ways you're getting shut out. I'm honestly surprised at how widespread this is happening.

Sounds peculiar to your wealthy bubble. No one I know lives like this. We all own our own homes or rent.

I’ve met only one family that the parents and kids lived together - and it was an extremely strange family where the kids were failure to launch and it was in a “cheaper” neighborhood (houses that are a mix of older and new - the houses are probably 1.3 million with some 2 million mixed in now). We moved to a 2-3+ million neighborhood. No one is living with their parents.