I used to think a million dollar house would be a mansion

[Anonymous]

Honestly I thought I'd get more than my dumpy townhouse in the suburbs for $300k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

Wow, enjoy that mortgage and taxes! We live in a $600k paid off house. For what you spend on taxes alone every year, we send our kids to private school and pay for international vacations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

Wow, enjoy that mortgage and taxes! We live in a $600k paid off house. For what you spend on taxes alone every year, we send our kids to private school and pay for international vacations.

How is this possible? Their taxes can't be more than 25k a year on a 1.7 mm house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are 29 year old Feds making any money, even the lawyers? The 29 year olds I know are MAYBE GS-14s at the high end. That's not much more than $200k dual. Hell, I just turned 29 and I'm in the equivalent of a GS-13 position and thought I was doing well for myself.

Pretty easy, acquire the minimum 1 yr experience and compete for a promotion via USAJOBs.

I am a fed which I was able to obtain GS-15 by the age of 29(over 5 years ago).
With my DW fed income as well we are in the 280Ks.
We will probably peak at 300Ks, not bad for saving and avoiding overspending on the taxpayer behalf.

BTW, we also are living in a million dollar plus home.
My neighbors are at least 10 yrs old than us, sometimes are like WTF do you.

Do you have student loans? I don't know your situation, but I would think not given that it would be pretty hard to save the $200-300K downpayment on your millon dollar home on two government salaries while paying off student loans in your late 20s and early 30s. What people here are not willing to admit is that it also counts as getting family help when someone pays for all of your college and grad school. Then, you can save enough money to purchase an expensive home, rather than sending $1-2K per month to a student loan servicer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are 29 year old Feds making any money, even the lawyers? The 29 year olds I know are MAYBE GS-14s at the high end. That's not much more than $200k dual. Hell, I just turned 29 and I'm in the equivalent of a GS-13 position and thought I was doing well for myself.

Pretty easy, acquire the minimum 1 yr experience and compete for a promotion via USAJOBs.

I am a fed which I was able to obtain GS-15 by the age of 29(over 5 years ago).
With my DW fed income as well we are in the 280Ks.
We will probably peak at 300Ks, not bad for saving and avoiding overspending on the taxpayer behalf.

BTW, we also are living in a million dollar plus home.
My neighbors are at least 10 yrs old than us, sometimes are like WTF do you.

Do you have student loans? I don't know your situation, but I would think not given that it would be pretty hard to save the $200-300K downpayment on your millon dollar home on two government salaries while paying off student loans in your late 20s and early 30s. What people here are not willing to admit is that it also counts as getting family help when someone pays for all of your college and grad school. Then, you can save enough money to purchase an expensive home, rather than sending $1-2K per month to a student loan servicer.

You know, I bet your parents paid for all of your food and clothing growing up. Don't say you didn't get any help from your family.



FYI - people might get financial help from scholarships/grants - not just parents. Particularly those people bright enough to later go on and get high-paying jobs out of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

4x70 is 280, not 500.

No way are you qualifying for a $1.2M mortgage on a $70k x2 income -- you are leaving out the part where your spouse way out earns you and your total income is likely more than two GS14s.

Living in a studio? So you must have left a lot of your belongings at your parents I would guess. Sure you can live simply, but let's be real here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

Wow, enjoy that mortgage and taxes! We live in a $600k paid off house. For what you spend on taxes alone every year, we send our kids to private school and pay for international vacations.

How is this possible? Their taxes can't be more than 25k a year on a 1.7 mm house.

More like no more than 17K, likely lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are 29 year old Feds making any money, even the lawyers? The 29 year olds I know are MAYBE GS-14s at the high end. That's not much more than $200k dual. Hell, I just turned 29 and I'm in the equivalent of a GS-13 position and thought I was doing well for myself.

Pretty easy, acquire the minimum 1 yr experience and compete for a promotion via USAJOBs.

I am a fed which I was able to obtain GS-15 by the age of 29(over 5 years ago).
With my DW fed income as well we are in the 280Ks.
We will probably peak at 300Ks, not bad for saving and avoiding overspending on the taxpayer behalf.

BTW, we also are living in a million dollar plus home.
My neighbors are at least 10 yrs old than us, sometimes are like WTF do you.

Do you have student loans? I don't know your situation, but I would think not given that it would be pretty hard to save the $200-300K downpayment on your millon dollar home on two government salaries while paying off student loans in your late 20s and early 30s. What people here are not willing to admit is that it also counts as getting family help when someone pays for all of your college and grad school. Then, you can save enough money to purchase an expensive home, rather than sending $1-2K per month to a student loan servicer.

You know, I bet your parents paid for all of your food and clothing growing up. Don't say you didn't get any help from your family.



FYI - people might get financial help from scholarships/grants - not just parents. Particularly those people bright enough to later go on and get high-paying jobs out of school.

Yes, but I don't have to pay them back $1500 per month for the food and clothing they provided me like I do for the student loan providers. Try to come up with a better argument. And please, we all know how difficult it is to get a full ride or substantial scholarship or grant such that you would have very little in the way of student loans, particularly for graduate school. That may be the case with some people, but it is incorrect to imply that that is the situation with most people who come out of school with no (or very few) loans. And finally, plenty of "very bright" people are not offered substantial scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

4x70 is 280, not 500.

No way are you qualifying for a $1.2M mortgage on a $70k x2 income -- you are leaving out the part where your spouse way out earns you and your total income is likely more than two GS14s.

Living in a studio? So you must have left a lot of your belongings at your parents I would guess. Sure you can live simply, but let's be real here.

This is real. Plenty of people live in studios. Not everyone has a ton of belongings and requires a huge apartment or house in the burbs. Especially not two successful people in their 20s or 30s who probably spend most of their time at the office or out and about. Comments like these must come from people who grew up in middle America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are 29 year old Feds making any money, even the lawyers? The 29 year olds I know are MAYBE GS-14s at the high end. That's not much more than $200k dual. Hell, I just turned 29 and I'm in the equivalent of a GS-13 position and thought I was doing well for myself.

Pretty easy, acquire the minimum 1 yr experience and compete for a promotion via USAJOBs.

I am a fed which I was able to obtain GS-15 by the age of 29(over 5 years ago).
With my DW fed income as well we are in the 280Ks.
We will probably peak at 300Ks, not bad for saving and avoiding overspending on the taxpayer behalf.

BTW, we also are living in a million dollar plus home.
My neighbors are at least 10 yrs old than us, sometimes are like WTF do you.

Do you have student loans? I don't know your situation, but I would think not given that it would be pretty hard to save the $200-300K downpayment on your millon dollar home on two government salaries while paying off student loans in your late 20s and early 30s. What people here are not willing to admit is that it also counts as getting family help when someone pays for all of your college and grad school. Then, you can save enough money to purchase an expensive home, rather than sending $1-2K per month to a student loan servicer.

You know, I bet your parents paid for all of your food and clothing growing up. Don't say you didn't get any help from your family.



FYI - people might get financial help from scholarships/grants - not just parents. Particularly those people bright enough to later go on and get high-paying jobs out of school.

Um, there is a huge difference between parents providing basic food and clothing, which they are required to provide, and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for college and grad school. Most of us come out of school having been provided with food and clothing, but those who come out having all of their education paid for are at a huge financial advantage. Don't pretend like it doesn't exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

4x70 is 280, not 500.

No way are you qualifying for a $1.2M mortgage on a $70k x2 income -- you are leaving out the part where your spouse way out earns you and your total income is likely more than two GS14s.

Living in a studio? So you must have left a lot of your belongings at your parents I would guess. Sure you can live simply, but let's be real here.

This is real. Plenty of people live in studios. Not everyone has a ton of belongings and requires a huge apartment or house in the burbs. Especially not two successful people in their 20s or 30s who probably spend most of their time at the office or out and about. Comments like these must come from people who grew up in middle America.

Cue the flyover country bashing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are 29 year old Feds making any money, even the lawyers? The 29 year olds I know are MAYBE GS-14s at the high end. That's not much more than $200k dual. Hell, I just turned 29 and I'm in the equivalent of a GS-13 position and thought I was doing well for myself.

Pretty easy, acquire the minimum 1 yr experience and compete for a promotion via USAJOBs.

I am a fed which I was able to obtain GS-15 by the age of 29(over 5 years ago).
With my DW fed income as well we are in the 280Ks.
We will probably peak at 300Ks, not bad for saving and avoiding overspending on the taxpayer behalf.

BTW, we also are living in a million dollar plus home.
My neighbors are at least 10 yrs old than us, sometimes are like WTF do you.

Do you have student loans? I don't know your situation, but I would think not given that it would be pretty hard to save the $200-300K downpayment on your millon dollar home on two government salaries while paying off student loans in your late 20s and early 30s. What people here are not willing to admit is that it also counts as getting family help when someone pays for all of your college and grad school. Then, you can save enough money to purchase an expensive home, rather than sending $1-2K per month to a student loan servicer.

PP, here. I had $15K from my undergrad. I bought a starter house in 2004 renovated and sold it 2 years later. I was able to buy the starter home with an uncoventional interest only loan. I got lucky that was able to do a gut renovation and sold for max profit (did not use an agent just a RE lawyer).

Like I said I got luck and feel fortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be doing something wrong with my life. 29 affording a million dollar home. Jesus!

Yeah, you weren't born to multimillionaire parents. I can't believe the wealth here among young people. And no, being a dual fed couple or a law firm associate does not quite make it add up. No one can deny that there are a lot of people here with inherited wealth. There is a row of new build McCraftman homes in our area that go for about $1.8 million and the couples who live there don't even look like they are in their 30s. Wow.

Actually it does. You can definitely save 300-400k over the course of 4-5 years if renting a relatively inexpensive apartment and no children in the picture.

Excuse me, but where does one rent an "inexpensive apartment" in this area such that they can save 300-400K in 5 years? Just wondering.

We rented a studio apartment in an older building in Ballston until July 2016 at $1,250 per month and it included utilities. We saved my entire take home of roughly $70k for 4 years and had $500k when we bought a $1,649,00 new built in Arlington. When we moved our landlord raised rent to $1.300.

4x70 is 280, not 500.

No way are you qualifying for a $1.2M mortgage on a $70k x2 income -- you are leaving out the part where your spouse way out earns you and your total income is likely more than two GS14s.

Living in a studio? So you must have left a lot of your belongings at your parents I would guess. Sure you can live simply, but let's be real here.

This is real. Plenty of people live in studios. Not everyone has a ton of belongings and requires a huge apartment or house in the burbs. Especially not two successful people in their 20s or 30s who probably spend most of their time at the office or out and about. Comments like these must come from people who grew up in middle America.

Cue the flyover country bashing.

Well if you aren't aware that married couples in urban areas live in studio apartments you deserve to be bashed....

[Anonymous]

Yes.... be very frugal, live in a studio for years, and all to end up living in a house that would likely cost 1/3 what you paid in most American cities while still offering you a comparable QOL.

Pat yourself on the back.

Yes, a million+ bucks doesn't go far in the DC area. You're really no better off than people living in 400-500k houses in most American cities. The extra wealth will only manifest itself if you cash out and leave the DC area permanently.