Getting desperate: What would you suggest to a first time home buyer?

[Anonymous]

3 bedrooms and a townhouse but no HOA fee and big:

https://www.estately.com/listings/info/6967-fairfax-drive--2

[Anonymous]

https://www.estately.com/listings/info/7120-strathmore

[Anonymous]

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Falls-Church/7400-Lisle-Ave-22043/home/9397164

[Anonymous]

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Woodbridge/12124-Darnley-Rd-22192/home/9259947?600390594=copy_variant&231528114=control&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your best bet is to look for the houses that don’t sell the first weekend. Example - this is technically out of your budget, but if there was going to be a bidding war, it would have happened already. You’ll have a little more leverage than you would with the shiny new first weekend houses.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Burke/6593-Meadowrill-Ln-22015/home/9766307

OP here: Good advice, we thought the same and checked this house out yesterday. It is a redfin flip: it's in horrendous condition, very awkward floor plan upstairs and downstairs, completely neglected structure and yard for decades. They half-painted the walls in bright white, and attempted to paint original kitchen cabinets but failed so half of them show wood under and still filthy inside... with some weird vinyl-ish stick and peel backsplash in the kitchen and bathrooms.... We considered for a split second, then realized it's a complete reno, which could be OK, but then with the level of neglect I am scared to see what's behind the walls..... That asking price is beyond ridiculous, and as desperate as we are, we have limits

I wouldn’t buy that house either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your best bet is to look for the houses that don’t sell the first weekend. Example - this is technically out of your budget, but if there was going to be a bidding war, it would have happened already. You’ll have a little more leverage than you would with the shiny new first weekend houses.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Burke/6593-Meadowrill-Ln-22015/home/9766307

$550k in normal times, need $300k of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your best bet is to look for the houses that don’t sell the first weekend. Example - this is technically out of your budget, but if there was going to be a bidding war, it would have happened already. You’ll have a little more leverage than you would with the shiny new first weekend houses.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Burke/6593-Meadowrill-Ln-22015/home/9766307

OP here: Good advice, we thought the same and checked this house out yesterday. It is a redfin flip: it's in horrendous condition, very awkward floor plan upstairs and downstairs, completely neglected structure and yard for decades. They half-painted the walls in bright white, and attempted to paint original kitchen cabinets but failed so half of them show wood under and still filthy inside... with some weird vinyl-ish stick and peel backsplash in the kitchen and bathrooms.... We considered for a split second, then realized it's a complete reno, which could be OK, but then with the level of neglect I am scared to see what's behind the walls..... That asking price is beyond ridiculous, and as desperate as we are, we have limits

I wouldn’t buy that house either.

OP can't afford a higher budget but also thinks this house is beneath him/her?! That is a nice house, at least a nice starter house. You aren't expect turnkey Instagram-ready type of home as a first time home buyer with a small budget do you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surely there is a middle ground between close in and exurbs? If you give budget and wish list, people could give suggestions.

Good point: 825k or so, 4 bedroom +den/office, within 1 hour or so commute of DC, preferrably somewhere in Nova. It's OK if it needs cosmetic work, but we need the space and decent (middle pack) schools.

Have you looked the area of Falls Church near Shrevewood Elementary? Falls Church Fairfax County.

Falls church near Shrevewood ES is a great location. I just bought in this neighborhood last summer and we feel super lucky. We initially were looking where OP is looking now and are really glad we got our house - it’s a much better location for our commutes (no WFH for us) and we love it. Easy to access 495 and 66, getting into DC for after school medical appointments for our SN son has been easy.

[Anonymous]

I would choose b). House price will go down if interest rate goes up. The affordability won’t change much. You don’t want to be stuck with a house that you don’t like and that is hard to sell in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,
Is the extra den a HAVE to have? Reducing your search to just 4 BRs may help a good bit for the areas you're looking in.

Burke & West Springfield at least - these mostly turn over on the military move cycle in the spring so i'm not surprised you're finding nothing now in the dead of winter. If you decide you like that area, one thing you could do is pick an ES in either town and rent there if you end up crunched on timing this year (again, lots of TH and SFH rentals in both due to military moving) and then be well positioned to be constantly on the lookout in your one ES zone from there forward. I wouldn't go past those towns to Fairfax Station - it's lovely and houses are quite pretty but I don't see how you'd get downtown in an hour. Even Burke you'll need to either do VRE, slug lines once they restart or off-hours commuting to get to DC in that time. I live there and it's 1 hour to Arlington (near Clarendon area) flexing drive time just slightly off the peak. But most of my neighbors that went to DC pre covid did VRE.

Agree. I live in the area and it is super-cyclical. Military folks are getting their orders right about now. The inventory will pick up a little in February into March, be at its highest in April, some will come on in May, and then the leftovers (houses priced too high to start or ones with fatal flaws like bad location/layout/yard) will be available end of May into June. April is the real feeding frenzy. In your shoes I’d be looking now so you know the area well, and be ready to jump if the right house shows up in Feb or March. Be prepared to close and offer a rentback to the end of the school year. Do you have a good realtor?

[Anonymous]

This one just came on the market today - seems worth checking out. It wouldn’t surprise me if it goes $100k over asking though. But there’s still room for that in your budget.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Burke/9210-Capricorn-Ct-22015/home/9738560?600390594=copy_variant&231528114=control&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,
Is the extra den a HAVE to have? Reducing your search to just 4 BRs may help a good bit for the areas you're looking in.

Burke & West Springfield at least - these mostly turn over on the military move cycle in the spring so i'm not surprised you're finding nothing now in the dead of winter. If you decide you like that area, one thing you could do is pick an ES in either town and rent there if you end up crunched on timing this year (again, lots of TH and SFH rentals in both due to military moving) and then be well positioned to be constantly on the lookout in your one ES zone from there forward. I wouldn't go past those towns to Fairfax Station - it's lovely and houses are quite pretty but I don't see how you'd get downtown in an hour. Even Burke you'll need to either do VRE, slug lines once they restart or off-hours commuting to get to DC in that time. I live there and it's 1 hour to Arlington (near Clarendon area) flexing drive time just slightly off the peak. But most of my neighbors that went to DC pre covid did VRE.

Agree. I live in the area and it is super-cyclical. Military folks are getting their orders right about now. The inventory will pick up a little in February into March, be at its highest in April, some will come on in May, and then the leftovers (houses priced too high to start or ones with fatal flaws like bad location/layout/yard) will be available end of May into June. April is the real feeding frenzy. In your shoes I’d be looking now so you know the area well, and be ready to jump if the right house shows up in Feb or March. Be prepared to close and offer a rentback to the end of the school year. Do you have a good realtor?

I live in one of the neighborhoods you can walk to the VRE. Military folks in my neighborhood mostly rent so not sure if it will contribute much to inventory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your best bet is to look for the houses that don’t sell the first weekend. Example - this is technically out of your budget, but if there was going to be a bidding war, it would have happened already. You’ll have a little more leverage than you would with the shiny new first weekend houses.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Burke/6593-Meadowrill-Ln-22015/home/9766307

OP here: Good advice, we thought the same and checked this house out yesterday. It is a redfin flip: it's in horrendous condition, very awkward floor plan upstairs and downstairs, completely neglected structure and yard for decades. They half-painted the walls in bright white, and attempted to paint original kitchen cabinets but failed so half of them show wood under and still filthy inside... with some weird vinyl-ish stick and peel backsplash in the kitchen and bathrooms.... We considered for a split second, then realized it's a complete reno, which could be OK, but then with the level of neglect I am scared to see what's behind the walls..... That asking price is beyond ridiculous, and as desperate as we are, we have limits

I wouldn’t buy that house either.

OP can't afford a higher budget but also thinks this house is beneath him/her?! That is a nice house, at least a nice starter house. You aren't expect turnkey Instagram-ready type of home as a first time home buyer with a small budget do you?

DP. All non-turnkey homes are not created equal. This sounds like it’s not worth salvaging because the core issues aren’t fixable (poor floor plan, bad bones).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,
Is the extra den a HAVE to have? Reducing your search to just 4 BRs may help a good bit for the areas you're looking in.

Burke & West Springfield at least - these mostly turn over on the military move cycle in the spring so i'm not surprised you're finding nothing now in the dead of winter. If you decide you like that area, one thing you could do is pick an ES in either town and rent there if you end up crunched on timing this year (again, lots of TH and SFH rentals in both due to military moving) and then be well positioned to be constantly on the lookout in your one ES zone from there forward. I wouldn't go past those towns to Fairfax Station - it's lovely and houses are quite pretty but I don't see how you'd get downtown in an hour. Even Burke you'll need to either do VRE, slug lines once they restart or off-hours commuting to get to DC in that time. I live there and it's 1 hour to Arlington (near Clarendon area) flexing drive time just slightly off the peak. But most of my neighbors that went to DC pre covid did VRE.

Agree. I live in the area and it is super-cyclical. Military folks are getting their orders right about now. The inventory will pick up a little in February into March, be at its highest in April, some will come on in May, and then the leftovers (houses priced too high to start or ones with fatal flaws like bad location/layout/yard) will be available end of May into June. April is the real feeding frenzy. In your shoes I’d be looking now so you know the area well, and be ready to jump if the right house shows up in Feb or March. Be prepared to close and offer a rentback to the end of the school year. Do you have a good realtor?

I live in one of the neighborhoods you can walk to the VRE. Military folks in my neighborhood mostly rent so not sure if it will contribute much to inventory.

Don’t know what to tell you. I studied the market in this area because I knew we were moving back here eventually and would want to buy. I lived through it when we bought in spring 2017 and I still watch how homes are priced and what they sell for in our neighborhood. What I said above is what I learned. Op is free to take it into account or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,
Is the extra den a HAVE to have? Reducing your search to just 4 BRs may help a good bit for the areas you're looking in.

Burke & West Springfield at least - these mostly turn over on the military move cycle in the spring so i'm not surprised you're finding nothing now in the dead of winter. If you decide you like that area, one thing you could do is pick an ES in either town and rent there if you end up crunched on timing this year (again, lots of TH and SFH rentals in both due to military moving) and then be well positioned to be constantly on the lookout in your one ES zone from there forward. I wouldn't go past those towns to Fairfax Station - it's lovely and houses are quite pretty but I don't see how you'd get downtown in an hour. Even Burke you'll need to either do VRE, slug lines once they restart or off-hours commuting to get to DC in that time. I live there and it's 1 hour to Arlington (near Clarendon area) flexing drive time just slightly off the peak. But most of my neighbors that went to DC pre covid did VRE.

Agree. I live in the area and it is super-cyclical. Military folks are getting their orders right about now. The inventory will pick up a little in February into March, be at its highest in April, some will come on in May, and then the leftovers (houses priced too high to start or ones with fatal flaws like bad location/layout/yard) will be available end of May into June. April is the real feeding frenzy. In your shoes I’d be looking now so you know the area well, and be ready to jump if the right house shows up in Feb or March. Be prepared to close and offer a rentback to the end of the school year. Do you have a good realtor?

I live in one of the neighborhoods you can walk to the VRE. Military folks in my neighborhood mostly rent so not sure if it will contribute much to inventory.

If you mean the townhouses since those are most of what is closest to the VRE then yes, agree. My neighborhood is mostly SFHs and it's a mix of renters and buyers but more of the latter in my view when the military changeovers happen.