We've been saving to move to upper NW...

[Anonymous]

Ok I don’t know if this will help.

I grew up in that area. So I know it really well. I’ve also lived there and other places as an adult.

It’s just not that different! It’s truly not. It feels like this important brass ring because it’s so expensive, but it’s only so expensive because it is finite and there is a bigger pool of people who want to live there than can. That’s it! That’s what’s driving up the cost. It’s just demand. It’s not the great things about the neighborhoods, which are great! They’re just not great enough to justify the cost.

There are a LOT of other neighborhoods where your life will be 95% or more the same, that cost a lot less. That have most or all of the great things and other things CCDC doesn’t have, like mudrooms and diversity. You need to identify what you want to walk to, as a priority. Also be open to the idea that your life will change a bit. I used to walk to the corner grocery store like 3x/week and I thought it was important to me to be able to walk to a grocery store. Now I use my car more and consolidate my trips so I don’t care about that and I just want a Whole Foods with easy parking.

If you think you can only be happy in upper Northwest, I have some bad news. You just can’t be happy, or don’t want to. There’s no level of wealth that will help you with that. There are good schools in lots of places and families who have all kinds of problems with Lafayette etc. There’s no guarantee your kids will be happy and successful at Lafayette just because the neighborhood is expensive. If they can be happy and successful at Lafayette, they can almost certainly be happy and successful in Takoma Park or Silver Spring or Rockville or wherever. Your kids are the most important factor. No school is perfect or a cure all.

Here’s the other thing - the reasons CCDC is desirable are the features that were built in to appeal to some of the worst things about our not so distant community history. I’m not saying the people there now are responsible or the factors are all still the same or they don’t exist elsewhere. But it requires and deserves interrogation and conscious decision making.

[Anonymous]

My 3 bedroom smallish ( 1700 sf ) nicely renovated house in AU Park shows 800+$ per SF on Zillow and about 1.4$m (down from $1.6m at peak) and l know there are other similar houses here without a massive addition. Zillow typically $600 - $900 / sf, so in your budget for the smaller houses. But nobody is selling? Are you being picky in other ways like you only want a very quiet street?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 bedroom smallish ( 1700 sf ) nicely renovated house in AU Park shows 800+$ per SF on Zillow and about 1.4$m (down from $1.6m at peak) and l know there are other similar houses here without a massive addition. Zillow typically $600 - $900 / sf, so in your budget for the smaller houses. But nobody is selling? Are you being picky in other ways like you only want a very quiet street?

Well as some posters pointed out, I suppose I was being picky in that I was hoping for a SFH. But other than that, my standards aren't that high. But just because zillow shows that estimate doesn't mean there are houses to buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Prices have increased at a higher rater than salaries, OP. You knew that, right?

Everyone is in the same boat.

We're still not sure if the US can avoid a recession in 2023 and 2024, but even if there is a recession, upper NW, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and some areas of NoVa will always increase in price.

So unless you're benefiting from free preK in DC, I'd move to MD or VA right away, in an area with great public schools and public transport - not necessarily to put your kids in there, but to guarantee the continued value of your house. It's an investment consideration. Of course the excellent public school clusters will also be expensive. I'm in Bethesda just west of downtown, and houses are 2M+ here.

We're at a weird point where if you have to save to build a down payment, you likely will never actually get the house you want because the rate at which you can save and earn a return on the savings is going to be dwarfed by appreciation. I'd say something has to give, but the only difference between now and 15 years ago is that now it's people trying to save 1.5 million for the SFH home and then it was people trying to save 1M for that same home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok I don’t know if this will help.

I grew up in that area. So I know it really well. I’ve also lived there and other places as an adult.

It’s just not that different! It’s truly not. It feels like this important brass ring because it’s so expensive, but it’s only so expensive because it is finite and there is a bigger pool of people who want to live there than can. That’s it! That’s what’s driving up the cost. It’s just demand. It’s not the great things about the neighborhoods, which are great! They’re just not great enough to justify the cost.

There are a LOT of other neighborhoods where your life will be 95% or more the same, that cost a lot less. That have most or all of the great things and other things CCDC doesn’t have, like mudrooms and diversity. You need to identify what you want to walk to, as a priority. Also be open to the idea that your life will change a bit. I used to walk to the corner grocery store like 3x/week and I thought it was important to me to be able to walk to a grocery store. Now I use my car more and consolidate my trips so I don’t care about that and I just want a Whole Foods with easy parking.

If you think you can only be happy in upper Northwest, I have some bad news. You just can’t be happy, or don’t want to. There’s no level of wealth that will help you with that. There are good schools in lots of places and families who have all kinds of problems with Lafayette etc. There’s no guarantee your kids will be happy and successful at Lafayette just because the neighborhood is expensive. If they can be happy and successful at Lafayette, they can almost certainly be happy and successful in Takoma Park or Silver Spring or Rockville or wherever. Your kids are the most important factor. No school is perfect or a cure all.

Here’s the other thing - the reasons CCDC is desirable are the features that were built in to appeal to some of the worst things about our not so distant community history. I’m not saying the people there now are responsible or the factors are all still the same or they don’t exist elsewhere. But it requires and deserves interrogation and conscious decision making.

I appreciate this post but I do think you're implying more than what I said. I was lamenting that all our house savings for a specific goal have been wasted. I didn't say I would never be happy. I don't think it's crazy to work toward a goal for 4 years, realize you'll never achieve it, and feel sad about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok I don’t know if this will help.

I grew up in that area. So I know it really well. I’ve also lived there and other places as an adult.

It’s just not that different! It’s truly not. It feels like this important brass ring because it’s so expensive, but it’s only so expensive because it is finite and there is a bigger pool of people who want to live there than can. That’s it! That’s what’s driving up the cost. It’s just demand. It’s not the great things about the neighborhoods, which are great! They’re just not great enough to justify the cost.

There are a LOT of other neighborhoods where your life will be 95% or more the same, that cost a lot less. That have most or all of the great things and other things CCDC doesn’t have, like mudrooms and diversity. You need to identify what you want to walk to, as a priority. Also be open to the idea that your life will change a bit. I used to walk to the corner grocery store like 3x/week and I thought it was important to me to be able to walk to a grocery store. Now I use my car more and consolidate my trips so I don’t care about that and I just want a Whole Foods with easy parking.

If you think you can only be happy in upper Northwest, I have some bad news. You just can’t be happy, or don’t want to. There’s no level of wealth that will help you with that. There are good schools in lots of places and families who have all kinds of problems with Lafayette etc. There’s no guarantee your kids will be happy and successful at Lafayette just because the neighborhood is expensive. If they can be happy and successful at Lafayette, they can almost certainly be happy and successful in Takoma Park or Silver Spring or Rockville or wherever. Your kids are the most important factor. No school is perfect or a cure all.

Here’s the other thing - the reasons CCDC is desirable are the features that were built in to appeal to some of the worst things about our not so distant community history. I’m not saying the people there now are responsible or the factors are all still the same or they don’t exist elsewhere. But it requires and deserves interrogation and conscious decision making.

Thanks for this, I am not Op, but this definitely helped me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok I don’t know if this will help.

I grew up in that area. So I know it really well. I’ve also lived there and other places as an adult.

It’s just not that different! It’s truly not. It feels like this important brass ring because it’s so expensive, but it’s only so expensive because it is finite and there is a bigger pool of people who want to live there than can. That’s it! That’s what’s driving up the cost. It’s just demand. It’s not the great things about the neighborhoods, which are great! They’re just not great enough to justify the cost.

There are a LOT of other neighborhoods where your life will be 95% or more the same, that cost a lot less. That have most or all of the great things and other things CCDC doesn’t have, like mudrooms and diversity. You need to identify what you want to walk to, as a priority. Also be open to the idea that your life will change a bit. I used to walk to the corner grocery store like 3x/week and I thought it was important to me to be able to walk to a grocery store. Now I use my car more and consolidate my trips so I don’t care about that and I just want a Whole Foods with easy parking.

If you think you can only be happy in upper Northwest, I have some bad news. You just can’t be happy, or don’t want to. There’s no level of wealth that will help you with that. There are good schools in lots of places and families who have all kinds of problems with Lafayette etc. There’s no guarantee your kids will be happy and successful at Lafayette just because the neighborhood is expensive. If they can be happy and successful at Lafayette, they can almost certainly be happy and successful in Takoma Park or Silver Spring or Rockville or wherever. Your kids are the most important factor. No school is perfect or a cure all.

Here’s the other thing - the reasons CCDC is desirable are the features that were built in to appeal to some of the worst things about our not so distant community history. I’m not saying the people there now are responsible or the factors are all still the same or they don’t exist elsewhere. But it requires and deserves interrogation and conscious decision making.

I appreciate this post but I do think you're implying more than what I said. I was lamenting that all our house savings for a specific goal have been wasted. I didn't say I would never be happy. I don't think it's crazy to work toward a goal for 4 years, realize you'll never achieve it, and feel sad about that.

Op, you are been dramatic too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 bedroom smallish ( 1700 sf ) nicely renovated house in AU Park shows 800+$ per SF on Zillow and about 1.4$m (down from $1.6m at peak) and l know there are other similar houses here without a massive addition. Zillow typically $600 - $900 / sf, so in your budget for the smaller houses. But nobody is selling? Are you being picky in other ways like you only want a very quiet street?

Well as some posters pointed out, I suppose I was being picky in that I was hoping for a SFH. But other than that, my standards aren't that high. But just because zillow shows that estimate doesn't mean there are houses to buy.

Previous poster here. Sorry there’s no inventory. I totally get why you’re disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 bedroom smallish ( 1700 sf ) nicely renovated house in AU Park shows 800+$ per SF on Zillow and about 1.4$m (down from $1.6m at peak) and l know there are other similar houses here without a massive addition. Zillow typically $600 - $900 / sf, so in your budget for the smaller houses. But nobody is selling? Are you being picky in other ways like you only want a very quiet street?

Well as some posters pointed out, I suppose I was being picky in that I was hoping for a SFH. But other than that, my standards aren't that high. But just because zillow shows that estimate doesn't mean there are houses to buy.

Previous poster here. Sorry there’s no inventory. I totally get why you’re disappointed.

Isn’t there usually an uptick in listings in April?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:... And it feels like no amount of money is enough. It's like a bottomless pit that we keep throwing money into and we're further behind than ever.

We are currently in Petworth with a 7 and 5 yo. We like it here but feel ready for less crime, better schools, while keeping some proximity to downtown and neighborhood walkability. I targeted Chevy Chase DC as being possible, maybe AU park if we got lucky.

For 3-4 years I've squirreled away money. We've turned down vacations, I've grocery shopped and cooked even as our jobs and lives got crazier. We have shared one paid off car. We're not suffering, but we've been working toward a goal.

I really thought a 1.5m budget would get our foot in the door. I knew we wouldn't get a newly renovated house for that price, but something livable that we could commit to updating slowly over time.

This year we will hit our savings target for $1.5, and all the houses are now $1.9+. Inventory is awful. We're further behind than ever before, and threads in this forum are suggesting that prices will never drop. It's so disheartening.

I know I am not owed a house, and I'm sure I'll get attacked. But I'm feeling so sad that we worked for so hard toward a goal only to see it slip further away every year. I just feel sad for myself and our family, and disappointed that we have to give up some part of our goals.

Hindsight is 20/20 but I wish we had just taken out a massive mortgage and bought last year when there was inventory. Now, unless prices come down considerably, we'll probably have to leave the city. It feels like it happened so quickly.

Hi OP, just wanted to validate you. It’s not just you, everyone across the country is feeling this way. It’s completely backwards that a worldwide pandemic that caused millions to die and crushed the economy spawned the bubble of all bubbles due to extreme government intervention in the market. You are totally right to be upset and no one could have planned for this.

On the bright side, the Fed is finally getting its act together and tightening conditions. The FOMO of the last two years got to even some of the most rational people out there and it seems people are finally wising up, but unfortunately there may be a few hangers on that might still feel frenzied this spring. It takes a long time for the fever to break, but at the end of the day affordability rules all and even Powell has called out the housing market as being unsustainable. They will continue to tighten until the housing market is fully tamed.

[Anonymous]

Op I can totally understand the disappointment, that really sucks. I totally agree you will be happy elsewhere if that's where you end up, we live in Arlington and are very happy with our walkable, friendly community that makes our lives quite easy. Takoma park and silver spring are similar. But yes it does suck that you've been working towards this and it was such a crazy time!

[Anonymous]

If it helps, we're in Petworth and everyone we know that's left has gone to MoCo. Mostly Takoma Park/Silver Spring, some to Bethesda. You'd be in good company if you ended up there!

[Anonymous]

OP, it's not just you. It's a new reality.

So your reality needs to shift with it. If I were you, I would be looking seriously at Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Rock Creek Forest, Kensington. Continuing to rent is not going to help you in the long term - you need to be getting the tax deductions and building equity. Buy what you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Prices have increased at a higher rater than salaries, OP. You knew that, right?

Everyone is in the same boat.

We're still not sure if the US can avoid a recession in 2023 and 2024, but even if there is a recession, upper NW, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and some areas of NoVa will always increase in price.

So unless you're benefiting from free preK in DC, I'd move to MD or VA right away, in an area with great public schools and public transport - not necessarily to put your kids in there, but to guarantee the continued value of your house. It's an investment consideration. Of course the excellent public school clusters will also be expensive. I'm in Bethesda just west of downtown, and houses are 2M+ here.

Obviously I know this. But we're saving 50% of our HHI every year, and so we are saving more quickly than COLA adjustments. I just can't keep up with $200k+ spikes in prices every year. I'm allowed to express a little sadness anonymously right?

$2m in walkable Bethesda does not help my situation

I'm trying to talk DH into considering Takoma Park or Silver Spring.

PP you responded to. Right - we'd barely be able to afford buying into our own neighborhood if we had to pay current prices!

However, to be perfectly frank with you, I'd consider north Bethesda over Silver Spring and Takoma Park. I used to live in Silver Spring, and we visited several houses there and in TP. The schools are just not good, and it's easy to go from nice street to sketchy street. The best MCPS clusters are Whitman and Walter Johnson, followed in no particular order by BCC, Churchill, Wooton. So I suggest you look at each of those boundaries, and figure out your commute, and then go from there. Walter Johnson is overcrowded, and a new high school is being built right next door, called Woodward. It will create a new cluster, so boundaries in that area between Bethesda and Rockville will change in 2025-2026. But I'm sure Woodward will be a great cluster too, considering its location. Don't buy too close to 495 or 270, there's still a tentative plan to widen them in that area, and it pushes pollution into your home anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok I don’t know if this will help.

I grew up in that area. So I know it really well. I’ve also lived there and other places as an adult.

It’s just not that different! It’s truly not. It feels like this important brass ring because it’s so expensive, but it’s only so expensive because it is finite and there is a bigger pool of people who want to live there than can. That’s it! That’s what’s driving up the cost. It’s just demand. It’s not the great things about the neighborhoods, which are great! They’re just not great enough to justify the cost.

There are a LOT of other neighborhoods where your life will be 95% or more the same, that cost a lot less. That have most or all of the great things and other things CCDC doesn’t have, like mudrooms and diversity. You need to identify what you want to walk to, as a priority. Also be open to the idea that your life will change a bit. I used to walk to the corner grocery store like 3x/week and I thought it was important to me to be able to walk to a grocery store. Now I use my car more and consolidate my trips so I don’t care about that and I just want a Whole Foods with easy parking.

If you think you can only be happy in upper Northwest, I have some bad news. You just can’t be happy, or don’t want to. There’s no level of wealth that will help you with that. There are good schools in lots of places and families who have all kinds of problems with Lafayette etc. There’s no guarantee your kids will be happy and successful at Lafayette just because the neighborhood is expensive. If they can be happy and successful at Lafayette, they can almost certainly be happy and successful in Takoma Park or Silver Spring or Rockville or wherever. Your kids are the most important factor. No school is perfect or a cure all.

Here’s the other thing - the reasons CCDC is desirable are the features that were built in to appeal to some of the worst things about our not so distant community history. I’m not saying the people there now are responsible or the factors are all still the same or they don’t exist elsewhere. But it requires and deserves interrogation and conscious decision making.

I appreciate this post but I do think you're implying more than what I said. I was lamenting that all our house savings for a specific goal have been wasted. I didn't say I would never be happy. I don't think it's crazy to work toward a goal for 4 years, realize you'll never achieve it, and feel sad about that.

I think you’re making my point. People who are resilient and able to be happy would realize that the goal is not a particular patch of soil, it’s a particular lifestyle that they want for their family. And that is easily within your grasp. You’re determined to defeat from the jaws of victory. That’s more about you and your outlook than the real estate market. It suggests that even if you bought a house in CCDC, you’d soon find another thing to be unhappy about.