Living in an expensive neighborhood is unexpectedly expensive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems everyone charges more. The plumber, electrician, housecleaners, everyone is charging us significantly more than when we lived 15 minutes from here, but in a less expensive zip code. I get needing to make money, but don't be ridiculous.

I'm trying to find a new housecleaner and quotes I'm getting are easily 2x what we paid in our previous neighborhood, and for a smaller house.

We have lived in Bethesda for 20+ years, and everything here is more expensive because of the zip code, it has nothing to do with covid. I have friends who live in 20854 / Potomac. Whenever they need a contractor, they say they live in Rockville for the same reason, there's an upcharge for Potomac

x100000

People can blame covid all they want, but it is not believable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


100% zip code oriented. We call it the "Great Falls Markup" here

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duh!

Exactly. Your vendors have the same cost of living that you have.

They don’t live next door just cause you called them to a new zip code.

[Anonymous]

My plumber calls it the Georgetown tax and assures me it's a real thing / not your imagination

(I don't live in Georgetown)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duh!

Exactly. Your vendors have the same cost of living that you have.

They don’t live next door just cause you called them to a new zip code.

Just because your contractor lives an hour away doesn't mean gas and their time are not factors in their pricing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inflation has caused things to cost more. I live in the same neighborhood as I did precovid and everything costs more, handyman, housekeeping, etc.

This. You might be right, but please understand, costs for these kinds of house maintenance projects has absolutely skyrocketed.

I think a part of it is reduced immigration, particularly illegal immigration, which started under Trump but was maintained under Biden and, in the case of legal immigration/visas, further reduced due to the pandemic.

I live in a more blue collar neighborhood and trust that my eyes are also bulging with sticker shock.

Illegal immigration has exploded under Biden to a staggering number. Millions. By contrast it was in the thousands under Turnip. I have to concede this point to the Republicans.

This is patently untrue. What has gone from hundreds of thousands (not “thousands”) under Trump to over a million under Biden is the number of encounters at the southern border. These result in apprehension or expulsion, not immigration. There are no statistics showing a huge surge of unauthorized immigrants such as you say. See, e.g., https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/us/undocumented-immigrants-exodus-us.html or any of the monthly CBP reports. And don’t forget that a huge fraction of unauthorized immigration is visa overstays, not border crossings. Don’t let the Republican scare tactics fool you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inflation has caused things to cost more. I live in the same neighborhood as I did precovid and everything costs more, handyman, housekeeping, etc.

This. You might be right, but please understand, costs for these kinds of house maintenance projects has absolutely skyrocketed.

I think a part of it is reduced immigration, particularly illegal immigration, which started under Trump but was maintained under Biden and, in the case of legal immigration/visas, further reduced due to the pandemic.

I live in a more blue collar neighborhood and trust that my eyes are also bulging with sticker shock.

Illegal immigration has exploded under Biden to a staggering number. Millions. By contrast it was in the thousands under Turnip. I have to concede this point to the Republicans.

This is patently untrue. What has gone from hundreds of thousands (not “thousands”) under Trump to over a million under Biden is the number of encounters at the southern border. These result in apprehension or expulsion, not immigration. There are no statistics showing a huge surge of unauthorized immigrants such as you say. See, e.g., https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/us/undocumented-immigrants-exodus-us.html or any of the monthly CBP reports. And don’t forget that a huge fraction of unauthorized immigration is visa overstays, not border crossings. Don’t let the Republican scare tactics fool you.

Thank you. This person’s take is facially silly. If there really were all these illegal immigrants, we wouldn’t have a shortage of low paid laborers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inflation has caused things to cost more. I live in the same neighborhood as I did precovid and everything costs more, handyman, housekeeping, etc.

This. You might be right, but please understand, costs for these kinds of house maintenance projects has absolutely skyrocketed.

I think a part of it is reduced immigration, particularly illegal immigration, which started under Trump but was maintained under Biden and, in the case of legal immigration/visas, further reduced due to the pandemic.

I live in a more blue collar neighborhood and trust that my eyes are also bulging with sticker shock.

Illegal immigration has exploded under Biden to a staggering number. Millions. By contrast it was in the thousands under Turnip. I have to concede this point to the Republicans.

This is patently untrue. What has gone from hundreds of thousands (not “thousands”) under Trump to over a million under Biden is the number of encounters at the southern border. These result in apprehension or expulsion, not immigration. There are no statistics showing a huge surge of unauthorized immigrants such as you say. See, e.g., https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/us/undocumented-immigrants-exodus-us.html or any of the monthly CBP reports. And don’t forget that a huge fraction of unauthorized immigration is visa overstays, not border crossings. Don’t let the Republican scare tactics fool you.

Thank you. This person’s take is facially silly. If there really were all these illegal immigrants, we wouldn’t have a shortage of low paid laborers.

i had a conversation with a contractor friend the other day. They are struggling with labor right now. Finding a day laborer to complete basic unskilled shovel type tasks used to be something you could do for $15 an hour (cash) now they want $25 an hour and will scoff at anything less.

This isn’t happening because we are over run with green cardless fence jumpers. There are undocumented kids working in slaughter houses precisely because their aren’t enough undocumented adult workers to go around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I moved from Alexandria to McLean. I called all the same folks I used in Alexandria to do work around the house. Prices went way up for everything except mowing and cleaners.

We also moved from Alexandria to McLean. McLean vendors definitely more expensive. To be fair, our house is also double in size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I moved from Alexandria to McLean. I called all the same folks I used in Alexandria to do work around the house. Prices went way up for everything except mowing and cleaners.

Someone should call vendors out on this crap

[Anonymous]

We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda about 10 years ago and this was my takeaway. Pay more, get less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I moved from Alexandria to McLean. I called all the same folks I used in Alexandria to do work around the house. Prices went way up for everything except mowing and cleaners.

Someone should call vendors out on this crap

This is a market that uses supply and demand to set prices. The costs and quantity of supply are part of the picture but that is not the only thing setting the price. A large factor is the buyer; how much they want/need the service and their ability to pay. They charge more because they can, just like almost everything else we buy. The OP has a valid point.

Not sure what "we" can do about this situation other than exercise our personal choices.

[Anonymous]

Inflation has caused increased costs. Your old house cleaners may have maintained your original quote with modest increases, but charge new customers more.

Additionally, consider that people in expensive neighborhoods may have homes that require more work. Cooktops and counters that need special cleaners. More Knick knacks to dust. Nicer things and more things that require more time and care to move or clean.

[Anonymous]

NP. We experienced this when we moved from Alexandria to McLean well before COVID and inflation spike. SAME square footage house (~3,500 sq ft) and # of bathrooms. But quotes for house cleaners, plumbing repairs, electrical work, all increased materially.

In our prior home it cost $150 every two weeks for cleaning ladies. When we moved into our same size Mclean home we got three quotes that all ranged from $225-275 every two weeks.
In our prior home we paid $250 to have an outdoor electrical outlet added where none existed. In our current home we wanted to do the same to get power by the back deck and the quotes were $600 and $750!
In our prior home we paid $300 to have a leaking indoor water shut off valve (for the outdoor hose bib replaced). Went to do the same in our new home and they wanted $700 for something we knew from recent experience would take less than an hour.

These McLean, Bethesda, or wherever "markups" not only happen, but we've found them to be the norm. We've done a ton of work on our fixer upper and had to network with neighbors and friends to find contractors/repairmen who charge an actual hourly rate or are at least reasonable when citing a fixed rate.

[Anonymous]

Nwdc prices by zip code. Duh.