Starter home with newborn (DC)

[Anonymous]

I have the same story as everyone else. Squeezed into a tiny 2br/1ba rowhome with 2 kids and driving us crazy. We'll have to leave for MD or VA in the next couple of years to get space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, wait. We got a 900 square foot 3 bedroom house and I really regret it. For the first few baby years, it was great. Kid could not go very far and easy to supervise. Now kid is older and the toys are everywhere and very little space for anything or anyone. One bathroom sucks. We are lucky to have a basement to gain some space but if I had to do it over again, I'd do at least 1800-2500 square feet and move further out if we had to.

900 sf is doable for a family of 3. It sounds like your problem is that your kid is messy. Either teach him
To clean or get a housekeeper. You'd be shocked at how much more you will appreciate your house.

I would personally choose the 900 sf row house in the city with the short commute than 1800 sf in the boonies with the long commute

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, wait. We got a 900 square foot 3 bedroom house and I really regret it. For the first few baby years, it was great. Kid could not go very far and easy to supervise. Now kid is older and the toys are everywhere and very little space for anything or anyone. One bathroom sucks. We are lucky to have a basement to gain some space but if I had to do it over again, I'd do at least 1800-2500 square feet and move further out if we had to.

900 sf is doable for a family of 3. It sounds like your problem is that your kid is messy. Either teach him
To clean or get a housekeeper. You'd be shocked at how much more you will appreciate your house.

I would personally choose the 900 sf row house in the city with the short commute than 1800 sf in the boonies with the long commute

What are you talking about? We don't have a ton of stuff, our house is very clean and organized. Our living room and dining room are tiny. You can barely get a couch, tv stand, ottoman and tv in it. Same with our dining room. The bedrooms are about the same size. My kid only has a twin bed, book self and tall dresser. The rooms are tiny. We have built-ins and our house is well laid out considering. We don't have a row house, we have a single family house. I'm assuming you have a large house. Also, we have family/friends visiting so it can easily become 5-7 people for weeks at a time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, wait. We got a 900 square foot 3 bedroom house and I really regret it. For the first few baby years, it was great. Kid could not go very far and easy to supervise. Now kid is older and the toys are everywhere and very little space for anything or anyone. One bathroom sucks. We are lucky to have a basement to gain some space but if I had to do it over again, I'd do at least 1800-2500 square feet and move further out if we had to.

900 sf is doable for a family of 3. It sounds like your problem is that your kid is messy. Either teach him
To clean or get a housekeeper. You'd be shocked at how much more you will appreciate your house.

I would personally choose the 900 sf row house in the city with the short commute than 1800 sf in the boonies with the long commute

^^^ This guy doesn't have kids. He probably has a man-bun and he wandered over from PoP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Condos are always bad investments.

Oh really? I bought in 2008 for $380K and sold in one day on market in 2012 for $420K.

Not too "bad," eh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, wait. We got a 900 square foot 3 bedroom house and I really regret it. For the first few baby years, it was great. Kid could not go very far and easy to supervise. Now kid is older and the toys are everywhere and very little space for anything or anyone. One bathroom sucks. We are lucky to have a basement to gain some space but if I had to do it over again, I'd do at least 1800-2500 square feet and move further out if we had to.

900 sf is doable for a family of 3. It sounds like your problem is that your kid is messy. Either teach him
To clean or get a housekeeper. You'd be shocked at how much more you will appreciate your house.

I would personally choose the 900 sf row house in the city with the short commute than 1800 sf in the boonies with the long commute

^^^ This guy doesn't have kids. He probably has a man-bun and he wandered over from PoP.

You people from the boonies need to get off a DC forum where plenty of families choose to live in small places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Condos are always bad investments.

Oh really? I bought in 2008 for $380K and sold in one day on market in 2012 for $420K.

Not too "bad," eh?

I bought my 2 bedroom condo for $395k in DC in 2009 and just refi'd. My appraisal came
In at $550K. Buh bye PMI!!

[Anonymous]

I have no issue with square footage for OP, but if they want another child I would not want to be restricted by a one bedroom.

And yes, you can live very well with small square footage! Just consider a 2 bedroom if you can.

[Anonymous]

You will be looking at PK3 in 2 years or so and don't count on being able to afford "more" given the DC real estate market.
You can get an older/smaller condo on Conn Ave for Hearst or Murch in that price range. Or take your chances and see what you can get in a less popular neighborhood EOTP where you are ok with the neighborhood school and play charters (esp if you are open to less popular ones).

Close friends did the first, and they are happy. We did the second, we are happy, because we both knew ourselves, what our primary values were, our risk tolerance, made sure our neighborhoods and neighborhood schools reflected that.
Think long term and be honest with yourself so you are not the obnoxious neighbor who is whining in 3 years that their darling would never attend the neighborhood school or who is desperate to go to JKLM but not in boundary. Lots of the angst on this board would be avoided if more people thought honestly about these choices when they were in your shoes.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will be looking at PK3 in 2 years or so and don't count on being able to afford "more" given the DC real estate market.
You can get an older/smaller condo on Conn Ave for Hearst or Murch in that price range. Or take your chances and see what you can get in a less popular neighborhood EOTP where you are ok with the neighborhood school and play charters (esp if you are open to less popular ones).

Close friends did the first, and they are happy. We did the second, we are happy, because we both knew ourselves, what our primary values were, our risk tolerance, made sure our neighborhoods and neighborhood schools reflected that.
Think long term and be honest with yourself so you are not the obnoxious neighbor who is whining in 3 years that their darling would never attend the neighborhood school or who is desperate to go to JKLM but not in boundary. Lots of the angst on this board would be avoided if more people thought honestly about these choices when they were in your shoes.
Good luck!

OP again. This is basically what it comes down to. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, wait. We got a 900 square foot 3 bedroom house and I really regret it. For the first few baby years, it was great. Kid could not go very far and easy to supervise. Now kid is older and the toys are everywhere and very little space for anything or anyone. One bathroom sucks. We are lucky to have a basement to gain some space but if I had to do it over again, I'd do at least 1800-2500 square feet and move further out if we had to.

900 sf is doable for a family of 3. It sounds like your problem is that your kid is messy. Either teach him
To clean or get a housekeeper. You'd be shocked at how much more you will appreciate your house.

I would personally choose the 900 sf row house in the city with the short commute than 1800 sf in the boonies with the long commute

^^^ This guy doesn't have kids. He probably has a man-bun and he wandered over from PoP.

You people from the boonies need to get off a DC forum where plenty of families choose to live in small places.

I'm the one who called you out for being a dude with no kids, who's probably all of 27.

I live in the District, with a family, and I've lived here since 1993. It's just that adults don't use words like "boonies"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would someone ever pay $500,000 for 800 square feet?

Why would you post something like this?

[Anonymous]

Of course adults say boonies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course adults say boonies.

Maybe in the '90s

[Anonymous]

Trade up every 5 years until you get a new mcmansion