Anyone else who will likely never be a home owner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is just the latest item on a long list of why I sincerely think that the posters of this website are some of the least happy people you can find. Not just the people lamenting about not owning a physical asset because they view it as a status or identity item, but also some of the nasty responses.

You have to remember that most of the posters here are in a rat race they can't escape. They believe they have to follow a script for life -- get the right education, get a high-paying job, get married, have kids, buy a house in the suburbs. They do that and realize they are miserable. Instead of taking a hard look at themselves and what they truly want out of life, they double down on making sure everyone else follows the same script. Misery loves company.

OH MY GOD this is the truest, most definitive post I have ever read on DCUM.

What's even more pathetic is the people who feel like they have a grievance because they can't afford to live that same lifestyle but without the high-paying job or the right education.

Who’s that? Because on this thread we’re saying that’s not even enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought our first house 10 years ago at 24. Paid $350k for a fixer upper townhouse in South Arlington. Fixed it ourselves and sold it last year for $800k which enabled us to buy a $1.6M house. The initial house was old, ugly, in bad schools, but we knew it (and the area) had potential.

At 24 we were each making $40k a year but we lived frugally, put 3% down with an FHA loan (paid off PMI in 5 years since our salaries increased). We now make $500k (average by DCUM standards), but live in a comfortable 4 bedroom house with great schools.

The problem is many people don’t want to sacrifice. Our friends laughed when we bought that house, but now they’re all still stuck in their townhomes with no equity while we are ahead. Some still in apartments in DuPont or other expensive areas.

Point is, no one is entitled to anything, you have to sacrifice and sometimes go “down” to go up. We had no family help, we aren’t wealthy, but we made smart decisions.

You were unusually mature at 24. Most professionals are still in grad school at that age accumulating at least some student loans. You were also very young to be married with dual incomes. Not judging, just saying that’s highly unusual in this area. Everyone’s lives are different. It’s not just about personal willpower as much as the real estate “winners” on this thread want to think it is.

We were finishing grad school at the time, engaged but not yet married. We scraped our 3% down together and knew that our salaries were about to increase. Lived cheaper than all our friends who at the time were living in Clarendon and Georgetown. My point is that we sacrificed and many people don’t believe they have to sacrifice. They just think they should be able to buy a single family home in a great location on average salaries. That doesn’t exist in the DMV.

Ok but you bought in the aftermath of the biggest housing bubble ever when prices were at peak affordability. An identical couple in 2022 could NOT afford the equivalent of the house you bought, not even close.

But they could….in PG county, Benning Rd, in parts of Alexandria (rt. 1 corridor, Landmark, etc.) even parts of Loudoun. South Arlington wasn’t desirable back then, so the people looking to get into the market need to look where it’s undesirable now.

You aren’t understanding. Any given home, whether it be in PG etc, is drastically less affordable right now than it was in 2012. Enough with the pull your self up by the bootstraps nonsense.

I’m one of the PP’s - we bought our first home in 2007. So it’s not that different. It can be done.

[Anonymous]

OP you could move and buy a house for $100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is just the latest item on a long list of why I sincerely think that the posters of this website are some of the least happy people you can find. Not just the people lamenting about not owning a physical asset because they view it as a status or identity item, but also some of the nasty responses.

You have to remember that most of the posters here are in a rat race they can't escape. They believe they have to follow a script for life -- get the right education, get a high-paying job, get married, have kids, buy a house in the suburbs. They do that and realize they are miserable. Instead of taking a hard look at themselves and what they truly want out of life, they double down on making sure everyone else follows the same script. Misery loves company.

OH MY GOD this is the truest, most definitive post I have ever read on DCUM.

What's even more pathetic is the people who feel like they have a grievance because they can't afford to live that same lifestyle but without the high-paying job or the right education.

It’s sad that this area is like this now. All about what you do, where you live, where your kids go to school. Rinse repeat. If you live in PG County on a friend circle, they think you’re automatically poor and not worthy, in their mind. While your average person otherwise cares not about any of those things. But the rat race mentality is so real.

At the end of the day, I’m not paying for an overpriced house, overpriced car note while I’m sending my kid to an overpriced school district so it doesn’t bother me one bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought our first house 10 years ago at 24. Paid $350k for a fixer upper townhouse in South Arlington. Fixed it ourselves and sold it last year for $800k which enabled us to buy a $1.6M house. The initial house was old, ugly, in bad schools, but we knew it (and the area) had potential.

At 24 we were each making $40k a year but we lived frugally, put 3% down with an FHA loan (paid off PMI in 5 years since our salaries increased). We now make $500k (average by DCUM standards), but live in a comfortable 4 bedroom house with great schools.

The problem is many people don’t want to sacrifice. Our friends laughed when we bought that house, but now they’re all still stuck in their townhomes with no equity while we are ahead. Some still in apartments in DuPont or other expensive areas.

Point is, no one is entitled to anything, you have to sacrifice and sometimes go “down” to go up. We had no family help, we aren’t wealthy, but we made smart decisions.

You were unusually mature at 24. Most professionals are still in grad school at that age accumulating at least some student loans. You were also very young to be married with dual incomes. Not judging, just saying that’s highly unusual in this area. Everyone’s lives are different. It’s not just about personal willpower as much as the real estate “winners” on this thread want to think it is.

We were finishing grad school at the time, engaged but not yet married. We scraped our 3% down together and knew that our salaries were about to increase. Lived cheaper than all our friends who at the time were living in Clarendon and Georgetown. My point is that we sacrificed and many people don’t believe they have to sacrifice. They just think they should be able to buy a single family home in a great location on average salaries. That doesn’t exist in the DMV.

Ok but you bought in the aftermath of the biggest housing bubble ever when prices were at peak affordability. An identical couple in 2022 could NOT afford the equivalent of the house you bought, not even close.

But they could….in PG county, Benning Rd, in parts of Alexandria (rt. 1 corridor, Landmark, etc.) even parts of Loudoun. South Arlington wasn’t desirable back then, so the people looking to get into the market need to look where it’s undesirable now.

You aren’t understanding. Any given home, whether it be in PG etc, is drastically less affordable right now than it was in 2012. Enough with the pull your self up by the bootstraps nonsense.

I’m one of the PP’s - we bought our first home in 2007. So it’s not that different. It can be done.

Yes, now. But in 2019/2020 affordability was just about on par with 2012. You keep talking about needing a house that’s $800k. Many of us don’t have that either. It’s a waste of time to gripe about what you can’t have. Either look for something in a more affordable part of the DMV or move to a LCOL.

[Anonymous]

There are choices and compromises for all decisions in life. Living in DC is a choice. Living in a luxury apartment is a choice. Compromise on some of that if homeownership is important.

[Anonymous]

I’m ready to buy now at 2019 prices. Won’t pay $300,000 more now just because the wealthiest cash-rich people overpaid during a pandemic and screwed the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mid thirties couple here with no way forward regarding buying a home. I feel sad knowing I won’t be able to have a home to call my own and decorate and build a family in.

Anyone else in this boat?

I will likely never own my own place in DC. I could buy a condo with my inheritance as a down payment. I guess my backup plan is buying in the town I went to college in, which is an hour from where I grew up, which is also getting expensive.

For now I'll stick to my affordably priced rent controlled DC apartment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OK. I'll bite. I'm a gen xer in my mid-40s. What systemic barriers did you face that i didn't?

Multiple recessions

[Anonymous]

Keep renting. There is a huge, irrational premium on buying. This is the classic best evidence that housing prices are in a bubble.

https://twitter.com/rickpalaciosjr/status/1609259823262224384

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m ready to buy now at 2019 prices. Won’t pay $300,000 more now just because the wealthiest cash-rich people overpaid during a pandemic and screwed the rest of us.

Our house was last assessed in 2019 and we paid about 80k over assessed value. We just got a new assessment letter and it's gone up 86%! I highly, highly doubt we could sell it for that much (all the comps I'm aware of were much more recently renovated or came with garages or other things we don't have, and it seems like similar places are sitting on the market now even at lower price points). It had previously sold in 2007 for only 20k less than we paid in 2020, which is a big sign that things ARE different now than just a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought our first house 10 years ago at 24. Paid $350k for a fixer upper townhouse in South Arlington. Fixed it ourselves and sold it last year for $800k which enabled us to buy a $1.6M house. The initial house was old, ugly, in bad schools, but we knew it (and the area) had potential.

At 24 we were each making $40k a year but we lived frugally, put 3% down with an FHA loan (paid off PMI in 5 years since our salaries increased). We now make $500k (average by DCUM standards), but live in a comfortable 4 bedroom house with great schools.

The problem is many people don’t want to sacrifice. Our friends laughed when we bought that house, but now they’re all still stuck in their townhomes with no equity while we are ahead. Some still in apartments in DuPont or other expensive areas.

Point is, no one is entitled to anything, you have to sacrifice and sometimes go “down” to go up. We had no family help, we aren’t wealthy, but we made smart decisions.

You were unusually mature at 24. Most professionals are still in grad school at that age accumulating at least some student loans. You were also very young to be married with dual incomes. Not judging, just saying that’s highly unusual in this area. Everyone’s lives are different. It’s not just about personal willpower as much as the real estate “winners” on this thread want to think it is.

We were finishing grad school at the time, engaged but not yet married. We scraped our 3% down together and knew that our salaries were about to increase. Lived cheaper than all our friends who at the time were living in Clarendon and Georgetown. My point is that we sacrificed and many people don’t believe they have to sacrifice. They just think they should be able to buy a single family home in a great location on average salaries. That doesn’t exist in the DMV.

Ok but you bought in the aftermath of the biggest housing bubble ever when prices were at peak affordability. An identical couple in 2022 could NOT afford the equivalent of the house you bought, not even close.

But they could….in PG county, Benning Rd, in parts of Alexandria (rt. 1 corridor, Landmark, etc.) even parts of Loudoun. South Arlington wasn’t desirable back then, so the people looking to get into the market need to look where it’s undesirable now.

You aren’t understanding. Any given home, whether it be in PG etc, is drastically less affordable right now than it was in 2012. Enough with the pull your self up by the bootstraps nonsense.

I’m one of the PP’s - we bought our first home in 2007. So it’s not that different. It can be done.

Why would anyone take home buying advice from someone who bought in 2007? Run, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep renting. There is a huge, irrational premium on buying. This is the classic best evidence that housing prices are in a bubble.

https://twitter.com/rickpalaciosjr/status/1609259823262224384

One difficulty around here is that the rental stock isn't so great if you want to live in MD or VA in a good school district in a house with a yard. Good rentals are few and far between and highly sought after, and they come at a premium. If I were a single person, I'd be happy to rent and move around as needed. But I am married with several kids. I would not want to be renting long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep renting. There is a huge, irrational premium on buying. This is the classic best evidence that housing prices are in a bubble.

https://twitter.com/rickpalaciosjr/status/1609259823262224384

One difficulty around here is that the rental stock isn't so great if you want to live in MD or VA in a good school district in a house with a yard. Good rentals are few and far between and highly sought after, and they come at a premium. If I were a single person, I'd be happy to rent and move around as needed. But I am married with several kids. I would not want to be renting long term.

This. It's fine for someone who never marries or has kids. They can find an affordable 1-BR or studio without regard to school districts. It usually doesn't sense for people to keep renting if they have kids because the the places large enough for kids and in good school districts are expensive and you'd pay less over time if you bought (plus gain equity).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OK. I'll bite. I'm a gen xer in my mid-40s. What systemic barriers did you face that i didn't?

Multiple recessions

You mean like almost everyone else on this forum? We've all been part of the same recessions you've been part of. Anyhow I give up on you - you're trolling at this point...with your 1-2 word answers and no matter what anyone suggest, you come back with yet another barrier as to why you'll "likely never be a homeowner".

Okay! so don't buy! Enough already!