Move to DC on 150K income?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

DH has received a great job opportunity in DC (I realize 150K isn't great to many posters on here, but we were struggling to pay the bills before, so it seems like a lot of money to us). We have a TON of student loans, so I don't think we'd be able to buy a house for 3x our salary (maybe 2.5x?). We'd also be looking to send our children to public school. Do you think we should make the move or stay in a cheaper area? Where in the DC area should we be checking out? DH's place of work would be near Metro center, so we could potentially come from any direction or take the MARC/VRE train.

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

I don't know that anyone can truly answer this question but you. It depends on your priorities. I don't know where you live now, but if, just for example, you are coming from somewhere where the cost of living is much cheaper than DC and $150K would buy you a ton of house and that's the type of thing you want/expect out of life, then no, you probably should not move. On the other hand, if living in DC is the type of experience you really want to have and you are willing to make it work (get a small place closer in or have a longer commute to live further out), then absolutely, you can make it work. Also, you make it sound like maybe this is a new salary level for DH? What about you? If you want to live in DC - do you work now or could you to help contribute to the family income? (Of course you'd have to weight that with childcare costs.)

Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- We live in a much cheaper area right now, but DH also earns less right now. The problem with our current town is that the economy is horrible & I can't find work here (which is why he applied to DC in the first place). I'll be going to school regardless of where I live, so I probably won't have much of an income the next few years.

I don't care about the size of a house (I grew up very poor, so even a clean, safe ranch house would be amazing to me), but I'd like a fence for my dog. I'm also willing to commute via any of the trains... I'm just hoping for good public schools and a fenced house.

I've read a lot of posts on this forum that make it sound like living on our income would be a huge struggle in the area -- we just don't want to foolishly accept the job and then find out we're WORSE off than before after moving!

I also have a question about the taxes here -- the taxes you have to pay are federal (obviously), state, and property (if you own a house), right? Are there additional expensive taxes we should know about? Thanks again for your response!

[Anonymous]

OP again -- I forgot to say that I can't find even a part-time job here. I've applied to fast food places, retail stores, etc. When I'm in school next year, I hope to work at least 20 hours a week in DC (no chance of doing that in our current job-less town).

[Anonymous]

We moved to dc on 35k in 2006. Actually dc not the burbs. We live in the burbs now. Do a budget. Write out your bills do one of those paycheck tax calculators and then do a cost of living calculator. Look up some rentals to see how much things cost. That's the best way to go about it bc some ppl in this forum are unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

There are little taxes that people are surprised by when they come here. For example. VA makes you pay property tax on your car every year. We don't own expensive cars, so our taxes are not so bad. I just consider it a cost of living in VA. I know MD has some quirky taxes as well, but I'll let someone from that side of the river explain them. You MIGHT want to rent for a year or so before you jump into the housing market, though.

We bought a small TH on $80K in 2003, and we STILL don't make $150K between us 8 years later. We're currently looking at single family homes in the VA burbs for $450K and under. $150K can afford you a rather comfortable lifestyle - probably NOT lavish, but comfortable.

I suggest you make a sample budget, including your debt obligations, to see what you can reasonably do with your monthly income.

[Anonymous]

I would rent a small apartment and pay off your loans for a couple of years before thinking about buying a house.
But yes, 150K, even with student loans, is plenty to live on in this area, as long as your expectations are modest or you don't mind a long commute.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of threads on here that will make it seem impossible to live in this area on an income of less than $200k, but there are plenty of people out there living comfortably on much less. We live in Silver Spring, MD in Montgomery County, own a home within walking distance to the metro, good schools and have a combined income of about $110k. DH and I started out renting on $70k. Living in a good area with decent public schools in DC proper is expensive, but the burbs are affordable and mostly have good schools. Also, what constitutes a "good public school" is a topic of much discussion on here, but keep in mind that the DC area has many of the top public schools in the country and N. VA and Montgomery County, MD have a lot of terrific public schools.

Metro Center is pretty central to all of the metro lines, so that isn't a big factor in a choosing a place. Where you go to school might influence your decision though. I suggest you rent to get a feel for which area fits your life style, budget, commuting preferences, etc... and to give you some time to make sure you want to stay here.

[Anonymous]

VRE or MARC neighborhoods are totally doable pn that income. However, one thing to factor in is childcare if you are going to school and working part time. Minimum wage job part time will quickly eat up your income. Having said that, I would move if I were in your shoes. If your husbampnd is getting a raise to move here, seems like his career is progressing well, so congrats to him!

[Anonymous]

I would rent for a couple of years until you get familiar with the area, and then figure out where you want to move. I would make this suggestion to anyone moving to a new city, honestly, but especially in DC you aren't really going to know if you will mind the commute from a certain area until you live it every day.

[Anonymous]

How long of a commute is your DH willing to make? How old are your kids?
FYI, commuting around here is very stressful. If he can tolerate an hour, then you should be comfortable in terms of living on 150K. You can rent a house a bit farther out for 2500/mo. And for you finding a basic retail job that should be no problem in this area. I understand other parts of the country even those jobs are horribly scarce.

[Anonymous]

I've lived here for 11 years, owned a house walking distance to metro for 6, and this is the first time in our lives we have a HHI of more than $150K.

When we bought our house, we were probably making $130K combined--and house values haven't gone up much (if anything) since then. To be fair, we weren't paying for daycare (currently expecting our first) but we were putting more in savings between us each month than we'll be paying for daycare.

I totally agree with the people encouraging you to rent for a bit first. You can find house rentals with fenced yards for less than a mortgage would be, and you can get to really know neighborhoods AND save some money to help out with a larger downpayment or knock out some of those loans.

[Anonymous]

OUr HHI is that much and we live in an unfashionable neighborhood in NW DC (brightwood/16th st heights). Decent size, nice house. Commuting not so great, but not long (bus downtown on Georgia avenue, gets me there in 30 min). Biggest issue schools, but we hope/pray for getting into a good charter school or a DCPS in another neighborhood.

If that doesnt work, we are also looking to move, possibly to forest glen area of silver spring. THe mont. county schools are mixed, but if you are in a decent school district, it is a nice place to live, close to the red line directly downtown. Lots of small to mid size, mid century houses. Not fashionable, but good parks, amenities, etc. I find virginia less appealing, only because the affordable houses (for us) are less metro convenient and we don't want to be stuck on 395/66 all the time. But I am sure others will weigh in with great places to live in VA.

Anyway, DC is a very vibrant place, with good grad school opportunities and good professional opportunities. You can do it on 150k, but you will be looking at a smaller house. And general cost of living is high. Expectations on this board are all over the place, plenty of people complaining about barely making it on 250k, but it all depends on your priorities and lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Move to DC, OP. You'll be so much happier and it really is a great place to raise kids. I highly recommend Montgomery County. You can probably find a place to rent in Rockville or Silver Spring. If you're coming from the South, you might like areas of Northern VA.

[Anonymous]

If you don't mind a commute, the suburbs of DC are a great place to raise a family and $150,000 is plenty for those areas. I would check out Fairfax County and the farther out areas of Montgomery County. Both of these areas offer top notch public schools.