I will never be able to afford a house in Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I work at DOJ. Right now my job is in NOMa. With a change in administration, it could move to Main Justice, which is near Federal Triangle or it could move to Gallery Place. If my work location stays in NOMA, I am considering moving to Silver Spring even though my family and friends are in Virginia.

Stop vilifying Silver Spring. You can afford a home here and have a good quality of life for you and your kids.

How old are your kids? Is their father providing child support? You could always stay in your condo until they're grown and retire somewhere less expensive.

How do you get from this that OP is “vilifying” Silver Spring? That seems like a whole heap of projection to me.

[Anonymous]

Even Silver Spring is hardly affordable anymore. All of MoCo is becoming super gentrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even Silver Spring is hardly affordable anymore. All of MoCo is becoming super gentrified.

How is MoCo becoming gentrified? It's been getting more economically and racially diverse for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even Silver Spring is hardly affordable anymore. All of MoCo is becoming super gentrified.

How is MoCo becoming gentrified? It's been getting more economically and racially diverse for decades.

People just need to adjust expectations and buy a home a bit later in life. Look here is a 260k large two bedroom condo Bethesda. Low common charges. At 10 percent down only need 26k down and a owner might sell 251k leaving a 225 mortgage which at 2.5 percent is a joke. If couple stays ten years and maybe when second kid is 2 or 3 move on they could have save a fortune leaving almost for free and with a tax deduction.

But regular folks are not jumping to a single family home as 29 year old newlyweds. I used to live in an expensive surburb in NYC in 2005 and first time buyers were in average 40. They lived in a NYC coop till squeezed out with 1 or 2 kid and moved on.

What is wrong with that?

[Anonymous]

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/7401-Westlake-Ter-20817/unit-1016/home/10914655

Example affordable MoCo - 260k - have to start in older cheaper condo like it has been like in NY for 30 years unless rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of cheaper homes to buy in south Arlington. North Arlington is so expensive because that is the only part of the county people like OP will consider. If you are going to be picky, then you lose out.

That was definitely the case pre-Amazon and pandemic. But sadly, a lot of young families will even be priced out of South Arlington if they're set on a SFH.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1305-S-Quincy-St_Arlington_VA_22204_M62201-57796

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/706-S-Barton-St_Arlington_VA_22204_M63987-97426

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
p.s. The market dictates pricing, not the shitshack owners.

The shitshack owners are the ones being NIMBYs and protesting against workforce housing, and even enough non-workforce housing from being built because they are playing the supply vs demand game. The thing is, it’s gotten to a very unhealthy point where the supply is significantly lower than the demand. If a woman as wealthy as OP, who makes 50% above the region median can only afford a condo in an average school district, that means the 50% below her can’t even afford that. If you keep pushing the working-class further and further away, who do you expect to support your privileged lifestyles? Do DCUMers seriously think working-class people will come to Arlington and Bethesda from Upper Marlboro to work a minimum wage job, when there’s plenty of those jobs where they live? Discovery, Inc helped revitalize Silver Spring from white-flight, but now that the “appreciate my house above what is reasonable” gentrification crowd have ruined it and the surrounding desirable areas, they fled SS for Tennessee. Other tech firms have been leaving for Frederick as well. You have to consider that a significant portion of white-collar jobs in DC are NOT federal jobs, there’s also a significant amount of white-collar corporate jobs, and they’re starting to leave even though we’re not at the point of San Francisco yet. That is a bad sign.

PP has housing she can afford. She can’t afford a SFH sh*tshack. Also, Discovery moved to NYC, so it wasn’t because housing prices in Silver Spring were too high. I have friends who worked there, and didn’t move because they couldn’t afford Manhattan or nearby suburbs. The company relocated to be closer to the industry to attract talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of cheaper homes to buy in south Arlington. North Arlington is so expensive because that is the only part of the county people like OP will consider. If you are going to be picky, then you lose out.

There are lots of town homes, duplexes, and condos in South Arlington. Not many SFHs. I've lived in South Arlington for over a decade and been looking for a SFH for a while. There just isn't much available.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of homes available in south Arlington. Maybe not right now, but in a week, a month. You have to look. And the PP with two links to south Arlington listings.... there are some neighborhoods that are more expensive bc of schools. The second home looked like a nice family home that is still on the market. But I bet OP would not even look at it bc it is in the “bad” school zones.

[Anonymous]

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/619-S-Stafford-St-22204/home/11261003 https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/4617-6th-St-S-22204/home/11260653

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/3957-9th-Rd-S-22204/home/11261677

Plenty of homes recently sold in south Arlington that would nice for a family and under $750k.

[Anonymous]

So the OP’s complaint really undercuts the “missing middle” housing in Arlington. Middle that is missing doesn’t want to live in a condo/stacked flat/duplex/townhouse. They want a SFH zoned to a GS 9 or 10 ES in walking distance to Metro. My kid wants a pony. Can’t have one because we live in a SFH in Arlington. Choices. That’s what OP has. Truly poor people don’t have choices, and it’s those individuals who need housing options N of Lee Hwy, since there are none currently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the OP’s complaint really undercuts the “missing middle” housing in Arlington. Middle that is missing doesn’t want to live in a condo/stacked flat/duplex/townhouse. They want a SFH zoned to a GS 9 or 10 ES in walking distance to Metro. My kid wants a pony. Can’t have one because we live in a SFH in Arlington. Choices. That’s what OP has. Truly poor people don’t have choices, and it’s those individuals who need housing options N of Lee Hwy, since there are none currently.

You do realize that if you put the poor people both of Lee Highway, it and the schools will become less desirable. With APS no longer viable, the more affluent are sending kids to private schools and do not have to live in Arlington.

Further as the stock of single family homes shrinks, only the affluent will be able to afford them as tear downs. If you are middle income, yiur best Hope is a townhouse or two bedroom condo or rental.

[Anonymous]

I'd move to a lot of other places in America before I'd buy a home in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd move to a lot of other places in America before I'd buy a home in Arlington.

We have a winner!!!

[Anonymous]

The lack of empathy in this thread is astonishing.

Sorry to the Op. So many Americans who did everything the right way are feeling what you feel.