How are you able to afford the DC area - from an out-of-towner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People either do one of the following things.

1) Combined income of 200K+, which is easy to do here.

2) Sacrifice and live in a far out suburb where you can buy a nice house in the 300K range.

3) Live closer in, but in a townhouse or condo.

Uh, what far out suburb can you get a nice house for 300k!? I live in Loudoun and you cannot even get in a TH for 300k. IF you could find a home starting in the 4s and even 5s you are EASILY going to have a half dozen bidders on the first weekend.

oP i will be honest here. My family is so lucky. We purchased in Loudoun prior to the housing boom and sold at the top of the market making 300k tax free. We had a very large down payment for a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. I'm grateful daily foe our luck.

Not true.
I have a beautiful 5 bedroom 3,500 sq.ft. home in Stafford (built in '97) on an acre, across from a VRE station, that I just sold last week for $279K

Yea, well DUH it is Stafford. That is a lose/lose situation. Big difference between Counties in NOVA such as Fairfax/Loudoun and then Stafford. For staters FX and LO are not bedroom communities, there are actually JOBS along the Dulles Corridor and in Fairfax, high paying ones at that. WTF is in Stafford and how many years of your life wastes away sitting on the country's busiest stretch of highway.

If I died and went to hell, I would be in Stafford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People either do one of the following things.

1) Combined income of 200K+, which is easy to do here.

2) Sacrifice and live in a far out suburb where you can buy a nice house in the 300K range.

3) Live closer in, but in a townhouse or condo.

Uh, what far out suburb can you get a nice house for 300k!? I live in Loudoun and you cannot even get in a TH for 300k. IF you could find a home starting in the 4s and even 5s you are EASILY going to have a half dozen bidders on the first weekend.

oP i will be honest here. My family is so lucky. We purchased in Loudoun prior to the housing boom and sold at the top of the market making 300k tax free. We had a very large down payment for a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. I'm grateful daily foe our luck.

Not true.
I have a beautiful 5 bedroom 3,500 sq.ft. home in Stafford (built in '97) on an acre, across from a VRE station, that I just sold last week for $279K

Yea, well DUH it is Stafford. That is a lose/lose situation. Big difference between Counties in NOVA such as Fairfax/Loudoun and then Stafford. For staters FX and LO are not bedroom communities, there are actually JOBS along the Dulles Corridor and in Fairfax, high paying ones at that. WTF is in Stafford and how many years of your life wastes away sitting on the country's busiest stretch of highway.

If I died and went to hell, I would be in Stafford.

Well, our HHI is $250K, I WAH and DH works on Quantico, so commute is a non-issue and we live a nice life.
The schools here are pretty great.
Not sure if you've been down this way in the last decade, but it's not as bad as the "hell" you describe. When I have to travel to NOVA I feel like I'm in hell with the traffic and the assholes (like you) that I encounter.

Geez. All I was saying is that you CAN get a nice home in the area for under $300K.

OP, don't forget if you move to this area you will deal with egocentric assholes like the person that replied to this post.

[Anonymous]

I went to Stafford once because I had to take a shit when driving on 95. Saw a bunch of strip malls,track homes made of vinyl, and sprawl, but is sure was a great place to drop a deuce.

I'd hardly even qualify Stafford as part of the greater DC metro area. So it is probably not exactly hell, but purgatory is more like it-just a no man's land.