Anyone downsize from 8,000 sq ft to 3,000–5,000 sq ft? What surprised you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I say that the DC area is not expensive compared to other cities. You pay basically the same for a quality new build in DC as you do in nice areas of Tampa, Nashville, Charleston or even Birmingham Alabama.

Thats what i am seeing, i mean these houses are more than the new 8000sf builds in closer in Mclean/N arlington, yes i am counting the basement as well.
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/7000-Tyndale-St-22101/home/9405051
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/6908-Southridge-Dr-22101/home/9404625
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/3941-N-Glebe-Rd-22207/home/11229222


these aren't even on the water!
https://www.redfin.com/FL/Tampa/4624-W-San-Jose-St-33629/home/47281424
https://www.redfin.com/FL/Tampa/4602-W-Lowell-Ave-33629/home/47281477
https://www.redfin.com/FL/Tampa/3602-S-Belcher-Dr-33629/home/47282675

It's Fort Lauderdale, lots of houses in the 20 M+wow!
https://www.redfin.com/city/6173/FL/Fort-Lauderdale/filter/sort=hi-price,min-year-built=2024

The houses you list are in Sunset Park which is considered a much higher end neighborhood to the location of those McLean homes. It’s not apples-to-apples and I assume if you looked in a Tampa suburb (and not even the desirable section of that suburb…those McLean homes aren’t in the best parts of McLean), you would find the equivalent

No - they're right. All of the Plant High School area (the nice part of Tampa) is as expensive as the nicest parts of Mclean. But it's the same in Boca, Miami, Orlando, Nashville, Charleston and Atlanta (at least for nice new builds - not cookie cutters with mid-range appliances, but houses that are typically $3-4M in Mclean aren't cheaper in those cities).

Aren’t the nicest parts of Mclean zoned for Langley? All the Mclean homes listed above are zoned for Mclean HS…and one is in Arlington zoned for Yorktown.

Also…if you want to compare apples-to-apples, shouldn’t the comparison be Georgetown or Kalorama or Mass Heights or Kent in DC compared to high end neighborhoods within the Tampa city limits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I say that the DC area is not expensive compared to other cities. You pay basically the same for a quality new build in DC as you do in nice areas of Tampa, Nashville, Charleston or even Birmingham Alabama.

Thats what i am seeing, i mean these houses are more than the new 8000sf builds in closer in Mclean/N arlington, yes i am counting the basement as well.
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/7000-Tyndale-St-22101/home/9405051
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/6908-Southridge-Dr-22101/home/9404625
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/3941-N-Glebe-Rd-22207/home/11229222


these aren't even on the water!
https://www.redfin.com/FL/Tampa/4624-W-San-Jose-St-33629/home/47281424
https://www.redfin.com/FL/Tampa/4602-W-Lowell-Ave-33629/home/47281477
https://www.redfin.com/FL/Tampa/3602-S-Belcher-Dr-33629/home/47282675

It's Fort Lauderdale, lots of houses in the 20 M+wow!
https://www.redfin.com/city/6173/FL/Fort-Lauderdale/filter/sort=hi-price,min-year-built=2024

The houses you list are in Sunset Park which is considered a much higher end neighborhood to the location of those McLean homes. It’s not apples-to-apples and I assume if you looked in a Tampa suburb (and not even the desirable section of that suburb…those McLean homes aren’t in the best parts of McLean), you would find the equivalent

No - they're right. All of the Plant High School area (the nice part of Tampa) is as expensive as the nicest parts of Mclean. But it's the same in Boca, Miami, Orlando, Nashville, Charleston and Atlanta (at least for nice new builds - not cookie cutters with mid-range appliances, but houses that are typically $3-4M in Mclean aren't cheaper in those cities).

Aren’t the nicest parts of Mclean zoned for Langley? All the Mclean homes listed above are zoned for Mclean HS…and one is in Arlington zoned for Yorktown.

Also…if you want to compare apples-to-apples, shouldn’t the comparison be Georgetown or Kalorama or Mass Heights or Kent in DC compared to high end neighborhoods within the Tampa city limits?

The most expensize zip codes are in mclean, arlington and great falls. Langley has homes that can range pretty low so its not necessarily the most expensive areas but all of mclean and north arlington are high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I make $120k I loved in a 2k sq ft home. And 15 years later when I made close to $400k I still liver in the same house. My house is cheap and functional, but extremely well maintained with high quality materials.

Some of you are really fancy 8k sq ft homes damn lol

400K is 200K from 15 years ago. in 2010 after financial crisis 200K was a big salary.

Ya $200K is poverty money here these days, $400K is a modest living.

I pull around $5M AAV between salary, bonus, stock options, family money, passive investment and rental income and a few other miscellaneous streams so I can speak to OP.

It’s hard. I’m used to living large. I remember living in a shack of a 2K sq Ft colonial fresh out of college, moved “up” to a 4K sq ft home in Potomac and then moved from modest UMC Potomac to firmly UC Potomac to a 9k sq ft mansion. Finally thinking about downsizing ourselves but thinking of what to do with all our stuff is extremely stressful. Will obviously hire help but they can only do so much for me.

[Anonymous]

I've been spending time in other cities for work and usually check out their real estate markets out of curiosity. There is no shortage of $1.5M+, even $2M+ housing in most flyover cities and middle America cities. Even places like Kansas City has its wealthy neighborhoods where houses easily sell for over $2M. The main difference from the DMV is many more affordable housing at the bottom and middle of the market.

[Anonymous]

Problem here is the original poster downsized her brain about 35 years ago.

[Anonymous]

This is the kind of out of touch rich people stuff I come to DCUM for. 8000 sq ft!!!! Holy moly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the kind of out of touch rich people stuff I come to DCUM for. 8000 sq ft!!!! Holy moly

I don't care about the 8000 sq ft. It's the idea that someone can't downsize because of their dining table.

[Anonymous]

I think you'll be happy once you have grandkids, that you have a place where everyone can stay and gather over the holidays! And it sounds like a big enough room that your sleep won’t be disturbed by grandkids when they’re really young

[Anonymous]

*big enough **house**

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the kind of out of touch rich people stuff I come to DCUM for. 8000 sq ft!!!! Holy moly

8000 sq ft in this region nonetheless. Like yea I live in a small house and maybe I could afford a few thousand more sq ft if I moved to a much cheaper area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone here downsize from a big house to something in the 3,000–5,000 sf range? We are a family of 4 in an 8,000 sf place (7 bed, 9 bath). It made sense when the kids were younger and we had a live in nanny, but nanny is gone and both kids will be off to college soon, so it is starting to feel way too big. We are already stressing about stuff like our giant dining table that really needs an 18 ft room, which smaller houses just do not have.

What is really surprising is the pricing in other so called cheaper markets. In equivalent nice areas in Florida I am seeing 3,000 sf homes in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa for 2–3M, so basically no savings on price, just less space. New construction around 4–5,000 sf is more like 5.5M, which is a shock. So now we are wondering if it even makes sense to move or if we should just stay put and live in part of the house. If you have done a similar downsize as a family of 4, what were the biggest surprises, good or bad?

VBA of the week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nice try at a humble brag.

It’s a VBA. There is nothing humble about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice try at a humble brag.

It’s a VBA. There is nothing humble about it.

? Visual Basic?

What is “VBA”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice try at a humble brag.

It’s a VBA. There is nothing humble about it.

? Visual Basic?

What is “VBA”?

Here's what google AI tells me:

Veiled Brag Alert (VBA): This is a casual internet acronym, primarily used on social media platforms like Reddit, to point out a post where someone is subtly bragging about themselves or something in their life (e.g., "Veiled Brag Alert = common abbreviation").

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t downsize unless your kids end up moving out of the area permanently.