If you're not rich, are you just screwed?

[Anonymous]

I personally don't think you are screwed. Two government salaries here. HHI 200K (which I guess is rich compared to the rest of the country, but I not in the context of this conversation I think).

Anyway, we have been saving for three years. We are likely going to buy for 600K in Arlington or Falls Church. No, it won't be the Yorktown or Marshall pyramid, but whatever...not everyone can afford that doesn't mean my kids are going to wind up living in a gutter.

So I guess we lowered our expectations in terms of schools. My other expectations are kitchen redone in the past 20 years and either a living room and family room or a living room and basement. I just need storage!

Anyway, I think people just need to wait and save up money until they can afford something. No law that you need to buy now.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are both government employees in our early 30s with a HHI of $175k. We bought our first home last year for $600k in our ideal neighborhood, but got a 2 BR SFH instead of a 3 BR (we could not afford a 3BR in this neighborhood). It's also a bit of a fixer that we're DIYing slowly but surely. Our PITI is about $3,000 a month, but is doable. We have no debt (besides the house) and daycare costs $1,125 per month. Our mortgage + daycare expenses account for about half of our take-home pay. Sure it's a stretch, but we are still able to live comfortably and contribute to retirement and a 529 as well as save a bit for the future.

The key is to know your budget and to stick with it. We hope to build an addition or sell in about 5 years (depending on if we have another child). Luckily, we both have earning potential in our careers. So no, you don't have to be "rich", but you do have to prioritize.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PPs. If you are making six figures and you don't have mountains of debt, you should be able to afford a SFH in an area that has a reasonable commute and reasonable schools. But you have to compromise, which I guess seems profoundly unfair. The truth is though that most of us who bought 10 years ago also had to compromise. (Probably even the people in corporate litigation, although I'm not so I wouldn't know!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PPs. If you are making six figures and you don't have mountains of debt, you should be able to afford a SFH in an area that has a reasonable commute and reasonable schools. But you have to compromise, which I guess seems profoundly unfair. The truth is though that most of us who bought 10 years ago also had to compromise. (Probably even the people in corporate litigation, although I'm not so I wouldn't know!)

I don't understand when you mean compromise everyone has to compromise unless your budget is 2 million.

[Anonymous]

I'm not the PP who said they couldn't afford Silver Spring, and there are more affordable areas of Silver Spring that maybe they are not considering, but there are also families with 2 earners (with degrees, even!) who make less than 6 figures. I know it is hard for many of you to imagine, but this unicorn does indeed exist in DC-area.

[Anonymous]

I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

[Anonymous]

^^ what they said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

Hey, after reading some of these threads, even those of us with 200K HHI are priced out of this market, because we cannot afford new construction homes, we are encouraged to move into far away burbs or up-and coming areas. We feel like we are screwed when we read so many hate-filled responses from well-to-do new home owners, about how we are trashing their neighborhoods with our 800-900K older homes. I do not imagine where you would be advised to move with the income below 100K, the snobbery here in addition to tough RE market is staggering. We used to feel like we were well off, but apparently, we are poverty stricken trash for this area's inner burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

Hey, after reading some of these threads, even those of us with 200K HHI are priced out of this market, because we cannot afford new construction homes, we are encouraged to move into far away burbs or up-and coming areas. We feel like we are screwed when we read so many hate-filled responses from well-to-do new home owners, about how we are trashing their neighborhoods with our 800-900K older homes. I do not imagine where you would be advised to move with the income below 100K, the snobbery here in addition to tough RE market is staggering. We used to feel like we were well off, but apparently, we are poverty stricken trash for this area's inner burbs.

PG County. And people on here trash PG County all of the time. So if you feel like poverty-stricken trash, imagine how we feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

The law says 400k is rich http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=5dd72905-e9da-487b-b198-24f0ea9b8b24

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

Hey, after reading some of these threads, even those of us with 200K HHI are priced out of this market, because we cannot afford new construction homes, we are encouraged to move into far away burbs or up-and coming areas. We feel like we are screwed when we read so many hate-filled responses from well-to-do new home owners, about how we are trashing their neighborhoods with our 800-900K older homes. I do not imagine where you would be advised to move with the income below 100K, the snobbery here in addition to tough RE market is staggering. We used to feel like we were well off, but apparently, we are poverty stricken trash for this area's inner burbs.

Our HHI is 300k and we have very limited choice in this market. So yes, we're all screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

Hey, after reading some of these threads, even those of us with 200K HHI are priced out of this market, because we cannot afford new construction homes, we are encouraged to move into far away burbs or up-and coming areas. We feel like we are screwed when we read so many hate-filled responses from well-to-do new home owners, about how we are trashing their neighborhoods with our 800-900K older homes. I do not imagine where you would be advised to move with the income below 100K, the snobbery here in addition to tough RE market is staggering. We used to feel like we were well off, but apparently, we are poverty stricken trash for this area's inner burbs.

Our HHI is 300k and we have very limited choice in this market. So yes, we're all screwed.

I want to be able to sympathize, but you truly do NOT make it easy. Why are your options all that limited on that income?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

Hey, after reading some of these threads, even those of us with 200K HHI are priced out of this market, because we cannot afford new construction homes, we are encouraged to move into far away burbs or up-and coming areas. We feel like we are screwed when we read so many hate-filled responses from well-to-do new home owners, about how we are trashing their neighborhoods with our 800-900K older homes. I do not imagine where you would be advised to move with the income below 100K, the snobbery here in addition to tough RE market is staggering. We used to feel like we were well off, but apparently, we are poverty stricken trash for this area's inner burbs.

Our HHI is 300k and we have very limited choice in this market. So yes, we're all screwed.

I want to be able to sympathize, but you truly do NOT make it easy. Why are your options all that limited on that income?

Because we feel everything here is so overpriced. We may just end up doing the tear-down-rebuild thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

The law says 400k is rich http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=5dd72905-e9da-487b-b198-24f0ea9b8b24

that still doesn't make 200k poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think HHI of approx. $200k is considered rich to many. When you say, oh, it's not rich around here, that actually PROVES the point that if you aren't rich, you're screwed.

The problem is that too many people think that an HHI of $150k or $200k is normal. It is not. It is most definitely upper class.

Many educated people who work in the area do not make that kind of money, even with two-income families. And yes, they're kind of screwed. They're priced out of most of the market.

The law says 400k is rich http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=5dd72905-e9da-487b-b198-24f0ea9b8b24

that still doesn't make 200k poor.

No one said they were poor, just stop calling them rich and making them feel like they should be flying private jets to their weekend home in Turks And Caicos