All of the housing stock under $1m is HORRIBLE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I guess it depends on where exactly you are looking. Where exactly are you looking?

One of us works in Arlington and the other in Herndon. We've been looking in Alexandria, Falls Church, and South Arlington for a townhome. Completely priced out of DC.

Seriously? If you can't find a non-horrible TOWNHOME in Alexandria/FC/S. Arlington for under a million, you are completely hopeless.

+1 I lost all sympathy. WTF? Do they even make townhomes for over $1 million in those places? (Aside from Old Town?)

+1 OP - what are you looking for in a TH that you can't get for under $1mil? If you are looking for brand new, everything upscale, high end fixtures, then yea, you won't get that here, but you are also being unreasonable in that case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this works for people with a ton of money but for the rest of us we are spending most of our savings on a house. I cant fathom purchasing an expensive old home and plan to renovate every room only to find out that I have to do more than cosmetic renovations.

I dont need a turnkey house but I also am not going to pretend im on property brothers and can afford to completely reno a house and get it up to code -----.

The point is to buy a house for a lower price than the "pretty" ones and do the updates yourself, instead of paying the middleman flipper for his troubles. Sure, you're still spending a lot but it will be less overall than if you buy turnkey. Being willing to live with construction and having work done over time is how you build serious equity in the DC area.

We did this with a newborn. 10 years later made a $300 k profit after accounting for what we put into it. We tore out old carpets ourselves, laid pavers for a patio ourselves, built decorative privacy fencing with the help of day laborers from Casa de Maryland, and so on. I painted almost every wall myself over those 10 years.

To sell it, I went to Community Forklift and bought gently used items to make it look like what uninformed DC buyers want. In bathrooms
we painted the 1970s tile white. Had a contract over asking in less than a week.

If you think that all turnkey looking houses don't have at least a few surprises waiting for you, you're naive. I suppose buying a brand new house with a warranty makes sense if that's what you want.

I agree with you that this can be an effective strategy, but there are two issues. First, this doesn't solve problems with the location, lot, or low inventory. I'm one of the PPs and there are exactly six houses for sale in my kid's school zone: I can afford any of them, but the lots all suck. When I say they suck, I mean they are adjacent to I-66 or have a county drain ditch across the back yard: it's not a Backyard Makeover issue. So when I agreed with OP, it wasn't because I don't want to replace some bad wallpaper, it's because I don't have the "make me move" millions it would take to buy a well-located house that's not on the market.

Second, you and I are both very lucky to have the time, knowledge, and physical capability to DIY so much: not everybody can. I have done renovations on my townhouse (both DIY and supervising contractors) and I grew up in a house that was constantly being DIY renovated, one weekend at a time, for 16 years. I am not convinced the equity gains are worth it to me anymore, now that I'm old and have kids to spend time with.

[Anonymous]

Agree on poor options here. Looking for homes in the $700k range. Decided that renting a place I love in a neighborhood I love is a better choice than buying something just to be buying. Not willing to trade overall quality of life for dying with more money to my name than someone else has. In a position to buy if I see something I need to submit an offer for within days, but not going to rush it. The hardest part is ignoring all the people (up to their eyeballs in debt and enduring horrible commutes) who say I'm throwing money away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I guess it depends on where exactly you are looking. Where exactly are you looking?

One of us works in Arlington and the other in Herndon. We've been looking in Alexandria, Falls Church, and South Arlington for a townhome. Completely priced out of DC.

Seriously? If you can't find a non-horrible TOWNHOME in Alexandria/FC/S. Arlington for under a million, you are completely hopeless.

+1 I lost all sympathy. WTF? Do they even make townhomes for over $1 million in those places? (Aside from Old Town?)

+1 OP - what are you looking for in a TH that you can't get for under $1mil? If you are looking for brand new, everything upscale, high end fixtures, then yea, you won't get that here, but you are also being unreasonable in that case.

Did I miss that OP is looking for a townhouse? I didn't see that post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$300K annual income won't buy what you could get in Kansas.

And you won’t make a 300k annual income in Kansas. See how that works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I guess it depends on where exactly you are looking. Where exactly are you looking?

One of us works in Arlington and the other in Herndon. We've been looking in Alexandria, Falls Church, and South Arlington for a townhome. Completely priced out of DC.

Seriously? If you can't find a non-horrible TOWNHOME in Alexandria/FC/S. Arlington for under a million, you are completely hopeless.

+1 I lost all sympathy. WTF? Do they even make townhomes for over $1 million in those places? (Aside from Old Town?)

+1 OP - what are you looking for in a TH that you can't get for under $1mil? If you are looking for brand new, everything upscale, high end fixtures, then yea, you won't get that here, but you are also being unreasonable in that case.

Did I miss that OP is looking for a townhouse? I didn't see that post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Second, you and I are both very lucky to have the time, knowledge, and physical capability to DIY so much: not everybody can. I have done renovations on my townhouse (both DIY and supervising contractors) and I grew up in a house that was constantly being DIY renovated, one weekend at a time, for 16 years. I am not convinced the equity gains are worth it to me anymore, now that I'm old and have kids to spend time with.

Not everybody can, but oh so many do (try). This is one of the reasons why I refuse to buy a flip in DC proper. Way too many horror stories of quartz countertops and Bosch appliances covering up fundamental (and expensive) structural issues that can't be detected in a 30-minute inspection.

No one in their right mind would buy a car without a documented service history. Yet people spend 50x the cost of a car to buy a home with fewer outlets for offloading a bum deal. Eff elbow grease. I want quality.

[Anonymous]

OP - can you post a pic of your ideal townhome?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I guess it depends on where exactly you are looking. Where exactly are you looking?

One of us works in Arlington and the other in Herndon. We've been looking in Alexandria, Falls Church, and South Arlington for a townhome. Completely priced out of DC.

Seriously? If you can't find a non-horrible TOWNHOME in Alexandria/FC/S. Arlington for under a million, you are completely hopeless.

+1 I lost all sympathy. WTF? Do they even make townhomes for over $1 million in those places? (Aside from Old Town?)

+1 OP - what are you looking for in a TH that you can't get for under $1mil? If you are looking for brand new, everything upscale, high end fixtures, then yea, you won't get that here, but you are also being unreasonable in that case.

Did I miss that OP is looking for a townhouse? I didn't see that post.

...it's literally three posts above yours. I highlighted it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$300K annual income won't buy what you could get in Kansas.

And you won’t make a 300k annual income in Kansas. See how that works?

Cost-of-living. You don't need to make anywhere near a 300k annual income in Kansas to have a high qol. See how that works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I guess it depends on where exactly you are looking. Where exactly are you looking?

One of us works in Arlington and the other in Herndon. We've been looking in Alexandria, Falls Church, and South Arlington for a townhome. Completely priced out of DC.

Seriously? If you can't find a non-horrible TOWNHOME in Alexandria/FC/S. Arlington for under a million, you are completely hopeless.

+1 I lost all sympathy. WTF? Do they even make townhomes for over $1 million in those places? (Aside from Old Town?)

+1 OP - what are you looking for in a TH that you can't get for under $1mil? If you are looking for brand new, everything upscale, high end fixtures, then yea, you won't get that here, but you are also being unreasonable in that case.

Yeah, no sympathy here. Plenty of acceptable places for under a million in those locations. Wish I had that budget and that target area!

[Anonymous]

If you are not spending. 40% of your income your are at a disadvantage to most that are

[Anonymous]

"Eff elbow grease. I want quality."

What does PP mean by quality? You could buy from a homeowner who bought from a flipper. Same quality as if you'd bought directly from the flipper. Not sure how you'd determine whether the Bosch dishwasher is part of a quality renovation or if it's a facade to trick you.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Let me clarify... my budget is way under one million, it’s just that 1m seems to be the cost of the decent housing stock. My budget is closer to the 6-700 range and a TH is all i can afford. I don’t expect the best of the best at my budget but what’s out there is just ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify... my budget is way under one million, it’s just that 1m seems to be the cost of the decent housing stock. My budget is closer to the 6-700 range and a TH is all i can afford. I don’t expect the best of the best at my budget but what’s out there is just ugly.

Umm...that's townhouses in general in NoVA.