DC Expensive Real Estate causing Millennials to leave for the suburbs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get married and have kids, the 800K gentrifying row house with the crackhead or stabbing out front doesn't seem that great.

Not always the case. People saying this probably have never lived in DC! I have lived in DC 20 years and most of those years in a row house: we have never had that happen in our neighborhood.

To be fair I think that 20 years a go a gentrifying neighborhood would be in NW which is great now but millions of dollars.

Even 40 years ago NW was an elite neighborhood.

No it wasn't. G'town, Spring Valley, Kent, yes. But AU Park was for white-collar government workers, nothing super fancy. East of 16th St was never an elite anything.

[Anonymous]

Yeh capital hill , the lambs to the slaughter with the hardest og area bordering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Totally agree- two Feds here and our budget was $450k. We kept an eye on DC but nothing (SFH or rowhouse) ever came up in our price range in a neighborhood we were comfortable with that still offered "city" living (several years too late for Brookland, we were priced out). Although in reality, the schools would likely have been too much of a risk for me. Bought in Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

Yeah the nicer parts of Takoma DC aren't that cheap, and the cheaper sections aren't that nice! I say this as a former TP resident who looked at rentals on the DC side.

[Anonymous]

No it wasn't. G'town, Spring Valley, Kent, yes. But AU Park was for white-collar government workers, nothing super fancy. East of 16th St was never an elite anything.

Yeah seriously. AU Park and CCDC (especially areas that fed into Janney, Lafayette, and Murch) used to be very much white collar federal workers. I grew up in CCDC and had friends who went to Janney and Murch from ballet class. It used to be the area where people lived who were college educated, but not super high earners. Not lobbyists, Big Law, finance people, etc. but just a federal attorney and his SAH wife, or a couple of journalists, or an NIH worker and someone who worked at a non-profit. Those people obviously worked to make their schools as good as possible and wanted good educations for their children (it was always an educated area), but it wasn't super fancy. It's amazing how much that area has changed since I grew up.

[Anonymous]

LOL! I moved from DC to Arlington, but it wasn't because people corrected my spelling. It was because I got more house, more amenities, and a better commute for less in rent and taxes.

Arlington is a special case. North Arlington is as expensive as DC, but with better schools. It's hard to call it a suburb, even though it technically is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

"Discussions are underway?" What is there some committee?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

ITA. We wanted to live in DC but we couldn't afford the convenient neighborhoods. So why bother?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

But "downtown" vs. the technically-DC-but-the-outskirts are completely different. What millennial wants to live in Riggs Park? And why live in Takoma DC when you can be in a decent public school simply by living a half mile over the line? Gotta go to MD for most shopping anyway.....

[Anonymous]

Gotta go to MD for most shopping anyway.....

No you do not! Why do a lot of non DC residents say this? What is in MD as far as shopping that you cannot buy in DC?

Clothes, Shoes, Toilet Paper? Please explain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

Actually, what's irritating is some people's deliberate refusal to understand that "living in the city" doesn't mean simply putting your head down in any zipcode USPS classifies as belonging to the D. of C.

Do you not seriously understand that when people say "living in the city", they mean it as living in a particular set of circumstances and amenities that's qualitatively - not just geographically - different from suburbs? That some areas of DC, actually quite many of them, are qualitatively suburban by every measure that counts - lack of public transit, lack of sidewalks, lack of walkability, lack of things to which to walk, distance to the nearest grocery store, distance to work, library, school, restaurant, rec center, really anything? What argument is there for choosing these areas of DC over suburbs? The dubious honor of "living in the city"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gotta go to MD for most shopping anyway.....

No you do not! Why do a lot of non DC residents say this? What is in MD as far as shopping that you cannot buy in DC?

Clothes, Shoes, Toilet Paper? Please explain?

If you live in Takoma or Riggs, Park, .5 miles away from DC-MD border, why would you drive to DC for shopping? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gotta go to MD for most shopping anyway.....

No you do not! Why do a lot of non DC residents say this? What is in MD as far as shopping that you cannot buy in DC?

Clothes, Shoes, Toilet Paper? Please explain?

If you live in Takoma or Riggs, Park, .5 miles away from DC-MD border, why would you drive to DC for shopping? Why?

Clearly PP was suggesting you would take a metro bus to pick up your toilet paper.