Bought a house near Fort Totten - Having regrets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

I've been here since 1974.

Zero interest in FT. Totten. There are so many much better places to spend 500k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

I have lived in Fort Totten for 15 years and have never experienced any crime—not even property crime or package theft.

OP, it is admittedly pretty boring and the architecture is not inspiring but better boring than feeling stressed about your mortgage. There are a lot of places to get to within a mile—Petworth, Brookland—and nice places to walk. I’d wait it out for a little while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

I have lived in Fort Totten for 15 years and have never experienced any crime—not even property crime or package theft.

OP, it is admittedly pretty boring and the architecture is not inspiring but better boring than feeling stressed about your mortgage. There are a lot of places to get to within a mile—Petworth, Brookland—and nice places to walk. I’d wait it out for a little while.

+1

It's not scary. Unless you find boring to be scary and then it is pretty terrifying! A more apt adjective for the area would be 'sleepy'

[Anonymous]

Very few areas are habitable

[Anonymous]

OP, when did you buy? I bought a condo in an area that I *thought* I would like and I ended up hating it. I also was a first time homebuyer, and it was a flip and I was easily impressed. Bought in April 2019, decided to put on the market in January 2020, and closed on March 31st 2020. Everyone told me I was silly to buy and sell so quickly, but I new this place wasn’t for
me and didn’t want to waste my time anymore.

Fortunately for me, I was able to stay with my mom
for a bit and put my stuff in storage. I honestly wasn’t looking to jump back in the market immediately, but I found an adorable house (small, outdated, but good bones) in great neighborhood. Closed on my SFH in July 2020.

So, perhaps if you’re willing to sacrifice on aesthetics, you could possibly move to better area? I will be spending the night cooking with white appliances and 80s oak trim cabinets that I can’t afford to update, but my house and neighborhood is cute and cozy and I love it. I am going through a major overhaul of the heating system (from oil to gas; oil tank was removed today and omg how stressful and what a relief) that I am prioritizing over my kitchen.

Anyways, moral of the story, if you have some form of an exit plan, don’t waste your time in FT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

I have lived in Fort Totten for 15 years and have never experienced any crime—not even property crime or package theft.

OP, it is admittedly pretty boring and the architecture is not inspiring but better boring than feeling stressed about your mortgage. There are a lot of places to get to within a mile—Petworth, Brookland—and nice places to walk. I’d wait it out for a little while.

+1

It's not scary. Unless you find boring to be scary and then it is pretty terrifying! A more apt adjective for the area would be 'sleepy'

I don't believe PP is a native Washingtonian. The current mayor is from Lamond Riggs/Ft. Totten. People have never said that FT was scary - boring, yes - scary, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

I have lived in Fort Totten for 15 years and have never experienced any crime—not even property crime or package theft.

OP, it is admittedly pretty boring and the architecture is not inspiring but better boring than feeling stressed about your mortgage. There are a lot of places to get to within a mile—Petworth, Brookland—and nice places to walk. I’d wait it out for a little while.

+1

It's not scary. Unless you find boring to be scary and then it is pretty terrifying! A more apt adjective for the area would be 'sleepy'

I don't believe PP is a native Washingtonian. The current mayor is from Lamond Riggs/Ft. Totten. People have never said that FT was scary - boring, yes - scary, no.

You do know that there are plenty of white native Washingtonians? Many are young people that one would expect to use such terminology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

It’s scary if you are scared of black people.

- native Black Washingtonian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

It’s scary if you are scared of black people.

- native Black Washingtonian

The users saying Fort Totten is sketchy and/or scary really mean the area has a lot of black people and thus is indeed sketchy.

[Anonymous]

So grateful that we've gone full on racist on this thread. :-/

Fort Totten and Michigan Park have always just seemed quiet and unassuming to me. I get why someone who is used to being close to the action might not be happy there. The housing stock also lacks some of the romantic qualities of the older Victorian and rowhouse neighborhoods. It definitely feels more utilitarian, and if you're attached to the notion of glamorous city living, it might not be for you.

That's all fine. But, OP, that's also why it allowed you could afford a house on a single income in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. That's something that not many people can achieve. I think there is lots of joy and happiness there for the people who make those trade-offs, and once the pandemic ends you'll probably see more of that. You just have to decide if they're the right trade-offs for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So grateful that we've gone full on racist on this thread. :-/

Fort Totten and Michigan Park have always just seemed quiet and unassuming to me. I get why someone who is used to being close to the action might not be happy there. The housing stock also lacks some of the romantic qualities of the older Victorian and rowhouse neighborhoods. It definitely feels more utilitarian, and if you're attached to the notion of glamorous city living, it might not be for you.

That's all fine. But, OP, that's also why it allowed you could afford a house on a single income in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. That's something that not many people can achieve. I think there is lots of joy and happiness there for the people who make those trade-offs, and once the pandemic ends you'll probably see more of that. You just have to decide if they're the right trade-offs for you.

Thank you for this kind and reasonable post!

[Anonymous]

I lived in Ft.Totten and the architecture isn't beautiful. But I rarely felt scared. But someone did steal some items. But my neighbors for the most part were older African-Americans who had lived there for decades and were pretty quiet.

Idk why you would move there if you wanted to be able to walk to places. It is very suburban.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate FT, feel bad for you OP

+1,000. Fort Totten is sketch and I am a native Washingtonian. I would either rent it out or sell in 2021.

No native Washingtonian would call Fort Totten sketch. Who even says that? Not the most exciting neighborhood, but not "sketch". What are we 12?

As a native Washingtonian, I call it scary as hell.

Another (white, fwiw) Washingtonian here and if you think Fort Totten is scary, you and your sketch buddy clearly haven't gotten out much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So grateful that we've gone full on racist on this thread. :-/

Fort Totten and Michigan Park have always just seemed quiet and unassuming to me. I get why someone who is used to being close to the action might not be happy there. The housing stock also lacks some of the romantic qualities of the older Victorian and rowhouse neighborhoods. It definitely feels more utilitarian, and if you're attached to the notion of glamorous city living, it might not be for you.

That's all fine. But, OP, that's also why it allowed you could afford a house on a single income in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. That's something that not many people can achieve. I think there is lots of joy and happiness there for the people who make those trade-offs, and once the pandemic ends you'll probably see more of that. You just have to decide if they're the right trade-offs for you.

Thank you for this kind and reasonable post!

Very kind and thoughtful post! A rare species amongst this forum!