My aunt started working as a maid at the Watergate after graduating HS & bought a home in Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She started working at the Watergate at age 18.

She rented for a few years in her 20s, saved her money and then purchased her own home in her 30s.

All of this on a maid's salary.

Sounds too good to be true, I know.

But this was during the 1960s and 1970s.

Was she just at the right place at the right time?

will days like that ever come back?

Donald Trump’s mom was a maid. I think those days are over. I actually knew Mary Trump back in 1981 as she shopped at the supermarket near my house and always helped the checker with bagging as very down to earth. But today that happening?

Uh, what? She might have been when she immigrated to the US, but she was the SAHM wife of a rich real estate developer. Not sure what point you are trying to make bringing her into the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your aunt demand an HGTV-ready kitchen? A bedroom for each child, plus a guest room, plus an office? A two-car garage? A master bathroom with dual sinks? Ten-foot ceilings, built-ins, and a screened-in porch with television hookup and wet bar?

Or did she buy a 2-3BR/1-2BA with street parking and no air conditioning, in a new tract development that used to be someone’s farm?

You can still get a bare-bones place built on newly developed farmland. But it will be a TH in Warrenton. Because that’s the way population and urban expansion work.

NP here. I will admit buyers are somewhat pickier, but that’s also because we are spending a proportionately larger percent of our salaries on housing, and we had to achieve many more years of higher education to compete in the workplace compared to earlier generations. Also, the HGTV generalizations are way overblown. In order to afford a SFH in Arlington we gave up having a garage, a bed room for each kid, an en-suite master bathroom, ten foot ceilings, wet bar, etc. DH and I both have six figure salaries, but with the cost of childcare, saving for college, etc. knew we’d have to sacrifice a lot to have a short commute. Even still we spent over 800k.

Sorry, but today’s hotel cleaners are not even buying SFHs on that one salary. They are renting a small apartment on a bus line. The homes that hotel house keepers used to buy now go to dual fed households. It’s been a downhill slide for a lot of people.

Sure there are people buying new construction HGTV homes, but they make a lot more than a house cleaner. I’m so over people summing up the problem of housing affordability by claiming it’s all because of people wanting granite countertops and a three car garage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did your aunt demand an HGTV-ready kitchen? A bedroom for each child, plus a guest room, plus an office? A two-car garage? A master bathroom with dual sinks? Ten-foot ceilings, built-ins, and a screened-in porch with television hookup and wet bar?

Or did she buy a 2-3BR/1-2BA with street parking and no air conditioning, in a new tract development that used to be someone’s farm?

You can still get a bare-bones place built on newly developed farmland. But it will be a TH in Warrenton. Because that’s the way population and urban expansion work.

NP here. I will admit buyers are somewhat pickier, but that’s also because we are spending a proportionately larger percent of our salaries on housing, and we had to achieve many more years of higher education to compete in the workplace compared to earlier generations. Also, the HGTV generalizations are way overblown. In order to afford a SFH in Arlington we gave up having a garage, a bed room for each kid, an en-suite master bathroom, ten foot ceilings, wet bar, etc. DH and I both have six figure salaries, but with the cost of childcare, saving for college, etc. knew we’d have to sacrifice a lot to have a short commute. Even still we spent over 800k.

Sorry, but today’s hotel cleaners are not even buying SFHs on that one salary. They are renting a small apartment on a bus line. The homes that hotel house keepers used to buy now go to dual fed households. It’s been a downhill slide for a lot of people.

Sure there are people buying new construction HGTV homes, but they make a lot more than a house cleaner. I’m so over people summing up the problem of housing affordability by claiming it’s all because of people wanting granite countertops and a three car garage.

And to add on — Google shows Arlington, VA as one of the top salary locations for a hotel housekeeper at just under 35k/year. Let’s say some higher end DC hotels are really and pay 50k. No one is buying a single family home in this area on that salary.

I’m not saying it shouldn’t be that way, areas get more expensive. It is what it is. But I don’t know why people are so stuck in the mud about acknowledging you need a higher education and larger salary to achieve today what you used to be able to achieve on one salary with a college degree. It’s so much easier to blame HGTV though.

[Anonymous]

My friend's grandparents immigrated to the U.S. during the depression and purchased a (then and now) valuable lot of land, in a desirable suburban community, walkable, all the bells and whistles - on a janitor's salary. No family money.

Another friend's grandparent's literally lost their Nebraska farm in foreclosure during that same era. Also no family money.

I know nannies that have homes here, and homes in their home country, as well, OP. Nannies in McLean, Arlington, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc. do quite well.

Anything is possible, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did your aunt demand an HGTV-ready kitchen? A bedroom for each child, plus a guest room, plus an office? A two-car garage? A master bathroom with dual sinks? Ten-foot ceilings, built-ins, and a screened-in porch with television hookup and wet bar?

Or did she buy a 2-3BR/1-2BA with street parking and no air conditioning, in a new tract development that used to be someone’s farm?

You can still get a bare-bones place built on newly developed farmland. But it will be a TH in Warrenton. Because that’s the way population and urban expansion work.

NP here. I will admit buyers are somewhat pickier, but that’s also because we are spending a proportionately larger percent of our salaries on housing, and we had to achieve many more years of higher education to compete in the workplace compared to earlier generations. Also, the HGTV generalizations are way overblown. In order to afford a SFH in Arlington we gave up having a garage, a bed room for each kid, an en-suite master bathroom, ten foot ceilings, wet bar, etc. DH and I both have six figure salaries, but with the cost of childcare, saving for college, etc. knew we’d have to sacrifice a lot to have a short commute. Even still we spent over 800k.

Sorry, but today’s hotel cleaners are not even buying SFHs on that one salary. They are renting a small apartment on a bus line. The homes that hotel house keepers used to buy now go to dual fed households. It’s been a downhill slide for a lot of people.

Sure there are people buying new construction HGTV homes, but they make a lot more than a house cleaner. I’m so over people summing up the problem of housing affordability by claiming it’s all because of people wanting granite countertops and a three car garage.

And to add on — Google shows Arlington, VA as one of the top salary locations for a hotel housekeeper at just under 35k/year. Let’s say some higher end DC hotels are really and pay 50k. No one is buying a single family home in this area on that salary.

I’m not saying it shouldn’t be that way, areas get more expensive. It is what it is. But I don’t know why people are so stuck in the mud about acknowledging you need a higher education and larger salary to achieve today what you used to be able to achieve on one salary with a college degree. It’s so much easier to blame HGTV though.

This is a GREAT point, especially in this area of Keeping up with the Joneses. Also, think of how much more CROWDED this and other areas are now, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend's grandparents immigrated to the U.S. during the depression and purchased a (then and now) valuable lot of land, in a desirable suburban community, walkable, all the bells and whistles - on a janitor's salary. No family money.

Another friend's grandparent's literally lost their Nebraska farm in foreclosure during that same era. Also no family money.

I know nannies that have homes here, and homes in their home country, as well, OP. Nannies in McLean, Arlington, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc. do quite well.

Anything is possible, OP.

Nannies in McLean and Arlington don’t live in those communities I interviewed a bunch and really vast majority lived in Woodbridge and places in that area. A few used to live in South Arlington but had gotten priced out.

Sure anything is possible. But that possibility is basically about the same as winning the lotto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend's grandparents immigrated to the U.S. during the depression and purchased a (then and now) valuable lot of land, in a desirable suburban community, walkable, all the bells and whistles - on a janitor's salary. No family money.

Another friend's grandparent's literally lost their Nebraska farm in foreclosure during that same era. Also no family money.

I know nannies that have homes here, and homes in their home country, as well, OP. Nannies in McLean, Arlington, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc. do quite well.

Anything is possible, OP.

Nannies in McLean and Arlington don’t live in those communities I interviewed a bunch and really vast majority lived in Woodbridge and places in that area. A few used to live in South Arlington but had gotten priced out.

Sure anything is possible. But that possibility is basically about the same as winning the lotto.

The point is that, yes, Arlington is closer to downtown, but in the 70’s, Arlington was effectively Woodbridge, except even more blue collar. For that matter, outside of a few large homes that were built as “country homes,” Cleveland Park was a blue-collar neighborhood. When I moved to Cleveland Park in the 80’s, my neighbors were retired taxi drivers and the like. Most people on the board have no idea what a small, sleepy town DC used to be. There were like 4-5 “fancy” restaurants.

FWIW, there are quite a few neighborhoods in the Fairfax County part of Alexandria that are full of nannies and house cleaners, many of whom own their own homes. It might not be in neighborhoods that you would want to live in, but, then again, you probably wouldn’t have wanted to live in Arlington in the 70’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Up in the Baltimore suburbs there's a lot of decent if unremarkable housing in working class suburbs that sell for 250-350. Doable for most people with some discipline, which was always the case for lower income homeowners.

Arlington in the 60s-80s was basic middle class with some working class areas and some upper middle class areas. It was no Chevy Chase.

Even Bethesda in those days was dominated by the fed family household, not dual law firm partners.

Heck. Even Chevy Chase had a lot of modest houses. The real money was in parts of NW. The wealthy monies crowd was much smaller.

DC is a different world altogether these days.

Here are some of the NW DC and Montgomery County delinquents I grew up around and attended school with.

[Anonymous]

Back then you could pay for in state college with a part time job, because tuition was so cheap. You can't do that today.

Wages have not kept pace with the increase in housing costs and tuition costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back then you could pay for in state college with a part time job, because tuition was so cheap. You can't do that today.

Wages have not kept pace with the increase in housing costs and tuition costs.

In 1980 my state college tuition was $900 A year. But incomes were very low.

But remember, no iPhones, WiFi, cable, Uber, streaming, Starbucks, fish taco places, nannies, maids, housekeepers, landscapers, nail salons etc unless rich. and interest rates sky high.

There is a lot of wasteful spending today from folks who claim they can’t afford a house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who, as a new college grad in the 90s, was living in a group house in N. Arlington, the typical brick rambler. The landlord decided to sell, so my friend bought it. No family money, but still had the roommates. 25-30 years later, he and his family now live in that (renovated) house in 22207.

I had a few friends buy under similar circumstances back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back then you could pay for in state college with a part time job, because tuition was so cheap. You can't do that today.

Wages have not kept pace with the increase in housing costs and tuition costs.

In 1980 my state college tuition was $900 A year. But incomes were very low.

But remember, no iPhones, WiFi, cable, Uber, streaming, Starbucks, fish taco places, nannies, maids, housekeepers, landscapers, nail salons etc unless rich. and interest rates sky high.

There is a lot of wasteful spending today from folks who claim they can’t afford a house

Give me a break. WiFi and smart phones are now essential for having a job. Many people Uber INSTEAD of buying a car. No one gets cable anymore and streaming instead is cheaper.

The people who have nannies, maids, housekeepers, and landscapers are home owners.

It is an undeniable macroeconomic fact that housing prices and college tuition have skyrocketed while salaries have stagnated. But keep blaming me for the iPhone I upgrade once every 4-5 years.

[Anonymous]

^^ also, let’s do the math. $900 in 1980 would be $2,842 today.

In state college tuition at, say, UVA is $17,780.

[Anonymous]

I love this thread. I grew up in the 70’s and love the reminiscing. The knowledge of real estate is sharp too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back then you could pay for in state college with a part time job, because tuition was so cheap. You can't do that today.

Wages have not kept pace with the increase in housing costs and tuition costs.

In 1980 my state college tuition was $900 A year. But incomes were very low.

But remember, no iPhones, WiFi, cable, Uber, streaming, Starbucks, fish taco places, nannies, maids, housekeepers, landscapers, nail salons etc unless rich. and interest rates sky high.

There is a lot of wasteful spending today from folks who claim they can’t afford a house

Give me a break. WiFi and smart phones are now essential for having a job. Many people Uber INSTEAD of buying a car. No one gets cable anymore and streaming instead is cheaper.

The people who have nannies, maids, housekeepers, and landscapers are home owners.

It is an undeniable macroeconomic fact that housing prices and college tuition have skyrocketed while salaries have stagnated. But keep blaming me for the iPhone I upgrade once every 4-5 years.

The mortgage for a median priced home in the DC area is basically the same percentage of income as it was in 1980. Look it up. Yes, education costs have gone up, but housing costs really haven't much.