How can 20 somethings in college/right out of college afford to live in 2k a month buildings in DC?

[Anonymous]

Either (1) young couples with 2 incomes live together in a one-bedroom or (2) single person lives in a studio or with roomates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I made $60k out of school at 22 as an engineer. I paid $1k with no roommates bought a Toyota then too. No parent help with expenses but they helped with college so no loans and that was a big deal. We hire for 65-70 now. Engineers. Without many other expenses they can afford $2 for rent esp if they have no loans.

This is key. The only way you can do this is if you have no student debt to pay back. Then you can actually use your salary to pay for your life instead of servicing debt. I'm guessing many of us who couldn't do this were saddled by debt and low-paying jobs right after college.

[Anonymous]

2k is nearly half my income and I've done it. Only because i didn't need a car and so there wasn't that expense. It was actually really easy since I don't waste money at bars or eating out at expensive places. I also don't have the biggest tv and buy a phone every 2 to 4 years.

[Anonymous]

I managed to live in DC on a $14K retail salary during college, by sharing studio apartments and rooms in group apartments. Some of those apartments were pretty sh*tty, but we managed. After college, I supported myself on a $24K salary and continued sharing apartments, though no longer sharing rooms. Some of those apartments were pretty sh*tty too. Living in bad apartments should be a rite of passage so you appreciate the nice housing later so much more.

Despite the low salaries, I could always find a little money for beer. We went out 6 nights a week, to whatever place had the cheap drink specials that night. Ah, DC in the 90's. I miss that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are either smarter or luckier than you, OP. Probably better looking, too.

Typical DCUM elitist jerk response.

[Anonymous]

I am noticing this in our N. Arlington building where the rents for 1 bedrooms is over 2K per month. It is getting younger and younger and younger. First, I was noticing more people in their late 20s and early 30s, then it was younger 20 somethings. Now, I am starting to notice more and more renters who look so young that they must be undergrads. I also see people of this age group coming out of the even newer, more expensive buildings in this neighborhood. This is truly the guilded age in DC. Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am noticing this in our N. Arlington building where the rents for 1 bedrooms is over 2K per month. It is getting younger and younger and younger. First, I was noticing more people in their late 20s and early 30s, then it was younger 20 somethings. Now, I am starting to notice more and more renters who look so young that they must be undergrads. I also see people of this age group coming out of the even newer, more expensive buildings in this neighborhood. This is truly the guilded age in DC. Gross.

Maybe they just look younger and younger because you're getting older.

[Anonymous]

We spent a couple of years in a nice new-build apartment and were really shocked at how, at 35, we felt like the oldest people there. I heard several conversations in the elevator about getting money from parents so I assumed that was bankrolling most of these kids in 3K+ digs. I lived like a pauper at 22, only to finally live in a "nice" building in my mid-thirties and be surrounded by kids. Boo, get off my lawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am noticing this in our N. Arlington building where the rents for 1 bedrooms is over 2K per month. It is getting younger and younger and younger. First, I was noticing more people in their late 20s and early 30s, then it was younger 20 somethings. Now, I am starting to notice more and more renters who look so young that they must be undergrads. I also see people of this age group coming out of the even newer, more expensive buildings in this neighborhood. This is truly the guilded age in DC. Gross.

Maybe they just look younger and younger because you're getting older.

True, but when I see 40-something mommies and daddies moving their snowflakes in with large plastic containers filled with "college stuff," I know that I am not too far off in guessing that these kids are very, very young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom and dad. Or sharing rooms. A lot of friends did this. When I was first out of school I paid $1000/month in a group house with seven roommates in Adams Morgan on a salary of $30,000. I had ~$1000 left over every month for health care, food, going out. I was poor af, but it was the best years ever. More fun then college!

LOL. Yay, college!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spent a couple of years in a nice new-build apartment and were really shocked at how, at 35, we felt like the oldest people there. I heard several conversations in the elevator about getting money from parents so I assumed that was bankrolling most of these kids in 3K+ digs. I lived like a pauper at 22, only to finally live in a "nice" building in my mid-thirties and be surrounded by kids. Boo, get off my lawn.

This. NP here. I feel like posting this is pointless, because I'll be shouted down by the same five posters who INSIST that there are gazillions of 22 year olds in the self-sufficient and high earning boat, but these are exceptions and not the "rule". It is astounding how many millennials I know who are supported (either partially or exclusively) by their parents.

May are VERY coy about it. Over the years, I've heard plenty of people let little comments slip in passing or while drunk. Kind of similar to how I heard a low-earning friend mention that she wanted to have a conversation with her parents about switching Larlo's private school. (Well, if you're paying for it, why would you consult anyone else?) These things often have a way of coming out over time.

It is what it is. If I'm able to help my kids in their 20s, I will.

[Anonymous]

So do manage it on their own but usually they have no car (and a lot of employers subsidize or offer discounts on metro), and roommates. Oftentimes they split a 2 BR between 3 people (one person blocks off the living area and makes it a bedroom).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spent a couple of years in a nice new-build apartment and were really shocked at how, at 35, we felt like the oldest people there. I heard several conversations in the elevator about getting money from parents so I assumed that was bankrolling most of these kids in 3K+ digs. I lived like a pauper at 22, only to finally live in a "nice" building in my mid-thirties and be surrounded by kids. Boo, get off my lawn.

This. NP here. I feel like posting this is pointless, because I'll be shouted down by the same five posters who INSIST that there are gazillions of 22 year olds in the self-sufficient and high earning boat, but these are exceptions and not the "rule". It is astounding how many millennials I know who are supported (either partially or exclusively) by their parents.

May are VERY coy about it. Over the years, I've heard plenty of people let little comments slip in passing or while drunk. Kind of similar to how I heard a low-earning friend mention that she wanted to have a conversation with her parents about switching Larlo's private school. (Well, if you're paying for it, why would you consult anyone else?) These things often have a way of coming out over time.

It is what it is. If I'm able to help my kids in their 20s, I will.

16:30 here again. I had a friend who was so proud of the 20% deposit she put down on her home, and what a great job her husband had (as if anyone asked or was questioning). Anyway, her mom let it slip at a family function years later that the down payment was an inheritance from his side of the family. Cover blown!

There are plenty of cases like this. I don't think that anyone cares where the money comes from, it is just odd because many of the people who receive this kind of "economic outpatient care" seem to have some sort of inferiority complex and go out of their way to make it seem like it is something they paid for on their own. It is almost like they're afraid self-sufficient people can smell the subsidies on them.

So, OP...my life experiences have caused me to not necessarily believe people who claim they're paying for something that seems head-scratchingly expensive for their (likely) income.

[Anonymous]

There really aren't that many 2 bedrooms for less than 2k a month... I moved here 10 years ago and it was slim pickings for $1600. Most 22 year olds move here making 40-50k and 1k a month (2k split between roommates) isn't a stretch. I didn't have family help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They make $60K or $70K, have a roommate and don't have a lot of other expenses

This. It's not too bad at all. I had a $3300 a month mortgage by the time I was 27.

b/c that's smart

It is if you rent out the rest of the rooms in your house.