Move to DC or stay in Atlanta

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
All these previous posters seem to care about is big houses. Is that what brings you happiness? If so, stay in ATL. The big houses are literally all that place has going it. Charlotte is even worse.

My brother bought a highrise condo in Midtown and he loves it. He has all the conveniences of downtown living without paying the crazy high downtown prices that DC or NoVA would command.

Who wants to live in midtown Atlanta? It has an interstate in place of a river.

The same could be said about DC. Who wants to live in a city built on top of swampland? Living choices are subjective.

You're an idiot. DC is not built on swampland--kindly go back to whatever poor schooling system pushed you out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on this alone, "holy crap a house deep in VA is 500k", stay in Atlanta.

This. You will be poor here if you have a kid.

[pit2atl]

I decided to stay in ATL. Life is wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Meh. I was earning 90k by myself and bought a fixer upper inside DC. It was possible, though those same houses are closer to 500k+ now.

I'm a fed so my salary doesn't go up exponentially like some of you people. I'm happy living in my NE DC neighborhood and sending kids to charter schools. DC is great and I don't have much of a commute at all. It's just a different lifestyle than suburban Atlanta, of course.

I've always thought though that if living in DC meant living in the suburbs I wouldn't bother. The suburbs look the same everywhere but then involve probably commuting and also doubling or tripling your housing costs, and then you're not near any of the things that make DC awesome (which are mostly inside the city itself).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meh. I was earning 90k by myself and bought a fixer upper inside DC. It was possible, though those same houses are closer to 500k+ now.

I'm a fed so my salary doesn't go up exponentially like some of you people. I'm happy living in my NE DC neighborhood and sending kids to charter schools. DC is great and I don't have much of a commute at all. It's just a different lifestyle than suburban Atlanta, of course.

I've always thought though that if living in DC meant living in the suburbs I wouldn't bother. The suburbs look the same everywhere but then involve probably commuting and also doubling or tripling your housing costs, and then you're not near any of the things that make DC awesome (which are mostly inside the city itself).

Me again.

29 is a great age to be in DC and you'd be making more than many (most?) of the people that age here. (Most young professionals in DC are not married by then either and are working at modestly compensated NGO or Capitol Hill type jobs.) Enjoy a couple years if happy hours and brunches with new friends and buy a condo inside the city. DC is fun at that age.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would honestly stay put right now.

If your OP's job is with the corporate of the big hotel chains around here (Hilton, Marriott, Choice), keep in mind the hospitality industry is really suffering because of the coronavirus and we don't know if they'll put in a hiring freeze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meh. I was earning 90k by myself and bought a fixer upper inside DC. It was possible, though those same houses are closer to 500k+ now.

I'm a fed so my salary doesn't go up exponentially like some of you people. I'm happy living in my NE DC neighborhood and sending kids to charter schools. DC is great and I don't have much of a commute at all. It's just a different lifestyle than suburban Atlanta, of course.

I've always thought though that if living in DC meant living in the suburbs I wouldn't bother. The suburbs look the same everywhere but then involve probably commuting and also doubling or tripling your housing costs, and then you're not near any of the things that make DC awesome (which are mostly inside the city itself).

Me again.

29 is a great age to be in DC and you'd be making more than many (most?) of the people that age here. (Most young professionals in DC are not married by then either and are working at modestly compensated NGO or Capitol Hill type jobs.) Enjoy a couple years if happy hours and brunches with new friends and buy a condo inside the city. DC is fun at that age.

A condo is the city is not going to happen on a 80-90k salary today unless you commit to being extremely house poor.

We lucked out on our fairly modest salaries at the time because we were here at the right time, around the market crash and we bought our first dumpy one bedroom in an up and coming neighborhood, then fixed it up and sold it for a profit and moved out to Old Town at the right time when that was still at least somewhat affordable. But that was unique timing.

[Anonymous]

I'm repeating what everyone has said, but no, don't move. No, no. no. We moved here from a lower cost state, where were felt comfortable, and now we're lower middle class, living in a shitty house, feeling like we're scraping to pay every bill. Housing is just the beginning. Taxes, food, electric, school costs, everything will kill you. It all adds up, and pretty soon, you're like us. Stay where you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meh. I was earning 90k by myself and bought a fixer upper inside DC. It was possible, though those same houses are closer to 500k+ now.

I'm a fed so my salary doesn't go up exponentially like some of you people. I'm happy living in my NE DC neighborhood and sending kids to charter schools. DC is great and I don't have much of a commute at all. It's just a different lifestyle than suburban Atlanta, of course.

I've always thought though that if living in DC meant living in the suburbs I wouldn't bother. The suburbs look the same everywhere but then involve probably commuting and also doubling or tripling your housing costs, and then you're not near any of the things that make DC awesome (which are mostly inside the city itself).

Me again.

29 is a great age to be in DC and you'd be making more than many (most?) of the people that age here. (Most young professionals in DC are not married by then either and are working at modestly compensated NGO or Capitol Hill type jobs.) Enjoy a couple years if happy hours and brunches with new friends and buy a condo inside the city. DC is fun at that age.

DC isn’t fun at any age.

[Anonymous]

pit2atl wrote:I decided to stay in ATL. Life is wonderful.

Smart choice. I moved here 9 years ago and I regret it. The high cost of living makes it hard to enjoy life here. All of my friends in Atlanta have gorgeous homes. The only upside here is the great job market. Atlanta is not a good place to be unemployed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meh. I was earning 90k by myself and bought a fixer upper inside DC. It was possible, though those same houses are closer to 500k+ now.

I'm a fed so my salary doesn't go up exponentially like some of you people. I'm happy living in my NE DC neighborhood and sending kids to charter schools. DC is great and I don't have much of a commute at all. It's just a different lifestyle than suburban Atlanta, of course.

I've always thought though that if living in DC meant living in the suburbs I wouldn't bother. The suburbs look the same everywhere but then involve probably commuting and also doubling or tripling your housing costs, and then you're not near any of the things that make DC awesome (which are mostly inside the city itself).

Me again.

29 is a great age to be in DC and you'd be making more than many (most?) of the people that age here. (Most young professionals in DC are not married by then either and are working at modestly compensated NGO or Capitol Hill type jobs.) Enjoy a couple years if happy hours and brunches with new friends and buy a condo inside the city. DC is fun at that age.

DP. I agree with this. I moved to Cleveland Park when it was a cool neighborhood with a bookstore and coffee shops etc. bought a condo and moved up after five years. I think OP can find their version in some other newer better version of what I had. I don’t even know the name of these neighborhoods with the NYC style monikers that the youngsters go to now. But these folks should try that out. As several mentioned living inside DC really is the way to go. I wouldn’t move here and move to a suburb unless I had a big job and wanted a big house with kids etc.