I will never be able to afford a house in Arlington
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Anonymous
Where on earth did you find a community you love with great neighbors in Manassas? |
Anonymous
| Are you dating? You might meet someone and join incomes. They you will be able to afford a SFH. |
Anonymous
Are you telling OP to be a gold-digger? |
Anonymous
Do you even know what that phrase means? PP isn’t telling her to try to snag a rich man. Just any man who has a job. |
Anonymous
I would argue the advice against telling OP to find a man specifically for this purpose. In theory, yes, but later in life committed relationships like this can (not always, I know) be hard and you could end up in legitimate financial trouble, for a number of reasons. |
Anonymous
| Why would you want to? Arlington is fine, but their are several areas around these parts that are aesthetically nicer, calmer and just flat out better. |
Anonymous
We bought in late 90s after watching what happened to housing prices in the mid 90s. Condos just don’t hold their value like SFHs do. That is not a new concept. And building equity by paying down your mortgage is certainly better than renting. But don’t look for condos alone as an investment on the “property ladder” that OP references. That also requires salary increases and significant equity increases. Which don’t happen often for condos. |
Anonymous
Jfc 
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Anonymous
Normally, I would agree, but this is something she clearly values highly; based on this, it may be a worthwhile option for achieving what she's aspiring for. She may be miserable, but at least she'd finally be miserable from the comfort of her house in Arlington. |
Anonymous
Plus one. People are such gross snobs here. I know plenty of nice folks who live there. |
Anonymous
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This is OP. Responses to several questions:
1) the condo feels small. It’s 800 square feet. We are on top of each other. I want a yard. I wanted no maintenance and no yard when I bought it, but covid has made me see the benefits of having more space and more of our own space. Also our condo fees have gone up precipitously and it’s painful paying those every month. 2) Zillow’s calculator may say I can afford that home, but I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable doing it, and my financial advisor would say that’s too much for me to spend on a house. No debt. One child still in daycare, which is a major expense. 3) I don’t care what others think about me living in a condo. That’s not what this is about. Or about me living in Arlington versus somewhere else. I realize that’s important to some folks on DCUM but I picked Arlington because I had already been living here for a decade before I bought and because of the commute. I looked in Burke and Springfield but couldn’t actually make the commute timing work out to make drop off AND pick up and be in the office for 8.5 hours each day. So Manasass is theoretically fine with me, and I might even like it better than Arlington, but I need to live closer to work than that. 4) I get it that I either need to move to a different area or stay in this condo or find more money. Or at least I get it now. I am, I think, expressing surprise that there will be trading up this condo for a larger house in a couple of years, like what I once imagined and like people suggested when I bought the condo. Because it hasn’t appreciated that much and houses have. And because my salary has plateaued (which I knew it would). When I bought the condo, everyone (friends, family, realtor) said things like, “this is great! And if you want something bigger when the kids get older, you can sell the condo and use that for a down payment on a house.” I didn’t think it through and realize I would never be able to afford the house. |
Anonymous
| * there will be no trading up, I mean |
Anonymous
You can trade up. I did the exact same thing! Just not in Arlington. Or, look in S. Arlington if you want to stay so badly. Or maybe a townhouse with a yard. So many options besides just throwing up your hands and thinking it’s unfair and you should be entitled to some Arlington property ladder. Look, I lived a decade in Arlington myself and thought I’d never move. Turns out I’d never move BACK to Arlington now that I left. The SFHs are way too crammed together for my taste and I feel like a lot of things are actually more convenient outside of Arlington. Just giving you another perspective. We all have to make tradeoffs. |
Anonymous
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DC Metro area population has doubled since 1980. It is no surprise that certain neighborhoods around NW DC have gotten more wealthy as the number of wealthy has expanded greatly with the growth in the area. Also, Arlington was not a 'hood 25 years ago.
It's no surprise we may see a little more shift in neighborhoods around here. Compare our growth to the NY metro, where the population has only gone up about 25% over the same time, Boston metro about 30%, Philadelphia 25%. I go back to the town I grew up in in NJ and houses are selling for only 20% more than they did in the late 1980s, and population is lower than it was 20 years ago. There is plenty of opportunity to trade up. You just might have to move over a few towns to get it done. |
Anonymous
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How about a TH?
How much equity/cash do you have for a downpayment? How much do you pay for mortgage + condo fees? |