Can you tell if someone is trying to fake a higher SES?

[Anonymous]

Seems like there are many people trying to look wealthier than they are. What are the tell-tale signs?

[Anonymous]

Who bothers with trying to prove their SES? No wealthy people, that's for sure.

If some one's always talking about money or obsessed with their class, I assume they're from a modest background.

[Anonymous]

Look, I live in Bethesda, know a lot of people with a variety of assets/income and no one is pretending to be anything they are not. A, they are too busy living their lives. B, why would they care what they project?

It's a question of personal preference, OP. Some like to wear flashy jewelry, drive flashy cars, mortgage themselves to the hilt for their large house. Others drive battered old Toyotas, wear down-at-heel things, and still live in their starter home from the 1920s. They may have exactly the same money, they just have a different way of enjoying their life.

And that's fine. How boring would the world be if we all thought alike!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I live in Bethesda, know a lot of people with a variety of assets/income and no one is pretending to be anything they are not. A, they are too busy living their lives. B, why would they care what they project?

It's a question of personal preference, OP. Some like to wear flashy jewelry, drive flashy cars, mortgage themselves to the hilt for their large house. Others drive battered old Toyotas, wear down-at-heel things, and still live in their starter home from the 1920s. They may have exactly the same money, they just have a different way of enjoying their life.

And that's fine. How boring would the world be if we all thought alike!

People who bought starter homes in the 1920s are still alive? Impressive!

[Anonymous]

Seems like OP is trying to feel better by thinking that people fake their SES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I live in Bethesda, know a lot of people with a variety of assets/income and no one is pretending to be anything they are not. A, they are too busy living their lives. B, why would they care what they project?

It's a question of personal preference, OP. Some like to wear flashy jewelry, drive flashy cars, mortgage themselves to the hilt for their large house. Others drive battered old Toyotas, wear down-at-heel things, and still live in their starter home from the 1920s. They may have exactly the same money, they just have a different way of enjoying their life.

And that's fine. How boring would the world be if we all thought alike!

Yep. We live in the small row house I bought fifteen years ago and drive one older car. Rarely buy new clothes. Have a nonprofit job. I doubt many of our friends and neighbors have any idea we are worth nearly $2m. (Which I know is nothing for Bethesda, but it's a whole lot for my neighborhood)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like there are many people trying to look wealthier than they are. What are the tell-tale signs?

You mean on DCUM? Aside from some obvious trolls, you're wrong.

Seems like there are a lot of out-of-towners on this site and some of them think 80k is BIG money, so people saying 200k, 400k, 700k *must* be lying. Impoverished rural America is a whole separate world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like there are many people trying to look wealthier than they are. What are the tell-tale signs?

Other than loan officers, why would anyone even worry about this?

[Anonymous]

Geez. Who cares?

[Anonymous]

I call it fronting. I live in a new neighborhood full of fronters. The neighborhood is under 10 years old and filled with custom built homes on very large lots. One of those hoods where people come and drive around looking at the homes. We live in a spec home. We bought at a time when new housing was in trouble. We got a fantastic deal on this house.

The majority of people living here grew up here and for some reason think this place means you made it. According to my nosy neighbor. Sometimes I think it's Darlie Routier creepy with the front yard fountains and the concrete lion statues. I am not kidding. And everyone has a boat, multiple cars, many have either RVs or campers, pools/hot tubs, outdoor kitchens. The manicured lawns, dry cleaning deliveries, UPS comes so often I think the same driver has this place as his only route.

From the outside looking in you would think everyone is living on Easy Street. Cue Darryl's Walking Dead torture song. HA HA. But once inside you find out it's far from the truth. My nosy neighbor loves to fill us in on everybody's business. The man gossips more than any woman I have ever known.

Their life I guess. We aren't followers. Never have been, never will be.

While everyone was busy fronting, we paid off our house. They brag about things, we silently sing to the heavens we are debt free. But I have seen foreclosure papers served on more than 1 home, the repo man coming for cars, utilities shut off. It's not the wealthy utopia some pretend it is. I really hate knowing this crap but I do need sunshine inside sometimes. I can't help it if I see things.

I don't really care. I only care about me and mine. It's not how we choose to live. And it is a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call it fronting. I live in a new neighborhood full of fronters. The neighborhood is under 10 years old and filled with custom built homes on very large lots. One of those hoods where people come and drive around looking at the homes. We live in a spec home. We bought at a time when new housing was in trouble. We got a fantastic deal on this house.

The majority of people living here grew up here and for some reason think this place means you made it. According to my nosy neighbor. Sometimes I think it's Darlie Routier creepy with the front yard fountains and the concrete lion statues. I am not kidding. And everyone has a boat, multiple cars, many have either RVs or campers, pools/hot tubs, outdoor kitchens. The manicured lawns, dry cleaning deliveries, UPS comes so often I think the same driver has this place as his only route.

From the outside looking in you would think everyone is living on Easy Street. Cue Darryl's Walking Dead torture song. HA HA. But once inside you find out it's far from the truth. My nosy neighbor loves to fill us in on everybody's business. The man gossips more than any woman I have ever known.

Their life I guess. We aren't followers. Never have been, never will be.

While everyone was busy fronting, we paid off our house. They brag about things, we silently sing to the heavens we are debt free. But I have seen foreclosure papers served on more than 1 home, the repo man coming for cars, utilities shut off. It's not the wealthy utopia some pretend it is. I really hate knowing this crap but I do need sunshine inside sometimes. I can't help it if I see things.

I don't really care. I only care about me and mine. It's not how we choose to live. And it is a choice.

Pretty much everything you describe here is the epitome of wealth without class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call it fronting. I live in a new neighborhood full of fronters. The neighborhood is under 10 years old and filled with custom built homes on very large lots. One of those hoods where people come and drive around looking at the homes. We live in a spec home. We bought at a time when new housing was in trouble. We got a fantastic deal on this house.

The majority of people living here grew up here and for some reason think this place means you made it. According to my nosy neighbor. Sometimes I think it's Darlie Routier creepy with the front yard fountains and the concrete lion statues. I am not kidding. And everyone has a boat, multiple cars, many have either RVs or campers, pools/hot tubs, outdoor kitchens. The manicured lawns, dry cleaning deliveries, UPS comes so often I think the same driver has this place as his only route.

From the outside looking in you would think everyone is living on Easy Street. Cue Darryl's Walking Dead torture song. HA HA. But once inside you find out it's far from the truth. My nosy neighbor loves to fill us in on everybody's business. The man gossips more than any woman I have ever known.

Their life I guess. We aren't followers. Never have been, never will be.

While everyone was busy fronting, we paid off our house. They brag about things, we silently sing to the heavens we are debt free. But I have seen foreclosure papers served on more than 1 home, the repo man coming for cars, utilities shut off. It's not the wealthy utopia some pretend it is. I really hate knowing this crap but I do need sunshine inside sometimes. I can't help it if I see things.

I don't really care. I only care about me and mine. It's not how we choose to live. And it is a choice.

So everyone in your pretentious neighborhood is "fronting" except you, according to the nasty, nosy neighbor you keep listening to, who knows everyone's business (but yours) exactly how? Please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call it fronting. I live in a new neighborhood full of fronters. The neighborhood is under 10 years old and filled with custom built homes on very large lots. One of those hoods where people come and drive around looking at the homes. We live in a spec home. We bought at a time when new housing was in trouble. We got a fantastic deal on this house.

The majority of people living here grew up here and for some reason think this place means you made it. According to my nosy neighbor. Sometimes I think it's Darlie Routier creepy with the front yard fountains and the concrete lion statues. I am not kidding. And everyone has a boat, multiple cars, many have either RVs or campers, pools/hot tubs, outdoor kitchens. The manicured lawns, dry cleaning deliveries, UPS comes so often I think the same driver has this place as his only route.

From the outside looking in you would think everyone is living on Easy Street. Cue Darryl's Walking Dead torture song. HA HA. But once inside you find out it's far from the truth. My nosy neighbor loves to fill us in on everybody's business. The man gossips more than any woman I have ever known.

Their life I guess. We aren't followers. Never have been, never will be.

While everyone was busy fronting, we paid off our house. They brag about things, we silently sing to the heavens we are debt free. But I have seen foreclosure papers served on more than 1 home, the repo man coming for cars, utilities shut off. It's not the wealthy utopia some pretend it is. I really hate knowing this crap but I do need sunshine inside sometimes. I can't help it if I see things.

I don't really care. I only care about me and mine. It's not how we choose to live. And it is a choice.

Hmm. I would not have bought in that kind of place, at whatever price. You know what neighbors you're going to get there.
In my older, close-in neighborhood, where you get a tiny house for the same price, at least my neighbors are on the same page. Money is spent on less visible things.

[Anonymous]

My neighborhood is the opposite. I keep finding out how much money/what kind of jobs people have and I'm like damn! I had no clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like there are many people trying to look wealthier than they are. What are the tell-tale signs?

Go to their house if the opportunity presents itself, or take a look at how clean their car is on the inside.

The theory is that if they are pretending, they will usually let stuff go that isn't normally seen by others.