How old where you when you bought a house here?

[Anonymous]

I was thirty when I bought my condo in Cleveland Park. I recently sold it and bought a house in NW DC with my husband.

[Anonymous]

I bought in 2001, when I was single, making about $40K, and just turning 27. I bought an Arlington townhouse for $276K, with a $100K loan from family which I paid off (with interest) within three years later since the equity had gone up so much. Never thought I would leave.

Now in 2012, age 38 and still single, I bought a single family home in Fairfax County for 790K (with a gift from family that I didn't ask for nor ever expect, God bless them!), and the townhouse is now under contract to sell for $515K. All of the profit from the townhouse is going into the new house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought a great brick two-family building in St. Louis for $55k in the 90s. I was in my 20s. My mortgage payment was $420 a month! I rented out one of the units for $350 and lived in the other.

Next purchase was in 2009. A big old 6 bedroom 3 bath house on a 6,000 sf lot just about a block from the NE edge of DC, in MD. Husband and I both in mid/late 30s. We paid $285K.

There are still plenty of more reasonably prices houses available on this side of town. You can scrimp and save for years and work you ass off to be able to afford a $500K house in the more traditionally "good" (read "white") parts of this area, or you can step over to the less affluent side of town and live twice as well. At least that's what is working for us.

OP here - I love DC and would live there if money were no object (although we are currently looking Arlington) but I worry about the schools in any neighborhood hwere I could afford a SFH in DC. We can't do private (since DH works to promote public education, it would just look very bad haha) and I won't do Catholic schools.

[Anonymous]

25 in 2008. Condo in SE DC for 209K. Not planning to move anytime soon, if ever.