Anyone else grew up in McLean but can’t afford to buy there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve watched all my friends who can’t buy in their childhood neighborhoods have major beginning life crisis.

It’s a bit pathetic.

Were the local schools really THAT great if they didn’t prepare kids for the success required to buy a home in their hometown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve watched all my friends who can’t buy in their childhood neighborhoods have major beginning life crisis.

It’s a bit pathetic.

Were the local schools really THAT great if they didn’t prepare kids for the success required to buy a home in their hometown?

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Burke/Springfield and more or less stumbled into buying our first house in the same area a few years after college based on what we could afford. It was the right financial decision, but we both hated it. The commute, the lack of walkability... everything. We moved much closer in and love where we are now.

When we were the previous house, I felt embarrassed running into people I knew from HS. Like "yep, I guess I'm back here and haven't really moved on" even though I had a masters by that point, had lived out of state previously, and had a good job. It just felt very trapped.

I'm glad the OP liked their neighborhood growing up, but I think there's some value in moving on, too.

X100000

I would totally be embarrassed, Mclean or anywhere.

Yeah laying down a foundation and not being some rootless carpetbagger is so embarrassing. That said, in this instance I doubt it’s about the schools or nostalgia, it’s merely status obsession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m terrified that my children will be downwardly mobile like OP.

Have you broached the subject with them?

Please contribute in the tweens/teens thread on this issue.

IMO a lot of pmc/umc that are first gen/second gen in this class…i.e your parents were teachers/state employees but you are a big law partner/MBB consulting partner/high finance managing director are looking at kids that are just not going to be up to par….how families handle this is going to have cultural/political reverberations this decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a beautiful and idyllic childhood on Capitol Hill and wouldn’t be able to buy there now (DH and I have a HHI of ~200k, each have masters degrees). My parents bought my childhood home for about 300k and it’s now valued at about 1 mil.

It’s ridiculous.

What is inflation? I put $300K into an inflation calculator, set the year at 1980 (ballpark assumption) and it spit out a nearly $1 million number in today’s dollars. Even in 1990 it’s nearly $700K now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are MANY good schools across Fairfax County in neighborhoods that provide much better value than McLean.

If you are talking public schools, the best (ex. TJ) are at best mediocre.

This is the telltale sign the Maryland troll is posting on this thread. It makes him feel better about MCPS to say, as he always does, that TJ is the only good public school in NoVa.

No it is true actually. That’s why all of the wannabes are clamoring to get in there.

You are not even a good troll.

[Anonymous]

I just saw the OP is only in her early 30s. Since when was anyone entitled to own in one of the ritziest DMV enclaves in their 30s? You gotta crawl before you ball sweetie. McLean is an aspirational town. You work up to McLean after a few promotions at work or after your husband skimming a million bucks cash off some campaign — or once a boomer parent croaks and leaves you some cash and assets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sweet, another excuse to bash McLean thread... aren't you people tired of this?

OP. You'd probably get more thoughtful replies had you said Falls Church City or Vienna or Arlington...

If the NoVa area was the world. McLean would be America. Loved by many, but despised by far more.

OP here. I was not trying to start a controversy. I just had a wonderful childhood with beautiful memories in McLean and the area near Great Falls park. Every weekend my family would go hiking there together. Tysons Corner mall was a small neighborhood only mall safe enough to drop your teens off when you're off running errands. Going to the McDonalds near the McLean Central Park after HS to eat sundaes with your friends. Taking my little sister and her best friend to the Clemijontri park.

We lived in a small modest SFH and were surrounded by lawyers and other feds. It wasn't fancy but it was home.

I can't seem to let go that I will never "go home" again. McLean is my home in this area. Everywhere else feels too far and in the middle of "nowhere."

My Langley classmates who graduated in 2006 are now either in Arlington, Bethesda or Spring Valley. Others are dispersed around the country. DH and I are not in very well paid fields although together we bring in like 280k+. DH runs his own at home consulancy so in a good year we can have a HHI of 400k+. He grew up in Fairfax Station and has a negative impression of McLean along with thinking its too big a mortgage to take on when we can buy a bigger house somewhere in Burke or Herndon for 500k-600k.

I'm just so torn about it.

Great Falls is still here, as are the McDonalds near the park and Clemyjontri.

Tysons was always a regional mall, not a small neighborhood mall, but people can and do still safely drop off their kids there.

A household income of $280-400K is above average for most McLean neighborhoods.

When we moved out of DC, I wouldn't consider McLean at first because I thought it was too old and stodgy, so we bought in Fairfax further out. Over time, I realized the commute was draining and that it would be nice to be closer to DC, and had heard more about the advantages of the McLean schools, which are on the smaller side for FCPS but still have amazing extra-curricular activities. So we moved to McLean, and wish we'd done so sooner.

But it may not be as idyllic as you're recalling for the reasons other posters have mentioned. The people who live in McLean now often are very busy two-income families and it may not be as "neighborly" as you remember it. And Burke has its own appeal - it's more low-key than McLean, less congested than a place like Vienna, and has its own parks and amenities like Burke Lake.

This is OP. Yes, people seem to have an inaccurate perception of McLean, at least from when I used to live there through my childhood until going off to college. No one I knew was "snooty" or a gazillionare although yes they were well-to-do professionals. Everyone we knew was down to earth and focused on their children and families. I will say, we did not live in one of those multimillion dollar properties so may be that is why.

According to the math I do, it seems we could reasonably afford a mortgage of 1 million dollar home. DH, however is very adamant that we live some place cheap and especially not with snobby people, which personally, I think is ridiculous. There are rich people all over NOVA and are not tied to one zip code. He says he does not want to live in Great Falls, McLean or Vienna.

Have you never heard of Compromise? Your husband is trying to be financially sensible, which will more likely give you options to recreate your childhood to some extent for your children. If you are financially stressed what joy will that be?