Beyond Frustrated in Vienna market

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I can tell you that. $2 million is our budget for paying cash. We could of course stretch for more but we have no interest being house poor. We don't want house payments when taxes are absurd enough around here, not to mention home insurance. I think most people in this area are stretched too far on housing which drives up the prices to this insane place to begin with for everyone else. I don't care about a new build, I just want something that is worth the money we would be paying for it.

Sigh.

Ok. You need a strong financial advisor. Full stop.

+1. OP has an irrational fear of mortgages. Tying up most of your liquidity in your house is an awful idea.

OP is a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I can tell you that. $2 million is our budget for paying cash. We could of course stretch for more but we have no interest being house poor. We don't want house payments when taxes are absurd enough around here, not to mention home insurance. I think most people in this area are stretched too far on housing which drives up the prices to this insane place to begin with for everyone else. I don't care about a new build, I just want something that is worth the money we would be paying for it.

Sigh.

Ok. You need a strong financial advisor. Full stop.

+1. OP has an irrational fear of mortgages. Tying up most of your liquidity in your house is an awful idea.

OP is a troll.

When everyone is a troll, no one is a troll
(so tired of that term being so over used)

[Anonymous]

Op here - I am not a troll. I am not sure how me venting about the TOV market devolved into a discussion about my finances. We have an excellent financial advisor and he has signed off on our plan. We are just fine financially- I just have to set my budget somewhere for housing and that is our line. Of course we could take on a mortgage but we don't want to.
My original complaint remains that I just can't believe the prices and competition happening for decent TOV homes when we are this far from DC. That's all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowhere outside Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is walkable. Stop fooling yourselves.

This has been brought up multiple times in this thread, including that you can get a SFH for under $2M in these corridors if you’re OK with not having new construction, but apparently ToV is the walker’s paradise we’ve all been glossing over. Weird because every time I drive down Maple I don’t even see people walking their dogs on it. Only walkers I see are crossing for the W&OD trail.

lol why on earth would you walk your dog down Maple when there are so many better places to walk?

[Anonymous]

Vienna question- do you think when buying a house in Vienna people care if the lots are a little bit weird or if the location is not ideal (right next to a church, next to a jiffy line, next to a cemetery, in between two outrageously tacky yards, etc.
Do you think people are just so excited to get into Vienna that they don’t care about these things as long as the location is good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have $2 million cash, couldn’t you get even a $2.5 million house and your mortgage would be quite manageable? I’m struggling to understand how you would have that much in cash but be house poor with the $500k mortgage.

OP is a troll. Nobody has $2 million in cash and is “beyond frustrated with the Vienna housing market.”

I don’t understand their motive in starting this discussion but this is not a real situation, it is made up.

My hunch is OP has $2M cash but it’s from parents and they have very little investments / savings of their own so that’s why the budget is so set in stone and they can’t supplement or be more flexible.

Could be wrong but the whole framing of “I have such a high budget and I’m so surprised others do as well” reeks of someone getting $2M from family while making $250K a year and not realizing the peers they’re competing with for ToV housing are personally clearing high 6 / 7 figures annually.

Just a hunch though.

+1 Nailed it.

The friends I have who moved to McLean 10-20 year ago who are always saying things like “Three million dollars for that house on the corner?? WHO’S BUYING THESE HOUSES???” And they’re quite genuinely stumped. They have no idea how many seven figure incomes are in the area at this point. No idea. It’s just clear, based on their disbelief, what professional circles they’re in (or not in, rather).

Speaking of Vienna, Westwood CC currently a pages-long waiting list for golf memberships and the initiation fee is over $100,000, and going up to $125,000 this summer. People are upset it’s taking so many years to get in. People who joined years ago as basement rates are upset they can’t afford to pay for their adult kids to join. Meanwhile the new members want higher dues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I am not a troll. I am not sure how me venting about the TOV market devolved into a discussion about my finances. We have an excellent financial advisor and he has signed off on our plan. We are just fine financially- I just have to set my budget somewhere for housing and that is our line. Of course we could take on a mortgage but we don't want to.
My original complaint remains that I just can't believe the prices and competition happening for decent TOV homes when we are this far from DC. That's all.

I don't mean to come off as rude, but this board sees A LOT of this attitude. And it's fine if TOV and not town, but Vienna addresses are not your cup of tea. But on an objective basis, it is a competitive/hot market and has been for almost 10 years.

I live one street outside of the town limits. I drive to Giant or in that area via Echols probably 3x a week. When we first moved here one of the 5000-6000 sf new builds on Echols sat for a few months before selling for like $1.3 M or so. Now 3000 sf, 45 year old houses on my block are selling for $1.3 M and those new builds in and around Echols are sold before the paint is dry. Love it or hate it, but that's just the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I am not a troll. I am not sure how me venting about the TOV market devolved into a discussion about my finances. We have an excellent financial advisor and he has signed off on our plan. We are just fine financially- I just have to set my budget somewhere for housing and that is our line. Of course we could take on a mortgage but we don't want to.
My original complaint remains that I just can't believe the prices and competition happening for decent TOV homes when we are this far from DC. That's all.

Mmm hmm.

Ok. Hey PP who is sick of the term "troll" being overused ... looks like here it wasn't. This whole thing makes zero sense. "Ugh, I can't afford a house in TOV because our budget is 2M -- when we look at houses in that range they get bid up! Oh, and our 2M budget is cash. Don't want to take on a mortgage. Our "excellent financial advisor" thinks it's a great idea to sink millions of cash into a house and not take on a mortgage. So whaaaaa ... can't afford a house! I just can't believe these prices!! And the competition happening! A house we liked listed at 2M got bid up to 2.2M! How are we supposed to afford that when we only have 2M in cash!!!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowhere outside Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is walkable. Stop fooling yourselves.

This has been brought up multiple times in this thread, including that you can get a SFH for under $2M in these corridors if you’re OK with not having new construction, but apparently ToV is the walker’s paradise we’ve all been glossing over. Weird because every time I drive down Maple I don’t even see people walking their dogs on it. Only walkers I see are crossing for the W&OD trail.

People mostly don't walk (or live) on Maple, they walk and live one or two blocks behind it on either side. TOV is one of the few areas around here where you can live on a large lot, on a leafy suburban street, and be a block or two from the grocery store, small restaurant, town events, etc. That's why people like it. The other walkable areas people keep bringing up have much denser housing and less of a suburban feel, with the exception of FCC which is more expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowhere outside Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is walkable. Stop fooling yourselves.

This has been brought up multiple times in this thread, including that you can get a SFH for under $2M in these corridors if you’re OK with not having new construction, but apparently ToV is the walker’s paradise we’ve all been glossing over. Weird because every time I drive down Maple I don’t even see people walking their dogs on it. Only walkers I see are crossing for the W&OD trail.

People mostly don't walk (or live) on Maple, they walk and live one or two blocks behind it on either side. TOV is one of the few areas around here where you can live on a large lot, on a leafy suburban street, and be a block or two from the grocery store, small restaurant, town events, etc. That's why people like it. The other walkable areas people keep bringing up have much denser housing and less of a suburban feel, with the exception of FCC which is more expensive.

I know this might sound crazy but I believe ToV has surpassed FCC prices - not a ton of FCC comps though that are relevant to ToV, FCC inventory is just impossible these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I am not a troll. I am not sure how me venting about the TOV market devolved into a discussion about my finances. We have an excellent financial advisor and he has signed off on our plan. We are just fine financially- I just have to set my budget somewhere for housing and that is our line. Of course we could take on a mortgage but we don't want to.
My original complaint remains that I just can't believe the prices and competition happening for decent TOV homes when we are this far from DC. That's all.

Mmm hmm.

Ok. Hey PP who is sick of the term "troll" being overused ... looks like here it wasn't. This whole thing makes zero sense. "Ugh, I can't afford a house in TOV because our budget is 2M -- when we look at houses in that range they get bid up! Oh, and our 2M budget is cash. Don't want to take on a mortgage. Our "excellent financial advisor" thinks it's a great idea to sink millions of cash into a house and not take on a mortgage. So whaaaaa ... can't afford a house! I just can't believe these prices!! And the competition happening! A house we liked listed at 2M got bid up to 2.2M! How are we supposed to afford that when we only have 2M in cash!!!"

I tend to agree. I know many people around here make cash offers but the vast majority refinance into a mortgage after closing (or even before) via their private banking preferred rates / relationships. You don’t lock up $2M in a slowly appreciating, relatively illiquid asset when the S&P500 doubles every 7 years historically and you could have $4M in 7 years - or more at the rate this market is going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I am not a troll. I am not sure how me venting about the TOV market devolved into a discussion about my finances. We have an excellent financial advisor and he has signed off on our plan. We are just fine financially- I just have to set my budget somewhere for housing and that is our line. Of course we could take on a mortgage but we don't want to.
My original complaint remains that I just can't believe the prices and competition happening for decent TOV homes when we are this far from DC. That's all.

Mmm hmm.

Ok. Hey PP who is sick of the term "troll" being overused ... looks like here it wasn't. This whole thing makes zero sense. "Ugh, I can't afford a house in TOV because our budget is 2M -- when we look at houses in that range they get bid up! Oh, and our 2M budget is cash. Don't want to take on a mortgage. Our "excellent financial advisor" thinks it's a great idea to sink millions of cash into a house and not take on a mortgage. So whaaaaa ... can't afford a house! I just can't believe these prices!! And the competition happening! A house we liked listed at 2M got bid up to 2.2M! How are we supposed to afford that when we only have 2M in cash!!!"

I tend to agree. I know many people around here make cash offers but the vast majority refinance into a mortgage after closing (or even before) via their private banking preferred rates / relationships. You don’t lock up $2M in a slowly appreciating, relatively illiquid asset when the S&P500 doubles every 7 years historically and you could have $4M in 7 years - or more at the rate this market is going.

I think there's probably a fair number of not-very-savvy people who might have $2 or $3 million, and who hear about "all-cash" offers and high mortgage rates (for the recent past), and think that it's best to not have a mortgage. "All-cash" is really one of the most deceptive terms out there, because it leads the not-very-savvy to think that people aren't getting mortgages or portfolio loans, when in fact it simply means that they don't need a financing contingency.

[Anonymous]

I know someone selling in Vienna soon. But you can't afford the house on your budget. Why all cash?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowhere outside Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is walkable. Stop fooling yourselves.

This has been brought up multiple times in this thread, including that you can get a SFH for under $2M in these corridors if you’re OK with not having new construction, but apparently ToV is the walker’s paradise we’ve all been glossing over. Weird because every time I drive down Maple I don’t even see people walking their dogs on it. Only walkers I see are crossing for the W&OD trail.

People mostly don't walk (or live) on Maple, they walk and live one or two blocks behind it on either side. TOV is one of the few areas around here where you can live on a large lot, on a leafy suburban street, and be a block or two from the grocery store, small restaurant, town events, etc. That's why people like it. The other walkable areas people keep bringing up have much denser housing and less of a suburban feel, with the exception of FCC which is more expensive.

This exactly
We can walk to the Vienna Community Center, Waters Field, the Vienna Library (currently being completely renovated), Vienna Elementary School, the W&OD Trail, two grocery stores and numerous restaurants without crossing Maple Ave. The streets are lined with trees and people are out walking or biking. It is a lovely area to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does it have to be TOV? There is nothing special you get for living there and there are additional taxes. What about just outside TOV? What about FCC? There are other places that might be a good fit? People on here have a wealth on info, tell us your parameters and we can make suggestions.

TOV has local control over zoning so you have added insurance from dumb zoning policies passed by Fairfax county.