What's a decent household income to live in Bethesda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally get it- we are in a very similar situation, I almost wonder if you are my husband posting. I do not feel like we have money to burn AT ALL.

If that's your definition of not feeling poor, you will always feel poor.

Agree. This is a pathetic posting and clearly someone who is humble bragging.

OP here .... i get into this argument with some family/friend back home (they think i am ridiculous when i say i am struggling) but i think there is something people are missing here.

unless you're some trust fund kid, $350k a year doesnt come easy.... it involves years and years of sacrificing ... moving a lot , traveling for work, living in places you don't like, beeing away from friends and family, having to adjust culturaly (in my case again), learning a foreign language...All those things are fine at one condition, and that is that i am going to be rewarded for it. Otherwise why not just stay put, work a 9 to 5, be around friends and family etc... so yes $350k is being rewarded, but what is the point if you have to live the same life you would somewhere else on $100k.

And again, i just dont see where the money is going around here, there is nothing special at all about the place (expect schools maybe), there are no beaches, no mountains, mediocre climate, insanely high taxes etc...

perhaps you should move. you sound like you really don't like it here at all. maybe that is the root of your dis-satisfaction rather than your HHI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the replies...i am venting a little bit here but i would like to find out what i am doing wrong.

$350k per year is about $14.5k per month after taxes

Mortgage: $3800 and that's low because of the fixer upper house
2 kids in day-care: $4000 (only 1/2 now since we dont have the 2nd kid yet)
2 cars: $600
Student debt: $600
Bills: $600
House cleaning: $300

that's less $5000 left per month, which would be ok if we didnt eat out and go on trips now and then. We may be doing too much of that...

We also spend a lot on our house because it is a fixer-upper.

The bottom line is that after all these years and all the work trying to do the right thing, we are barely making end meet.

Another thing i am trying to do is figure out why this area is so expensive, this way at least i could get something out of living here.

By the way, I just went on zillow and searched for 4 BR+ homes for less than 800k and 10 houses came up, all in need of work.

$5,000 OF MONTHLY DISCRETIONARY INCOME IS NOT POOR FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

+1 Good grief, OP.

Good point actually. 5000k is more than our monthly take home. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
Another thing i am trying to do is figure out why this area is so expensive, this way at least i could get something out of living here.

Prices are higher because of the schools, which you might not be using yet.

The schools are the same throughout the county. What varies is the HHI of the students attending the schools. If you want your child to attend schools where the majority of students come from families with high HHI, then move to Bethesda or Potomac. If that is not important to you, then move anywhere else in the county. Schools are not inherently better because they are located in Bethesda.

That may be true, but people are obsessing about school districts around here. My wife made us overlook a house because it was in the Walter Johnson district, and her coworker told her she should aim for Churchill or Whitman.

Well then she needs to learn to think for herself. Does she always base life decisions on what her coworker tells her?

We live in WJ cluster - let's not be defensive. Whitman is seen as being one of the best public high schools in the country.
It is very sought after and it means that the housing prices in feeder neighborhoods are very stable and increase a bit more.

WJ is fine, but it's not Whitman.

Even assuming that Whitman is the best high school in MCPS (an assertion I don't agree with, but let's assume it's true) - why must OP live there, if doing so strains the household finances? Must everyone have the "best"?

What is at stake? Does OP think his kids won't go to college if they attend Walter Johnson, BCC, Blair, or Einstein?

No, but people desire that so it keeps your house value up.

The schools you list are all good.

On the contrary while most of the county elementary and middle schools are very good (some of the elem schools in poorer neighborhoods have many more resources and smaller classes actually) the quality of some of the high schools can be very poor. So that is an issue. If you live in a crappy HS district you might budget for a private school or move.

The Whitman area isn't the only place where house values hold up or increase over time. In any case, if you are cash-strapped as OP claims to be, then you shouldn't buy in the "best" (again, I question that assertion) area.

I agree that the schools I list are all good. Had OP purchased a house (not a fixer-upper) for the same price in e.g. the Blair or Einstein cluster, he wouldn't be coping with house repairs etc., and his kids would do fine in the local schools.

School paranoia drives a lot of stupid decision making.

[Anonymous]

I'm not understanding the problem here. Are you asking if $7k a month "extra" is enough to get by in Bethesda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not understanding the problem here. Are you asking if $7k a month "extra" is enough to get by in Bethesda?

Yes. The OP essentially said: "I have more than enough. Is that enough?"

[Anonymous]

OP here again

wow i didnt think my little rant was going to generate such a long thread.

ok i forgot a few bills, like the gym, salary insurance, life insurance etc.... and also we only started making that much recently, it has not even been a year yet.

a good chunk of our salary also comes in the form of a yearly bonus, so we dont exactly have $7k left over on our checking account once the bills are paid. and what we do have left goes in the house currently.

the word "poor" was supposed to be taken in context of this extremely frivolous town. I just feel like i am doing something wrong when i see all these $2M+ homes and $100K+ car around me.

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

[Anonymous]

OP it sounds like you should consider moving slow new here cheaper. Try Chicago or a small city in the Midwest. Contrary to popular opinion, high salaries exist there too and your money will go further. That seems to be your primary complaint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again

wow i didnt think my little rant was going to generate such a long thread.

ok i forgot a few bills, like the gym, salary insurance, life insurance etc.... and also we only started making that much recently, it has not even been a year yet.

a good chunk of our salary also comes in the form of a yearly bonus, so we dont exactly have $7k left over on our checking account once the bills are paid. and what we do have left goes in the house currently.

the word "poor" was supposed to be taken in context of this extremely frivolous town. I just feel like i am doing something wrong when i see all these $2M+ homes and $100K+ car around me.

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

I'm not sure you HHI is your problem.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you aren't trolling you should seriously talk to your wife about moving away. I grew up in this area so have strong ties (friends) and I happen to like it. But, Jesus, if I hated it I really think I'd move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again

wow i didnt think my little rant was going to generate such a long thread.

ok i forgot a few bills, like the gym, salary insurance, life insurance etc.... and also we only started making that much recently, it has not even been a year yet.

a good chunk of our salary also comes in the form of a yearly bonus, so we dont exactly have $7k left over on our checking account once the bills are paid. and what we do have left goes in the house currently.

the word "poor" was supposed to be taken in context of this extremely frivolous town. I just feel like i am doing something wrong when i see all these $2M+ homes and $100K+ car around me.

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

Dude, cut down on the hallucinogens. There just aren't that many $2 million+ houses and $100k cars in Bethesda. The housing stock is pretty normal, even dumpy in some parts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again

wow i didnt think my little rant was going to generate such a long thread.

ok i forgot a few bills, like the gym, salary insurance, life insurance etc.... and also we only started making that much recently, it has not even been a year yet.

a good chunk of our salary also comes in the form of a yearly bonus, so we dont exactly have $7k left over on our checking account once the bills are paid. and what we do have left goes in the house currently.

the word "poor" was supposed to be taken in context of this extremely frivolous town. I just feel like i am doing something wrong when i see all these $2M+ homes and $100K+ car around me.

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

Yeah, I guess that is the DC version of the dream. Nothing on your list above sounds particularly bad to me. Go to museums? We are so lucky to live in an area with tons of FREE good museums. Taxes? Not opposed to paying it since we're going to some of the best public schools in the country, with great public libraries and services. Go on hikes? Yes, again. Hang out with overeducated snobs? It's not that bad. Cheap cars? I respect people who don't care about buying cars to impress other people. Have little to show for it at the end? Isn't that the point - you can't take it with you?

Not sure what kind of place would make you happy, OP. Maybe nowhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again

wow i didnt think my little rant was going to generate such a long thread.

ok i forgot a few bills, like the gym, salary insurance, life insurance etc.... and also we only started making that much recently, it has not even been a year yet.

a good chunk of our salary also comes in the form of a yearly bonus, so we dont exactly have $7k left over on our checking account once the bills are paid. and what we do have left goes in the house currently.

the word "poor" was supposed to be taken in context of this extremely frivolous town. I just feel like i am doing something wrong when i see all these $2M+ homes and $100K+ car around me.

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

Dude, cut down on the hallucinogens. There just aren't that many $2 million+ houses and $100k cars in Bethesda. The housing stock is pretty normal, even dumpy in some parts.

This. Or maybe I just don't recognize $100k cars when I see them since I know very little about cars. I live in Bethesda and drive a 5-year-old Hyundai Sonata. The other cars on my street range from beat-up Subarus to minivans. No one has a flashy car in this neighborhood. And they are all parked on the street (almost no one has a garage, half the houses don't even have driveways).

There are a lot of $1.2-1.5 million houses. I don't know who can afford to live in them, either. But clearly people do, so fine for them. There are also a lot of "teardowns" -- old bungalow-type houses that will likely be torn down the next time they're on the market. But at present people live in them and they definitely aren't making the salary you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

You are a true vulgarian, and will never be happy because you think material possessions are the route to happiness. I agree you would be better off elsewhere where more people share your shallow tastes.

[Anonymous]

It's sad, OP, because you think you should be part of the financial elite because you make 350k+. You are a 1%er but at that salary, you're not the 0.1%er you clearly want to be, even in flyover/midwest US...and with your attitude, you never will be. It doesn't sound like you'd really be satisfied anywhere, since you mentioned there is "no real future" in your home country either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again

wow i didnt think my little rant was going to generate such a long thread.

ok i forgot a few bills, like the gym, salary insurance, life insurance etc.... and also we only started making that much recently, it has not even been a year yet.

a good chunk of our salary also comes in the form of a yearly bonus, so we dont exactly have $7k left over on our checking account once the bills are paid. and what we do have left goes in the house currently.

the word "poor" was supposed to be taken in context of this extremely frivolous town. I just feel like i am doing something wrong when i see all these $2M+ homes and $100K+ car around me.

based on my reading this post it sounds like the DC version of the American Dream is to work a lot, pay a lot of taxes, visit museums, go on hikes, hang out with over-educated snobs who drive cheap cars and have little to show for at the end ... sounds a lot like Europe to me.....

I'm not sure you HHI is your problem.

+1. Sounds like you are not happy, have no idea what would make you happy, and base your major life decision's on your wife's co-workers recommendations. You sound passive and depressed. You need a kick in the pants.