My aunt started working as a maid at the Watergate after graduating HS & bought a home in Arlington
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Anonymous
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She started working at the Watergate at age 18.
She rented for a few years in her 20s, saved her money and then purchased her own home in her 30s. All of this on a maid's salary. Sounds too good to be true, I know. But this was during the 1960s and 1970s. Was she just at the right place at the right time? will days like that ever come back? |
Anonymous
Yes No |
Anonymous
| Days like that will not come back. America's population increased about 50% since 1970. In the meantime, we don't have any additional land, especially in the DC area. |
Anonymous
| I remember attending birthday parties of her co worker's (all maids) children and they also had their own homes in Arlington and Alexandria. |
Anonymous
| People forget that, back in those days, people had MUCH more modest homes. Heated by a wood-burning stove, one bathroom. Many people lived in mobile homes or other cheaper prefab construction. You can still afford a modest home on a maid's salary in the DC metro. |
Anonymous
Why would they? That was fifty years ago. Even in 1980 there were half the people in this area as there are now. |
Anonymous
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Did your aunt demand an HGTV-ready kitchen? A bedroom for each child, plus a guest room, plus an office? A two-car garage? A master bathroom with dual sinks? Ten-foot ceilings, built-ins, and a screened-in porch with television hookup and wet bar?
Or did she buy a 2-3BR/1-2BA with street parking and no air conditioning, in a new tract development that used to be someone’s farm? You can still get a bare-bones place built on newly developed farmland. But it will be a TH in Warrenton. Because that’s the way population and urban expansion work. |
Anonymous
You can get a modest apartment. Not a detached SFH with a bit of your own outdoor space. |
Anonymous
| When I read the title of this thread I thought you were implying that she was well compensated for her discretion... |
Anonymous
| Hispanic are buying houses in DMV their their landscaping or maid income. Many of them own houses in Rockville, SS, Gaithurberg. 20-30 years from now,, the value of their houses will double$ or triple. |
Anonymous
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Her ease was a function of the politics of the time.
Others' current difficulties are the function of the politics of the current time. How it works in the future will be about the future's politics, which are unknown. |
Anonymous
| When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, Bethesda was full of families with a dad who was a fed. Three maybe four bedrooms upstairs. If you were lucky, a little tv room addition off the side and your parents had their own bathroom. |
Anonymous
Donald Trump’s mom was a maid. I think those days are over. I actually knew Mary Trump back in 1981 as she shopped at the supermarket near my house and always helped the checker with bagging as very down to earth. But today that happening? |
Anonymous
Don't forget: these days will over at some point. Expect current dynamics to be indefinite is a bad idea. |
Anonymous
| Possible. Never coming back. |