Reply to Anyone else who will likely never be a home owner?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We bought our first house 10 years ago at 24. Paid $350k for a fixer upper townhouse in South Arlington. Fixed it ourselves and sold it last year for $800k which enabled us to buy a $1.6M house. The initial house was old, ugly, in bad schools, but we knew it (and the area) had potential.

At 24 we were each making $40k a year but we lived frugally, put 3% down with an FHA loan (paid off PMI in 5 years since our salaries increased). We now make $500k (average by DCUM standards), but live in a comfortable 4 bedroom house with great schools.

The problem is many people don’t want to sacrifice. Our friends laughed when we bought that house, but now they’re all still stuck in their townhomes with no equity while we are ahead. Some still in apartments in DuPont or other expensive areas.

Point is, no one is entitled to anything, you have to sacrifice and sometimes go “down” to go up. We had no family help, we aren’t wealthy, but we made smart decisions.[/quote]

You were unusually mature at 24.  Most professionals are still in grad school at that age accumulating at least some student loans. You were also very young to be married with dual incomes. Not judging, just saying that’s highly unusual in this area.  Everyone’s lives are different. It’s not just about personal willpower as much as the real estate “winners” on this thread want to think it is. [/quote]

We were finishing grad school at the time, engaged but not yet married. We scraped our 3% down together and knew that our salaries were about to increase. Lived cheaper than all our friends who at the time were living in Clarendon and Georgetown. My point is that we sacrificed and many people don’t believe they have to sacrifice. They just think they should be able to buy a single family home in a great location on average salaries. That doesn’t exist in the DMV. [/quote]

Ok but you bought in the aftermath of the biggest housing bubble ever when prices were at peak affordability. An identical couple in 2022 could NOT afford the equivalent of the house you bought, not even close.[/quote]

But they could….in PG county, Benning Rd, in parts of Alexandria (rt. 1 corridor, Landmark, etc.) even parts of Loudoun. South Arlington wasn’t desirable back then, so the people looking to get into the market need to look where it’s undesirable now. [/quote]

You aren’t understanding. Any given home, whether it be in PG etc, is drastically less affordable right now than it was in 2012. Enough with the pull your self up by the bootstraps nonsense.

[img]https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rbBc4uyv6dDlZdULyBSkDvWw7l0=/0x0:1860x1863/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1860x1863):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24276744/7ysSN_home_ownership_is_the_least_affordable_on_record.png[/img][/quote]

I’m one of the PP’s - we bought our first home in 2007. So it’s not that different. It can be done. [/quote]

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