Reply to Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Did you read my post?  Yes, when you live in a more desirable area, then by supply and demand, the price and costs are higher.  Arlington is more desirable than Burke or Springfield or Newington because it is closer in.  The commute into DC is much shorter and people who work downtown will pay a premium to be closer to work.  You are competing with people who want the convenience of living closer to work downtown who make more money and can drive the prices up.  If you made $125K could you afford even your tiny house in Arlington?  No.  Once again, living in a high cost of living area like Arlington is a luxury.  You complain about having a small church basement daycare that is more expensive than a exurban daycare in a brand-new building.  But the point is that only people that can afford that expensive part of town for a small house and a church basement daycare can even consider living there.  There is no way that a true middle class person can even consider buying a home in Arlington and being able to afford childcare in that area.

You spend your money on the convenience of living close to DC and especially if you live in N Arlington, for the benefit of good schools, too.  You have the means to choose that (or choose to go for more bang for the buck somewhere cheaper).  The true middle class has fewer options and those do not include what you have chosen.[/quote]

Fine, but you're saying that [i]choice[/i] and [i]time[/i] (time not spent commuting) are what I'm spending my money on. Those aren't tangible luxuries, which are what people usually cite when they think of someone with a higher income ("you could just go to Starbucks less often" "you don't need to drive a Mercedes"). I don't go to Starbucks or drive a Mercedes, but I have a 30-minute commute. There is a big disconnect between how people perceive that income and what it actually buys you in a high cost of living area. [/quote]

I'm the PP that you're quoting (the other replies have been from other PPs).

No, I'm saying that you are spending your money on a more popular item.  You are paying for a high-demand item and the premium for that is a higher price.  It's a tangible commodity because when you go to sell, it will also rate a higher price due to that high demand.  And it is most definitely a perceived benefit of being more affluent.  Just look around the DCUM fora.  People who live in Arlington are noted as being more affluent than those who live in Wheaton or Greenbelt or Ft Washington.  In general, if you own property in Arlington, you are more well off than people who own in these other communities, because it's recognized that you live in a more popular in-demand area that costs more.  The true middle class is only living in those areas if they rent or own much smaller (like condos).  It's just the nature of what a dollar will buy.  Everyone would love the pipe dream of owning a $450K SFH in Arlington, but that just doesn't exist.  So for the true middle class, those making under $150K, unless they have some external source of income (like family money), they aren't buying SFH in Arlington;  that just isn't an option.  So, it becomes recognized that those who do have SFH in Arlington are more affluent than the middle class.  Part of the premium is location (close-in suburb) and some is better schools.

By adding 10 minutes to your commute, you can live in a comparable home for $200K less moving to Alexandria.  You could have the same commute time for under $500K by moving to Southeast Washington or Takoma Park.  But, you have chosen to pay for "Location, location, location"  And that is an easy investment that will pay you back when you sell.  You spent more, but you'll also make more when you sell.

So, you choose to purchase a more expensive property and have less disposable income.  Again, it's a choice that the true middle class doesn't have.  You can no more say that you are middle class because you purchased a house in Arlington, than you can say that you are middle class because after a large stock portfolio, you only have enough disposable income to live a middle class lifestyle.

[/quote]

Sorry, your perspective is still totally skewed, if your example of an affordable house is $500K. That will buy you a huge house and lots of land almost anywhere else in the county, certainly anywhere not in a city or along a coast. The cost of living here is different and the incomes needed to maintain a middle class existence are different. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics