Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get you are trying to be understanding but your tone is off putting. Emergency funds, retirement accounts, vacations, college savings, and health insurance are luxuries. Either pick 1 or pick none. Pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, food and that is how you live on 40k. Stop acting so dumb about it.

This is what is wrong with this country. Health insurance is not a luxury, people, it's not equal to a vacation in the Bahamas!

Oh, well.

+1

Anonymous wrote:I get you are trying to be understanding but your tone is off putting. Emergency funds, retirement accounts, vacations, college savings, and health insurance are luxuries. Either pick 1 or pick none. Pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, food and that is how you live on 40k. Stop acting so dumb about it.

This is what is wrong with this country. Health insurance is not a luxury, people, it's not equal to a vacation in the Bahamas!

Oh, well.

Anonymous wrote:I make a fair amount of money but it's barely enough, and I know I make multiples of what "normal" is.

How the hell does anyone making $50k live here? Where the heck do they live? Even the shittiest genetic disaster of a house is going to cost at least $400k.

I see these people working at crate and barrel or at some shopping mall and I just can't fathom how the hell they aren't robbing the nearest bank.

DC is so crazy.

It depends on what your obligations and responsibilities are. I recently lived in DC on about (or even under) 30k because I was renting, used public transit, like to cook and was careful with my money- and did so while still going out with friends, going to happy hour, paying $150/month student loans.

Of course, if you have kids and a mortgage that changes very quickly.

We make right around median income now; under $60k. We survive because we bought in a long time ago in what was then the ghetto. If we had to pay market rent on an apt I'm not sure what we'd do. It would cut the money in our pocket by probably $1200/month or more. It can be a tough income bracket for some families, because you're not quite broke enough to qualify for subsidies. Although here in DC we might qualify for "affordable housing" units going into the new condos. I've not looked into it since we own already.

Anonymous wrote:I make a fair amount of money but it's barely enough, and I know I make multiples of what "normal" is.

How the hell does anyone making $50k live here? Where the heck do they live? Even the shittiest genetic disaster of a house is going to cost at least $400k.

I see these people working at crate and barrel or at some shopping mall and I just can't fathom how the hell they aren't robbing the nearest bank.

DC is so crazy.

If you make $50K, then your federal taxes are $6630. Your FICA is $3825. MD state taxes are 2322.50. That means with nothing but taxes and FICA taken out, you are bringing home $37222.50 or $3100/month. You can rent 2 BR apartments in many parts of the region for under $2000/month. And 1BR apartments for less still. If you qualify for FHA, there are a number of condos that you can get for under $150K with 3% downpayment. That means that you need about $4-$5K for downpayment. We were just looking for such a property for my inlaws to be able to come to visit for extended visits without having to stay in our home. We found a number of 2 BR condos with about 800-1000 sf for under $150K. We could have had more options if we were willing to look at townhouses, but my MIL cannot handle steps so townhouses were out. We live in Laurel. But there are some places in Silver Spring, Wheaton, Aspen Hill, DC, Arlington, even one in Alexandria comes up on redfin.

After you pay your rent/mortgage, basic utilities and food, then everything else is optional and unlike higher incomes, you pick and choose only one or two that you can do instead of several. Many people do own property on median income, $60K nationwide and $75K in the DC region and under.

When we moved here our HHI was 44k. We qualified for Moco's moderate income rental program and our rent with utilities was 1k a month to get an apartment really close to the metro. Without that I'm not sure what we would have done otherwise. Other than that, we didn't eat out or do anything "extra" and we survived those couple of lean years.

Our HHI is 100k and I wish everyday that we could move to a more affordable location. Between rent, daycare and normal bills, there is barely anything left over. It's a rat race that we'll never get ahead of as long as we live here

The people who work at Crate and Barrel aren't buying houses. But you can buy a house in neighborhoods in DC youve never encountered for less than that. Median DC income is about 59k.

Since you mentioned Crate and Barrel, my sister was a Fed during the day who bought a house and worked there nights and weekends as a second job to afford it after she and her fiancé broke up.

I get you are trying to be understanding but your tone is off putting. Emergency funds, retirement accounts, vacations, college savings, and health insurance are luxuries. Either pick 1 or pick none. Pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, food and that is how you live on 40k. Stop acting so dumb about it.

There are Crate and Barrels in Manhattan too.

Anonymous wrote:The people who work at Crate and Barrel aren't buying houses. But you can buy a house in neighborhoods in DC youve never encountered for less than that. Median DC income is about 59k.

Okay, fair point, but even rent would be impossible in that salary. Or just take any run of the mill average joe making $50k... Where in the hell do you go live? Warrenton? Culpepper?

This is definitely not a metro area I would choose to live in if we didn't have a fairly high HHI. My SIL and her (now ex) husband had a HHI of under $100K and they lived out in Manassas. They eventually moved to Ohio because it was much more affordable.

The people who work at Crate and Barrel aren't buying houses. But you can buy a house in neighborhoods in DC youve never encountered for less than that. Median DC income is about 59k.

Anonymous wrote:I make a fair amount of money but it's barely enough, and I know I make multiples of what "normal" is.

How the hell does anyone making $50k live here? Where the heck do they live? Even the shittiest genetic disaster of a house is going to cost at least $400k.

I see these people working at crate and barrel or at some shopping mall and I just can't fathom how the hell they aren't robbing the nearest bank.

DC is so crazy.

A lot of people live far out in the suburbs.

I make a fair amount of money but it's barely enough, and I know I make multiples of what "normal" is.

How the hell does anyone making $50k live here? Where the heck do they live? Even the shittiest genetic disaster of a house is going to cost at least $400k.

I see these people working at crate and barrel or at some shopping mall and I just can't fathom how the hell they aren't robbing the nearest bank.

DC is so crazy.