I would think PQ, unless you wanted to maybe take a chance on the waterfront.

Anonymous wrote:I'd love to have this! I like Metro Center because there is so much going on done there and obviously in the center of everywhere.

Why not rent a place for a year or even sublet to try before you buy? See if you really use it as much as you think and what area you spend the most time in.

This is a really good and logical suggestion - thanks PP. I guess I will have to also research if rents are as reasonable as I think costs are.

Also thanks to PP who pointed out parking space value - hadn't occurred to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? As an investment? Because you live in Leesburg and sometimes don't want to commute home?

When I read pied a terre, I think "place to meet my girlfriend for a quickie." Sorry, I just do.

Ha ha. My thoughts exactly.

I'm adding to the plus column that our friends will now wonder which one of us has a piece on the side; I like a little mystery.

Anonymous wrote:You may not be CEO of anything, but you're not middle class. No issues with you wanting this pied a terre - go for it! But let's not be under the assumption that you are, in fact, middle class.

Ok ok! I knew this would happen as soon as I hit submit.

Pied a terre for the middle class was sort of tongue in cheek

Anonymous wrote:Why? As an investment? Because you live in Leesburg and sometimes don't want to commute home?

When I read pied a terre, I think "place to meet my girlfriend for a quickie." Sorry, I just do.

Ha ha. My thoughts exactly.

You can see the coop rules in each building, some allow limited rentals, eg 2 out of every 5 yrs & not more than xx% of the building at the same time, etc. I would make sure to get a building that at least has the option of parking in the building. I have 2 friends who recently have had issues selling downtown condos ( one an alcove studio & one a 2 bdrm) bc they didn't have parking. Especially for the studio I would have thought it'd be a non-issue but it was. A plus would be if you could find a unit w/ a space & rent it to someone else in your building. That could defer ~$300/month of your costs. Finally, there seems to be a huge range of condo fees for similar amenities. I would compare the fees in various buildings bc particularly if you're not going to bd there frequently, you don't need to be paying huge amounts for things you won't use.

I'd love to have this! I like Metro Center because there is so much going on done there and obviously in the center of everywhere.

Why not rent a place for a year or even sublet to try before you buy? See if you really use it as much as you think and what area you spend the most time in.

Anonymous wrote:I live downtown. I wanted to be two/three blocks from metro, walk to my office, walk to dinning, events, museums, things to do with my daughter.

I wanted a pool in my building, walk to gym and a park (there is one in my building).

Gym or park in your building? If a park, what building is that?

You may not be CEO of anything, but you're not middle class. No issues with you wanting this pied a terre - go for it! But let's not be under the assumption that you are, in fact, middle class.

Anonymous wrote:Why? As an investment? Because you live in Leesburg and sometimes don't want to commute home?

When I read pied a terre, I think "place to meet my girlfriend for a quickie." Sorry, I just do.

Why is it any of your business? If you don't want to answer OP's question, then don't respond at all. What's it to you?

Thanks 20:34 - good point about the pool and park. The park is something I hadn't thought of. For us a pool would probably not be a necessity since we have access to one at our primary residence.

Metro is important to us - we are flexible on how many blocks, but want to be able to walk. A vibrant neighborhood is also important - we don't want to do up and coming, we ideally would like to do something that already is experiencing a good live / play balance.

20:26 One of us has a long commute, and for complicated reasons, moving closer in is not an option right now. I don't think either of us has a need to meet others for a quickie - BUT if we did, I agree this would be an addition to the "plus" column.

We have a lot of friends downtown, love to spend time there, and would like to have a home base.

I'm not thinking of this as an investment - if I were, I think 2BD would be a better return. Its mostly just that we would like to, and we can, and with those two things intersecting right now, we are exploring, well why not?

I live downtown. I wanted to be two/three blocks from metro, walk to my office, walk to dinning, events, museums, things to do with my daughter.

I wanted a pool in my building, walk to gym and a park (there is one in my building).

Why? As an investment? Because you live in Leesburg and sometimes don't want to commute home?

When I read pied a terre, I think "place to meet my girlfriend for a quickie." Sorry, I just do.

So I'm not the CFO of Fannie and won't have a concierge, but all the same, considering this. We have enough cash flow to feel comfortable with an approximate $1500 monthly payment. Considering a studio condo downtown. We have sufficient funds for at least a 25% downpayment and sufficient income to service the debt in addition to our other expenses without overextending ourselves, so this is more of a location / logistics question than a finance one.

A few specific questions and then please chime in with things I didn't ask (I know this crowd will

-If we buy a co-op am I correct in assuming this can generally not
be rented? I would want to have an option to rent the condo out if we moved out of the area, wanted to offset mortgage with rental income, etc. I noticed a lot of things I liked were co-ops.

-If you desired proximity to downtown, dining, etc. What area would you pick if you were me? Any specific building recommendations?

-This might be something I look at for a while before acting on, so don't limit ideas to things that are currently listed.