Anonymous
Post 01/31/2020 11:34     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Half the city though is not livable because of high crime and terrible schools. It's easy to state things aren't expensive when you are looking across all values when half the properties included are in very high crime areas. No one wants to raise their family in an area where you have to risk life and death just to save on a mortgage.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2020 10:48     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Anonymous wrote:Are you aware of the large swaths of the city who live at or around the poverty line? Sounds like maybe you are not. If you’re making minimum wage, it is difficult to afford a place to live in the city. It is even more difficult to find a place to live that is large enough to accommodate a family in a safe part of town while making minimum wage.

It is also difficult in other parts of the country, and in rural areas there are certainly additional challenges such as transportation costs and stagnant employment markets. But it really sounds like you maybe are not well acquainted with the realities of urban poverty if you’re suggesting that maybe it’s not that expensive to live here.


Why are you having kids if you're in poverty and making minimum wage? There are plenty of roommate shares and studio apartments in DC that are affordable to low wage earners. Live there, and once your financial situation is more stable, then consider having kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 17:39     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Makes sense. More and more millennials and companies are leaving NYC and DC and headed to smaller cities with vibrant downtowns. There are several articles about how many younger people are moving from Silicon Valley, NYC, DC, working remotely with their big city salaries, and buying a house in a smaller city. Happened to Denver and Austin the past decade and I think the trend will continue.

I can see Roanoke and Danville VA as the next big smaller cities in VA to expand soon.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 13:18     Subject: Re:maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
DC: At least we're not as expensive as Santa Fe, New Mexico!
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 11:54     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:prices are high but so are incomes. practically everyone here makes a lot more money than they would doing the same job in most other places in this country. the only way to tell whether housing is expensive is to compare the cost of housing to how much people earn.

harvard has done that, and it suggests that while housing prices here are high, they're not as high as they are in denver or arizona or oregon (let alone places like new york city and san francisco and boston)

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios


That study looks at the D.C. region, not just at the District -- where housing prices are often higher than they are even in close-in suburbs, and where incomes are, on average, lower. The median family income in D.C. is about $86,000. In Arlington, which is lumped into the Harvard study as part of the D.C. region, it's $117,000. In Alexandria, it's $93,000. In Montgomery County, it's $108,000.

So while you might be right that housing prices compared to income aren't as high in the area as they are in some other areas, the study you're pointing to still makes housing in D.C. proper seem pretty expensive.


Makes more sense to consider the entire region since housing prices and incomes vary widely depending on where you look. Expensive in Arlington, cheap in Prince George's County.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 11:50     Subject: Re:maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
We are roughly as expensive as Richmond, Virginia.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 11:18     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Anonymous wrote:prices are high but so are incomes. practically everyone here makes a lot more money than they would doing the same job in most other places in this country. the only way to tell whether housing is expensive is to compare the cost of housing to how much people earn.

harvard has done that, and it suggests that while housing prices here are high, they're not as high as they are in denver or arizona or oregon (let alone places like new york city and san francisco and boston)

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios


Jesus, California.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 11:16     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Anonymous wrote:prices are high but so are incomes. practically everyone here makes a lot more money than they would doing the same job in most other places in this country. the only way to tell whether housing is expensive is to compare the cost of housing to how much people earn.

harvard has done that, and it suggests that while housing prices here are high, they're not as high as they are in denver or arizona or oregon (let alone places like new york city and san francisco and boston)

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios


In Portland urbanists are fighting restrictions on density, and I think in Denver too. Not sure whats going on in Phoenix, but I wonder if retirees distort the data there?
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2020 10:16     Subject: Re:maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Who would have thought housing in DC is cheaper than in Phoenix?
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2020 21:46     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Anonymous wrote:prices are high but so are incomes. practically everyone here makes a lot more money than they would doing the same job in most other places in this country. the only way to tell whether housing is expensive is to compare the cost of housing to how much people earn.

harvard has done that, and it suggests that while housing prices here are high, they're not as high as they are in denver or arizona or oregon (let alone places like new york city and san francisco and boston)

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios


That study looks at the D.C. region, not just at the District -- where housing prices are often higher than they are even in close-in suburbs, and where incomes are, on average, lower. The median family income in D.C. is about $86,000. In Arlington, which is lumped into the Harvard study as part of the D.C. region, it's $117,000. In Alexandria, it's $93,000. In Montgomery County, it's $108,000.

So while you might be right that housing prices compared to income aren't as high in the area as they are in some other areas, the study you're pointing to still makes housing in D.C. proper seem pretty expensive.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2020 20:20     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
They are med high here. A lot higher in some other places.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2020 20:19     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Are you aware of the large swaths of the city who live at or around the poverty line? Sounds like maybe you are not. If you’re making minimum wage, it is difficult to afford a place to live in the city. It is even more difficult to find a place to live that is large enough to accommodate a family in a safe part of town while making minimum wage.

It is also difficult in other parts of the country, and in rural areas there are certainly additional challenges such as transportation costs and stagnant employment markets. But it really sounds like you maybe are not well acquainted with the realities of urban poverty if you’re suggesting that maybe it’s not that expensive to live here.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2020 20:02     Subject: Re:maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Many of us have jobs that don't even exist in other cities.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2020 19:57     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
Snap!
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2020 19:53     Subject: maybe housing in dc isn't as expensive as everyone thinks
prices are high but so are incomes. practically everyone here makes a lot more money than they would doing the same job in most other places in this country. the only way to tell whether housing is expensive is to compare the cost of housing to how much people earn.

harvard has done that, and it suggests that while housing prices here are high, they're not as high as they are in denver or arizona or oregon (let alone places like new york city and san francisco and boston)

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios