We bought a small, inexpensive SFH in N Arlington instead of a condo because we wanted to take international trips every year (DH's family lives in Asia) but we also wanted a little more autonomy, no condo fees, and a small backyard for DD. SFH was $500K and about a 10-min walk to Ballston. It's a good compromise for us between far-out burbs and bigger house and living in the city in a rental or crappy condo (we can't afford a nice condo on $500K!).

One thing to beware of wrt condos: rising condo fees. My parents bought a place in Foggy Bottom that started off with a monthly fee of about $250 and then rose to more than $800 over the course of maybe ten years. I have another friend who is being priced out of her condo becuase of rising condo fees. Big repairs can mean big upswings? The condo board really does have to be well run and managed so that repairs are anticipated and financed appropriately.

Anonymous wrote:Our complex has 2 pools, a hot tub, a clubhouse with gourmet kitchen, grilling area, business center, gym, sprayground and playground. The concierge also takes care of dry cleaning, car wash, housekeeping and groceries.

The admin takes care of packages, maintenance, snow, yard work, bug control (we're in the first floor) and our unit has a concrete patio plus a grass area so the kids can play outside all year long.

That's why we have the time and $ to travel all we want.

I wouldn't trade this life for anything!

Ok, another one where I have to ask -- where do you live, please share!

I suppose we are kind of that couple. We lived in a modestly sized townhouse in a "transitional" neighborhood (Columbia Heights) because we both determined that daily commuting for work was going to slowly, torturously drain the joie d' vivre out of our lives. We also wanted money for travel and a nanny.

We could've had a big house, a pool, nicer cars, and the like. But those things, we decided, were not essential for us at the time. We needed to be able to zip back and forth from our jobs (and grocery stores and parks and other liesure venues, preferrably on foot) in order to spend time with the family.

So I guess maybe we're not the couple you're looking for: because for us, TIME was the most precious resource.

In the end, we moved from DC to another city far away. The quality of life is much higher here because, again, we made choices that optimized our time together.

We are moving here from NJ, where we had a large home and yard. A very suburban lifestyle. Kids are older teens now and we've chosen to downsize to a townhome in Rockville. One of our primary reasons for doing this was to afford our family more flexibility to spend money traveling. That's the plan anyway. We've been house poor for many years, so we look forward to a change.

Our complex has 2 pools, a hot tub, a clubhouse with gourmet kitchen, grilling area, business center, gym, sprayground and playground. The concierge also takes care of dry cleaning, car wash, housekeeping and groceries.

The admin takes care of packages, maintenance, snow, yard work, bug control (we're in the first floor) and our unit has a concrete patio plus a grass area so the kids can play outside all year long.

That's why we have the time and $ to travel all we want.

I wouldn't trade this life for anything!

We own a condo in Vienna but it is well below our means and plan to continue living this way so that we can travel (we take one int'l huge trip every year and plenty weekend trips) and enjoy ourselves without stressing about finances! We love not having a yard to maintain or big home to worry about! People think we are crazy but we're happy

To each their own!

Anonymous wrote:

OP, don't be dissuaded by PP. Yes, there are bad complexes, but these should be pretty obvious. We have none of these problems in our downtown condo: laundry in unit, assigned garage parking with elevator, tons of nearby museums, no noise problems, haven't seen a bug in the seven years we have lived here, great common space that we don't have to maintain, a concierge that takes care of a lot of little daily tasks such as packages and the rare repairman, and continually increasing value that is expected to continue. I do wish we had a closer playground and there are days in which more space would be welcome, but I would never trade the rest of the conveniences for these
minor issues.

Just because some condos are bad does not mean that many are not wonderful.

Where do your children ride their bikes unsupervised, play soccer spontaneously, throw a Nerf football, etc?

I have a one acre park in my downtown condo building. And a pool.

we rent a 2bed apt.

DH has a very flexible job and I SAH so whenever he travels to fun places we join him. We're both from different continents so every year we visit at least one of our home countries too.

We lived overseas in Embassy housing. We saved so much money because we rented out our townhome while we were gone that we were able to put the money towards travelling. We visited seven countries while we were there-- some more than once.

We lived in an apartment that was a decent size for our small family-- there are four of us and there were three bedrooms. We had a shitty pool, sparse gym, and sad playroom, but we made the most of it and had a blast! Best part were the relationships we made with other families.

Now we live in a house in the suburbs, just a block away from a great park and the elementary school that I'll someday walk my kids to. Some of my BEST moments are in my backyard. Today I sat in the grass painting the frame of a mirror I bought at a yard sale. My four year old helped a little but mostly just laid in the grass and kept me company. This year our vacation will be to beach where we'll stay at my in-law's condo and eat in almost every night. Eventually, we'll be back to where we were a year ago financially, but in the meantime, I wouldn't trade my yard for a trip to France in a heartbeat!

We chose townhouse route (living in Alexandria) bc I wanted to spend less time with maintaining yard and more time getting out about town. We chose a location that is walking distance to the public library, close to numerous public parks, and easy for us to commute. We definitely choose to spend our funds on experiences, and have maintained frequent weekend travels even after the arrival of our little one. Just to toss out a few of townhouse communities I would recommend include Cameron Station (multiple up for sale, and more variety in terms of interior layout), Early Street Villages (2 are up for sale), and Governor's community at Franconia and Governor's Pond Circle (right off Telegraph Rd).

We do the travel, crazy adventures- but live in an urban house- not condo.

We have one child and live in a 1100 sq ft apartment in DC. We have cheap furniture, a basement washer-dryer, no car, and only one set of college loans between the two of us.

My family live abroad (on 2 different continents), and we try to get there every 2-3 years. I'd rather spend money on travel than fancy clothes or expensive shoes or electronics--or pretty much anything, actually.

I was pretty much raised this way. We traveled abroad a lot when I was a child, we lived in a bunch of places. I had emigrated twice before I turned 25.

We live in a condo in downtown bethesda, older building, but renovated. Our neighbors in our building suck for the most part, but we otherwise love our home and location. Our jobs are big law and self employed so we have a fair amount of disposable income but are no means loaded. After socking away savings every month, we like to spend our play money on dining out and travel. We travel internationally at Least once a year with several other long domestic weekend trips. We don't have a yard or a "great room" or a basement with a toy room, but we have plenty of space to live comfortably and living in an urban area keeps us out and about so we don't miss anyof those things.

Anonymous wrote:townhome during school year

beach condo in the summer (My kids and I live there; husband drops in whenever possible.)

This sounds fun. What beach?