Where in md (which county?)? That makes a big difference. Check out olney.

Anonymous wrote:1. It's CHAMPING at the bit. Did we learn nothing from 30 Rock, people?

2. I think you are going to be looking at $100K max. Probably more like $95K. Do you work, too? If not, DC is probably a bad idea -- houses here are ridiculously expensive.

That is why I am still in the Midwest. I am around $107K and DC was offering about $128K. By the time you take taxes out, it would be like taking a pay cut because of the COL. Unless you think that you are going to be in upper management someday, it makes sense to stay away from NYC, DC, SF.

TH in Gaithersburg?

I'm from the Philly suburbs, and my family still lives there. My brother's house there is twice as big and costs half as much as mine. I've been debating moving back up there just to get a little more living space.

OP here: we have two young kids, plan on home schooling, and hubby will work in MD, not DC proper. So mainly, we'd like a safe area that has a nice community feel - a downtown area, library, etc. We tend to keep our other expenses low, don't often eat out, etc. We don't need to live the high life (nor would we expect to on his salary), but we do want a safe place. Maybe since we'll be looking outside DC we'll do okay on 100K? We'll have to see. I just can't believe the cost of housing here. We live about an hr outside of Philly and you can get a nice place - about 2500 square ft for around 300k. Hopefully there are lots others in the area in the same shoes as us and we'll be able to make friends. lol!

We'll just have to go for a smaller place in MD - I'd certainly sacrifice size of house if it meant we lived in a nice, safe place. thanks so much for the help!

I worked for a company that transferred me from Houston to DC. They move people all the time, so they had a formula in place for dealing with these things. I received about a 20 percent bump in salary plus a super generous relo package. And Houston is cheaper than Philly (having lived in both.) So OP, I'd suspect that your hoped-for $130k is unlikely.

In terms of house size and commute, much depends on whether you have kids, how much emphasis you put on "good" schools, where you are commuting to, etc. But in the equivalent of a Main Line suburb (only a bit closer), 2000 sq ft can run you an easy $1m to buy. That doesn't mean you'll only get a house that big if you pay $1m, but you will have to accept compromises on school, commute, and/or other factors.

what about other expenses ?do you have kids? looking into schools? Will you sell a place in philly and have $ for a downpayment?

100k/year in the DC area is comfortably poor, if you have kids and housing expenses.

Frankly, I would look into renting near a metro and see how it goes. REnt in MD (silver spring, wheaton, forest glen, rockville) if working in MD or northern part of city, or VA. If you have school age children, let us know.

where will your husband work? The DC area is really large.

If he's working anywhere in suburban Maryland/Virginia then you can definitely live in farther out suburbia and afford something. If he's working downtown then the far reaches of suburbia will be a very long commute and the city itself and the inner suburbs are likely out of reach on a $85-105K income. Also, what will your down payment be?

In general, it's unlikely that you'll be able to upgrade on your Philly situation based on the cost-of-living salary upgrade here. Housing here is twice as expensive as Philly. Unless he is based somewhere in MD/VA (allowing him to comfortably commute from somewhere in the farther reaching suburbs) then I wouldn't move here on a $85Kish salary mainly because it will be a decrease in the quality of your housing.

well, he's not fed and if we live in the suburbs? maybe we could find something? right now we live in a 1400 square foot town house...we'd like to have about 2000 square feet - we could settle for another town house if we had too...we'd just like it to be a bit bigger, maybe newer construction - our home now is pretty old - built in 1913. So, if his pay goes up to 105k maybe we could afford suburbs...?

1. It's CHAMPING at the bit. Did we learn nothing from 30 Rock, people?

2. I think you are going to be looking at $100K max. Probably more like $95K. Do you work, too? If not, DC is probably a bad idea -- houses here are ridiculously expensive.

Not 19:52 but 85k seems mid level and a 45k raise is unlikely unless he's moving into a higher level management position. If he's a Fed 85k is grade 12 level pay. The highest 13 would be 115k in this area.

19:52, do you mean it's unlikely that his company will give him that much of a bump? or do you mean he'd have to find a different company to work for to earn that?