Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to 15:22, to many people, Silver Spring is out of reach. We could never afford a SFH in Silver Spring, and my husband and I are both professionals nearing 40 who have graduate degrees and no children. And there's still no way we could afford it.

These threads just prove to me how many people in this area live in a bubble.

Can we start talking actual prices? There are SFHs in Silver Spring for under $300K. The average price for a new home in the U.S. is $313K. I don't think people in Silver Spring are living in a bubble. Now, I will acknowledge that houses in this area will be smaller and older on average for the same price compared with the rest of the country, but there is going to be a price to pay to live in a metropolitan area.

We have 2 kids in preschool ($2100 month) and a combined income of $175K and have student loans of approx $800 a month. We were still able to afford a SFH in SS for $460K (mortgage approx $2100 month). There are many SFHs in our area in the low $400's. I

If you have 2 incomes and no kids, I think you could find something in SS, unless you are really making very, very little.

Anonymous wrote:to 15:22, to many people, Silver Spring is out of reach. We could never afford a SFH in Silver Spring, and my husband and I are both professionals nearing 40 who have graduate degrees and no children. And there's still no way we could afford it.

These threads just prove to me how many people in this area live in a bubble.

Can we start talking actual prices? There are SFHs in Silver Spring for under $300K. The average price for a new home in the U.S. is $313K. I don't think people in Silver Spring are living in a bubble. Now, I will acknowledge that houses in this area will be smaller and older on average for the same price compared with the rest of the country, but there is going to be a price to pay to live in a metropolitan area.

This is a fairly timely article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/27/trickle-down-consumption-how-rising-inequality-can-leave-everyone-worse-off/

It suggests that, whether people want to admit it or not, there is a lot of keeping up with the Joneses. It can take the form of buying a bigger house than you should, or buying a smaller house in an oh-so-cute walkable neighborhood and then overspending on discretionary items such as food, clothing and vacations.

It's tempting to say our parents did a better job of living within their means, but the entire point of the study is that there have been implicit pressures to keep up that didn't exist to the same degree when income disparities were not so great.

The thing is, I feel like we ARE rich. DH and I are in our mid-30s, have 2 kids, and make around $145k-150k with me working part-time on a schedule I really like. We have job security, we have masters degrees (and don't expect to ever go back to school) with minimal loan debt, we have no car payment. It is super discouraging to me that we can't find a decent (i.e. not falling down) SFH around here but we'd be delighted to find a 1400 SF place in a good neighborhood. I don't aspire to living in a large home and we are making more money then I ever imagined we would be at this point.

But apparently if we wanted to live in DC we should have gone into corporate litigation or something.

Anonymous wrote:to 15:22, to many people, Silver Spring is out of reach. We could never afford a SFH in Silver Spring, and my husband and I are both professionals nearing 40 who have graduate degrees and no children. And there's still no way we could afford it.

These threads just prove to me how many people in this area live in a bubble.

Well, you just need to get in your time machine and go back to 1998 so you CAN buy that SFH. Can I interest you in a fixer upper townhouse in Germantown?

Pretty much!

22:07 - good on you. Some people can not let it go. Good for you for being able to move on. Seriously. We can't spend the rest of our lives hating rich people - it makes no sense. They have nothing to do with us, frankly.

To the hater above, have you not noticed that indicators are pointing to a recovering economy?

I think lowering expectations really helps. I always imagined the 2000sf house with the open floor plan and master bath. The reality is that even tho DH and I have good jobs we could never afford that in this area. I spent YEARS pining away for a house in Lyon Park. YEARS. But we were never going to be able to afford that. So I finally caved in and agreed to look elsewhere. We ended up buying a 1200sf townhouse fixer upper. It is definitely not what I imagined for myself or my children, but the neighborhood has proven to be a real gem and with every improvement that we make I feel better.

Anonymous wrote:EVERYONE is screwed....w/ what Obama is doing to taxes, there aren't going ot be any "rich" people left. Our economy is totally falling apart!

you have to be a pretty ignorant half-wit to pin this all on Obama and completely ignore the previous 10-15 yrs. including the Bush debacles and Clinton's repeal of Glass-Steagall. This is NOT a partisan issue.

You sound like an ignorant partisan fool even if your last point may have some merit.

As usual, this sort of subject is best covered by The Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-poor-people-pretty-much-fucked,1025/
Report: Poor People Pretty Much Fucked

Some quotes from the story:

WASHINGTON—According to the results of an intensive two-year study, Americans living below the poverty line are "pretty much fucked," Center for Social and Economic Research executive director Jameson Park announced Monday.

"Although poor people have never had it particularly sweet, America has long been considered the land of opportunity, where upward class mobility is hard work's reward," Park said. "However, our study shows that limited access to quality education and a shortage of employment opportunities in depressed areas all but ensure that, once fucked, an individual tends to stay fucked."
...
Economist Harold Knoep said there's little reason for sympathy. "In a healthy capitalist economy, some people are going to be out-competed," Knoep said. "I'm sorry, but some of those fuck-ups have fucked themselves. I am not condoning an anarchic 'fuck or be fucked' ethos, but I can hardly get behind a welfare state that punishes the unfucked by fucking all equally."

While he expressed concern for the nation's poor, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) said increased funding for social programs isn't the answer.

"Nobody's saying poor people aren't fucked," Hastert said. "But what about all the people in this great nation who are not fucked? If the financial resources of the economically stable are diverted—through some well-intentioned but fiscally irresponsible social-service program—to the people who are fucked, where does that leave those who were sailin' along fine? Fucked."

Please don't use words you don't understand

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EVERYONE is screwed....w/ what Obama is doing to taxes, there aren't going ot be any "rich" people left. Our economy is totally falling apart!

ash, yes, because the previous 30ish years of destroying the middle class have no effect whatsoever on the current crappy economy.

Socialism and hand-outs aren't working.

Anonymous wrote:the state department 2 incomes of about 160k starter home for close to 700k but they did save up for a long time while over seas so prices aren't that out of wack.

being on duty overseas with the IC or State lets you sock away oodles of cash. Those are unique positions (there are tons of state and IC positions that never leave CONUS).

A typical govie around here does not have that luxury.

I work for the government. There's no way I could ever buy a 600k house.

And before everyone jumps on me for being on here during a weekday, I'm on vacation.