Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are currently selling a TH in Loudoun (10 mins from Reston) we bought in 2007 for $450k. Lived there til we bought a SFH nearby in 2013. Decided to rent it out since we couldn’t break even then. It’s now worth $700k but that still isn’t a great return. $250k gain over 15 years, from which we have to pay realtors, closing costs, and cap gains tax because it was a rental and not a primary. The TH neighbor a few doors down bought in 2016 for the same $450k and sold this year for the same $700k. Now THEY got a good return!

You also got rent money for years.

That's not the point, investments should appreciate

Not how investments work, often.

See: Bonds, Annuities, Dividend stocks, etc.

Markets go up and then down and then up. This normal. The DC area real estate is less volatile because of the federal government. The further away you get the less stabilized prices are.

People should never think prices can only go up. But keep in mind home ownership is a good hedge against inflation for most people.

Anonymous wrote:Bought in 2005 with the expectation of flipping the home and moving out of DC in 2 years. Couldn’t sell until 2015 and we didn’t even break even. Bought for 360. Put 35k into the home and sold for 365k.
I will never buy at the height of a market again.

I can't figure out how around here that can happen, 10 years you carried that house? Where was the house exactly?

Bought a brick rambler in Silver Spring for $308k in 2006 at age 40 (first home!). We're inside the beltway but to far east for people to tear down houses, so the whole street is still 1950s brick ramblers. The house next store just closed for $700k, so it's OK

Bought townhouse in Rehoboth beach for 300k in 2005. Now worth 750k. Also can fully rent out if want.

Anonymous wrote:Young gen-x. Bought in 2005- during the boom. Sold last year for 55k underwater. Broke even due to tax benefits.

We had rented the property out during that time. It was very affordable- and a great house to be young and carefree in but it was terrible for having kids. We purchased in 2010 in Fairfax County and sold that house in 2021 to buy our current home. We later sold our underwater house- to just get rid of it.

It was a hard lesson for us to learn- but redfin didn’t even exist in the area we lived in and we had no idea what was a good property. Now- there are a ton of resources and you can make an informed decision.

This being said- I love owning. I love not having to pay rent. My mental health is way better now because that stress is done with.

Underwater? Or just under what you paid for it? Because if you were still underwater 13 years after 2008 you must have bought the worst house in America.

bought a townhouse in Silver Spring for 340K in Dec 2005 (previous owner made 150K off of us over the 200K he had paid). It almost immediately crashed down to about 200K. Didn't recover until a few years ago.

Young gen-x. Bought in 2005- during the boom. Sold last year for 55k underwater. Broke even due to tax benefits.

We had rented the property out during that time. It was very affordable- and a great house to be young and carefree in but it was terrible for having kids. We purchased in 2010 in Fairfax County and sold that house in 2021 to buy our current home. We later sold our underwater house- to just get rid of it.

It was a hard lesson for us to learn- but redfin didn’t even exist in the area we lived in and we had no idea what was a good property. Now- there are a ton of resources and you can make an informed decision.

This being said- I love owning. I love not having to pay rent. My mental health is way better now because that stress is done with.

Anonymous wrote:I’ll play.
Bought small rowhouse in upperNW DC in 2004
4th try, bought for $850k (with $100k escalation clause/ waived everything).
At the time, 1 big law/1 small firm salary. HHI then was probably $250k
Still living in the house, neighboring row homes have sold for over $1M, which is shocking to us.
We’re now at $350k HHI- 1 fed/1 non profit salary.
Would move but the market is too crazy now.

You didn't buy in OP's time frame and you didn't get hit?

Bought in 2005 in the wider Silver Spring area - TH for maybe $350K? Did upkeep stuff like new roof, appliances, pipes, etc - nothing "fun" but all stuff that needed done.

Sold for about the same in 2016 when we moved so at a loss considering the upkeep and improvement stuff we did. On the plus side, our SFH we bought in VA is now up a nice amount.

currently mid 40s/early 50s.

I’ll play.
Bought small rowhouse in upperNW DC in 2004
4th try, bought for $850k (with $100k escalation clause/ waived everything).
At the time, 1 big law/1 small firm salary. HHI then was probably $250k
Still living in the house, neighboring row homes have sold for over $1M, which is shocking to us.
We’re now at $350k HHI- 1 fed/1 non profit salary.
Would move but the market is too crazy now.

Anonymous wrote:Why do they keep building these stupid condos in Tysons

+1

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you made bad choices.

Thanks Captain Hindsight, what great value you contribute. What a terrific use of your time and keystrokes.

/dp
// this isn't nice but the first draft was worse

Anonymous wrote:That’s so surprising to me. We bought a row house in DC for 420k in late 2006. We have done some work on it—probably 150k in upgrades—and it’s worth 900 to one million now. Of course, we haven’t actually tried to sell it! I thought most of the DC area was similar.

What part of dc? H street etc?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are currently selling a TH in Loudoun (10 mins from Reston) we bought in 2007 for $450k. Lived there til we bought a SFH nearby in 2013. Decided to rent it out since we couldn’t break even then. It’s now worth $700k but that still isn’t a great return. $250k gain over 15 years, from which we have to pay realtors, closing costs, and cap gains tax because it was a rental and not a primary. The TH neighbor a few doors down bought in 2016 for the same $450k and sold this year for the same $700k. Now THEY got a good return!

You also got rent money for years.

That's not the point, investments should appreciate