Our mortgage was 445k, both work making just under 250k. We live in a 2500 sq ft townhome on the edge of Fairfax/Chantilly.

N.Arl. Bought the house in 2000 for $220. Did an addition and refinanced in 2006 which brought mortgage up to about $650. We were making probably around $200K or a little more at that point.

Recently refinanced on a 15yr mortgage at 3%. House is valued at $875. Mortgage is $579. HHI is about $260K.

single dad - bought a little over year ago and negotiated hard for low 700's in n. arlington near gulf branch. mortgage is under 2k/month but paying 1k extra a month to pay off a 30-year note in 13 years. kid not in school yet but split child care and all related expenses with ex (no alimony as she makes just as much).

doing remodeling over a two year period. new homes behind and next to me are 1.5m+ - timing is everything.

Annandale is great if you are Asian.

Anonymous wrote:Is it just me or do these numbers sound really low? Do you guys have massive expenses like multiple kids, private school and nannies? We make waaaay less than 250k and have an 800k house!

One kid. Stay at home. Public schools.

More context peeps, please. Cause these numbers sound wacky without it.

I'm the PP before you. We have 2 kids and had both in daycare for 3 years @ $24k/year. Now we are down to 1 in daycare + after school and summer camp for the other. So probably $16k/year.

We only achieved the $250k income mark in 2010, when I got a big promotion. So when we bought for $670,000 in 2008, we were only around $190k and were in the two-in-daycare period.

Anonymous wrote:I make 250k and Obama said I was rich so I live in a 10,000 sqrft mansion on 5 acres in Great Falls. I sometimes need to get to places fast so I have private helicopter that lands on the roof. On the weekends I travel to my beach house via private jet in Turks and Caicos.

Blah, blah, blah.

If you had any sense of how non-upper middle class people lived, you wouldn't make such unsympathetic comments.

Anonymous wrote:Del Ray. Twenty percent down.

Oh, we paid slightly north of 600K this summer. Were targeting Aurora Highland in S Arlington, but that didn't work out. (Prices in that neck of the woods have gone up substantially in the past few years.)

Del Ray. Twenty percent down.

We make 250k. We have a 370k mortgage on a house that is worth no more than 500k. How do you afford these expensive houses? What are we doing wrong?

Is it just me or do these numbers sound really low? Do you guys have massive expenses like multiple kids, private school and nannies? We make waaaay less than 250k and have an 800k house!

One kid. Stay at home. Public schools.

More context peeps, please. Cause these numbers sound wacky without it.

S. Arlington - $670,000. We did really well on a TH we bought in 2001 for $280k and sold in 2008 for $510,000.

I make 250k and Obama said I was rich so I live in a 10,000 sqrft mansion on 5 acres in Great Falls. I sometimes need to get to places fast so I have private helicopter that lands on the roof. On the weekends I travel to my beach house via private jet in Turks and Caicos.

Anonymous wrote:N Arlington TH bought for $850k two years ago. 280k HHI now. Put 20% down.

Mortage (7 year ARM with v low rate) and taxes still take a deep cut out of the paycheck but we live in an area and a home that fits us well, so don't regret.

I think people who answer financial threads on DCUM are MUCH more conservative than even most people in the real world, even responsible people. Nobody that works at my biglaw firm lives in a $500-600K house.

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. We spent $800K. We had a sizeable downpayment from the sale of our old house and savings so our mortgage is easily manageable.

+1

N Arlington TH bought for $850k two years ago. 280k HHI now. Put 20% down.

Mortage (7 year ARM with v low rate) and taxes still take a deep cut out of the paycheck but we live in an area and a home that fits us well, so don't regret.