Anonymous wrote:Buying a million dollar house in N. Arlington is hardly some kind of crazy luxury. I speak as the owner of one such house. Yes, it is a nice house. But, to quote my mom when she first walked into my house "huh, this is not what you expect a million dollar house to look like, is it." So if your dilemma is that you don't want to seem profligate and throw money around on decadent luxuries, I can assure you you won't be. I'd equate buying a million dollar house in N. Arl to buying a nice Toyota Camry with some of the bells and whistles. It ain't a Mercedes.
And to the PP who suggested you buy an $800 K house, GOOD LUCK finding one in this market that doesn't have 20 other bids on it.
I'm that PP. As I said, you do have to be patient, knowledgeable, and ready to pounce, and make your offer attractive. It sounds like OP is in a position to do all of those things. Out of those 20 bids, somebody does get the house! I know because we did. We had lost out on 3 houses before it and looked for over a year, but when we saw the right thing we knew how to make it happen and we did. $825K for a great, spacious, nicely-renovated house in one of the sought-after school elementary school areas that feeds to Yorktown. If you are desperate or don't do your homework, or your finances aren't strong, you will lose out on the better deals, but the idea that you have to spend a million dollars to not live in a hovel in N Arlington is pure hype.