Np here, and we live in Alexandria near Old Town and have a HHI of $250k, three kids ages 2, 5, 7. It's very hard. We live check to check and every month is a crapshoot over which bill will not get paid. Childcare costs are outrageous here. And even public school aftercare can cost over $600/month for two kids. Alexandria City schools are not good. There are maybe three decent schools, and one is in Old Town (Lyles Crouch). To be zoned for that school you should expect to pay a minimum of $800k for a small-ish row house with 2-3 bedrooms.

If you want to live in a good school district close to DC/Old town for your housing budget, you will need to move further out, like Lorton, Annandale, Fairfax.

We desperately need a 4 bedroom home but simply cannot afford to move out of our $800k shoebox for a $1m fixer-upper with 4 bedrooms. Unfortunately, DH and I both work in the city, so we need to be close in.

OP here! I'm planning on reading all responses later ? Thanks so much !

Actually Disney property ends at cast parking behind MK.

OP,

It depends a lot on what kind of equity you are bringing to the house search in this area.

We have a one-income Household of about $190. We live on $60K b/c we have no mortgage (still have to pay $7000 in property taxes) and no childcare expenses (other than fun things like camps and classes). We save about $50K in the aftertax money. The rest goes to taxes and pre-tax retirement saving.

If you can do all of your consumption (including property taxes, car repairs, groceries, take out, beach vacation + few other flights per year, gas, clothes, classes, gym fees) on $5000 like we do (family of 2 kids, 2 adults)... and then you can afford a house that has a mortgage + child care costs of $5000 per month, YOU CAN afford to live here for sure. That still allows you to contribute significantly to your retirement accounts pre-tax.

Your mortgage and child care must = $5000 or less for this to work.

Anonymous wrote:If you have equity in your home, you can certainly live on $180 HHI in DC-proper. Don't let people who think no one can possibility live on less than $400k sway your decision!!

You can certainly have a nice life with your children participating in activities, especially if you have limited debt and are not spenders. Go on redfin,com and do a search of homes and see if something is in your budget. Keep in mind your home will be smaller than in Orlando, but the reasons you want to be in DC will offset that in spades in my opinion.

I totally agree with this. We have an HHI of $180k and have a great life in a great DC neighborhood. It is somewhat dependent on your down payment though-- if you are buying now with little savings it will be tough. If you have home equity or a lot of savings + find a good public school, you're golden.

If you have equity in your home, you can certainly live on $180 HHI in DC-proper. Don't let people who think no one can possibility live on less than $400k sway your decision!!

You can certainly have a nice life with your children participating in activities, especially if you have limited debt and are not spenders. Go on redfin,com and do a search of homes and see if something is in your budget. Keep in mind your home will be smaller than in Orlando, but the reasons you want to be in DC will offset that in spades in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:I love everything yes city has to offer and would like to move my family there. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that 180 will get us much. We live in a 3500 sq ft home in Orlando now that would sell for 1.5 million easily in DC. For those of you who moved to DC area, where did you move?

You will be double the median HHI for MD, and 1.8 times the median for Montgomery County.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI of about $210k and we left in part due to the high cost of living and traffic. We were in a small row house in close-in Alexandria (so schools were an issue). I could not figure out a way to make it work because we wanted good schools, a reasonable commute to jobs in DC (<30 minutes), and a single family house with yard, none of which we could find for a house budget of $600k.

Sounds like you wanted n Arlington.

Probably. But we couldn't find a house in Alexandria for $600k, much less one in North Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice. We will probably stay put for a while maybe when our income is higher.

By the way.. We live a mile from magic kingdom and LOVE it. So na na na na boo boo, sad person.

Thanks for the MD suggestion PP. I'll look into that area!

I thought a mile from Magic Kingdom was still on Disney property.

Anonymous wrote:HHI of about $210k and we left in part due to the high cost of living and traffic. We were in a small row house in close-in Alexandria (so schools were an issue). I could not figure out a way to make it work because we wanted good schools, a reasonable commute to jobs in DC (<30 minutes), and a single family house with yard, none of which we could find for a house budget of $600k.

Sounds like you wanted n Arlington.

OP, I have a HHI of $150k and feel like we live really well in DC. We pay childcare costs for one DC, live in a 3BR SFH and live in the city. We take two week long vacations a year and max our retirement accounts. I also feel like we take full advantage of all that DC "has to offer"- museums, Rock Creek Park, walk ability/live ability.

HHI of about $210k and we left in part due to the high cost of living and traffic. We were in a small row house in close-in Alexandria (so schools were an issue). I could not figure out a way to make it work because we wanted good schools, a reasonable commute to jobs in DC (<30 minutes), and a single family house with yard, none of which we could find for a house budget of $600k.

That's a good idea.

Can you try a vacation house swap with someone in DC over the summer for a couple of weeks to test out whether or not you'd truly like it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice. We will probably stay put for a while maybe when our income is higher.

By the way.. We live a mile from magic kingdom and LOVE it. So na na na na boo boo, sad person.

Thanks for the MD suggestion PP. I'll look into that area!

Do you visit Disney world on a frequent basis ?!??

Yeah lol (OP here). At least a few times a month. This time of year it is amazing because crowds are light and the weather isn't hot. It's in the 50's today.

Anonymous wrote:why not richmond?

nooooooooo.....