OP here. Yes, we do own. We can certainly make it in our current house, but it requires a decent amount of planning to live simply (ie limited storage, small closets, and just generally not much space so we must consider the scale of any furniture we purchase, constantly weed through belongings for the kids, etc). We've considered upgrading with the appreciation that we've seen in the neighborhood (same footprint houses up and down our street selling for $100-150k more than DH paid when he bought in 2009). BUT it still means a bigger mortgage as the equity/appreciation is not enough to get into a bigger house without a significant increase in what we spend monthly, which we just don't want to do right now with two children in day care.

Anyway, its not that I think this area should be cheap, but I guess I just don't want to dump every cent I make into a house, which is the reason we stay in our 2BR.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you feel like the price of your house was insane, but you bought anyway? We have a small 2BR and 2 kids and we refuse to pay the $250k more that it would cost to upgrade to 3BRs in our area. Let's say we could probably do it, but I just don't think its going to improve our lives all that much to justify the cost.

So it got me thinking -just wondering how many people buying houses in this area are resigned to the cost feeling like 'too much' for what you get and buying anyway vs. you feel like these prices are fully reasonable to pay.

When we bought people thought the house prices were nuts. It was 1997.

+ Ha! I was thinking the same thing, except only going back to 2001 when we bought. We seriously questioned if we were doing the stupidest thing ever; it was the height of the market and prices had doubled from 1999. 16 years later...

I actually still think dc is underpriced. Especially compared to what you get in other cities with good jobs. You can still find a one bedroom condo for 300k in dc. Not Virginia. Dc. That's so cheap. I guess people expect a 700k McMansion in driving distance to their job? When I moved here I found it funny people actually drive single occupancy cars to work.

I just meant that things don't change. People are going through the same hand-wringing we did 16 years ago. Just like people complain about the commercialism of Christmas. People think that's new but when you realize that Charlie Brown Christmas is 50 years old, and has the same complaint, you realize that things don't change. To answer OP, of course people are buying when housing prices are "nuts." They have and will forever continue to.

When I determined I could get 3 acres and a 4,000 square ft house by a lake in a beautiful suburb far from here for 370k, I determined it was time to leave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious.....We bought a SFH last Spring (April) in N.Arlington. Do you think that the prices this Spring are higher than they were last Spring??

North Arlington is stagnant

Nope.

I guess I don't think it's bad. We were able to buy a great house on our 180k salary (we saved diligently for a downpayment before we started having kids). Our mortgage is $2100, which we easily afford. DC means you make more money, but also that houses cost more.

Sure I'm jelaous of DH's friends making 50k and being able to afford 150k homes that are as nice as ours, but everything in life is a trade off. We're very happy here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you feel like the price of your house was insane, but you bought anyway? We have a small 2BR and 2 kids and we refuse to pay the $250k more that it would cost to upgrade to 3BRs in our area. Let's say we could probably do it, but I just don't think its going to improve our lives all that much to justify the cost.

So it got me thinking -just wondering how many people buying houses in this area are resigned to the cost feeling like 'too much' for what you get and buying anyway vs. you feel like these prices are fully reasonable to pay.

When we bought people thought the house prices were nuts. It was 1997.

+ Ha! I was thinking the same thing, except only going back to 2001 when we bought. We seriously questioned if we were doing the stupidest thing ever; it was the height of the market and prices had doubled from 1999. 16 years later...

I actually still think dc is underpriced. Especially compared to what you get in other cities with good jobs. You can still find a one bedroom condo for 300k in dc. Not Virginia. Dc. That's so cheap. I guess people expect a 700k McMansion in driving distance to their job? When I moved here I found it funny people actually drive single occupancy cars to work.

Anonymous wrote:Just curious.....We bought a SFH last Spring (April) in N.Arlington. Do you think that the prices this Spring are higher than they were last Spring??

North Arlington is stagnant

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you feel like the price of your house was insane, but you bought anyway? We have a small 2BR and 2 kids and we refuse to pay the $250k more that it would cost to upgrade to 3BRs in our area. Let's say we could probably do it, but I just don't think its going to improve our lives all that much to justify the cost.

So it got me thinking -just wondering how many people buying houses in this area are resigned to the cost feeling like 'too much' for what you get and buying anyway vs. you feel like these prices are fully reasonable to pay.

When we bought people thought the house prices were nuts. It was 1997.

+ Ha! I was thinking the same thing, except only going back to 2001 when we bought. We seriously questioned if we were doing the stupidest thing ever; it was the height of the market and prices had doubled from 1999. 16 years later...

Anonymous wrote:
OP,

The prices are not insane. We are not in bubble. Buy, you silly!

The USA has some of the cheapest real estate for a developed country, which is why parts of it are being bought up like hotcakes by rich Chinese, etc.
For a major/capital city, Washington DC is CHEAP. I have lived in Paris, London and Tokyo. The prices are simply not comparable.

This. I don't understand what or why people expect dc to have inexpensive real estate. We bought a home (not a condo) in dc for under a million dollars. With decent schools and public transport. We make 400k a year.

Just curious.....We bought a SFH last Spring (April) in N.Arlington. Do you think that the prices this Spring are higher than they were last Spring??

Anonymous wrote:I think we are in a bubble. In 2007 I'm sure everyone was using the same reasoning- the area is growing, people are highly paid, it's worth it to live here, etc. My own house, in PG county, has grown over 100k in value in 3 short years. This is nonsense. Nothing about my house or the area it is in justifies it. But I'm not going to pretend I have a crystal ball. Just buy what you can afford and hope for the best.

The last bubble was caused by financing, basically allowing you to borrow more than a home was worth, qualifying based on interest only teasor rates as stated income.

It was in fact more beneficial to do a stated income for higher than your actual income to get favorable rates or borrow more.

Now it is very different, you can't over extend yourself and your mortgage payment is pretty steady.

Yep. And yep.

My mortgage is $2100. My rent when I left my apartment and bought this townhouse was up to almost $1600. So for $500 more, I got double the space, am building equity, and a break on my taxes.

Our timing was shit in terms of buying. Bought in 2007 toward the end of the bubble. Houses declined a bit more after we bought and then steadily went back up. We could probably sell today for only about 10k more than what we paid BUT we've been paying down the principle through the mortgage and would net about $90k if we sold next year.

Despite the stupid SFH housing prices here, we are looking to trade up in two years. We want a forever home and this townhouse...aint it. So we're waiting for daycare to end and then will aggressively save to build up as much of a downpayment that we can to add to our equity and then bite the bullet.

I would definitely move out of the area if I could but..my job is ten minutes away, both sets of grandparents are twenty minutes in either direction (so we're the halfway point), and one sibling live five minutes away and the other in DC. The location is exactly what we want. So we're just accepting that this is what it is.

OP,

The prices are not insane. We are not in bubble. Buy, you silly!

The USA has some of the cheapest real estate for a developed country, which is why parts of it are being bought up like hotcakes by rich Chinese, etc.
For a major/capital city, Washington DC is CHEAP. I have lived in Paris, London and Tokyo. The prices are simply not comparable.

We bought in 2013, and prices seemed to have dropped 5% since then in our part of Arlington. We assumed it was a real possibility, and bought something we could afford and live in for 10+ years. As long as neighborhood doesn't go 'escape from la' in us, we can weather a pretty big price decline. Not happily but we would be ok.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you feel like the price of your house was insane, but you bought anyway? We have a small 2BR and 2 kids and we refuse to pay the $250k more that it would cost to upgrade to 3BRs in our area. Let's say we could probably do it, but I just don't think its going to improve our lives all that much to justify the cost.

So it got me thinking -just wondering how many people buying houses in this area are resigned to the cost feeling like 'too much' for what you get and buying anyway vs. you feel like these prices are fully reasonable to pay.

When we bought, people thought the house prices were nuts. It was 1997.

I added the missing comma.