Anonymous wrote:You are the prime candidates to be leaving the DMV altogether.

Do you want to spend the rest of your life stuck in a cramped 1950s rambler with crap kitchens and dying utilities in Wheaton and commuting every day to jobs that you increasingly dislike and will come to hate? It's the epitome of the grind. The grinding daily grind.

I'd be making a three year plan to leave the DMV altogether.

That doesn't work for a lot of people.

A lot individuals grew up here and much much more took jobs that are basically only available in the D.C. area (especially if you have a family).

You work in a SCIF? You're basically precluded from ever moving.

You work in International Relations? Unless you want to move to New York or the Hague where the COL is 3X that of D.C. or every three years to random foreign countries - same deal.

You're a biomedical researcher? All of your career opportunities are in HCOL cities with long commutes - Boston, Bethesda, San Francisco take your pick.

You spent your entire career on Capitol Hill or Senate research? Try finding a comparative job outside of the DMV unless you really want to go into state politics.

Lobbyist? I don't know a single one that doesn't need/want to be close to dealmakers.

Anonymous wrote:You are the prime candidates to be leaving the DMV altogether.

Do you want to spend the rest of your life stuck in a cramped 1950s rambler with crap kitchens and dying utilities in Wheaton and commuting every day to jobs that you increasingly dislike and will come to hate? It's the epitome of the grind. The grinding daily grind.

I'd be making a three year plan to leave the DMV altogether.

I live in a spacious, renovated home a mile from west Hyattsville metro.

You are the prime candidates to be leaving the DMV altogether.

Do you want to spend the rest of your life stuck in a cramped 1950s rambler with crap kitchens and dying utilities in Wheaton and commuting every day to jobs that you increasingly dislike and will come to hate? It's the epitome of the grind. The grinding daily grind.

I'd be making a three year plan to leave the DMV altogether.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should be able to find a nice single home near metro with great schools:
Vienna-22080/1/2
Falls Church 22043/6
Fairfax
Arlington 22205/7

College park/Silver Springs/Kensington up to MS, not HS, that could change
Rockville, MD

$700k budget will not work for any of the VA locations.

+1. Certainly not in a SFH

There are definitely nice townhouses near Wheaton metro in MD well below $700k. Many people have had great experiences with Oakland Terrace ES, Glen Haven ES, Flora Singer ES, Forest Knolls ES and the high schools which is a consortium model where you have some choice in the HS.

If you’re expanding your search to the Wheaton metro (not saying you shouldn’t, I live nearby zoned for Oakland Terrace and love it) then you certainly shouldn’t limit yourself to a town house! Plenty of SFH in your range in this neighborhood…

Is your condo actually too small? Or do you have too much stuff? A storage unit costs nothing relative to mortgage. Does condo have storage options in building?
Above is an un-American sentiment, I realize.
Also if you Kid will be in K soon, that will give you extra purchase power when you don't have a daycare payment.

One of you quits move to exurbs. Other spouse works and does long commute. Home spouse looks for flexible close job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you looking for new jobs? Are you considering a move out of the area?

DH is actively looking. I am holding tight until I can see how a situation comes out later this year.

We would consider a move out of the area, but I have no idea where we would go.

In your situation, DH and I ended up leaving DC altogether. My job allowed me to go remote and DH quit his DC job. We were able to get a nice house in a walkable neighborhood, DH started grad school, and we still had t for a full time nanny and a 2nd baby.

Living in DC is just not worth it and your post illustrates why.

If we could keep one or both of our jobs and leave the area, I think we totally would. Both of our employers force us to be in the office, even though we could do our jobs 100% remotely.

Is VRE an option? I’d check out Burke - also, bus to Metro there as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you looking for new jobs? Are you considering a move out of the area?

DH is actively looking. I am holding tight until I can see how a situation comes out later this year.

We would consider a move out of the area, but I have no idea where we would go.

In your situation, DH and I ended up leaving DC altogether. My job allowed me to go remote and DH quit his DC job. We were able to get a nice house in a walkable neighborhood, DH started grad school, and we still had t for a full time nanny and a 2nd baby.

Living in DC is just not worth it and your post illustrates why.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should be able to find a nice single home near metro with great schools:
Vienna-22080/1/2
Falls Church 22043/6
Fairfax
Arlington 22205/7

College park/Silver Springs/Kensington up to MS, not HS, that could change
Rockville, MD

$700k budget will not work for any of the VA locations.

+1. Certainly not in a SFH

There are definitely nice townhouses near Wheaton metro in MD well below $700k. Many people have had great experiences with Oakland Terrace ES, Glen Haven ES, Flora Singer ES, Forest Knolls ES and the high schools which is a consortium model where you have some choice in the HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seem to be a lot of competing and confusing priorities. If you’re burnt out, why not start the job hunt process? It can take a long time.

Maybe rank your priorities and let that guide your decision. If you don’t want a worse commute and don’t want to change daycares, then it seems like your best option is to stay put, save money, and job hunt for more flexible and/or more lucrative jobs.

Our condo is just too small for us and it’s driving me crazy. We barely have any storage space here and we pay for a storage unit.

I go back and forth daily between staying put and moving. It’s causing extreme anxiety.

I think you should consider that anxiety is causing you to go back and forth and be driven crazy by this and not that the problem is insurmountable or must necessarily result in extreme anxiety.

That’s entirely possible. I know I need to see a therapist. Finding the time to make that work is really hard.

You really have an excuse for everything so maybe things are the way they are because that’s how you want them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were in this position and decided to rent a house with a small yard for a year with an option to renew the lease for another year. This gave us the flexibility we needed to look for job and housing options that met our needs.

And in this area that's $45,000 lost in rental fees you'll never get back. That's if you're only there a year.

That’s true but that much applied to a mortgage payment would unlikely pay down a mortgage for which op could qualify by more than $5K at most. So presuming no property price increase (a big if) it is barely costing op more than $5K in real money to punt for a year. Whether price increase or decrease and the same with interest rate is ops real risk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should be able to find a nice single home near metro with great schools:
Vienna-22080/1/2
Falls Church 22043/6
Fairfax
Arlington 22205/7

College park/Silver Springs/Kensington up to MS, not HS, that could change
Rockville, MD

$700k budget will not work for any of the VA locations.

+1. Certainly not in a SFH

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were in this position and decided to rent a house with a small yard for a year with an option to renew the lease for another year. This gave us the flexibility we needed to look for job and housing options that met our needs.

This sounds really smart.

Maybe, maybe not.

Can you get another job that is at least part of the time a work from home job? Or can your DH? Or at least with a better commute? I would figure out the job thing before moving.