1. You don’t need a million dollar home.
2. You don’t need to make 50% of your home value unless you have very unusual expenses.
3. Many families have two incomes. Even if one partner earns less than the other, it makes it a lot easier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out first house cost 500k and we lived in it for 11 years. You need a starter home.

Starter homes in DC are <$1M. Not everyone is willing to have a 2 car, 1 hour commute lifestyle. And you have to go REALLY far out for prices to get lower than one mil.

Oops meant >$1M obvs.

Just because you don't personally find the numerous sub-$1MM starter homes available to you acceptable doesn't mean they don't exist.

You keep crying, moaning, and renting, I'll keep building equity while I'm paying my $2,200 single family starter home mortgage that also allows me to invest thousands of spare dollars a month and let's see who gets a million dollar home first.

I am not sure if you just don’t live here or what, but literally ZERO homes have mortgages of $2,200 within miles of where I live. Hell, my 700 sq ft 2br/1ba condo was more expensive than that. Now with a family of 4, all I’d like is a 3br, 2ba, 1,800 sq ft home attached is fine. These just do not exist.

Eh, my monthly mortgage is about that on my SFH that I bought low and refinanced low ... but taxes and property insurance are another $2k. Insurance is getting really expensive.

Just did a quick Zillow scan and there are tons of homes in south Arlington, Baileys, Alexandria, suitland, Largo, etc. under $700k. That’s where you start. It’s truly not rocket science.

PP here. Should have included -

6. A lot of people were in the military which gave them a leg up through VA loan or housing in cheaper areas which they sold to help buy here or lived overseas and were able to put away money until they got here.

1. A lot of people had help. They had no student loans or they had parents that helped with a down payment.

2. A lot of people started with a condo or something smaller and were able to sell at a profit to buy something bigger. Or better yet, a couple both sold something for a bigger down payment.

3. A lot of people bought when things were cheaper and were able to sell at a profit for a bigger down payment or kept the first place and rented for more than the cost of the mortgage to offset the new more expensive mortgage.

4. A lot of people rent part of the house (basement) or have/had housemates.

5. A lot of people make a lot of money in this area. Or had a trust fund or an inheritance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't anyone live in a nasty run down apartment so they can save more? All my friends live in super fancy apartments and then say they can't save money.

I lived in a nasty, rundown apartment. I saved money. I bought a non-luxury condo with that money. The condo has not appreciated. I am no closer to owning a SFH than I was 10 years ago.

There was a time when people in DC could buy "starter homes" and build equity and then move up. That time is over.

If you rented you’d be dealing with rent hikes.
With your condo you have fixed mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't anyone live in a nasty run down apartment so they can save more? All my friends live in super fancy apartments and then say they can't save money.

I lived in a nasty, rundown apartment. I saved money. I bought a non-luxury condo with that money. The condo has not appreciated. I am no closer to owning a SFH than I was 10 years ago.

There was a time when people in DC could buy "starter homes" and build equity and then move up. That time is over.

Anonymous wrote:Out first house cost 500k and we lived in it for 11 years. You need a starter home.

Lol you bought this house 11+ years ago. Now a starter home costs 900k. That's OP's whole point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can buy a starter condo, build equity and sell after 15 years, that’s 600k toward your next home down and you are barely 40-45 years old.

Condos never build ann equity as single family homes, 15 years later you are going to be lighting years behind. You can never catch up unless you score a job that pays $200k+ . And we can all have those jobs, can we?

I paid 900k for my condo it’s now paid off and worth 1.4m.
It’s lesser than your sfh doesn’t mean it’s completely worthless.

Anonymous wrote:All the people saying they bought affordable starter homes probably did so 15-20 years ago and don’t know what the market is like now.

Condos barely appreciate in value. Lots of condos in DC look affordable until you dig into the HOA costs. They can be $2000+ a month depending on the building. Renting a crappy apartment to save money makes sense, but buying is a tough sell.

Townhomes these days are often going for $800k+ even in the suburbs.

The market in DC is just crazy. And if you have school aged kids and need to be in a decent district, forget about it.

But you are building equity in that condo. You aren't building equity in the apartment.

Anonymous wrote:All the people saying they bought affordable starter homes probably did so 15-20 years ago and don’t know what the market is like now.

Condos barely appreciate in value. Lots of condos in DC look affordable until you dig into the HOA costs. They can be $2000+ a month depending on the building. Renting a crappy apartment to save money makes sense, but buying is a tough sell.

Townhomes these days are often going for $800k+ even in the suburbs.

The market in DC is just crazy. And if you have school aged kids and need to be in a decent district, forget about it.

My starter home was a condo, just pick a younger neighborhood so you will always have a buyer later on.

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't anyone live in a nasty run down apartment so they can save more? All my friends live in super fancy apartments and then say they can't save money.

I lived in fancy apartments and saved money too, just don’t go out to drink in your 20s.

Anonymous wrote:You need to pay $1 million for any homes in the DC area, so you need a salary of like $500k to afford that. No one can make that much. I don’t know how anyone gets those jobs when I can’t even get accepted into the army as an officer

Homes are reserved for h1bs.

They are smarter and work harder

All the people saying they bought affordable starter homes probably did so 15-20 years ago and don’t know what the market is like now.

Condos barely appreciate in value. Lots of condos in DC look affordable until you dig into the HOA costs. They can be $2000+ a month depending on the building. Renting a crappy apartment to save money makes sense, but buying is a tough sell.

Townhomes these days are often going for $800k+ even in the suburbs.

The market in DC is just crazy. And if you have school aged kids and need to be in a decent district, forget about it.

OP, your mortgage debt math is wrong. Have you heard of the 28/36 rule: total housing costs (including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) should not exceed 28% of your gross monthly income, and your total debt (including housing) should not exceed 36% of your gross monthly income.

Other guides range from the conservative: you can afford a home price that is 2.5x your annual gross income;
...
to the less conservative: you can afford a home price up to 5x your gross annual income as long as your total houseing costs (PITI) do not exceed 25-30% of your gross monthly income and you have no other debt.

So the person making 500K in your OP actually can afford between 1.5 to 2.5 million dollar home.

PITI on the million dollar home in your OP will typically be about 6-7K depending on all variables. So that would be about 28% of the gross montly income of a person making roughtly $258,000 gross annual.

If you ask AI it will tell you that the income to afford a million dollar home is between $200K and $250K. Plenty of couples around here make that or more, which is why housing prices are what they are. It is above the median income for DC ($108K), but also $1mil also is above the medain home cost in DC (median sale price $672). So housing is expensive, since the median income has to stretch to meet the median sale price.

But you don't need to earn $500K to buy a million dollar home, as you suggested unless you have a ton of other debt.