This is in my neighborhood. It's in NE in Takoma. Less than one mile from downtown Takoma Park, MD. Lots of single people and families. I love it.

https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/208-Beacon-Pl-NE-20011/home/96344657

You don't have to spend $1.5M to be in a safe neighborhood in DC.

Anonymous wrote:I’m 31, 350k job, I’m already past the age of average marriage and first born child and don’t run into too many other people my age with this income. Statistically in the top 1-2% income for my age bracket.

Still I feel I cannot afford a decent house around here. Take home pay is 16k a month after 401k and a 1.5M house runs 10k a month at least.

How are people my age buying homes when almost nobody earns my income?

Why do you "need" a $1.5m house? There are tons of places to buy in the city for less than $1M. I make about $1M a year and live in Takoma DC in a house that's worth about $1M.

I knew a single man making that kind of money. He owned a restaurant and a bar. He lived in a one bedroom condo in Bethesda his whole life. People asked him why he never bought a nice house with a yard and he said he only needs a bed to sleep. He was spends his whole days and nights working, seven days a week and didn't want the responsibility of a house and yard. He was always at his restaurant.

Right buy a townhouse or a condo in a walkable area. You can potentially afford $5-6k month and there are options available.

Anonymous wrote:I’m 31, 350k job, I’m already past the age of average marriage and first born child and don’t run into too many other people my age with this income. Statistically in the top 1-2% income for my age bracket.

Still I feel I cannot afford a decent house around here. Take home pay is 16k a month after 401k and a 1.5M house runs 10k a month at least.

How are people my age buying homes when almost nobody earns my income?

Why are you looking for a $1.5M house? I'm baffled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:350K/yr for a 31 year old person is like the top 1% earner in the country. If you want to buy a 2M townhouse in Georgetown, with 400K down payment, you are looking at 11.8K/month before property tax, insurance, utilities, etc... That's just crazy.

Yeah it's top 1% for that age bracket but more like top 2-3% including all ages, maybe only top 5% in the DC area.

If you're trying to buy in an area with 2M houses you're not competing with other single 31 year olds who started with nothing, you're competing with dual income 40 year old doctors, people with inherited wealth, people who bought 25 years ago, and a few folks with crazy high individual incomes of over 1M/yr. A single 350k/yr earner in a lot of McLean zip codes is probably average income at best.

I know someone who bought a year ago in a close in zip code when he was 29 and I can tell you he didn't pay for it with his own 9-5 salary, he paid with his parents money.

Right on with that last paragraph. I’ve owned a few homes now in my late 30’s and I make a modest low 6 figure income but I’ll be blunt, I’ve been able to “trade up” each time mostly because of family money. My family is a prominent contractor in the area and I get consistent monthly payments from their profits.

Anonymous wrote:350K/yr for a 31 year old person is like the top 1% earner in the country. If you want to buy a 2M townhouse in Georgetown, with 400K down payment, you are looking at 11.8K/month before property tax, insurance, utilities, etc... That's just crazy.

Yeah it's top 1% for that age bracket but more like top 2-3% including all ages, maybe only top 5% in the DC area.

If you're trying to buy in an area with 2M houses you're not competing with other single 31 year olds who started with nothing, you're competing with dual income 40 year old doctors, people with inherited wealth, people who bought 25 years ago, and a few folks with crazy high individual incomes of over 1M/yr. A single 350k/yr earner in a lot of McLean zip codes is probably average income at best.

I know someone who bought a year ago in a close in zip code when he was 29 and I can tell you he didn't pay for it with his own 9-5 salary, he paid with his parents money.

350K/yr for a 31 year old person is like the top 1% earner in the country. If you want to buy a 2M townhouse in Georgetown, with 400K down payment, you are looking at 11.8K/month before property tax, insurance, utilities, etc... That's just crazy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You buy a townhouse. The SFH was an artifice of the particulars of the 20th century.

SFHs in much of the US is reaching the end of its useful life. Will be very expensive to keep those homes in functioning order for the next 20-30 years.

The end of useful life person is back. SFH are here to stay and most people want to live in one.

Most of Gen Z will never own a SFH if they desire to live within 20 miles of a major American city. Their kids will be raised in multifamily housing.

Many people will literally refuse to have children altogether if they cannot find a SFH to live in. More than 80% of homeowners live in SFHs. This is why birthrates are collapsing, SFHs are being replaced by apartments and THs due to greedy developers and overly permissive zoning laws

LOL - I live in an all townhouse community in Loudoun and it's literally swarming with children. We go to the park or pool almost every evening and meet up with toddler friends without ever having to arrange a playdate. IF the weather is halfway decent, someone will always be out and about to play with. It's easy living here in TH world.

You. My sibling bought a townhouse in the 80s because that’s what they could afford. Looked at SFHs in the 90s and everything in their school district was ridiculous and even with two good professional salaries could not really afford anything with the high interest rates etc. so they raised their two kids in the TH and are still living there as retirees. This is not really a new phenomenon.

How big a house do you need as a single person? Most singletons start with a condo or townhome and build from there. Few people start out buying a 1.5m house…

The $5k a month into growth stocks for the last 5 years would have given you $500k. Not sure why you didn't invest $8k a month, which would have still left you $6-$8k to live on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You buy a townhouse. The SFH was an artifice of the particulars of the 20th century.

SFHs in much of the US is reaching the end of its useful life. Will be very expensive to keep those homes in functioning order for the next 20-30 years.

The end of useful life person is back. SFH are here to stay and most people want to live in one.

Most of Gen Z will never own a SFH if they desire to live within 20 miles of a major American city. Their kids will be raised in multifamily housing.

Many people will literally refuse to have children altogether if they cannot find a SFH to live in. More than 80% of homeowners live in SFHs. This is why birthrates are collapsing, SFHs are being replaced by apartments and THs due to greedy developers and overly permissive zoning laws

LOL - I live in an all townhouse community in Loudoun and it's literally swarming with children. We go to the park or pool almost every evening and meet up with toddler friends without ever having to arrange a playdate. IF the weather is halfway decent, someone will always be out and about to play with. It's easy living here in TH world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have a great income. If you want a SFH, this one in Arlington is well below your budget and is still in decent shape. For $875K, you get a small 3BR, 2BR home.

https://redf.in/8iIkPk

lol, at $350K the OP must be something like a lawyer, doctor, executive, etc. Could you really see someone that important living in that shack?

If they are a smart "important person," they will realize that their value doesn't depend upon their possessions and they don't need to impress others with the size of their house. This is a very affordable house on a $300K+ salary and OP will be able to save and invest the difference between a smaller mortgage on this property versus a $1.5M home mortgage.

To answer the other question on this house, I don't think it's a manufactured home. However, I noticed that it doesn't sit on a concrete slab. It uses a concrete perimeter foundation, which I think is also called pier and post. I don't know enough about home foundations to say whether that a major negative or not.

I choose this house because it's in a great zip code, improving micro-neighboorhood (Halls Hill), affordable one-level SFH. I just moved to this same zip code last year and bought a $500K condo, but would have loved to have afforded a small house like this.

Anonymous wrote:I’m 31, 350k job, I’m already past the age of average marriage and first born child and don’t run into too many other people my age with this income. Statistically in the top 1-2% income for my age bracket.

Still I feel I cannot afford a decent house around here. Take home pay is 16k a month after 401k and a 1.5M house runs 10k a month at least.

How are people my age buying homes when almost nobody earns my income?

Do you have a realtor?

You have to consider interest rates - what you can afford directly corresponds to that. Whatever strategy you take, whether buying large and renting till you need a large place or starting small and upgrading to the $1.5M, it still boils down to how much that damn thing will cost to have per month. Doesn't matter where you are, you can only do what you can afford so I get it OP - shit is hard these days!

Still, you can always start small. I always tell my kids, it's never where you start but how you grow..