Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

As would many stocks bought 20 years ago. The point is -- actually choosing to buy is a decision. And it turns out to be a smart one.

Not always— doubled my money on a home purchased in 1998 and lost significant money on a house purchased in 2006. Much of it is luck.

I made almost triple my money on a house that I bought in the late 90's and I bought another house in 2014 and I'm up about 100K or so on this one. I would not have bought in 2006.

That's very easy for you to say now. Particularly if you were at a stage in life where buying made sense in 2006, you may very well have done so.

Anonymous wrote:Buying our house in 2008, also I can contribute 37k in 403B and 457, so I max both. DH is self employed and maxes his 401k at 32k (ER paid).

If your husband is self employed, how does he contribute to a 401(k)?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

No it's not (different poster btw). My house has increased from $180k to around $1m in 15 years because I bought in a neighborhood no-one wanted to live in. If you bought in upper caucasia in the same period you wouldn't have seen such a huge increase. Likewise, when you buy a foreclosure, like I did, you make a better investment than buying a renovated flip and paying a premium for granite counters.

I think the original luck pp is saying that you happened to be in a position (age at a certain date in history) to buy such that these opportunities were available. For those looking to get on the property ladder today there are far fewer opportunities (read neighborhoods with tremendous potential) than there were when these posters were able to get in on the ground floor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

No it's not (different poster btw). My house has increased from $180k to around $1m in 15 years because I bought in a neighborhood no-one wanted to live in. If you bought in upper caucasia in the same period you wouldn't have seen such a huge increase. Likewise, when you buy a foreclosure, like I did, you make a better investment than buying a renovated flip and paying a premium for granite counters.

Bought a much, much, much cheaper house than we could afford.

Bought a lovely house in a neighborhood that boasts of all conveniences that we were looking for - but with poorly rated public schools. Kids went to magnet schools with a bit of enrichment at home. We bought the new spacious SFH around 20 yrs ago for what seems like peanuts now. It has doubled in value now. At the time we bought the house it was 2 times our annual HHI.

The fact is that we will not be selling the house because of how convenient it is for us, but having a ridiculously low mortgage and at a low interest rate, allowed us to save for college, retirement, live a debt free life, vacation in foreign countries, have a twice weekly maid service, pay for tutors and EC activities for our kids, allowed me to SAHM etc.

BTW - the decision happened not because we were financial geniuses but needed to live close to family for our kids. Lots of luck was involved in buying the house when we did because it the housing market was at rock bottom. Finally, we have always lived, saved, invested only one salary. The second salary was always saved, invested and forgotten about. It was only recently we have started to include it in our retirement calculation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

As would many stocks bought 20 years ago. The point is -- actually choosing to buy is a decision. And it turns out to be a smart one.

Not always— doubled my money on a home purchased in 1998 and lost significant money on a house purchased in 2006. Much of it is luck.

I made almost triple my money on a house that I bought in the late 90's and I bought another house in 2014 and I'm up about 100K or so on this one. I would not have bought in 2006.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

As would many stocks bought 20 years ago. The point is -- actually choosing to buy is a decision. And it turns out to be a smart one.

Not always— doubled my money on a home purchased in 1998 and lost significant money on a house purchased in 2006. Much of it is luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

As would many stocks bought 20 years ago. The point is -- actually choosing to buy is a decision. And it turns out to be a smart one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

+1 This is so true. I didn't buy in a war zone but I did buy a house in an older neighborhood and fixed it up before it was the cool thing to do. Lots of people followed suit of course...

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

Uh, you aren't listening to the whole story. They were able to buy when they did because they lived in no frills shared rentals, drove modest cars, didn't take on massive student loan debt, saved a good portion of their income, etc.

There were plenty of people who earned the same income that I did who chose to take nice vacations, drive more expensive cars and live in better, more sought after rentals. They had a good time and have lots of stories to tell about it but they missed out on the opportunity to buy a house before the prices took off.

Going to a gas station and buying a winning lotto ticket = luck. Scrimping and saving for years to buy a good investment = smart + good timing.

Well, because no one knew the market would take off, which is the point. If everyones crystal ball told them where the market would shortly go, they would have bought immediately. And that would have been a SMART decision.

I agree with previous PP. It was all luck.

But the original PP's point is based on a false premise -- "all these posters" aren't saying how smart their decision was; almost every one of them have acknowledged there was luck involved. But that soesn't change the fact that buying instead of renting was a decision. And the thread prompt wasn't "what's the smartest financial decision you've ever made," it's what was the best decision. So you're both railing against a strawman.

I'll acknowledge some luck, but I also think it was extremely savvy of me to buy a foreclosure in Bloomingdale in 2002 when everyone i knew warned me it was "too dangerous" to buy that far east. I could see that the beautiful housing stock was vastly undervalued. And knew that the location was close to downtown, waikable to DuPont and Adams Morgan which were then much more expensive and popular. No other major capital cit y had such affordable housing available so close to downtown. And I put the work in, to renovate the house and to become part of the community, to know my neighbors, to address crime, clean up the block, improve the neighborhood. And that is why my "investment" has yielded many more rewards than the 400 percent plus increase in value of my home in the last 15 years.

Joined the military ( one weekend a month type not active) while in college. Why is this financial? I'm a veteran bought house 1, VA loan no money down made $175k, house 2, 0 down made 90k, house 3, still here but 200K in equity so basically made 470k tax free without a down payment

Buying our home from our landlord in 2014. Paid $400k and it is now worth around $650.

Buying my condo when I realized it was the same monthly costs as the rent.