I don’t know how anyone can afford a house here unless they have two six figure professional salaries. It’s a crappy place for military to retire since one spouse usually has to give up a career for the other. But somehow people seem to do it.maybe they’re all house poor.

There is a difference b/t affording something and buying something. Unless you have major savings and absolutely no bills, you can't afford a $1.5m house without making significant sacrifices in other parts of your life. $300k is not a lot of money. It's not bad, but it's not great.

My late 20’s year old cousin bought a 1.5 million dollar home. He rents out rooms and a granny flat the house has to other co-workers in their late 20’s.

Agent here. What a lot of my 28 - 34 year old clients do is buy a condo, then when they decide they want a bigger home, marry, etc, they rent out that condo and buy the home. Now they have income generation and the home they want.

I have one client now and his partner did this and he did this, and they live in one of her homes. They are looking for another investment property instead of upgrading their home.

If you feel you need a $1.5mm home in the city, have at it, but there are other options that might put you in a better financial position down the road.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t live on $6k a month for just you after you’ve paid for housing? What are you spending all that money on?

+1. It's really easy to be very spendy in DC -- people drop hundreds on meals, concert tickets, sporting events, drinks, ubers, manicures, hair appointments, clothes, etc. without a second thought. It all adds up. I have no problem if someone who is single and making $350K wants to live the good life on entertainment, but at that income, they can't have it all so if they want the $1.5 million house, they need to cut expenses.

And I'd wonder why a single 31+ would want to live in the burbs and give up that life (until they are married/have kids). So save 50% and continue to enjoy city life. But you cannot have both. And I'm not sure why you'd want the $1.5M home over that other life. Buy a TH/Condo and continue to enjoy life. You don't need a house cleaner if you have a 1-2 bedroom place. You might with a 5 bedroom place

City life? Where? Manhattan? London? What city are you talking about?

DC, but you knew that.

I'll give you some advice: You clearly thought that pretending like DC isn't a "real" city would make you appear "sophisticated," but literally everyone sees you for exactly what you are, a pathetic striver desperately hoping nobody sees through your completely transparent insecurity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t live on $6k a month for just you after you’ve paid for housing? What are you spending all that money on?

+1. It's really easy to be very spendy in DC -- people drop hundreds on meals, concert tickets, sporting events, drinks, ubers, manicures, hair appointments, clothes, etc. without a second thought. It all adds up. I have no problem if someone who is single and making $350K wants to live the good life on entertainment, but at that income, they can't have it all so if they want the $1.5 million house, they need to cut expenses.

And I'd wonder why a single 31+ would want to live in the burbs and give up that life (until they are married/have kids). So save 50% and continue to enjoy city life. But you cannot have both. And I'm not sure why you'd want the $1.5M home over that other life. Buy a TH/Condo and continue to enjoy life. You don't need a house cleaner if you have a 1-2 bedroom place. You might with a 5 bedroom place

City life? Where? Manhattan? London? What city are you talking about?

Anonymous wrote:We have a 1.5M house in bethesda for our three kids. I can’t imagine wanting that as a single person! There is endless upkeep and expenses. This year we had to replace both the hvac and the water heater! We’ve had the house 14 years and have also had to replace the roof, the patio, large portions of the fence, all the appliances (the dishwasher, laundry machine and fridge have all been replaced twice!), all the toilets, the shower heads, etc etc. plus the cleaning and yard work and dealing mouse holes and crap like that. Put your money in the market instead. If we had put our down payment in the market 14 years ago, the earnings would have far outpaced the appreciation of our home.

You don't understand return on equity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t live on $6k a month for just you after you’ve paid for housing? What are you spending all that money on?

+1. It's really easy to be very spendy in DC -- people drop hundreds on meals, concert tickets, sporting events, drinks, ubers, manicures, hair appointments, clothes, etc. without a second thought. It all adds up. I have no problem if someone who is single and making $350K wants to live the good life on entertainment, but at that income, they can't have it all so if they want the $1.5 million house, they need to cut expenses.

And I'd wonder why a single 31+ would want to live in the burbs and give up that life (until they are married/have kids). So save 50% and continue to enjoy city life. But you cannot have both. And I'm not sure why you'd want the $1.5M home over that other life. Buy a TH/Condo and continue to enjoy life. You don't need a house cleaner if you have a 1-2 bedroom place. You might with a 5 bedroom place

It's possible that OP wants $1.5M to buy a rowhouse in the city in a good neighborhood. But either way that's quite an expensive house so she will need to save more.

OP's entitlement is grating though. No one is owed a luxurious lifestyle with a $1.5M home and also lavish spending. She's doing something wrong if she can't save on a $350K salary as a single person.

OP, I understand why you're stretching to buy the most house you can. I also did this as a single 27 year old, although my tiny SFH cost far less than $1.5M.

It's always been important to me to have a permanent home that I could fix up and decorate over time. If I hadn't had to make that mortgage payment, I don't think I would have had the discipline to just invest the money. I would have spent it. So, my home was a forced kind of saving. Even so, I was house rich, cash poor until I decided to take in a roommate. Not many restaurant meals or splurges. But I really loved that house and entertaining friends in it (who were still renting, traveling, enjoying a nice lifestyle).

My decision paid off because by the time I got married, I had a very valuable asset. And selling it was how we bought our $2M home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t live on $6k a month for just you after you’ve paid for housing? What are you spending all that money on?

+1. It's really easy to be very spendy in DC -- people drop hundreds on meals, concert tickets, sporting events, drinks, ubers, manicures, hair appointments, clothes, etc. without a second thought. It all adds up. I have no problem if someone who is single and making $350K wants to live the good life on entertainment, but at that income, they can't have it all so if they want the $1.5 million house, they need to cut expenses.

And I'd wonder why a single 31+ would want to live in the burbs and give up that life (until they are married/have kids). So save 50% and continue to enjoy city life. But you cannot have both. And I'm not sure why you'd want the $1.5M home over that other life. Buy a TH/Condo and continue to enjoy life. You don't need a house cleaner if you have a 1-2 bedroom place. You might with a 5 bedroom place

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a cheaper house.

+1

Why does a single 31yo with no kids needs a $1.5M house?

+1000

Buy a townhome or condo in the city. Or continue to rent a 1 bedroom and save save save.
But why would you ever want a 1.5M home and all it entails if it's just you?!?!

Anonymous wrote:Single people don't usually want to live in $1.5m houses in a neighborhood. Get a condo and enjoy not being a homeowner.

I can't think of a single advantage of owning a condo over a SFH... signed a single homeowner.

My stress level dropped through the floor after leaving all that communal living behind.

Single people don't usually want to live in $1.5m houses in a neighborhood. Get a condo and enjoy not being a homeowner.

I’m 31, married and we clear $390k combined (just a hair under 400)

We got a townhouse 3 years ago for 1.05M
No yard work, new construction (EYA) so no maintenance, love it. Neighborhood is swarming with children playing, it’s a beautiful sight.

You don’t “need” a 1.5M house especially if you’re single. Just increase your down payment money reserve until you find somebody. If you don’t plan to get married, just buy a nice townhouse, maybe on the smaller end. 2000 ft is a lot of house for 2 people, let alone 1 person

Don't buy a townhouse or condo. I know someone that bought a condo for over 2 million and regret it. They open their balcony door to have fresh air come in and all they smell is that nasty pot smell. Now, they are having to take a loss on selling it.