Anyone Here BUY by Age 30? Single-Income? How? (Arlington, Alexandria: renter, mortgage)

[NOVAmtneer82]

I know you like population statistics so this might help. The Pittsburgh area housing market is cheap because there has been a mass exodus out of the region over the last few decades. If you look at the link provided you will see the region has lost around 400,000 people since 1970. Pittsburgh, PA MSA Population and Components of Change

I would expect the place to have affordable housing...there is a huge stock of empty homes.

The DC area on the other hand has added over 2.3 million people since 1970...that isn't even counting some of the exurbs that are so far away they aren't even registered as part of our area. Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV MSA Population and Components of Change

It is obvious that a lot of people want to be here. Factor in supply and demand from a fairly affluent population with high paying jobs (compared to national averages) and there you have it...we have a high cost of living.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Fern435

Many people recommend not buying a house unless you plan on keeping it for at least 3-5 years. We do not regret renting here in noVA. It has given us greater freedom, and we own homes in other states where the housing market is steady. We bought when prices were low ($65,000; $169,000; $172,000; $235,000). We decided not to sell any of them to buy here in noVA.

We bought homes with one military income. It can be done!

I totally agree! BTW, it's good to hear from you Fern, I've missed seeing you here. I guess you must have been busy with your move to Maine. Hope it went well, and I'm so glad you took a few minutes to pop in and say hello.

[Evidence-is-key]

I bought my first condo in Sterling, VA in 2004 when i was 23. I had started my job as an Engineer only two months prior to buying. Salary 47K.

Last December (27 years old) i bought a single family home in Sterling for 380k. Salary 87K.
i'm renting out the condo for about 1400 and paying the difference.


you can definitely do it especially if you can find a roommate to give you a few hundred bux for a room. I think the way to do it is to get a 5 year ARM and then refinance after a while to a 30 year fixed.


Good luck.

[tgbwc]

Regarding this Pittsburgh comparison: I don't know about anybody else, but if I were living in that area my housing would be less expensive, but my pay would probably be half of what it is now too.

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by Evidence-is-key

I bought my first condo in Sterling, VA in 2004 when i was 23. I had started my job as an Engineer only two months prior to buying. Salary 47K.

Last December (27 years old) i bought a single family home in Sterling for 380k. Salary 87K.
i'm renting the condo for about 1400 and paying the difference.


you can definitely do it especially if you can find a roommate to give you a few hundred bux for a room. I think the way to do it is to get a 5 year ARM and then refinance after a while to a 30 year fixed.


Good luck.

Your salary increased $40k over 4 years!? Wow, congrats!

[Fern435]

Originally Posted by normie

I totally agree! BTW, it's good to hear from you Fern, I've missed seeing you here. I guess you must have been busy with your move to Maine. Hope it went well, and I'm so glad you took a few minutes to pop in and say hello.

Thanks, normie! We were in Maine for a few weeks, doing yard work and kayaking. Won't be moving up until our student graduates from high school here in northern Virginia.

Buying a small but well-built home is a good motivator for living simply. The opportunities are out there for independent thinkers.

[Evidence-is-key]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

Your salary increased $40k over 4 years!? Wow, congrats!

:-) thanks.

factors:

- citizenship
- Clearance
- Masters in Engineering acquired

[athousandlogins]

Wow, there are some really good comments in this thread.

No, personally I don't feel any sympathy for someone who is utterly devastated that he can't have his ideal dream home by age 30. It's just so absurd as to be silly. This isn't how adult life works, that you plan everything out perfectly at 22 and have it all obtained by 30. It's like being disappointed that unicorns aren't real.

That said, it is true - housing around here is "unfair." For people who don't earn much money, these are your options if you want to buy a home:

* Be fortunate enough to have bought something before the bubble
* Buy something unappealing (either because it's too small, or because it's in the exurbs)
* Have wealthy and generous parents
* Make a business arrangement, as Normie suggested

And yeah, none of these options look good to me, either, and sometimes I find myself a little mopey that we may well never own property here. But demand for good housing inside the Beltway far, far exceeds the supply. Look at it this way - it's not about "what's so good about NoVA." It's about what's so bad about NoVA. The traffic. Living inside the Beltway can literally cut *hours* off someone's daily commute times. For a lot of people, it is worth half a million dollars or more to have those hours back in their day - time to spend with their families - and they can afford it. Just because you and I can't afford it doesn't mean it's entirely irrational.

I'm also rooting for housing prices to drop further, for the same reasons you are. I'd like not to have to choose between an excessive commute and renting forever. But this is home. This is where my husband works, and he's the one with the Ph.D. and the higher earning power - we live where he can get a job, end of story. And then our kids will start school soon and it will get harder and harder to leave. You, meanwhile, do the kind of work you can really do anywhere, and you've got nothing tying you down to NoVA. If you must must must have the Dream House by age 30 or else there is no reason to go on living, it doesn't have to be here. You're probably not going to want to be at the same job in 8 years anyway. Who stays with the same job for 8 years anymore?

[Yankeesfan]

I drove through Pittsburgh last week, as I do several times a year. Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. To each his or her own. I can predict though that if Scran-Barre moves to Pittsburgh, their board will be full of complaints about why it lacks various things that he liked about Northern Virginia and DC.

In fact the first post on this Pittsburgh thread is pretty funny:

America's Most Miserable Cities - Pittsburgh Didn't Make the List

[South Jersey Styx]

This is an interesting thread and I am enjoying it very much. Good advice here. My advice: ScranBarre, you're a newbie here. Sit tight and wait 1 year to see how things work. Washington, DC is a tough city; most people won't say that but I lived in the city and NoVa for over 25 yrs (and I plan to return).

BTW, I bought my first house in NoVA at age 30. But that was in 1992 in eastern Loudoun County right over the Fairfax Co line. It was a brand new townhouse (3BR, 2.5ba, garage, yadda, yadda yadda) and cost $129,900.00. And yes, I bought with a partner (who bailed later so I bought out his ownership) and saved and saved since I didn't have much of an income. Good luck to you!