How can singles afford houses in NOVA?!?! (Alexandria, Washington: condo, buying a home)

[michgc]

Originally Posted by normie

yeah, but talk about a nasty commute to tyson's corner....

lol :d

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Nor can singles afford a house in any other city. That's why most young people share apartments and houses.

Ever been to Scranton?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan

Quick! Hide the thread before Scran-Barre sees it !

[SteelCityRising]

My advice to the OP? Give up. If you envision yourself being single long-term, as I do, it will be very difficult to command a salary high enough to compete with the dually-employed professional couples (each earning $80,000+) who have driven up the cost-of-living to such insane levels. All I wanted in life was a cruddy 1960s/1970s-era 2 BR/1 BA 1,100-square-foot rambler/rancher on a tight city lot or a similarly-sized historic rowhome. Both would likely cost $400,000+ in this area. I'd have to be earning six figures to comfortably afford something like that, and, alas, I am too stupid to be a surgeon or a rocket scientist.

Since there is no long-term incentive to live here if you're single I'm going to be one of the stereotypical "locusts" who descend upon the region to soak up all of the jobs and then move elsewhere when they can no longer stand living where they do. I just feel like I'm missing out on so much going on Facebook and having friends my age who have already purchased their first homes in PA---a place where a $42,000 salary isn't "poor."

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Nor can singles afford a house in any other city. That's why most young people share apartments and houses.

So we agree.

[powersnax]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

My advice to the OP? Give up. If you envision yourself being single long-term, as I do, it will be very difficult to command a salary high enough to compete with the dually-employed professional couples (each earning $80,000+) who have driven up the cost-of-living to such insane levels. All I wanted in life was a cruddy 1960s/1970s-era 2 BR/1 BA 1,100-square-foot rambler/rancher on a tight city lot or a similarly-sized historic rowhome. Both would likely cost $400,000+ in this area. I'd have to be earning six figures to comfortably afford something like that, and, alas, I am too stupid to be a surgeon or a rocket scientist.

Since there is no long-term incentive to live here if you're single I'm going to be one of the stereotypical "locusts" who descend upon the region to soak up all of the jobs and then move elsewhere when they can no longer stand living where they do. I just feel like I'm missing out on so much going on Facebook and having friends my age who have already purchased their first homes in PA---a place where a $42,000 salary isn't "poor."

Ohh that's who ScranBarre is. Seems like a realist to me. These are my thoughts exactly, minus the give up part... for now anyway...

[Yankeesfan]

Glad you're back, Scran-Barre --it's quiet around here when you're gone . Unless someone starts a "best high schools" thread , that is.

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by lindy112

The move-up buyers are the ones who have a great opportunity right now: sell a house in the $300k range within days or weeks and have your pick of more expensive houses that have been sitting on the market for months.

This is pretty much what we did. We bought our single family home in PWC in 2000. Went under contract in a day when we sold last spring and weren't upside down, so it left $ for the next house which we were able to buy in Fairfax County allowing us to have virtually no commute.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by powersnax

Ohh that's who ScranBarre is. Seems like a realist to me. These are my thoughts exactly, minus the give up part... for now anyway...

I'm the "bogeyman" of the NoVA sub-forum. I think Alanboy was thrilled when I moved here because for a change the "heat" was taken off of just him exclusively as being someone not exactly happy to be living in NoVA and not afraid to speak his mind.

All in all it's just depressing to me to consider my long-term outlook if I wanted to stay in NoVA. I'm not exactly a "looker" and have a very bull-headed and contentious personality (in case you couldn't tell from my prose I'm a Scorpio) that are both likely to combine to make me single for a good chunk of my life. As such unless I plan to buy a 2 BR rowhome with a stranger or single co-worker and still live as "dorm buddies" at age 35 I really don't see a point to living in an area where I can never look forward to buying anything to help build some equity. As some others have said not all of us want to be tossed into the "middle-aged roomie" arrangement because some of us DO value privacy and a yearn to be left alone from time to time.

What others have said about "singles can't afford their own place in any city" is nonsense. True, you can't afford your own place in New York City, San Francisco, L.A., or some other generally upper-middle-class-oriented large cities, but by and large I can name MANY more cities (Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul, Scranton, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Richmond, Roanoke, Hartford, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Tulsa, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Boise, Lansing, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, etc., etc.) where MANY single people CAN comfortably afford their own place by the time they're in their 30s. Hell, even in Philadelphia housing is more affordable than it is in Washington, and in my opinion Philadelphia has more to offer.

I just don't understand why if you are middle-class and single in NoVA you can only afford a place of your own if:

1.) It is in an exurban locale where a car must be attached to your hip at all times.

2.) It is a rat-trap.

3.) You have "roomies."

Arlington isn't Manhattan---it's a FAR cry from it! Why is it, then, that many rental prices in Arlington aren't that far below prices in Manhattan with many housing prices being comparable to Brooklyn?

I'll admit that I'm irritated. At my peak with my CPA and MBA if I'm earning $90,000 I'll always be outbid on a home by a dually-employed couple EACH earning $90,000 who have TWICE the purchasing power. What's the incentive to live in this area if you're single and don't want to rent until you die? I'm just not seeing it, which is why I look forward to my eventual relocation.

[FindingZen]

OK let's try this explanation:

DC itself is a very small city. As a comparison, one could fit four or five DCs into my hometown Philadelphia. So it seems natural that a great deal of the surrounding close-in suburban areas like Arlington and Fairfax Counties as well as Alexandria would be relatively high-density, desirable and expensive. In short, I feel that NOVA (along with parts of MD of course) is essentially an extension of the Nation's Capital, local laws and politics aside.

I would agree that there are other cities where one could realistically find an decent affordable home by the time they reach 30... but they're not the Nation's Capital.

It's also true that Arlington is not Manhattan; instead of Wall Street stockbrokers and traders, you have Pentagon officers and soldiers.

"What's the incentive to live in this area if you're single and don't want to rent until you die?"

To establish and advance your career, often working for or alongside the Federal Government.

To otherwise take advantage of the most resilient, often booming job market in the country.

To share the up-and-downs of life with roomie(s) until each of you makes a cost-benefit analysis of buying a close-in condo vs. an exurban (town)house as a single owner.