Realtor recommendation. Help!!! On time crunch!!!! (Reston, Centreville: for sale, apartment, rentals)

[sandieandangel]

My husband just received a tentative job offer in Reston with the Fed Gov. We are pretty sure we cant take the offer because we cant afford to live in the area but would like to consult a knowledgable Realtor before missing out on something we would really like. Job offer is around $63k/year. Everything I have found online seems way out of budget for us, owning and renting.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[CaliTerp07]

Are you planning on working as well? Supporting 2 people on a $63k salary will be difficult, but not impossible (so long as you aren't planning to add kids to the mix). You could find a 1 bedroom apartment for $1300-1400 within decent commuting distance, and so long as you are careful with pennies and are okay driving older cars (or sharing a car) and not eating out every night, you can probably make it work. Numerous recent grads live on $35k salaries, so you'd basically be doing that (2 people on twice the salary).

Housing is the only thing that's drastically more expensive here. Gas and food prices are marginally higher than elsewhere, but it should be fairly easy to draft up a budget and see if you're comfortable with the numbers.

[sandieandangel]

Sorry I should have included that. We have a 2 year old so working is not an option for me right now. Ive been checking surrounding area but seems we can only make it work with like an hour commute. Thats what he does now and what we were trying to avoid. :/

[Margery]

Is it just you and your husband, or do you have children? Are you planning on working also? If it is just the two of you, you could find a 1 bedroom apartment close enough for a reasonable commute to Reston that will be affordable if you are not making large car or student loan payments. Don't consider buying a home until you get to know the area, that will take 6 months to a year. You can search on Homes for Sale and Rent in DC, Maryland, Virginia | HomesDatabase.com for rentals, start out with Reston/Herndon/Sterling and then ask questions on this site about areas of interest. You will find people on this forum very helpful for the most part.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by sandieandangel

Sorry I should have included that. We have a 2 year old so working is not an option for me right now. Ive been checking surrounding area but seems we can only make it work with like an hour commute. Thats what he does now and what we were trying to avoid. :/

Based on that, I would probably not take a $63K job offer. While the federal government jobs are secure, there haven't been raises in 2 years and you won't know how quickly he can jump to the higher grade. In others words, there's a very real chance that you can't even count on any good income jumps in the near future.

[starletta8]

Here's the real question: Does this offer have an actual entry on duty date attached?

Many agencies are continuing to offer qualified applicants future positions- with a future, to be determined, start date. Is there funding for this job this FY? Does the position require a clearance or other pre-employment screening that only begins upon the acceptance of the offer?

If it's for a future position, there's no reason not to accept the offer and start that long road towards an EOD date. Circumstances frequently change- and that buys you time to figure out how to make it work for your family.

[Carlingtonian]

It'd be tough to make it here on that income alone--but then you could live farther west (in rural VA), and he could commute to Reston in the early mornings. The only problem there I think would be that there won't be many rentals in rural VA.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Based on that, I would probably not take a $63K job offer. While the federal government jobs are secure, there haven't been raises in 2 years and you won't know how quickly he can jump to the higher grade. In others words, there's a very real chance that you can't even count on any good income jumps in the near future.

Think you need to know more about the job and the OP's husband to make that call. In the federal gov't, plenty of professional jobs are GS-11/14 where you start out at $63K and get easy yearly grade increases until you hit GS-14. That means it is possible, depending on the agency and job in particular, that you could be making over $100K in 3 years. This is especially true for technical fields that require advanced degrees.

I started at GS-11 straight from grad school and was a GS-13 in 18 months, my pay went from $47K to $74K (this was 10 years ago). A year later I quit to go into the private sector right before I got my GS-14. I struggled at the beginning, but was doing OK in a couple of years. Spreading my student loan payments from 10 years repayment to 25 years basically increased my cash flow so I wasn't living paycheck to paycheck. When I got the GS-13, I put back the 10 year repayment plan and my loans have since been paid off.

None of that would have happened if I didn't move to this area and take advantage of the tremendous amount of job opportunities and careers paths that are available here that aren't readily available elsewhere.

Anyways, I'd recommend Centreville and Herndon and as a couple of places with affordable rents, especially if you are renting from a homeowner or condo owner. There are a ton of condo and townhouse complexes in those areas that are OK starter places.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by slim04

Think you need to know more about the job and the OP's husband to make that call. In the federal gov't, plenty of professional jobs are GS-11/14 where you start out at $63K and get easy yearly grade increases until you hit GS-14. That means it is possible, depending on the agency and job in particular, that you could be making over $100K in 3 years. This is especially true for technical fields that require advanced degrees.

Of course, and I hope she chimes in and makes that information available. If her husband's scenario is just as you described, then I would encourage them to make it work. We all have our own perspectives and in the agency I work for there are no GS 11through14 jobs where promotions are automatic.

[Carlingtonian]

If you can find an 11/14 position, stay in it! Most 14s I've seen are either 14 only or are a 13/14 position.