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Old 02-03-2015, 09:36 AM
 
170 posts, read 198,240 times
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But there are a bunch of SFH areas that have fine commutes for your price. Rose Hill, Springfield, Annandale, Bailey's, West Falls Church, Mantua all have nice homes under $700k
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Old 02-03-2015, 10:15 AM
 
Location: Tysons Corner
2,772 posts, read 4,303,718 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ffx rez View Post
But there are a bunch of SFH areas that have fine commutes for your price. Rose Hill, Springfield, Annandale, Bailey's, West Falls Church, Mantua all have nice homes under $700k
There are some for much less than that, especially if you consider townhomes too. Too many people look at the highest end, newest developments for a basis of price. Obviously, new stuff always costs more than older stuff.

Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 2 Homes - Zillow

454K; 1400 sf townhouse. Big enough for most small families, quick access to Dunn Loring metro/mosaic/495 etc and inside the beltway.

Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 3 Homes - Zillow

554K; for a 1520sf townhome a 3 minute walk from the ones being marketed as 1.1 million
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Old 02-03-2015, 10:32 AM
 
Location: Central Virginia
6,520 posts, read 8,323,407 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ffx rez View Post
But there are a bunch of SFH areas that have fine commutes for your price. Rose Hill, Springfield, Annandale, Bailey's, West Falls Church, Mantua all have nice homes under $700k
Quote:
Originally Posted by tysonsengineer View Post
There are some for much less than that, especially if you consider townhomes too. Too many people look at the highest end, newest developments for a basis of price. Obviously, new stuff always costs more than older stuff.
Agree.

Additionally, unless one is planning to have oodles of kids, a 3500 sq ft house is not necessary. I think that a family of 4 or 5 can easily co-exist in a 2000 sq ft home.

There you go, OP. We just helped to expand your options.
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Old 02-03-2015, 10:43 AM
 
526 posts, read 897,472 times
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Check West Springfield and Burke. You'll find lots of houses that are well under $600,000. As someone pointed out, 3500 square feet is pretty huge for areas closer in so you might have to settle for something smaller. And lots of the houses in this area are older, but are well maintained. Again, it might not be what you had pictured. But these are really nice areas for families with kids, schools are excellent, etc (I don't know if you have kids but the desire for 3500 square feet makes me think that you have or are planning to have kids).
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Old 02-03-2015, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Falls Church, Fairfax County
5,162 posts, read 4,464,590 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by capitalhockey View Post
Thank you for your insight - it makes a lot of sense. It's a cold reality to face. We dont have any help from our families. My wife and I are self-reliant. We paid for our own wedding and honeymoon.

It really shows how expensive NOVA is. With the way the landscape is, an older couple (early to mid 40s) is in better position to afford the nice SFH with decent commute. Perhaps my wife and I should look into relocating to lower COLA area like Charlotte, NC or Houston, TX. Both of our jobs are transferable to other regions. Even though we have good incomes in NOVA, our purchasing power is below average. In the two cities above, I think we can get the nice SFH at this stage in our lives without being over-leveraged with high mortgage.
If you choose to leave I would not argue against it. I would say that if you leave it will be harder to break back into this market if you go somewhere more reasonable. So if you go you are probably not coming back if that is in any way a concern of yours.
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Old 02-03-2015, 11:35 AM
 
147 posts, read 253,291 times
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Thanks for all the suggestions and advice.

We are currently in a small townhouse. So we are not looking to switch to something similar. Prefer to buy a SFH that we can live in for next 20-25 years instead of jumping to multiple places (avoid real estate fees with each transaction). We are willing to wait another 5 years to save up more money for the home we really want. We are looking to move up to nice SFH. Maybe our aim is too idealistic (SFH with yard for kids, nice neighborhood, good commute). The ones we like are 800k and up. I realized this is more or less a personal preference and we can buy a home at lower costs (smaller, older, longer commute, lower school zone).

Just a side commentary. This whole process just made us realized how expensive NOVA is. You can do your best and still come up short. Do the right things at each phase in life: 1) College Degrees 2) Professional Jobs 3) Drive modest cars (5-10 yr Toyotas) 4) Years of putting away savings 5) Wait to start family, etc. 6) Buy small starter home 7) Have no credit card debt 8) Have no student loans. Maybe our economy and our country has become really competitive. It just feels hard for one person to get ahead. I wonder how much harder it is for my kids. Will my kids need me to pass along my wealth for them to have a decent living?
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Old 02-03-2015, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Falls Church, Fairfax County
5,162 posts, read 4,464,590 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by capitalhockey View Post
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice.

We are currently in a small townhouse. So we are not looking to switch to something similar. Prefer to buy a SFH that we can live in for next 20-25 years instead of jumping to multiple places (avoid real estate fees with each transaction). We are willing to wait another 5 years to save up more money for the home we really want. We are looking to move up to nice SFH. Maybe our aim is too idealistic (SFH with yard for kids, nice neighborhood, good commute). The ones we like are 800k and up. I realized this is more or less a personal preference and we can buy a home at lower costs (smaller, older, longer commute, lower school zone).

Just a side commentary. This whole process just made us realized how expensive NOVA is. You can do your best and still come up short. Do the right things at each phase in life: 1) College Degrees 2) Professional Jobs 3) Drive modest cars (5-10 yr Toyotas) 4) Years of putting away savings 5) Wait to start family, etc. 6) Buy small starter home 7) Have no credit card debt 8) Have no student loans. Maybe our economy and our country has become really competitive. It just feels hard for one person to get ahead. I wonder how much harder it is for my kids. Will my kids need me to pass along my wealth for them to have a decent living?
3500 is a lot of square feet for inside the beltway. Just with that one tick of the box you have cut down your options and have increased the competition.

I think you have to take some of the responsibility here.

I was looking a little over a year ago and I had to modify my requirements a few times. I finally found a house that we love. It is more like 2,500 than 3,500 square feel. There were many homes less than $650,000 (I did not modify my desire to live inside the Beltway) that were bad, but there were a few that were really good. It came down to 2 single family homes and 1 townhouse which was insta-rejected by the boss.
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Old 02-03-2015, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Falls Church, Fairfax County
5,162 posts, read 4,464,590 times
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*snip*
Quote:
Originally Posted by capitalhockey View Post
This whole process just made us realized how expensive NOVA is. You can do your best and still come up short. Do the right things at each phase in life: 1) College Degrees 2) Professional Jobs 3) Drive modest cars (5-10 yr Toyotas) 4) Years of putting away savings 5) Wait to start family, etc. 6) Buy small starter home 7) Have no credit card debt 8) Have no student loans. Maybe our economy and our country has become really competitive. It just feels hard for one person to get ahead. I wonder how much harder it is for my kids. Will my kids need me to pass along my wealth for them to have a decent living?
I am sorry but I had to revisit this. Did your parents have a 3500+ sq ft home with a yard and decent commute? And you are already thinking of your children. If they are like you are they going to be looking for and even larger new home with a decent commute? When does that bubble of big houses burst? How many 3,500 sq ft homes with nice yards can we build before there is no room? Is that really the answer? Do you want you children to grow up in a world where wild cats and pigeons are what pass for wildlife?
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Old 02-03-2015, 12:58 PM
 
256 posts, read 460,947 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by capitalhockey View Post
We are not a young couple. I am mid 30s and she is late 20s. We both are professionals (accountant/nurse). Even with combined household income ~ 200k, the prices of SFH homes means we have to take on a huge mortgage (700k-800k) which we do quality for but will greatly stretch our budget. That's with 20% down payment that we have saved up. We both worked our way through college and graduated with no student debt (tuition was also lower 10 years ago). We are currently in our "starter" home with some equity (~50k). We are looking for a larger home and better school zone since we are planning to start family.

I guess I underestimated how well NOVA is doing. It seems like a lot of household have 300k-500k income. This would explain how people can afford the 800k-1M homes. The other choice would be to take on substantial mortgage size and spend ~50% income on housing costs. Or move further out west and have 1+ hour commute. Or keep saving up another 5 years for larger down payment. I guess the market has spoken. People are able and willing to absorb these high prices in NOVA.
Similar story here We always wanted to have our own place so we bought a small 1 bedroom condo. It was an expensive purchase but a long term investment because we will use it as a rental income. We bought it with 30 year mortgage but already paid more than half of it in 2 years. Hopefully the whole mortgage will be done by beginning of 2017. We are also saving money for down payment so once this mortgage is done, we will buy our first real home! Unfortunate price range is $800k to $1M As you mention, it is very risky to get in that much debt with only $200k income. However, if you want to get a very nice home closer to metro then it is the price you have to pay in this region We are currently debating if we should move to another state because we can have similar income with a lot lower cost of living in another state.
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Old 02-03-2015, 01:00 PM
 
Location: Spartanburg, SC
4,893 posts, read 7,403,627 times
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Originally Posted by fcyolo View Post
Loudoun is still down from peak, right now prices are falling slowly.

Yes, but fortunately, it is not a McMansion. I dont think you can give those away. It's a much more modest sfh in the town and prices seem to be holding fairly well for the last year or so. fingers crossed anyway and we can hold out a bit longer.
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