Depressing (Arlington, Manassas, Herndon: real estate, rental, condo)

[sunnyisland]

Ok here's my dilema. My husband makes about $120,000 a year as a systems security consultant and we've one child with a significant amt of debt. We have lived in NOVA for the last 6 years RENTING. We have thought about moving to a house to build equity and finally have a place we can call our own but its so depressing that the housing costs here is so ridiculously high. Just last night while browsing at real estate, a 1br condo in Arlington runs for $400,000 and its not even new! Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the housing prices driven up by the fact that people are buying even though the prices are ridiculous?? Supply-demand rule like gas prices? I don't know how in the world we can afford moving into a home when our budget of $300,000 or under will not get us anything in this area but yet we can't really move since my husband's type of work is more specialised and he has better employment opportunities in this area. Also, we don't want to live in places that are too rural cause we have gotten used to city life but yet NEW SFHs that are affordable are only located outside the city limits. The next closest choices we have are down in Culpepper, Fredericksburg, Warrenton, West VA areas..... Anyone has any advice or thoughts to share? Please no flaming emails of any kind. I'm feeling so down about everything and need more of an encouragement than anything.....

[VRE332]

I would first start off by starting out by looking at your bills and cutting back on unnecessary items that you dont need. Get that Debt payed down ASAP so you can have a good credit score to get a better place. Also start saving for a down payment.

The IRS allows you to put $5,000/year into Dependant care expense FSA account. Also you can save money by putting money into a Health Care FSA (Max $2,500/year) . Is it possible for you to put your child in Daycare? Daycare should run you $1,000 or so per month.

[sunnyisland]

Hey thanks for the tip and yes, we have been dilligently paying down the debt and cutting back on expenses for the last 7 years. I work 4 days a week cause I need one day to give my son some quality time. And no we can't afford childcare. Its too expensive especially in this area plus I would rather raise my son on my own. Children grow up so fast and I hate to miss out on the best parts of his life. We had an almost $85,000 debt that is now down to $30,000. Its a LONGGGG story, don't want to bore anyone although I can say that the huge debt was attributed to a few reasons: loss of employment at one time for over 7 months with no savings so literally had to live on credit, a tonn of past debt brought forward from a previous marriage, a bitter divorce and a tonn of child support payments - al that added up over time. My question would be do you think its better idea to concentrate on paying the debt off (which we estimate would take another 2-3 years or so) or just crunch our teeth and move into a home anyway for the sake of getting a tax deductible if you own a home plus build equity?

[twinmma]

Yes, it is supply and demand...but the area you are in is where people want to be so the prices WILL be higher. My husband works in Tysons and in order for us to have a single family home we had to purchase in Ashburn. For the price you are looking at, you cold have a nice townhome in this area for that amount.
It stinks that the housing is so high, but this is a popular area and I don't think prices will ever be "low" here...not even in this market.
Cut your debt and save for a down payment is the best advice I have to offer. If you want to stay in that area you need to just come up with the money to do so...
Good luck. I feel for you
Just read your above post...If it were me I would concentrate on paying off the debt so you can then borrow more for the home you want. You don't get THAT big of a break on taxes and with the market being somewhat bad you can take some time and pay off your debt.

[twinmma]

oh, also want to say I understand the daycare thing. I have to be a stay at home mom b/c we can NOT afford to put the kids in daycare...$30K plus a year for two the same age!!!

[sunnyisland]

And also, I keep feeling like we are just wasting money RENTING cause over the last 6 years,we've paid well over $100,000 IN RENT alone. We pay about $1500 a month on a 2br in Herndon. Sometimes I feel like we are just literally giving that money away when we could be putting it into a home.

[twinmma]

Well, you are wasting money renting, but home ownership costs more than just to mortgage...you have all utility bills, in a lot of areas an HOA, and costs of repairs (like our HVAC needs to be replaced...$10K right off the bat and we just moved in two months ago) So...once you take that into account, can you afford home ownership? If you pay off the debt, you will be able to handle those things better.
DOn't get me wrong, I think owning a home is great and everyone should have the opportunity, but one must come prepared when facing that opportunity or one will end up foreclosing like A LOT of people have found themselves doing lately.

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by twinmma

Well, you are wasting money renting, but home ownership costs more than just to mortgage...you have all utility bills, in a lot of areas an HOA, and costs of repairs (like our HVAC needs to be replaced...$10K right off the bat and we just moved in two months ago) So...once you take that into account, can you afford home ownership? If you pay off the debt, you will be able to handle those things better.
DOn't get me wrong, I think owning a home is great and everyone should have the opportunity, but one must come prepared when facing that opportunity or one will end up foreclosing like A LOT of people have found themselves doing lately.

You're right. Well said.

[sunnyisland]

I think you're right cause owning a home comes with more responsibilities be it financially or physically( like you've to fix your own pipes if they leak whereas in a rental, you can make a phonecall), I don't know maybe because I'm just so tired of paying everyone else but ourselves. Its too much stress to go through day-to-day worrying about money all the time. And it just feels so much more competitive in northern VA - everyone's in a hurry, no one talks much to each other or develope real friendships and everything is so expensive. I've no expectations of wanting to own a million dollar home or some fancy home. I just want some form of stability instead of having to worry about renting and when it goes up, we've to figure out where the money has to come from and if we would have to move AGAIN because the rental prices never cease to go up year after year. Whats anyone's take on places like Culpepper? Is it really rural cause if you compare Herndon with Manassas, herndon feels and looks a little more "upscale" but yet not too fancy like down in Mclean/Tysons area.

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by sunnyisland

I think you're right cause owning a home comes with more responsibilities be it financially or physically( like you've to fix your own pipes if they leak whereas in a rental, you can make a phonecall), I don't know maybe because I'm just so tired of paying everyone else but ourselves. Its too much stress to go through day-to-day worrying about money all the time. And it just feels so much more competitive in northern VA - everyone's in a hurry, no one talks much to each other or develope real friendships and everything is so expensive. I've no expectations of wanting to own a million dollar home or some fancy home. I just want some form of stability instead of having to worry about renting and when it goes up, we've to figure out where the money has to come from and if we would have to move AGAIN because the rental prices never cease to go up year after year. Whats anyone's take on places like Culpepper? Is it really rural cause if you compare Herndon with Manassas, herndon feels and looks a little more "upscale" but yet not too fancy like down in Mclean/Tysons area.

You dont want to go too far out. Then your husband will be shelling out more money for gasoline! Where does he work?