How can singles afford houses in NOVA?!?! (Arlington: foreclosed, HOA)

[jaunespinoza]

Seattle is higher than NoVa. You could add Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, and El Paso. I sold a 1200 SF condo with private garage, on a golf course, for 89K in 1999. I could buy one just like it now for 65K, but I have an offer in on a one bedroom, loft-style, on the same GC for 22K. 2/10ths of a mile to the new light rail stop.

[springfieldva]

Originally Posted by athousandlogins

There's one for sale on my street that I've been watching, and the price has dropped $120K since it was listed at the end of June. It's still sitting on the market. It's a nice house in a desirable neighborhood, but the $600K+ they're still asking for it is a heck of a lot of financing for a buyer to come up with these days...

600K might be a lot for a first time buyer but it might be very doable for a move up buyer. Maybe if long term owners (people who have been in their houses for 5+ years) got an incentive to purchase upwards, more of those expensive houses would start to move. And that would free up more homes in the less expensive brackets for the first time buyers...

[NOVAmtneer82]

Get some roommates and save some money on rent then buy a place once you have a decent downpayment..it's how most other people do it.

The costs here are attributed to SUPPLY AND DEMAND. It's basic Economics 101 people...high demand to live here (along with high incomes) versus limited supply. And plenty of people seem to be buying places regardless of how "impossible" it seems. Young single people here also tend not to be the ones buying SFHs..why someone living alone would need one doesn't really make sense to me.

[jaunespinoza]

I bet a lot of folks wish they had their townhomes, with a sensible mortgage, back.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Get some roommates and save some money on rent then buy a place once you have a decent downpayment..it's how most other people do it.

The costs here are attributed to SUPPLY AND DEMAND. It's basic Economics 101 people...high demand to live here (along with high incomes) versus limited supply. And plenty of people seem to be buying places regardless of how "impossible" it seems. Young single people here also tend not to be the ones buying SFHs..why someone living alone would need one doesn't really make sense to me.

Some people tend to be very particular about noise and privacy. But I seriously think if one living by themselves, having more than 1200 sqft is a lot. One can certainly find townhouses like that in FFX Co for less than $300k, but they won't be inside the beltway. I could probably afford up to $400k on my salary, if I had 40k for a downpayment, but I certainly wouldn't be taking luxury vacations, or eating out everyday, or driving a new Lexus with a large mortgage like that, though I don't know if I could get the same salary in NoVA, and I'm single. BTW a townhouse here in CA will cost you $500k or more, and it will be from the 1970s or 1980s. My brother lives in Centreville, and the townhouses around there might not be huge, but they sell for $200 - $250k, and they were built in the 1990s. Also my parents' neighborhood is pretty inexpensive too, it is also outside the beltway, it is in Springfield, south of the parkway, in an area called Newington Forest, the neighbor across the street is planning to sell his house for $380k it is a SFH, but my guess is OP is too picky to look at 1979/1980 construction outside the beltway, no house there sold for less than 500k in 2006.

The other thing to note is that most people in the market for a SFH, are families, which if you look at the statistics for FFX Co. make over $100k, in fact for the metro area the median family makes just over 100k, the median household in FFX Co, makes over $100k, if you just limit it to families, then you're looking at a higher statistic, it wouldn't surprise me if 50% of families (not singles) make over $120k in FFX. When you're competing with that you should expect prices to be bid up, they have more money to spend, so are more willing to bid up prices. The only places you can avoid that is to go to areas where the schools are bad, then you don't have many families bidding against you.

[lchoro]

Originally Posted by powersnax

Yeah I know, I was exaggerating a bit, but not by much... on a more serious note, those tiny old 1950's ramblers don't really cost $400k, more like $300k, and those $600+ condo fees actually do cover electricity... that's still pretty bad!

I work with someone who made the Woodbridge mistake and is trying to get rid of his house since most jobs are in DC / Mclean area... and I know another guy who lives close to Woodbridge who takes the VRE to Mclean every day but he must wake up at 4am because his eyes always look really tired.

I guess this is just something I'll have to accept in return for DC salaries. I thought this was a buyers market?

The market is currently being distorted by government subsidies for downpayments and interest rates and by government programs to delay foreclosures. Free market forces will eventually exert themselves.

It's a barbell market. There's a lot of cheap homes and there's still a lot of overpriced homes. There are homes that rent for $1200 and sell for $150K or less. There are many homes that rent for $2400 and sell for $500K or more.

[lchoro]

Originally Posted by jaunespinoza

I bet a lot of folks wish they had their townhomes, with a sensible mortgage, back.

I wish we had a sensible real estate tax back. Our taxes have tripled in the last ten years. We only refinanced for the lower mortgage rate and not to pull out cash.

[lindy112]

Originally Posted by springfieldva

600K might be a lot for a first time buyer but it might be very doable for a move up buyer. Maybe if long term owners (people who have been in their houses for 5+ years) got an incentive to purchase upwards, more of those expensive houses would start to move. And that would free up more homes in the less expensive brackets for the first time buyers...

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.

[springfieldva]

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.

Move-up buyers were also the first ones to see their home values drop (due to other people's foreclosures). This has reduced the amount of equity they have in their homes, which has reduced the amount they have available for a downpayment.. 1st time buyers have been able to take advantage of those fire sale prices plus they get the 8K incentive.

It would be great if move-up buyers could also get an incentive. I'll bet that would help get those more expensive homes sold .

[powersnax]

Wow I didn't anticipate this response, I thought my first post would be dismissed for stating the obvious.

Anyway, I'm trying to read the posts but there's some acronyms I'm unfamiliar with. Can someone help decipher this city-data code?:

PWC?

PITA?

OP?

KCMO?

GC?