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You make a good point on lifestyle vs just being comfortable. Perhaps I am making an unfair comparison, but I do tend to think of DC as "DC" - and not Mclean, or Vienna, or Fairfax or whatever, so when I made the comment that you'd need $200K in DC I meant in DC itself. Once you lift that requirement, then places like Annandale or Burke come into the equation, and i think the comparison changes pretty dramatically. I picked Burleith just to pick something in stark contrast to Fairfax, but you could make a similar argument with other neighborhoods.
But your point is valid, I guess I was thinking of how much you need if you plan on living in NW DC - Palisades, Spring Valley, AU, Tenley, Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase and the life that an address like that usually entails (private school, two cars, nanny/au pair, etc). Put differently, $200k seemed like the income point where you could reasonably say "sounds good" to most expenses, without having to really think it trough in great detail. That, to me, is true financial independence. Also agree there are many cheaper options - although honestly east of Rock Creek really isnt so cheap anymore, there's a lot of very nice houses there too. (Unless of course you meant further east than 16th).
Oh no I was just talking about the District. I don't know I'd say that $200K is pretty well to do even in an expensive place liek DC. I honestly don't know much about that section of DC. About 95% of my friends and associates live east of Rock Creek Park.
I mean a couple of rowhouses in Burleith start at $800K but most houses are in the $1 million range.
I remember a couple summers this guy was hitting on me from Hawaii. He starts saying how a house in DC starts at 1,000,000. Now at the time I'm living in a duplex in Arlington that's worth around $300K so I'm just looking at him funny. He was convinced that one can't buy a house in DC unless it costs a million. I mean if you got flaunt it but most of us don't and we do okay. One doesn't need $200K to be comfortable its nice to have but not a requirement is all I'm saying.
Well, typically when pointing out a supposedly hypocritical statement, one might say "you responded to a gross generalization with your own gross generalization." In other words, one is being accused of doing the same thing he or she was castigating others for doing. Which I assumed (perhaps wrongly) was your intent. Only "gross generalizations" and "exagerrations" aren't the same things.
I drew an inference based on the rather obnoxious comments of a couple of commenters on this board. That's not a particularly comparable action to claiming that the majority of women in DC are ugly--which, to my way of thinking, is basically another way of complaining that you're just not getting any.
Ohs wells--I'm married, so I don't really have a dog in this fight. I've just always been struck by the (unintentional) hilarity of making repeated posts on an internet message board about how ugly/stuck-up/obnoxious/insert-adjective-here the women in DC are.
You're splitting hairs. There was nothing "supposedly hypocritical" about your statement -- it was hypocritical. And while generalization and exaggeration each possess a different technical meaning, a generalization is used as a form of exaggeration, so they're essentially comparable, especially as they're applied within the framework of the discussion. Furthermore, Joker's statement and position are drawn, perhaps, from a sample size collected from his personal experiences in the city, while yours was just flat-out presumptuous despite how you attempt to justify it.
If the source of your constant irritation can be traced back to the contributions of, as you say, a very small group of posters, then I would suggest that you take advantage of the message board's ignore feature.
You make a good point on lifestyle vs just being comfortable. Perhaps I am making an unfair comparison, but I do tend to think of DC as "DC" - and not Mclean, or Vienna, or Fairfax or whatever, so when I made the comment that you'd need $200K in DC I meant in DC itself. Once you lift that requirement, then places like Annandale or Burke come into the equation, and i think the comparison changes pretty dramatically. I picked Burleith just to pick something in stark contrast to Fairfax, but you could make a similar argument with other neighborhoods.
But your point is valid, I guess I was thinking of how much you need if you plan on living in NW DC - Palisades, Spring Valley, AU, Tenley, Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase and the life that an address like that usually entails (private school, two cars, nanny/au pair, etc). Put differently, $200k seemed like the income point where you could reasonably say "sounds good" to most expenses, without having to really think it trough in great detail. That, to me, is true financial independence. Also agree there are many cheaper options - although honestly east of Rock Creek really isnt so cheap anymore, there's a lot of very nice houses there too. (Unless of course you meant further east than 16th).
Oh, if you were talking about NW DC only, then I agree with your previous income figures.
Realize though that NW DC is among the priciest and most affluent places to live in the U.S.
As a native of the area I see the benefits of living here as compared to anywhere else but I do have to admit that living in the area for over 24 years can lead you to being bored and wanting more different with your next location.
I wouldnt mind trying out Chicago or SF for a year or two, New York for 5 years, and Atlanta, Houston, Miami, or Dallas for the rest of my days [I already split time between DC and Miami]. Already lived in the Boston area for 6 years and loved it but dont want to repeat it.
I don't make in the 6 figures, yet I still feel like I live pretty well as a single person. I really, really depends what you are looking for. I lived in NYC for a good part of my life, so I didn't come here expecting a large spacious house with a yard. I don't need a car, and I'm okay not dining in a fancy fine-dining restaurant every night. Most of my friends in the $50-$75k range, and most people seem to be happy enough and enjoying life here. Honestly it really, really depends on your lifestyle as there is a huge variation in lifestyle here.
DC is great, the people are not. Government/non-profit attracts the ugliest, most bland people on earth. Despite women outnumbering men in the area, the huge amount of defense/IT places ensure a sausagefest in many night venues.
The quality of attractiveness of both men and women (but especially the women) can't hold a candle to NYC/LA/Miami. Hordes of transplant chubby white girls with master's degrees in Public Policy who think that makes up for their complete lack of style, feminity, or fitness. So many man-jawed women with bad complexions, and the 'natives' are even more disgusting.
Yes, blank statements, exceptions, etc yada yada. Deal with it.
The impression that I get from most people in DC is that they were forced to move here because of the better job market. No one really wants to move here like they would move to SF or NYC.
Do you feel thats the case as well? I mean no one dreams to move to exciting DC and work for the feds/ contractor when they grow up.
DC is a city which people are forced to move to and like.
I've lived in both SF and NYC, but I'd love to live in DC.
DC is the heart of the nation, tons of very interesting unique things occur there. Tons of jobs you can't find anywhere else either.
My problem with SF is that as beautiful as it was there, I didn't care for incredibly expensive housing/rent with mediocre paying jobs. I also got tired of cold summers.
NYC was nothing short of amazing.
But, my feeling of DC is that it also has a lot to offer with a whole other range of different unique jobs as well. It's also a bit warmer, and relatively close enough to NYC and Philly and other cities, as well as the Appalachians, and going southward as well.
Obviously many people want to live in SF & NYC...but what they don't talk about is how many people just give them a try for a few years, and than move on. I knew at least 3-4 people who had lived in NYC, than ended up in SF later. I wonder where they are now, but I doubt they are in SF now either. DC sounds similar in that regard.
I lived in the burbs (nova) growing up, moved to DE to go to a 2 year school then back to DC to finish school and have been here since. I wanted to be back in this area because when living in DE, I just ended up driving back down here every weekend to see family and friends. Also, because the school I wanted to go to finish my degree was here.
Now I am thinking it's time to move on though. There's so many great things about this area, but the cost of living is just getting to be too much.
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