Maryland has highest median household income... (houses, job market, construction)

[TrippingJay]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

I'm not even disagreeing with that.

The point was that even in areas of average income, in Virginia, the schools are still pretty good....possibly on par with the PG's best high schools.

FYI, in the Springfield area, the schools are pretty good with Lake Braddock, West Springfield, and Robinson.

Alexandria consists of FFX Cty and the City of Alexandria.

Lorton is not in FFX Cty.

I was under the assumption that Braddock and Robison are in Burke, a much more affluent community than Springfield.
West Springfield is in Springfield, but so is Lee High School which frankly is nothing to brag about.

Don't get me wrong, I think both MoCo and Fairfax schools systems are excellent. Even the schools that are "poor" still offer an excellent cirriculum and educational opportunities for its students.

Sorry to inform you but, Lorton is very much in the County of Fairfax: Lorton, Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by pcity

Lorton is indeed in Fairfax County.

The divider between Fairfax and Prince William is the Occoquan.

You're right.

Virginia's got more ranked high schools compared to Maryland.

Best High Schools: State by State Statistics - US News and World Report

FFX Cty has 12

Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

MC has 3.

Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by TrippingJay

I was under the assumption that Braddock and Robison are in Burke, a much more affluent community than Springfield.
West Springfield is in Springfield, but so is Lee High School which frankly is nothing to brag about.

That's why I said "Springfield area." Springfield, of course, is right next to Burke.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

That's why I said "Springfield area." Springfield, of course, is right next to Burke.

I used to work in Burke and the impression I got there was that West Springfield and Springfield were separate areas. W Springfield is, of course, much nicer than Springfield.

[jayman1981]

You know I agree with this post 100% It's total B.S. that this area is so concern with living in the richest county. What ever happend to just driving 20 mins to work. What happen to being able to afford a home on one check instead of two incomes. Lets start a thread entitled Why does supply and demand automatically mean I have to pay 400,000 for a house that's worth 76,000. These builders are aloud to get away with murder.

Originally Posted by kcmo

I posted this in another thread, but it seems fitting here too...

This "wealthiest" county stuff is a bunch of BS when you consider the cost of living. Even if you have a household income of 150k, you can barely get into what people in KC call an starter home. 700k for a home that has ANY vinyl siding is just stupid.

Houses are so overpriced in Maryland (and all of DC) that you have to make far above normal wages just to live close to what people in other cities do for wages that might be 75% of the national average.

I live here now. Most people live like they make 35k a year in most metro areas, then they have 1-2 hour commutes on top of that. I'm not impressed.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by jayman1981

You know I agree with this post 100% It's total B.S. that this area is so concern with living in the richest county. What ever happend to just driving 20 mins to work. What happen to being able to afford a home on one check instead of two incomes. Lets start a thread entitled Why does supply and demand automatically mean I have to pay 400,000 for a house that's worth 76,000. These builders are aloud to get away with murder.

Unfortunately, the irony in your words is that nobody is putting a gun to your head to live in the WMA.

I'm sure you can find all that you describe somewhere in the south or in America's bread basket.

[Stephen 81]

Originally Posted by jayman1981

Lets start a thread entitled Why does supply and demand automatically mean I have to pay 400,000 for a house that's worth 76,000. These builders are aloud to get away with murder.

I doubt builders in Maryland make more of a profit per house than builders in Kansas City, Dallas, or Atlanta. The reason houses are expensive in the DC area is because land is expensive, not because our builders are greedier than those elsewhere.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Here's some interesting information about Virginia, your neighbor.

Forbes just picked Virginia as the best state for business. Virginia's quality of life was ranked #1. Maryland's quality of life was ranked #14.

Here's another interesting tidbit. People on this blog who live in PG were bragging about the recent AAA bond rating that they received. Jack Johnson threw a ticker tape party to celebrate this achievement, but then a few weeks later, he announced furloughs. Now, PG's bond rating is being downgraded.

I get the feeling you have a deep-seated grudge against Maryland (and Prince George's County especially) . Anyway Maryland has had a AAA rating for perhaps forever and iirc Maryland has more cities ranked on the CNNMoney's top100 (the traditional ranking not this years messed up one) than VA in the Balt-Wash Area. Also, I'm pretty sure PGC has maintained their superb AAA bond rating despite the economic downturn. Nobody said VA was a terible state for business, in fact Maryland and most other liberal states rank very low for business primarily becuase of cost and regulation, but rank highly for an educated workforce, location, and amenities. Frankly I don't see what any of this has to do with this thread anyway.

Originally Posted by Stephen 81

I doubt builders in Maryland make more of a profit per house than builders in Kansas City, Dallas, or Atlanta. The reason houses are expensive in the DC area is because land is expensive, not because our builders are greedier than those elsewhere.

That's a good point but trust me they still make a serious profit--bigger than those in the other cities you mentioned. It has nothing to do with greed, not more so than traditional capitalism anyway, but demand plays a very big role.

[trickymost]

This argument seems moot. With Maryland's budget problems, the delta between median income and quality of life/schools/taxes/cost of living will widen dramatically between MD and VA. At least, that's what I suspect.

And re: land being expensive/cost to build homes...from my friends who work at area homebuilders, they absolutely have a much fatter profit margin in WMA than elsewhere in the country because the demand is higher.

On top of that, to generalize (I know, not every developer and not every community are built to the same standards or level of quality), corners are cut wherever they can be as long as the demand is there. This may mean building more homes on smaller lots (some homes may as well be townhouses around DC), lesser quality wood, cheaper siding, less studs in the home, etc etc etc.

Homes built in WMA in 2009 should hold up better than homes built in WMA in say 2004.

[Chris-Kim]

MD residents' good financial performance give a good incentive and excuse to increase taxes. It'll be a matter of time before we see a 8% sales tax, a property tax bigger than 2% of the home value, a 10% state income tax, toll roads everywhere, etc. Bring them on!