How expensive is it to live in NoVa? (Arlington, Alexandria: short sale, foreclosure)

[r0lf3cbn]

Originally Posted by dmv101010

I would sell the car and buy a beater (that will get rid of the car note and dramatically lower your insurance)

Getting a beater will lower your car tax as well.

[NovaZombieDrivers]

It's fine as long as your cool with eating McDonald's Double Cheeseburgers or cooking every meal from scratch using cheap ingredients. Food alone will gobble up a good portion of your after tax income. Good Luck.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by doubled8206

Worth it as it living comfortably

That's very vague. I guess you mean not living paycheck to paycheck, but are you fine doing that in a condo for the foreseeable future? Or do you envision a house in the not too distant future. The 51k isn't going to go far at all here. Even if your wife gets a job making about the same, 100k doesn't go as far as you'd think. Honestly if your main motivation is living comfortably I wouldn't move here. People do live comfortably here but it takes alot of money and usually takes them alot of time to work up to that. There are many reason to move here : culture, great schools, great job market, tons of things to do for entertainment, diversity. But there are trade-offs : terrible traffic, very high cost of living. If your goal is just to live comfortably(not paycheck to paycheck) and none of the things I listed are really a motivator I"d stay in Ohio. If this job is a good career move and you see your career progressing much faster here than in Ohio that's another story.

[oneasterisk]

Wow I have to laugh at some of these responses. 50k is considered poor? Only able to afford eating at McDonalds or cooking with cheap ingredients? Give me a break! I guess everyone must be eating caviar, champagne and grey poupon around here! Sorry but I guess people have different ideas on "getting by." I'm sure I'll catch some grief so donning the flame suit...

50k is not awful, it's not great but it's around the median household income. Yes housing is higher here, but the costs of other things are on par or maybe less than the rest of the country. For example, car insurance is lower here than in some other parts of the US. You can definitely do it in PWC, so long as you're good with a budget. It'll mean you can't eat out for every meal, or buy designer clothes every weekend but it's certainly doable. You'll have to learn to cook and bring leftovers for lunch but can still afford to go out to eat a few times a week or meet friends for drinks.

I remember when I was making 50-60k. I still managed to go out to eat to restaurants a couple times a week. These weren't places where you're dropping $100 a meal, but still good restaurants. I managed to put money away in my 401k, not maxing it out but at least getting the company match and then some. Also managed to put money away in savings, including enough to be able to put 20% down on an investment property. I was able to go on vacations, including out of the country.

Now that I'm making 6 figures, I'm still able to do all that because I've kept my expenses down. I didn't let lifestyle creep get the best of me. The big difference is that I can afford to max out my retirement accounts.

[doubled8206]

Yeah, like I said before I don't live a lifestyle of eating out everyday or shopping every weekend buying designer clothes. 50k is just the starting salary with significant pay increase. I don't expect to be rich by any means or eating out everyday like I said. He'll I don't eat out everyday as is, I cook haha. I guess it's hard to get a base when some people say I should eat mcdonalds everyday or the other says I'll be fine. Living comfortable to me is not living paycheck to paycheck, not having to worry about paying bills, eating 100 dollar meals, hell 50 dollars is expensive to me haha. Just saying, I don't want to feel like I can't spend money every once in awhile.

[tgbwc]

Six figures? I've been doing the same job for 21 years and make nowhere near six figures. Neither does my wife. We've never struggled. I work with plenty of people in their early 20s and they make less than 50k, although many have roommates.

IMO 50k should be fine for someone single, in PWC, especially if you are expecting pay bumps.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

Wow I have to laugh at some of these responses. 50k is considered poor? Only able to afford eating at McDonalds or cooking with cheap ingredients? Give me a break! I guess everyone must be eating caviar, champagne and grey poupon around here! Sorry but I guess people have different ideas on "getting by." I'm sure I'll catch some grief so donning the flame suit...

50k is not awful, it's not great but it's around the median household income. Yes housing is higher here, but the costs of other things are on par or maybe less than the rest of the country. For example, car insurance is lower here than in some other parts of the US. You can definitely do it in PWC, so long as you're good with a budget. It'll mean you can't eat out for every meal, or buy designer clothes every weekend but it's certainly doable. You'll have to learn to cook and bring leftovers for lunch but can still afford to go out to eat a few times a week or meet friends for drinks.

I remember when I was making 50-60k. I still managed to go out to eat to restaurants a couple times a week. These weren't places where you're dropping $100 a meal, but still good restaurants. I managed to put money away in my 401k, not maxing it out but at least getting the company match and then some. Also managed to put money away in savings, including enough to be able to put 20% down on an investment property. I was able to go on vacations, including out of the country.

Now that I'm making 6 figures, I'm still able to do all that because I've kept my expenses down. I didn't let lifestyle creep get the best of me. The big difference is that I can afford to max out my retirement accounts.

I can't speak for others but I wouldn't consider $50K as "poor". Perhaps I made an assumption that the OP and their fiancé would want to buy a house. As I suggested before, that would be all but impossible outside of perhaps short sales and foreclosures. Now, if they intended to rent indefinitely then they would be okay. Still not extravagant but perhaps a bit more than paycheck to paycheck given PWC's relatively reasonable rent and general cost of living.

FWIW, I don't know the median household income for PWC but it's been mentioned before on the forum that for both Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, it's a bit over $100K with them "battling" for #1 in the country. There's probably a bit of drop-off in Prince William but I would imagine that it's still closer to $100K than $50K.

[doubled8206]

We would be making well over 100k with our incomes. We don't need an expensive house but now idk what you can buy houses for in PWC or fairfax. Can you get houses in the area for 250k?

[kww]

Originally Posted by doubled8206

We would be making well over 100k with our incomes. We don't need an expensive house but now idk what you can buy houses for in PWC or fairfax. Can you get houses in the area for 250k?

in PWC, a townhome or detached with some years on it in an established community

in FFX (city, and county also for the most part), a condo with $200-300 condo fees on average.

as others have stated, your adjustments will be in housing and commute (possibly)

you can cook at home or eat out all the time.. prices will be similar to wherever you are I imagine.
regular cost of goods should also be similar..

the sticker shock I find most people have is related to housing.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by doubled8206

We would be making well over 100k with our incomes. We don't need an expensive house but now idk what you can buy houses for in PWC or fairfax. Can you get houses in the area for 250k?

Yes, you can, but it will be difficult, if you are actually looking for a single family home. There are approximately 350 properties currently for sale under $250k, but only 64 of them single family homes.

(this is reference to PW county, only.)