Where Is Cheaper To Live-maryland Or Northern Va

[tenzi]

Hi PAFAMILY,

Before you commit to a realtor .... take a look at longandfoster.com - they have all the open houses listed and just picking a few of those to visit will give you a good idea of the market. That's what we've been doing - I just felt that by commiting to a realtor, you'll be rushed into making real estate decisions sooner than you'll like.

We've been renting in Bethesda, MD since June to get an idea of the market - I'm glad we did this though the only downside is that my 8 yr old son has already made some wonderful friends in his new school and is not looking forward to moving across the river and starting off in another new school ..... I don't blame him!!

Oh two other great websites are : VirginiaMLS.com and Redfin.com .... I don't know much about Redfin but its definately an interesting money saving idea. I will look into it more as we get closer to real estate crunch time. Redfin also tells you how many days the house has been on the market and if there have been changes on the listing price.

Hope that helps.

[PAFAMILIY]

Thanks Tenzi for the info! I will check it out.. My main concerns are what you are going thru with your son...I would rather pick an area that WE THINK we will stay in

[PAFAMILIY]

one more thing, if you don't mind me asking, why are you moving out of MD to VA? Did you look in other counties like Howard county? I am just curious because I can't decide what to do

[scimitar12]

Originally Posted by Tone509

Although you are looking to rent, you may want to know this in the long run: in my observation, to buy an "average" home in NOVA will be $300K for a 1B condo, $500K for a townhome or rambler, and $700K for a single family home. For anything cheaper, you will have to commute more than 30 miles/60 minutes from DC, face a lot of home improvements or live in an unpopular area. Areas that you may find most attractive - e.g. Reston, Vienna, Falls Church, McLean, anywhere within a mile of Metrorail - are likely to cost much more.

In short, all the above has conspired to make Northern Virginia more expensive than the MD suburbs. That's not to say that Montgomery and Howard counties are bargains. You would probably benefit from chatting with people on the Maryland forum about specifics there.

I have to disagree on your pricing of northern Virginia homes. Granted housing in the towns you mentioned are still quite high; however, they are still dropping. My wife and I are looking to buy after moving here last September. A good three bedroom townhome can be had in the 320-400 thou range in Reston. Could pay more, or less depeding on the condition. SFH is still high; little under 500 thou. A member of our church had a home for sale in Reston, had it on the market for over 10 months. He started out at 800 and wound up selling it for 640. The place (accroding to him anyway) was very nice, four bedrooms, two car garage, needed no major work, just updating, good section of town, etc. He had to pay all closing costs too.

[tenzi]

Hi PAFAMILY,

We're moving to Northern Virginia primarily for two reasons - first: we have a number of family friends who all live in fairfax county & moving closer to them will give us a chance for more playdates & sleepovers(which would be great) ..... and second: fairfax county is definately more affordable than montgomery county ...(I would say at least a difference of about 100K - bethesda is lovely but we're finding it out of our range ... you'll have to look at shelling about 800K for a decent single family home!!!).

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by scimitar12

I have to disagree on your pricing of northern Virginia homes. Granted housing in the towns you mentioned are still quite high; however, they are still dropping. My wife and I are looking to buy after moving here last September. A good three bedroom townhome can be had in the 320-400 thou range in Reston. Could pay more, or less depeding on the condition. SFH is still high; little under 500 thou. A member of our church had a home for sale in Reston, had it on the market for over 10 months. He started out at 800 and wound up selling it for 640. The place (accroding to him anyway) was very nice, four bedrooms, two car garage, needed no major work, just updating, good section of town, etc. He had to pay all closing costs too.

Thank you for that update. More proof that I need to update my information. I did want to prepare the OP for a bit of sticker shock coming from somewhat less expensive Philly.

[PAFAMILIY]

Tenzi, Had you looked into Howard County, right outside of Montgomery. I understand housing is cheaper there than in Fairfax.

Also, I just learned that MD increased their sales take to 6% HOWEVER, THEY DON'T ADD THE ADDITIONAL 4% ON like VA does.

I have not look at Montgomery County, MD and I am afraid to because I know how crazy expensive it is...I figure why look and like it if my pocketbook can't afford it.

So far, I think I am leaning toward MD but at this rate it is for affordable housing and lower tax..Someone just told me that her car insurance was only 145/month and that was for 2008 CRV and 2003 (luxury car) I thought that was pretty good. I wonder what car insurance would in Fairfax County.

[car54]

I hope you know that Howard County is closer to Baltimore than DC.

About car insurance, I have 3 cars and it's $900sumpin a year in Fairfax Co.

[PAFAMILIY]

Car54,
You have 3 cars and it is 900 a YR?? What cars and where do you live? I know HC is close to Baltimore too..I thought that would be good for me when I search for a job too...since I have to give up my job here in Philly. From what others were saying, it would take my husband 45-60 to get to work from HC but it is more affordable. We thought that if we can get more for our buck, the commute would be the price we pay..Your thought? We are initially working with 125,000 as income and schools are extremely importamt to us as we have a 6 yr old...I am open to all feedback as my head is spinning

[McScootch]

You keep mentioning the income but do not fail to mention the monies required for a down payment. More than likely you will be able to negotiate the seller pays closing, in the current market anyways. But with the Sub Prime debacle, there are no more 100% financing deals out there, so if you are looking at a $500k house you are going to need 10 - 20% down (50 -100K on 500k). Many sellers in today's markets are shying away from contegency contracts where you require the sale of your existing house prior to the purchase of your new one.

Not trying to be a downer, but the alternative financing that got so many of these folks into the McMansions and drove up housings costs are just not available. What you wont hear in the news are the stories of people who benefited from the sub prime lenders... and there are A LOT of them.