Whats the minimum salary YOU would be comfortable with (areas and caveats inside) (Centreville: for sale, rent)

[rpe290]

Nuclear family, 3 kids under 10, stay at home mom.

Areas I would look at (these roughly fit my commute/$ from what I can tell)
Leesburg
Centreville
Haymarket
(maybe a little further west if good ones found)

Home $$
SFH @ around 400-500k Current Equity is about 180k, so will add that on once sold

assume other things are funded acceptably (will save 10% retirement, etc)

No high cost hobbies like auto racing or something to make it crazy.

Assume stable employment and decent benefits ($5k in med costs or insurance).

Just want to see what people who already live in NoVa would say...

Comfortable not equal to "just getting by," but not worrying about money a whole bunch--daily life is not a chore...(but you aren't buying a new Audi or Benz every year either LOL)

[chehokie09]

$150k-$180k with three kids and stay-at-home mom.

[blindside]

Around here (Loudoun county) ? Comfortable would be median income on a single salary... so $110K, 2-3 kids, early to mid 30s.

[chehokie09]

$110k for a family of 5 would not be living comfortably in my opinion.

Not to mention, you're not going to be buying a single family home for under $500k in any of the areas you mentioned, more like $550k-$600k in Haymarket/Leesburg and $600k-650k in Centreville.

[rpe290]

Thanks so far, this is the kind of info/banter I am looking for from folks that live there.

Unfortunately don't know much about the area other than the traffic and housing cost horror stories, but wanted to see what those in the know said rather than rumors!

[ChristineVA]

I know people doing it on around $120K but I think they bought many years ago and their housing was cheaper than you are quoting. They don't go out to eat, ever, but they seem to be able to put their kids in some activities and go camping here and there. They make sure they are very frugal with food shopping.

[ozzyngcsu]

Its just me and my wife and even making $150k+ a year with no debt, we don't feel comfortable buying a single family house in this area. I think it would be doable on our income but if we had three kids closer to $200k would be much easier. You can get some pretty nice/large townhouses for 450k or so but like the person above single family will be a good bit more for one large enough for your family.

[rpe290]

Originally Posted by chehokie09

$110k for a family of 5 would not be living comfortably in my opinion.

Not to mention, you're not going to be buying a single family home for under $500k in any of the areas you mentioned, more like $550k-$600k in Haymarket/Leesburg and $600k-650k in Centreville.

Unless there is some secret tax on top of Zillow/Redfin that I don't know about I think you're a bit high on price? I know those aren't always exactly up to date, but plenty in the 450ish range +/- when I just searched...

[JfromReston]

Use MRIS Homes database to see what is currently on the market and (better yet) what is currently under contract. This will give you a better idea of current pricing.

Homes for Sale and Rent in DC, Maryland, Virginia | MRIShomes.com

[blindside]

Originally Posted by chehokie09

$110k for a family of 5 would not be living comfortably in my opinion.

Not to mention, you're not going to be buying a single family home for under $500k in any of the areas you mentioned, more like $550k-$600k in Haymarket/Leesburg and $600k-650k in Centreville.

$550k-$600k for a brand new house.

There are a few 1980's era houses (3br/1.5ba 1500-1700 sq ft) for sale in the $280-$320K range in my area (which is one of the areas mentioned by the OP). Quite affordable with a $110k single earner salary with 2 kids.