Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There was a snowbird in Phoenix who thought he could park on city streets for days at a time. I dropped the dime..police were there in 10 minutes and he was gone. I also lived in a rural county in Arizona..mobile homes are restricted to trailer parks. There was a lady with a semitrailer in her driveway for months. I called zoning they sent her a verified letter who h she ignored, then the Sheriff served her early one Sunday morning. A realtor, no less. I recall when they wouldn't allow the new Pizza Hut in Springfield to have a red roof....of course there was a strip club across the street, but still, zoning is strict in Nova, and you would likely last hours; not days on private property.
If you are only here for a few years in order to get the necessary experience to move away. How is it that you had enough to buy a converted school bus, but not enough to put a down payment on a townhouse? Also, not everything is as expensive as you say it is. You may need to look in more middle/lower class areas, but even then they aren't as bad as you think. I live in what is considered a "bad" area in Woodbridge and have had no problems at all. You may need to adjust your search criteria, but you should be able to flip a short term home purchase in this area pretty easily. I bought my place 6 years ago for 150K and it's easily worth 200k now.
I am considering buying an already converted school bus RV (Skoolie) to live in full time. Its a great way to save money, and I have three dogs, which are hard to find an apartment for, and stressful to try and keep "secret". My boyfriend and I work in the Northern VA area and make great money. We would like do this so that we could save up quickly for a while in order to sell it back and buy a house.
I'm only going to do it if I get a call from a trailer park back tomorrow and they say that it is OK and within their parameters. If they don't, I'm still considering doing it, but want to ask ya'lls opinion.
Does anyone know anyone who would be willing to rent out their land to us for us to live in the bus? It would be awesome to find a septic hook-up. I'll be driving to Reston for my job.
When asking me why I'm doing this, consider that to rent a plot of and at the trailer park, its $785 per month. For four walls (meaning no roaches from neighbors, no bed bugs from neighbors), for being able to keep my animals, and for being able to have a manageable commute. My monthly rent for my terrible apartment right now is 1250. So consider these numbers, I have. Thoughts?
You'll need to stay where you are. I feel for your dog situation, but that's really not relevant to the County.
Zoning would be on you like stink anywhere you pulled over in such a hippie bus. Plus, you could buy a serviceable used RV for a lot less than converting a school bus, but still couldn't live in it around here.
Some realtors here could chime-in, but there's no place anywhere near here that would allow your idea.
Sorry.
I'm curious to know what part of what I wrote is being interpreted as "a lot of hustle". We are a two teacher household and while we put a lot of time into what we do I'd hardly say we are part of the rat race (if that's what you are referencing when you say "hustle"). I think we have done a good amount of "livin'" outside of work. Teaching in the public schools we aren't fighting for advancement. I'm sure I don't make the salary of many other 45 year olds in this area either, but we do okay.
We didn't have a single family home in our 20s. We didn't need one. I didn't expect one. I couldn't afford one. We took things step, by step slowly moving over 17 years to places that better fit our needs that we could afford. When we needed more space we sacrificed commuting distance. When we were finally able to move closer to work we gave up a garage and bought an older home. It's a home that today is valued about $300k less than the one you mentioned, but it keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It keeps us dry when it rains. I like the neighborhood. It's a home for the three of us. Sure, some people will turn their nose up at it, but I don't care. I appreciate what I have.
Hustle? Nah. Far from it. It was more patience and planning and not wanting what others had, especially righty out of the gate.
I'm trying my best not to offend you, but since you are seemingly hellbent on being offended, fine. I was actually complimenting your dedication, but if you want to call yourself a part of the rat race, also fine. Which by the way, that is some rattitude you got there.
No, hustle does not mean rat race. But, you sould understand for your own good that all of that driving back and forth, buying multiple houses within 17 years, that's normalized--here. That is not normal in other places. Its just not. That's crazy. This may come as a shock to you, but people do in fact work and live outside of this bubble of income that is NOVA. And in those places, no, it is not acceptable to drive an hour out to work. In those places, its not normal to buy a house every 5-7 years. Its just not.
So, I'm coming here from a different area, and I'm keeping my head on straight about what exactly I'm willing to "be patient" about. And I have decided (unlike you--say whaaaat?!) that working here is not for me. When was the last time you passed by a record store? When was the last time you saw an independent book shop? These are things that I appreciate, and like. Couple that fact with the idea that I'm not willing to sacrifice literally hours of my day sitting polluting the air for an area that I despise anyway, and all of a sudden, all this great opportunity and all that doesn't look so shiny to me. Oh, and also, everyone's attitudes here are dog eat dog. Not interested. Over it.
Get off your high horse. I'm just not understanding where this whole "holier than thou" thing comes from with you, but you're entitled to do all the moving and shaking you want. I'm just saying, FOR ME, (get that thru your head, please) that this area with all of its expectations and normalized crazy things, is not worth the amount of limited joy that I get out of this area. Barf. I definitely don't want what you have. Don't get it twisted.
If you are only here for a few years in order to get the necessary experience to move away. How is it that you had enough to buy a converted school bus, but not enough to put a down payment on a townhouse? Also, not everything is as expensive as you say it is. You may need to look in more middle/lower class areas, but even then they aren't as bad as you think. I live in what is considered a "bad" area in Woodbridge and have had no problems at all. You may need to adjust your search criteria, but you should be able to flip a short term home purchase in this area pretty easily. I bought my place 6 years ago for 150K and it's easily worth 200k now.
Yes, being from Richmond, I keel over laughing at what these people consider "bad" areas. The bus is different than a townhouse. I cannot bring myself to buy a townhouse because I think they're a joke. I'm sorry, but that's just an apartment that they CALL a house and hope you don't notice. That is a trick. Anything I invest in must be a free standing structure. I'm sorry. To me, it is not worth the investment if roaches and bedbugs can still climb through the sills to my place. Any sure, you can say that roaches only affect poor people, or if I move into a nice row of townhouses I won't have any problems, but this is just not true. Roaches have no respect for tax brackets, and I don't want to have to fight a roach and bed bug battle on something that I own, and something that I have no legal protection by renters rights laws. As a renter, I'm not responsible for that and can make my management company spray, and come every single day and it wouldn't cost me a dime. As an owner, the story is completely different. Not to mention having to coordinate these spraying with the other owners of the townhouse in my row. No thanks.
Have I mentioned the price of the bus? Its 4k. I haven't looked into what exactly the deal would be on a townhouse with a down payment of 4k, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess they'd screw me over royally. No thanks.
I HAVE thought about it. But, the other reason I'm not interested in putting money down on a town house, is that the selling market for town houses is not all that great. Several people I know are having to be makeshift landlords because they can't sell their townhouses. Me being me, and knowing that I despise this area, I will also know that there will come a time (soon) when I have to sell it. I'm not interested in that rigamarole. I don't want to be left holding the bag and all of a sudden my only options are to either stay here and live in it myself, or rent out to some people who will probably bring roaches (roaches that I will have just worked so hard to eradicate!) into the building. No thanks.
I know, real estate investment. Wrong. Seems more like a ploy from Long and Foster and all the other real estate management companies to screw over both you the homeowner, and the renters. Prime example, there's a house that I'm looking at renting on WashPost right now. The Long and Foster rep knows nothing of my nonsense with three dogs. For all he knows, I'm just a renter with some money. The Long and Foster rep isn't working very hard for the lady who owns the house to find a tenant. I know this, because I'm an interested tenant, and he has yet to email me back. I even went over there in person--and the guy wasn't there at 3:30 on a Wednesday. What does that tell you? This tells me that he is just waiting around for the lady to pay him more money. It tells me that the longer he has the place empty, the longer she will have to pay him to find someone. See how that works? That's more money she has to keep chucking at him, so that he can literally sit on his ass and not be available to me, a prospective renter. I don't want to get involved with that mess. No thanks!
I'll do my research on your suggested flip, but from what I have heard from two separate people trying to sell their town houses, that's really a no-go.
You'll need to stay where you are. I feel for your dog situation, but that's really not relevant to the County.
Zoning would be on you like stink anywhere you pulled over in such a hippie bus. Plus, you could buy a serviceable used RV for a lot less than converting a school bus, but still couldn't live in it around here.
Some realtors here could chime-in, but there's no place anywhere near here that would allow your idea.
Sorry.
The bus is already converted into an RV. I wouldn't be converting it. The problem is only that I wouldn't have anywhere to put it. It's really just that. The bus itself is actually insulated, has two water tanks ( freshwater and "blackwater" tanks), a shower, a kitchen, a partition between the living space and sleeping area, and a toilet. Its moveable. It drives, and my boyfriend is a diesel mechanic, so it's kind of a great match.
However, it all goes back to the place to put it. But to clear your assumption up, the bus is converted, and registered as an RV (read: no CDL required to drive it)
There was a snowbird in Phoenix who thought he could park on city streets for days at a time. I dropped the dime..police were there in 10 minutes and he was gone. I also lived in a rural county in Arizona..mobile homes are restricted to trailer parks. There was a lady with a semitrailer in her driveway for months. I called zoning they sent her a verified letter who h she ignored, then the Sheriff served her early one Sunday morning. A realtor, no less. I recall when they wouldn't allow the new Pizza Hut in Springfield to have a red roof....of course there was a strip club across the street, but still, zoning is strict in Nova, and you would likely last hours; not days on private property.
I suppose. Of course there are different laws in NOVA than there are in Arizona.
So, while wholeheartedly irrelevant, your answer is correct.
What do you suppose actual wealthy people who own RVs in addition to their homes do? Where do they store them? There must be an answer to that, and I bet it doesn't include getting served by Sheriffs constantly, or getting a ticket every day.
I suppose. Of course there are different laws in NOVA than there are in Arizona.
So, while wholeheartedly irrelevant, your answer is correct.
What do you suppose actual wealthy people who own RVs in addition to their homes do? Where do they store them? There must be an answer to that, and I bet it doesn't include getting served by Sheriffs constantly, or getting a ticket every day.
Whew, really gotta walk these people through it.
Two minor points:
Realtors are frequently out of the office. They're showing houses, they're writing and presenting contracts and attending settlements. Could also be that he takes Wednesday off since they frequently work evenings and weekends.
Many self-storage units are used to park RVs, boats, trailers etc. because most HOAs in this area do not permit parking them on the street or extended time in driveways.
I'm trying my best not to offend you, but since you are seemingly hellbent on being offended, fine. I was actually complimenting your dedication, but if you want to call yourself a part of the rat race, also fine. Which by the way, that is some rattitude you got there.
No, hustle does not mean rat race. But, you sould understand for your own good that all of that driving back and forth, buying multiple houses within 17 years, that's normalized--here. That is not normal in other places. Its just not. That's crazy. This may come as a shock to you, but people do in fact work and live outside of this bubble of income that is NOVA. And in those places, no, it is not acceptable to drive an hour out to work. In those places, its not normal to buy a house every 5-7 years. Its just not.
So, I'm coming here from a different area, and I'm keeping my head on straight about what exactly I'm willing to "be patient" about. And I have decided (unlike you--say whaaaat?!) that working here is not for me. When was the last time you passed by a record store? When was the last time you saw an independent book shop? These are things that I appreciate, and like. Couple that fact with the idea that I'm not willing to sacrifice literally hours of my day sitting polluting the air for an area that I despise anyway, and all of a sudden, all this great opportunity and all that doesn't look so shiny to me. Oh, and also, everyone's attitudes here are dog eat dog. Not interested. Over it.
Get off your high horse. I'm just not understanding where this whole "holier than thou" thing comes from with you, but you're entitled to do all the moving and shaking you want. I'm just saying, FOR ME, (get that thru your head, please) that this area with all of its expectations and normalized crazy things, is not worth the amount of limited joy that I get out of this area. Barf. I definitely don't want what you have. Don't get it twisted.
(Sigh)
For one, I was not offended. I am still not offended. You seemed offended in your second post (#7 of the thread). I also did not call myself part of the rat race. I asked if that's what you meant by "a lot of hustle". I understand now that you meant dedication and for that, I thank you. You don't have the willingness to be dedicated toward something other than not working and that's your choice, but I can honestly say we are some of the last people most would consider "movers" or "shakers" and we are definitely not "dog eat dog". I have never driven an hour to work. Have I stopped by a record store or an independent book shop? No. But, I have recently taken a stroll around the grounds of Mount Vernon and gone to the gym at 11 a.m. on a weekday. I have also taken a drive out to a winery, gone to a local art exhibit and hosted a pot-luck for people in the neighborhood. To each his own.
Of course I realize not everyone lives inside a "bubble of income". After all you're talking to an elementary school teacher here. I do however think it is not unusual for somebody to "move up" over the years when housing is concerned. Apartment to a condo/town home to a SFH is not unusual. It's been done that way for ages in all areas. I grew up in the midwest. That concept is not unheard of. I do think generational differences exist and younger people today expect more at an earlier age.
I guess the problem is I don't quite understand what you do want. What is your age and what would you expect under "normal" circumstances? I'm not asking this from a high horse or with a holier than thou attitude, but rather as a genuine question. On one hand you write that nothing is normal here and then on the other you say you are "just over what the conventional thing to do is". You seem to focus on exaggerated examples or outliers that back your complaints (47 year olds with roommates, commutes from Thornburg, $800,000 homes and everyone making $125,000 + in order to have a decent standard of living).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
