Salaries and Housing in NOVA (Arlington, Alexandria: wood floors, best cities, condo)

[Denton56]

The county is driving people out of the market? how does a county do that? It's all supply and demand. That's what drives prices up, or down. I am sure you could by a mansion in the middle of Iowa for $500,000 because there is NO demand, no one wants to live there.

If you are upset at the price of houses here, blame it on the number of people who want to live here.

[ChristineVA]

I think it's important to remember that your first purchase is not always going to be the house that you want or the location that you want. That beautiful result often comes on your second or third home as you build equity. I know that my ultimate goal is to get into Fairfax County. I had to start in PG County, Maryland, then moved to Woodbridge. I tried to get into Fairfax County on my second move but it was still about 20,000-30,000 out of my reach/comfort zone. In hindsight, I should have sucked it up and I would have been okay, but I didn't know that at the time. My combined income is around $200,000, I have lots of equity in my home, and even in this market, I'm still finding Fairfax County to be a stretch.

[05c6400]

Originally Posted by Denton56

The county is driving people out of the market? how does a county do that? It's all supply and demand. That's what drives prices up, or down. I am sure you could by a mansion in the middle of Iowa for $500,000 because there is NO demand, no one wants to live there.

If you are upset at the price of houses here, blame it on the number of people who want to live here.

Just like the City of Alexandria got rid most of the low income housing on the north side of old town.

[ateo]

Median income for a man in Fairfax county is $60,000.

Median income for a woman in Fairfax county is about $40,000.

No, most people cannot afford to own in this county.

Personally, I feel underpaid given the extreme costs of this area and am looking to negotiate a better deal shortly.

[MKing]

Originally Posted by tankdude

Aldie is west of Dulles Airport. Sort of halfway between Leesburg and Haymarket.

Thanks Tankdude.

[MKing]

Originally Posted by wickednoodle

Thanks! Aldie is considered a village, located about six miles before Middleburg on the 50. I'm not sure how far it is from DC, but my husband works in McLean and it takes him about 45 minutes in the morning and an hour at night. Aldie Elementary is in the top thirty elementary schools in the state, another reason we chose to live here. It's very sleepy with a lot of farms around, yet we're only a few miles from grocery shopping, etc. And with Middleburg just six miles away (a very quaint, historic town worth checking out on a nice weekend day), we find we have enough to keep us busy - at least for now!

Sound lovely! We have been out to Middleburg for a day of antiquing a few times and it is very nice out there!

[MKing]

Originally Posted by 05c6400

Just like the City of Alexandria got rid most of the low income housing on the north side of old town.

Really? That is interesting to hear. We just moved to Old Town, (North West side) and from our condo to the Braddock metro there seems to be a lot of public housing, streets and streets of it.

I had always heard the South East side was the place to be in Old Town and it is very nice with all the amazing townhouses, some of them huge historic ones that just make my heart sing! But our Realtor said there is a lot of section 8 housing in the South East Quadrant as well, people just assume there isn't because it doesn't have that "public housing" look. I also heard that the newer Chatham Village was able to be built as long as there was section 8 housing made available there, I heard, (please mind this is just what we were told by our Realtor), that 52 townhomes had to be low income housing in Chatham Village.

[kevinm]

Originally Posted by MKing

Sound lovely! We have been out to Middleburg for a day of antiquing a few times and it is very nice out there!

You passed right through Aldie if you went to Middleburg. There is an old mill right next to the road (Rt 50).

[athousandlogins]

I am a SAHM. My husband makes over 100K (though nowhere near close to 200K) and we cannot afford to buy in Fairfax County. Hell, we can barely afford to rent here

We had virtually the same income when we lived in Nebraska, and we had a *gorgeous* 3 bedroom SFH with all the bells and whistles.

But you know, we like living here a LOT more than we liked living in Nebraska. Other than the bad commute, which my husband avoids by taking Metro, it's overall a pretty nice place to live. It's vibrant. Nebraska was dull. This is the tradeoff, you know?


Most of my SAHM friends live in Centreville, Manassas, places out that way. Generally, they can afford townhouses on one income, but not SFHs. None of their husbands bring home a ton of money, nobody's a doctor or a lawyer. But the husbands do have these crazy commutes to work.

So yeah. People in NoVA who aren't super wealthy have to choose between excessive commutes, or simply never being able to buy. Is it fair? No, not really, but that's life. As long as there are hordes of double-income families willing to pay 500K+, even for mediocre housing, it's not going to change.

[ateo]

I would gladly give up the "vibrant" D.C. area lifestyle for a similar income out in Nebraska or just about anywhere else in the Mid-West.

You can keep your yuppies and 20 dollar cheese burgers and I'll live on 5 acres with some dogs.