Frustrated home buyer in NoVA--will I ever find anything?

[anonymous703]

Originally Posted by wsamon

I'm a programming geek for a living (among other things). I think most people, at least younger ones, are "house rich and cash poor."

I think one thing that leads to that and sort of ties in with the reply I made to pcity, is again, the taxes angle. I got married last year, and the difference between my income tax bill as a single and then married was significant. (My wife doesn't work yet. The change in the tax bill was solely from switching filing status.) We're talking roughly $400/mo over the course of the year.

Well, one thing we have to examine is whether or not that 2.5x multiplier even makes sense. I suppose it does, but it is a little limiting. That would mean that someone making $40k / year could only buy a $100k house. It's pretty hard to find a quality one of those even out in the smaller towns, etc., though it can be done.

Well, is a family on a $40k/year income really looking to buy much around here? When I got out of college several years ago, I was making $30k, and I could only afford to rent rooms in people's houses.

My company's private sector too, and unfortunately they don't pay well at all Sadly, I could probably move to the government and make more money than I'm making now. Unfortunately, I'd probably have to shoot myself from boredom if I did that since most gov jobs have significant down time and don't let you user the majority of the internet.

My company bid on two huge contracts that we're likely to win. If we do, we'll be on a massive hiring spree. DM me if you might be interesting in switching.

agreed, but I think a lot of the houses were purchased before the housing boom that really hit the DC area in the early 2000s (I think that's when it was).

That's a valid point. I also wonder with this student loan "crisis" we have, how that will trickle down into housing prices. I borrowed a princely sum for undergrad and grad school, and my student loan payments will take about $600-$650/mo for the next 10 years or so. That's money that "could" be going into a house, but can't right now.

[Yankeesfan]

Originally Posted by AnjiSmith

Where is BASS101 looking, may I ask?

Good point, we've gone to eight pages without knowing the OP's price range or where she's looking! Not that it hasn't been an interesting discussion along the way ...

[Tish Thompson]

Doesn't it stink? I definitely feel your pain

Originally Posted by Bass101

My hubby and I have been house hunting in NoVa since September. We have not found anything that we've liked. We check the MLS several times a day, go to open houses a lot, and see houses with our realtor. Every house seems to have some major flaw. It's either a great house on a terrible yard, or a terrible house on a great yard, right on a busy road or right next to the freeway, or some other dealbreaker. Most of the houses we're interested in are also very overpriced, yet the owners won't come down, even though the comps show that their house is overpriced.

We were hoping that the spring selling season would bring more possibilities, but actually we're finding this spring selling season kind of slow. It seemed like tons of houses came on the market in January, but that Feb. and March have been slow. There just isn't much inventory right now.

I'm hoping we'll find something soon!

[JD984]

Story in Wall Street Journal this morning reported what's been said on this forum for a while - which is that it can be hard to find homes in some parts of NoVa where people like to look for below $900, but that there's plenty of inventory over $1M.

Having said that, it does seem like more homes between $700-900K have been hitting the market in places like Vienna and Oakton recently (i.e., spring is finally here). I'm curious as to whether some of the posters who repeatedly expressed frustration a while back are now coming across more homes that they actually could see themselves living in.

[Guamanians]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Story in Wall Street Journal this morning reported what's been said on this forum for a while - which is that it can be hard to find homes in some parts of NoVa where people like to look for below $900, but that there's plenty of inventory over $1M.

Having said that, it does seem like more homes between $700-900K have been hitting the market in places like Vienna and Oakton recently (i.e., spring is finally here). I'm curious as to whether some of the posters who repeatedly expressed frustration a while back are now coming across more homes that they actually could see themselves living in.

$700K is still more than the average person can afford! Most of us want (i.e need) affordable housing, not an investment property or a huge estate. We need to get away from the extravagant spending in this country. If I was an ordinary customer and my real estate agent started giving me these quotes I would fire him and look for a house myself.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Guamanians

$700K is still more than the average person can afford! Most of us want (i.e need) affordable housing, not an investment property or a huge estate. We need to get away from the extravagant spending in this country. If I was an ordinary customer and my real estate agent started giving me these quotes I would fire him and look for a house myself.

Understood, but there are lots of people looking in this area with above-average incomes (or at least expectations), and they were expressing frustration recently with the available inventory in the $700-900K range. It doesn't mean others could or should also be looking at those properties.

[Guamanians]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Understood, but there are lots of people looking in this area with above-average incomes (or at least expectations), and they were expressing frustration recently with the available inventory in the $700-900K range. It doesn't mean others could or should also be looking at those properties.

Roger that
I've been following the real estate trend lately, and it is really interesting to watch it unfold. If I were in the market for a home I would be frustrated too Based on my observations & experiences, I would advise people to keep it simple & affordable as opposed to expensive & extravagant. And, also to look for a place close to where you work. I'd rather pay less for a smaller place close to work than be house poor and have road rage 5 days a week... and, if everything is too expensive, then you should rent