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Bethesda has a high concentration of powerful and well-paid professionals. Lawyers, physicians, foreign diplomats, business execs, government executives, and even tenured college professors drive up the cost of living for everyone. Bethesda doesn't bother me.
What bothers me is that neighborhoods in DC were once inhabited by middle and working class families are being transformed into a yuppie theme park from Hell all in the name of the mighty dollar.
If you have a neighborhood where the median income is say $35,000 per year, housing prices are going to remain stable in that neighborhood. If an "urban pioneer" who happens to be a six-figure corporate attorney moves into the neighborhood, the balance gets upset. He has the disposable income to remodel the house and make the property the most attractive on the block. The real estate assessment for that property goes UP. Well, the poorer neighbors who don't have the big bucks to add a porch see their assessments increase as well.
If the corporate lawyer decides to sell his property, his asking price will be considerably higher than the original purchase price done like 5 years ago. He makes a KILLING with the profit margin when he sells to another high-income buyer. Meanwhile, the poorer neighbors are stuck with high tax assessments and new stores catering to a wealthier clientele. Affordability becomes a serious issue. The poorer DC residents have NO CHOICE but to sell their property. Only...they don't make a huge KILL with the property sale like the gentrifying lawyer. Those sellers tend to settle in Prince Georges County where prices are still reasonable but crime rates are growing at an alarming rate.
This is why I have always favored government intervention against gentrification because all it takes is one wealthy person to transform a working class neighborhood into something better and nightmarish at the same time.
A working class family cannot be expected to purchase a house in an exclusive Chevy Chase neighborhood at a fraction of the sale price while the six-figure professionals can raid poorer neighborhoods with deep pockets and drive up the cost of living for EVERYBODY. This is incredibly unfair on a cultural and economic level.
So yes...the filthy greed stinks from Logan Circle to Takoma Park and backwards again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheJetSet
To the original poster... NO NO and if that wasn't clear a BIG FAT NO! Don't know how much more clear it can get. The median salary for the City of D.C. is only $54,000 and about $68,000 for the region you should at most be paying $1000 - $1200 for a one bedroom fairly new apt after taxes, not these nasty old 1950's - 70's boxes. They went overboard with Cost of Living in D.C. area. Everyone is stretching themselves thin or packing in together like sardines.
Take it from someone whose been here all their life and watched places that haven't changed all the sudden charging ridiculous prices, like a $300K house on University Blvd in Takoma/Langley Park.
Excellent post RestonRunner86. Although I would say that only some parts of the district are valued close to what they're worth. Many parts of D.C. like Columbia Heights, Georgia Ave, NE, SE, SW and even NW are not ready, have not "arrived" and will not if ever with the building boom over. I refuse to pay $400kfor a run down 2bed row house surrounded by illegal immigrants in Columbia Heights. They are simply looking for the greater fool.
The best way to tell that a place has arrived and close to its worth (but nothing is really worth what they're asking in the D.C. area) is the number of employers and office jobs, if it becomes a destination because of that you are far better off buying there than an area existing based off Residential/retail foundation. You also must consider proxmity to the central city, along with location, transit options and uniqueness and history.
The greediness just oozes out of this area now. Like RestonRunner86 said it doesn't matter how far out you go, your cost of living doesn't really decrease much unlike other metro areas but it wasn't always this way.
I was surprised going all the way out to Frederick County by Monocay river that homes were still starting at $500K. It just didn't make any sense. I remember an artist rendition of a map of Montgomery County labeling all the areas as Bethesda because everybody was charging Bethesda prices for homes whether Germantown or Olney.
And what peeves me the most is that the places that have not carried their weight and lived up to the hype are charging unjustifiable prices. For example I do not understand why the Maryland side and Montgomery County in particular has a median home price greater than Fairfax County. They have not gained close to the number of jobs Fairfax has in the last ten years and couldn't gain a major employer the entire county council offered themselves as an ass slave to the next largest employer that comes knocking on the regional door.
Not only that but its worst because Montgomery is actually loosing large employers like Chevy Chase bank and CoStar (the later to D.C. for crying out loud). Downtown Bethesda is now an office ghost town with thousands of square feet sitting empty. Are Bethesda prices still justified? The companies are what made Bethesda a destination but now why pay $2 million for a home in Bethesda when I can get one for $500k in Silver Spring (which is still high) a place that actually has larger employers in its downtown now?
The counties are just not distinct enough to justify the prices they charge. They all leach off "proximity to D.C." but what exactly do they offer themselves? Save for a few urban nodes that don't have a dead night life now that they've been killed by the County governments. And please drop the "schools are so great" BS, if they were so great graduates would stick around and start large home grown companies left and right. A lot of people just leave cause its such a snooze fest around here and the governments don't take pride and are not pro business (at least in Maryland).
It just seems like everything is priced to peak around here, even if I had the money I wouldn't feel like I got my money's worth at all. At best I would feel like I paid MSRP and with no equity. The only place I would say is undervalued is Prince George's County.
I guess paying $1500 to $2000 for a one bed in Silver Spring is better than paying $3000K+ for a 1 bed on Capital hill in D.C. its all relative I guess.
If you are just starting out your career do not come to D.C.!
Bethesda has a high concentration of powerful and well-paid professionals. Lawyers, physicians, foreign diplomats, business execs, government executives, and even tenured college professors drive up the cost of living for everyone. Bethesda doesn't bother me.
What bothers me is that neighborhoods in DC were once inhabited by middle and working class families are being transformed into a yuppie theme park from Hell all in the name of the mighty dollar.
If you have a neighborhood where the median income is say $35,000 per year, housing prices are going to remain stable in that neighborhood. If an "urban pioneer" who happens to be a six-figure corporate attorney moves into the neighborhood, the balance gets upset. He has the disposable income to remodel the house and make the property the most attractive on the block. The real estate assessment for that property goes UP. Well, the poorer neighbors who don't have the big bucks to add a porch see their assessments increase as well.
If the corporate lawyer decides to sell his property, his asking price will be considerably higher than the original purchase price done like 5 years ago. He makes a KILLING with the profit margin when he sells to another high-income buyer. Meanwhile, the poorer neighbors are stuck with high tax assessments and new stores catering to a wealthier clientele. Affordability becomes a serious issue. The poorer DC residents have NO CHOICE but to sell their property. Only...they don't make a huge KILL with the property sale like the gentrifying lawyer. Those sellers tend to settle in Prince Georges County where prices are still reasonable but crime rates are growing at an alarming rate.
This is why I have always favored government intervention against gentrification because all it takes is one wealthy person to transform a working class neighborhood into something better and nightmarish at the same time.
A working class family cannot be expected to purchase a house in an exclusive Chevy Chase neighborhood at a fraction of the sale price while the six-figure professionals can raid poorer neighborhoods with deep pockets and drive up the cost of living for EVERYBODY. This is incredibly unfair on a cultural and economic level.
So yes...the filthy greed stinks from Logan Circle to Takoma Park and backwards again.
You had me until the part in bold, how do you figure post some homicide stats?
And the point about Bethesda is that the companies are why all those high paid execs are there. What do you think they're all doing there? Once those companies are gone, think they'll stick around?
What bothers me is that neighborhoods in DC were once inhabited by middle and working class families are being transformed into a yuppie theme park from Hell all in the name of the mighty dollar.
.
The real problem is not the yuppies, the problem is that neighborhoods are being portrayed as safe, when they're not.
Bethesda has a high concentration of powerful and well-paid professionals. Lawyers, physicians, foreign diplomats, business execs, government executives, and even tenured college professors drive up the cost of living for everyone. Bethesda doesn't bother me.
What bothers me is that neighborhoods in DC were once inhabited by middle and working class families are being transformed into a yuppie theme park from Hell all in the name of the mighty dollar.
The people in those neighborhoods who decide to sell are the people you should complain to. When I bought my house East of Rock Creek Park twenty years ago, I wanted to buy it for the lowest price possible. Unfortunately the family who have lived in the house since the sixties felt differently about the issue. You can't believe the gall, they wanted the highest price possible for the house.
I'm not quite sure why it's the government's responsibility to set retail prices in a housing market. And I'm not sure how well any government agency would do at setting those prices. I do know that the revitalization of U street and Georgia Avenue takes money and that money isn't going to be spent unless people have an opportunity to make a profit. For every "yuppie" paying $600,000 for a townhouse in Petworth, there is a poor black widow putting $600,000 in the bank. If you try to stop her from making the sale, she will stomp you into a wet spot on the ground.
I meant the DC region. The population growth rates in outer counties like Loudoun, Prince William in VA and Howard County were pretty high.
The 'DC region' has only increased by slightly over 1%/year since 2000. That's not a surge. In fact, that's on par with the national average.
I'm not arguing that the area doesn't ebb and flow with the federal government and related private service sectors to some degree, however there simply is not the strong correlation between federal spending and a DC gold rush that you are suggesting.
Yep. Culturally speaking, what am I lacking in DC that Boston and San Francisco have?
Please, do share.
Speaking of which, how's that cultural scene in Orlando?
Clearly you haven't ridden the "It's a Small World" ride. Cultures from around the world are represented! It's like being in a real city right there in the heart of Orlando!
The 'DC region' has only increased by slightly over 1%/year since 2000. That's not a surge. In fact, that's on par with the national average.
I'm not arguing that the area doesn't ebb and flow with the federal government and related private service sectors to some degree, however there simply is not the strong correlation between federal spending and a DC gold rush that you are suggesting.
There's actually no such thing as the DC region, there is a Washington Metropolitan area. DC is the District of Columbia.
I find the Federal government plays a decreasing role in the areas job mix. From biotech through electronics/Internet this area is increasingly private sector focused. That's part of what drives the affluence. Federal employees and Federal contractor make decent livings, but few are buying million dollar homes.
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