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The Cleaner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:33 AM
Original message
70-90K Salary: In DC, Too Much to Qualify for Assistance, Too Little to Afford to Buy a Home >
Outrageous!!


Coletta said he was influenced by the performance of Fairfield's condo projects in Fair Oaks, Herndon and Germantown.

"All are doing fine, but we've clearly see fatigue on the part of the consumer," Coletta said. "Traffic has dropped off, contracts have slowly declined. You see the writing on the wall at the same time apartment fundamentals are improving. It makes the business decision a pretty easy one."

Instead of converting the Virginia Commons complex in Dumfries into condos, its owners have decided to spend "several million dollars" upgrading the place and renting it to people who make $70,000 to $90,000 a year -- too much to qualify for housing assistance but too little to be able to afford to buy a home.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400969_2.html
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soothsayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:34 AM
Response to Original message
1. Yep, I'm one of 'em
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The Cleaner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Yep - that's why we don't live in DC anymore!!
Saw the bubble coming in all the way back in 2001. Insane overbidding for homes, etc. Then we rented and those started going up too. Now for rent in DC you could own a house for less in many parts of the country (well, so long as their job market is stable and wages are adequate...)
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YOY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. So am I...Arlington Actually
Freaking sucks. Caught between a rock and a hard place. Thinking of moving to Annapolis or Odenton in MD though. Cathing the train for commute, but I can at least put a roof over my family's heads.
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The Cleaner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:58 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. That's part of the reason we moved out of state - long commutes to the suburbs for affordability.
Then you have to deal w/Beltway traffic for hours on end - rock and a hard place is very apropos indeed.

Annapolis is beautiful but oh, the commute!

Liked Columbia, MD, longer commute but around/inside the beltway is way too expensive now (it was too expensive even then). Would love to live in Alexandria on the water front but then again, I am not a rich man with oogles of cash.
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YOY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:06 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. I work for a the Railroad (the AMerican one that moves on the TRAcK)
I can commute if I can reach the station for free (talk about perks...) Wilmingon is looking like a good option...or even around BWI. If I can get to the train station, I can take a 45 minutes Acela for free (providing it's not booked)...I've been toying with the idea for a while. The MARC out of Odenton isn't too bad either...but I would have to pay.

A collegue mentioned Annapolis and she gets here in 45 minutes (she lives before the bridges)...of course she leaves at 5 am...
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MyNameGoesHere Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:44 AM
Response to Reply #3
11. Odenton is nice.
My commute sucks all the way on public trans to Tysons. MARC to Metro to FFX Connector. yuck.
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soothsayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 02:54 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. I'm actually Arlington, too, renting my GF's house that I wouldn't have bought for $270k
much less the dumb $540k or whatever it would command today. Seriously, not even a dishwasher in the thing.
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YOY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 02:57 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. One of those little former-military houses in South Arlington?
Edited on Mon Oct-15-07 02:57 PM by YOY
That's what we rent. 2 Beds, 1 Bath Duplex. $300,000 if we wanted to buy. Tiny kitchen too.

Sigh...
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soothsayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:54 PM
Response to Reply #14
17. nope, but the same little brick saltbox in N. Arlington
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Maine-ah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 08:11 AM
Response to Reply #14
21. you have any idea what 300k could get you in Maine?
a really nice place on the water with some land too.
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YOY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 09:39 AM
Response to Reply #21
26. Yeah, but could I find work in Maine?
Edited on Tue Oct-16-07 09:40 AM by YOY
Live in a major urban center with large amounts of culture and ready amounts of public transportataion? We drive once a week to go shopping or go on day trips to see the sites around the city.

Not to dis Maine, but Bangor is hardly a thriving hub of metropolitan life. Hell, I would have stayed in Cleveland if I could have found work there...and that ain't saying much.
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TahitiNut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:06 AM
Response to Original message
5. Yep. My friend in Oakton (Fairfax County) works on K Street at $94K and rents.
In order to get a mortgage, she has to get seller pay down and buy mortgage insurance. It's a hideous market ... 'average' housing at around $350K. The old rule of thumb is 2.5 times annual salary. That places anything costing more than $250K out of reach of anyone earning less than $100K.

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Sammy Pepys Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 08:34 AM
Response to Reply #5
25. "anything costing more than $250K out of reach of anyone earning less than $100K."
Not at all.
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TahitiNut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 11:24 AM
Response to Reply #25
27. Is this the Argument Clinic? (Did I enter the wrong door again?)
Edited on Tue Oct-16-07 11:27 AM by TahitiNut
:rofl: :rofl:
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sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:23 AM
Response to Original message
7. What about $30-70,000?
They don't qualify for housing assistance either. They do, however, qualify for a low income home program, except their income isn't enough to qualify for the monthly payment. And they don't make enough to easily pay rent and health insurance and child care either. There's also a whole lot more of them than these upper 20% folks. Why is every economic article around here about the struggling upper class. The other day it was the sad sad millionaires, now this. :crazy:
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hfojvt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 03:04 PM
Response to Reply #7
15. I also wonder if there really is more affordable housing
but that it is all in neighborhoods that are not very safe. And most of the residents of DC live in those neighborhoods.
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chaska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 03:32 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. AMEN! We've forgotten the definition of Democrat. Even here!
Fuck the rich!
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Virginia Dare Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #7
23. Those are the community support personnel making that money..
when the teachers and the law enforcement personnel can't afford to live in the community something is extremely screwed up.
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lovuian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:27 AM
Response to Original message
8. if they want people to buy then wages is going to have to go up
if no wages no buy

thats why a recession is happening the consumer can't consume
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LiberalEsto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:29 AM
Response to Original message
9. We couldn't afford our own house today
We live near the Shady Grove Metro, in Derwood, MD. It's a small rambler, about 1,200 sq.ft., with one carport. Nothing fancy, small rooms, built in 1967. Bought it in 1998 for about $192,000;at best it would fetch $440,000 today. There is no way on earth we could afford to buy it today, even with the equity we have.

I worry about whether my kids, age 24 and 20, will ever be able to buy houses.
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. Ditto. . I expect my boys to live here until I die...
Our little 2 bedroom house (bought125k in early '90s) is next door to an identical little 2 bedroom house that just went for 350k. My 18 & 21 year old will be hard pressed to find a place to live around here.

The only possibility is that so many overbuilt houses will remain vacant for so long that they might be broken up into apartments.. That might keep my kids in town.
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DaveJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 12:14 PM
Response to Original message
12. And don't expect the government to help
When they barely care about our inability to buy health care, I'm sure our inability to afford housing is nonexistant. It's messed up.
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whoneedstickets Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:57 PM
Response to Original message
18. Question: Why isn't gentrification occuring?
..I've visited DC, I know there are part of town where older row houses could be bought cheap. Right now you wouldn't want to walk in them at night, but I can't understand all that commuting.
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YOY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 08:08 AM
Response to Reply #18
20. It has in some neighborhoods
Also remember some neighborhoods are feircely proudly African American and won't sell. If I owned one of those houses I would be wont to sell as well...it's a community thing.

Also remember that the schools in some of those neighborhoods are terrible.

Most of those whove relocated to those neighborhoods that I know are folks without kids and people with older kids that are in college. I wouldn't want to raise my daughter there...sorry but there are still crackhouses and shooting galleries in some neighborhoods.

Supposedly Fenty is working on the schools. We'll see if he can do a NYC on the school system.
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-15-07 10:57 PM
Response to Original message
19. Sounds like SoCal as well.
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Virginia Dare Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 08:14 AM
Response to Original message
22. It is insanity here..
I live in a very modest 50 year old split level (no garage) just outside the beltway, and homes were going for $500,000 and up on average in my neighborhood. It doesn't take a genius to realize something's not right.
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Sammy Pepys Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-16-07 08:32 AM
Response to Original message
24. I'd reckon that....
$70K to $90k may not be enough to afford a home in a tony, desirable neighborhood that everyone wants to live in (like Georgetown or Old Town Alexandria or Great Falls), but it is very possible to own a home in the area making that much. My wife and I are doing it right now, and we actually don't live that far from some of the more popular neighborhoods in D.C.
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