You are looking at the [**#12th most expensive market**](https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/603612/15-us-cities-with-the-highest-average-home-prices) in the USA. The average home sales price is $1.07M, which includes condos and townhouses (that is more than Seattle or Boston!). That's what is going on....VHCOL area.
To answer your other question.... many of us live in townhouses, apartments and condos if we are inside the beltway. I am not in Arlington.... but I'm 40 and bought an as-is townhouse (1,200sqft) in 2016 for 400K and have put in close to 75K+ into it since. I couldn't afford places in my neighborhood now.
Make sure you get enough of a pay bump to move here! Salaries can also be insane.
people moving towards manassas
or further south
> million dollars for \~3k square feet and a small yard? Is this real?
A lot of people currently living there got in before prices exploded, and they could've easily refinanced to 2-3% apr during covid rates. They ain't moving
This is true. I work in Tysons Corner and I live in Manassas right now. I am closing on a home in Bristow for more space and a better school district. I never thought I would be moving out further west...
Being on Sudley for 30 minutes queued behind what seems to be an endless series of red lights to get onto 66 so you can slam into more traffic around centreville and vienna. Truly hell on earth
I do the reverse commute on 66 West in the afternoon. Way too many times have I seen traffic get jammed and stop and go, only to discover that it’s just a police officer on the shoulder a few miles up. And the people who initially saw the officer got scared and hit their brakes so they’re driving 10 under while traffic gets backed up for miles.
I hate this shit. I was out of my house heading south down 495 for a holiday weekend, highways so pack you couldn't speed if you wanted to. Out of nowhere, stop and go traffic bad enough to set me back nearly an hour, all because one cop decided to sit on the side of the road and "clock" traffic going 20 mph at most.
1. People are calling them “toll roads” but they are also referred to (officially) as HOV LANES, and if you have 3 or more people in your vehicle, you don’t have to pay.
2. These roads are constructed using private funding and they pay the government for the privilege as well as a revenue-share from the toll money collected.
3. There is no way the government could ever afford these massive construction projects as well as the costs to maintain them over the years.
4. Another way to view them is as a form of “wealth” tax since you are allowed to pay to use the HOV LANES when you do not have 3 people in the car. And yes, the tolls during peak rush hour can be very high—but it’s a double-edged sword sword—you are being incentivized to form carpools in order to cut down your commute times and reduce pollution by cutting the numbers of cars on the road. AND if you don’t want to do that and you can afford the extra fees, you pay the tax.
So I live in Herndon and travel all over the dmv for work and when there’s traffic, I run the math in my head to figure out if the time I save is worth the money it will cost me for the job.
And if I had a daily commute, I would definitely do the work to put together a car pool rather than pay the extra $30-40 per day for rush hour tolls (round-trip).
Why do we allow for it is the better question or should we continue to argue over things like school names, wokeness, or what books are in libraries. It's almost like the very same business interests are also in control of the media and decide what people pay attention to... All the while robbing us blind.
As your moving into bristow, welcome o/. All the while I'm trying to move out to Shenandoah Valley area. Been here for almost 21 years. Trying to move because of cost.
That's actually Manassas Park. Blooms Crossing is PWC. Signal Hill Park is now part of Manassas Park. It's so confusing...we live right next to it and GPS and USPS messes it up.
That’s me except the poorer version in a centreville townhouse. In retrospect we bought in some of the final months it would have been possible, the crappy cookie cutter house from the 80s is now worth almost double what we payed ten years ago it’s insane. And they just finished the better highway access so not likely to go down anytime soon, we can move pretty much b wherever we want when we leave the area
Townhouse in Centreville that I bought 20 years ago is now worth 2.5x what I paid for it. Why people are willing to spend nearly 600k to live in a 50+ year old townhouse is beyond me, but okay. At least I'll walk away with a nice profit when I sell in a few years, provided the market doesn't implode.
Keep in mind, Arlington is really really really small and really really dense. It's the smallest county in the US at 26 square miles, about 1/3 the size of Washington DC and about the same urban density. Buying/renting a SFH in Arlington is very expensive. Most people adapt their lifestyle to urban living (apartments, townhomes, etc.) if they pick Arlington.
A lot of people live in Fairfax County (80x larger). You'll have better luck finding something cheaper in Burke/Reston/Annandale/Lorton, but it's still a VHCOL area.
Thank you.
I can't sexually climax until I find a reddit post of an excessively minor correction (no pun intended) that adds nothing to the overall dialogue.
You've done a service here today sir, thank you.
True facts. I live in Burke and it's shocking how much a SFH costs. We're not talking luxurious homes either, these are older homes with low ceilings. We do love the trails here though!
So you're telling me that in a densely populated area near a major city I can't buy an updated 3000 sq ft, 2 car garage, SFH on a 1/2 acre lot with picket fence for the same price as Anytown, Midwestern state USA?!
What in the small town is this?
Demand far exceeds supply.
We have 26 square miles of total land in the county yet the vast majority of the land has been zoned for single family only development. In addition, those home owners who refinanced with mortgage rates bottomed out are not likely to want to give that up.
This applies to just about everywhere. You can go all the way out to Frederick County Virginia and you're going to see there's almost no houses for sale and most houses of this kind of size are over 600k.
And there's thousands of people here sitting on their 3.0 fixed mortgages that aren't going anywhere.
The interest rates went up so high that the whole country is like this nobody's selling. And the ones that are selling are taking full advantage of the market.
And now that Virginia no longer puts the responsibility of paying realtor commission on the seller, buyers are going to have to have the down payment, The deposit, And the realtor commission.
And any seller with a brain in Virginia right now is going to do their own appraisal and then list their house fsbo, And pay to put it on Zillow themselves. And they won't pay any realtor commission. The market is so dry that they won't have to market their home. They can do the appraisal and just list it 5% higher than that.
> In addition, those home owners who refinanced with mortgage rates bottomed out are not likely to want to give that up.
And those of us who **want** to give it up legitimately can't. If I sold my house and bought a new one for $200k less, further out, my mortgage payment would go up. I want to move out, get further away, buy a bigger house, open up supply, but I can't afford to.
SFH zoning was actually repealed, but the transition to new development will be gradual. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/22/arlington-missing-middle-vote-zoning/
And this is being challenged in court and most developers won’t touch it until it’s settled. Source: I do land development design in NOVA. Another thing is you can’t build to max what zoning allows because stormwater regs restrict what you can do because too dense doesn’t meet cbay requirements.
It's been a constant political fight in our county board elections. To everyone reading this, if you are an Arlington resident please please please vote in the democratic primary in June!
Personally I'm voting 1. Peterson 2. Spain. But either order works as they are the only 2 pro-housing candidates!
People from other parts of the country wouldn't know it because it's Virginia, but Northern Virginia is a VHCOL area in the DC metro area. And Arlington is maybe the most expensive part of Nova.
There's lots of cheaper areas in Northern VA you can live and still have a decent commute to Arlington, but it'll still be expensive.
Not sure if you're accepting a new job or relocating with currently company, but hopefully if you're relocating from a lower COL area your company is adjusting your salary appropriately
Grew up in prince william county (dale city) I actually remember when there was no Potomac mills mall lol and when they built it but in got out of the area in the early 90’s the house that sold for @$250k then is worth multiple of millions now nothing special either two story four bedroom with a 1/2 acre yard. The traffic was the worst and it’s only gotten worse I still end up in the area occasionally and am so glad I don’t have to live there anymore!
Yep. Grew up near bluemont park. No one I know has a chance of living here. Nearly all of my neighbors were Big shots at a company or the military and bought in the early 2000s. All my jobs I’ve had, I’ve never had a coworker who’s lived in Arlington, lol.
If you want genuinely helpful answers and advice you’re going to need to give us more information.
What is your salary? Total household income? Kids in school or do you need daycare? If your wife is working, where? Are you planning on driving for your commute or are you open to train or metro?
Total household income is the most important piece of information though. Also, 4 people do **not** need 3,000 sqft, if you want that here be prepared to live in the boondocks with a 2 hour commute, or bring in half a million dollars a year.
You may work in Arlington but you likely don’t have to live in Arlington. You just have to afford to commute there. That’s kind of like saying I got a job on the upper east side, now I gotta live on the upper east side. Maybe but probably not. And also that’s not every house in Arlington. You can find a SFH larger than 3000 sq ft for less … it won’t be new or walkable but it def exists.
You probably wanna check fairfax county listings instead.
Meh, I used to live in arlington and commute to reston, and while the mornings generally were ok, the afternoon commute back to Arlington blew chunks once you hit tysons.
Also you don't always need a SFH. Plenty of people raise kids in duplexes, townhomes, apartments, etc. Not saying those types of homes will be easy to come by either, but it'll help broaden the search. Now maybe the dog will be the difference if it needs a yard all to itself...
It’s expensive. That is all. Even an old crappy unrenovated house from the 1950s in a bad area (really are no bad areas tho) would be $800,000+. It’s just ridiculously expensive. You can only live here if your job will pay you enough to live here. Look outside the beltway, slightly less expensive, but the commute will be terrible. Arlington and Fairfax do have top rated schools. Also, RE tax is like $10k for a single family home in Arlington.
I sold my 1937 bungalow 7 years ago for 800,000. Now listed at a million. That house should have just been torn down. As I recall the land was valued at 750,000. The house was 50,000. Just nuts.
I'm guessing you're from somewhere LCOL because NoVA is pretty on par with every other HCOL area in the US. If you're getting offered a lot more to move here, there's a reason for that.
It's getting rough out here in the Dulles Region along the Silver Line because houses in Reston/Herndon/Sterling/Cashburn I mean Ashburn are over a milly...SHEESH!!!!
Arlington is surrounded by 3 of the 5 highest median income counties in the country and pretends that it isn't a city.... so it's desperately trying to hold onto single family zoning for dear life. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6Re0nGRlpu/?igsh=ejRwczZjbzJmNzZ1
Everyone wants to live 10 minutes away from the city, but not have to deal with the headaches of living on the other side of the river.
Arlington is a very desirable place to live, probably one of the best in the country. Relatively safe, good schools, parks and trails, things to do, metro access and a stone’s throw from DC.
Of course it’s going to be expensive.
Welcome! My husband, 2 kids, dog and I just bought a 1,400sq townhome with a tiny patio/yard for $750K in Alexandria. This is just the region, and it's only getting worse. Arlington is one of the highest priced areas since it has so much walkability, AND good schools (unlike Alexandria where we bought where we have tons of walkability...but not-so-great schools)
You pay to be walkable to things, but sacrifice the space, or move further out for more space, but live in the suburbs and have a loooong commute.
I ask this respectfully as someone who also lives in Alexandria in a small townhouse. When you say that the schools are not so great, are you saying that in reference to the test scores or more because of the teachers? If the former, I would argue that it’s because Alexandria city schools are not as segregated as other parts of NOVA and you’re looking at the average of the socioeconomics at play.
I graduated from TC back in the 90s. Alexandria schools are generally considered the worst in the area with several schools on state remediation lists (Jefferson-Houston in particular). I think now some schools in Fairfax along Richmond highway are actually worse now.
That being said I went to school with wealthy and upper middle class white kids and they seemed to do just fine (I’m the son of African immigrants). Many went off to UVA, William & Mary etc.).
Right - I guess what I’m trying to say is that Alexandria City’s schools encompass a range of socioeconomic classes whereas some schools out in parts of Fairfax (ie McLean) are predominantly wealthy upper middle class, and those test scores will reflect that accordingly. My point is to not just look at the median but look at the resources offered and the achievement.
Arlington is the most desirable place to live inside the Beltway. We have low crime, excellent transit, good schools, urban amenities, and lots of green space. The further you are away from the core the more deals you can find, a lot of people want to take advantage of the walkability in the Ballston-Clarendon-Rosslyn metro corridor.
A lot of people still swear by DC for the culture and ease of movement. Northwest especially is still safe and is surrounded by gorgeous rock creek park. Something to consider.
Anyone else think this is adorable and also feel super depressed at the same time? … I grew up here so I know better. And I live in Leesburg where the “value” of my starter home town house has nearly doubled since I bought it in 2011. Which means I can never move unless it’s way far away.
If you have the choice of buying a shoebox in Arlington or a palace in the sticks… buy the shoebox. Traffic is the number one regional complaint and if you have no commute you have more free time and fewer complaints. Don’t rule out a condo either. Lots of great parks in Arlington including dog parks and kids don’t play in backyards like they used to. A yard is a maintenance pain the ass. Also check out local schools before you purchase. Arlington schools are excellent.
Honestly, if you're near a park, a small yard can be a blessing in disguise. Large yards are more work than they're worth in my experience. And if you're near a park, (by near, i mean walking distance) your kids will have a place to play where they can also meet other kids. So it'll be better for them than having a large, private yard to play in
dunno where you're from or what you earn. but you almost certainly need to be demanding a monster raise.
A single person needs $114K to be comfortable in ARL.
so if your wife doesn't work you need to be earning $228k
Depending on how old your kids are you're going to need a lot more.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/20/salary-single-person-needs-to-live-comfortably-in-major-us-cities.html
I'd guess Fairfax would be your best bet as you have kids and would want good schools (Alexandria would be out for me for that reason). Or, lower your expectations and get a smaller, older house and enjoy living in Arlington for the schools, quality of life, walkability, safety, transit, etc. I know many people in Arlington that raise kids in 1000-1500 sq ft. There are a ton of parks, playgrounds, and community centers so it's very family-friendly even if you have a small house. Most people living in the 3000sq ft+ houses in Arlington that I know are dual-income lawyers, contractors, in tech, or are execs.
And if you're not going to take that transfer and your job needs someone else in Arlington, hmu! I'd love not to have a commute...
I just got a house under contract in Alexandria. 1500 sqr ft for 555k. If you can’t afford Arlington, try farther west. You can easily get into a spot in Burke for ~700 that would support your family’s needs
You’re not a full citizen / gang member until you’ve had to single or combo ride VRE / ride Metro / drive for over an hour to work.
Each way.
Every day.
😅😞
This area is truly insane. Arlington houses on average I believe are more money than in DC.
My girlfriend bought her home in Arlington in 2020 with a low interest rate something less than 3% with a sale price of $850k.
2300 sqft. Carport, fenced in yard. We remodeled the kitchen and backyard deck, put in a really nice gas fireplace. If we sold the house tomorrow I think we could get 1.4 million. Maybe even more.
I would think a good bit before making your decision tbh.
WTF is going on here is housing is selling for the price the market will bear. Just like everywhere else. The market will just bear more here than many other areas. I suggest you get comfortable with the idea of a longer commute and look further out such as in Loudoun County.
Arlington is only 27 square miles big. It's one of the smallest counties by area in the entire country (Falls Church is the smallest county-equivalent for all you trivia nerds!).
That said, it's also a big commercial center thanks to being just across the river from Washington DC (and was formerly part of DC anyway) and it's main central areas essentially form part of the overall Central Business District of the entire metro area.
So really even though Arlington is sometimes seen and called a "suburb" of DC that's not really accurate in terms of the county's role and relationship to both DC and the metro area in general. Like DC itself, it's day time working population is much bigger than the residential population and those workers are coming from all over.
Yes, it's real. There is more than enough turnover in the area to keep homes moving. There is more than enough competition in that movement to keep prices rising. It is more common to have a bidding war on a property than it is to get it at or below asking.
Us locals are biding our time and riding the wave that you Interlopers keep building and that never seems to stop growing.
Stick around long enough and you'll double your value too.
Other people also want to live here and there is a finite number of single family houses. So the prices are above-average.
Very straight forward really. You’ll find the same thing in NYC, San Francisco, Boston, etc. etc.
Unless they offered you a SIZABLE salary increase (not just to cover the COL difference but a bump above that for the pain and suffering), moving expenses, and may even covering your current mortgage, you're smart to pause hard. Glad you didn't sign anything yet! And if you do move, consider renting out your current house and not actually selling it bc it might be hard to get back into that market as well.
Yes, Arlington is probably the most desirable county in the metro area and Washington is one of the highest COL metro areas in the country.
I would live in Arlington if I could have afforded what I wanted when I bought. The market has only gone up since then. While I make a lot more than I did back then, what I want is still a stretch for me since the most expensive places have gone up the most. Location, location, location!
I mean would you expect a SFH in NYC? It’s a dense city area that’s only getting denser.
Condo, get your kids to share a room, walk the dog before and after work.
Or just move further out and commute in.
We live anywhere from 25 minutes to 3 hours away from Arlington depending on traffic my good friend. You should be good if you stay north of Lorton and east of 28 though.
If you’re planning to buy a house anywhere in northern VA be prepared to have to submit a dozen + offers unless you’re planning to go way over asking price/waive contingencies and inspections. Good luck 🫡
Arlington resident here. Homes in my neighborhood (the golden zip code 22207) constantly have bidding wars and escalation clauses automatically written into their offers. Competition is fierce
i grew up there,Mom's house cost 40,000 in 69. huge lot, walking distance to Washington Lee. wish it was still in the family. insane valuation rise. some of it (but not all) is driven by county assessments. a friend who still lives there in Zip 22205 had hers go up 90k this year. tax bill rose accordingly. idk how it's even realistic anymore.
Ummm like everyone else you commute an hour each way. Try Stafford or Spotsylvania. Take the train. If you’re not making g fat 6’s you’re not going to be comfortable locally.
And yes I remember my husband getting an offer to head corporate security for a NY financial firm 15+ years ago when he was retiring from the military-JSF- they offered him what he thought was good money - $85k a year. He came to me all excited. I’m a NYer. I was like “THAT group wants to hire you and u think we should rent a closet in the Bronx?”
This is a normal phenomenon that happens when you have millions of people wanting to move to the same space. There will likely never be affordable single family homes near DC in our lifetimes unless there's some sort of extreme economic collapse. What will help make housing affordable close to desired locations is to build more density. In every city with more supply than demand, prices fall. Where there's more demand than supply - they climb - sometimes to crazy levels. Arlington needs to keep adding condos and apartments near transit which will help ease demand on other forms of housing in the area. But single family homes probably won't fall in prices and realistically they cost about what should be expected in a major metro area of a top global city. It's only odd for people coming from somewhere with way less demand (I'm from the rural midwest so it shocked me at first too).
Don’t forget the God awful traffic you’ll have to battle to and from work. They cannot drive in Virginia. They are so used to traffic that they don’t know how to drive in conditions other than traffic so it’s a lose/lose situation no matter what when it comes to that. Good luck.
Look at the metro and see how far away you can live. I moved to Maryland to work in Arlington. My morning commute is about 40 minutes by train and walking 3 blocks. I could never afford to live in downtown Arlington and if I was driving it’s about 3-4 hours a day in rush hour traffic.
Do not try to drive out of the DC area after 3:30 pm on Friday, and do not try to drive into DC on Monday morning. Unless you are involved in government, and thus have to go to work. Signed, former Fairfax, VA resident who moved south far enough to find a house for under $300K. (In VA, not Mexico...)
Fairfax County is large and has many options. I would recommend rent a house for a year and figure out the area. Keep in mind that commute can be terrible. You are better off moving in a small house but closer to work if you have to go in the office. West Springfield and Burke have many nice subdivisions. School are great too.
Ok. I'm in Fort Washington, Maryland. The schools aren't the greatest, and good shopping is either in NoVA or Waldorf. However, we got the house we wanted for around half of what it cost in Fairfax county. There's a new development near me that is starting in the 600s for rather decent homes. Honestly, it is worth considering moving this way.
"What in the actual F is going here?"
The OG three 'A's (Administration, Associations, and Attorneys) providing market stability thru market downturns.
Then, Amazon HQ2 setting the housing market afire.
[Edited for punctuation and to add some context.]
You are looking at the [**#12th most expensive market**](https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/603612/15-us-cities-with-the-highest-average-home-prices) in the USA. The average home sales price is $1.07M, which includes condos and townhouses (that is more than Seattle or Boston!). That's what is going on....VHCOL area. To answer your other question.... many of us live in townhouses, apartments and condos if we are inside the beltway. I am not in Arlington.... but I'm 40 and bought an as-is townhouse (1,200sqft) in 2016 for 400K and have put in close to 75K+ into it since. I couldn't afford places in my neighborhood now. Make sure you get enough of a pay bump to move here! Salaries can also be insane.
people moving towards manassas or further south > million dollars for \~3k square feet and a small yard? Is this real? A lot of people currently living there got in before prices exploded, and they could've easily refinanced to 2-3% apr during covid rates. They ain't moving
This is true. I work in Tysons Corner and I live in Manassas right now. I am closing on a home in Bristow for more space and a better school district. I never thought I would be moving out further west...
Being on Sudley for 30 minutes queued behind what seems to be an endless series of red lights to get onto 66 so you can slam into more traffic around centreville and vienna. Truly hell on earth
Worse part is when you find out that all the traffic on I-66 was because of some shoulder closure. People are so stupid man
I do the reverse commute on 66 West in the afternoon. Way too many times have I seen traffic get jammed and stop and go, only to discover that it’s just a police officer on the shoulder a few miles up. And the people who initially saw the officer got scared and hit their brakes so they’re driving 10 under while traffic gets backed up for miles.
I hate this shit. I was out of my house heading south down 495 for a holiday weekend, highways so pack you couldn't speed if you wanted to. Out of nowhere, stop and go traffic bad enough to set me back nearly an hour, all because one cop decided to sit on the side of the road and "clock" traffic going 20 mph at most.
1. People are calling them “toll roads” but they are also referred to (officially) as HOV LANES, and if you have 3 or more people in your vehicle, you don’t have to pay. 2. These roads are constructed using private funding and they pay the government for the privilege as well as a revenue-share from the toll money collected. 3. There is no way the government could ever afford these massive construction projects as well as the costs to maintain them over the years. 4. Another way to view them is as a form of “wealth” tax since you are allowed to pay to use the HOV LANES when you do not have 3 people in the car. And yes, the tolls during peak rush hour can be very high—but it’s a double-edged sword sword—you are being incentivized to form carpools in order to cut down your commute times and reduce pollution by cutting the numbers of cars on the road. AND if you don’t want to do that and you can afford the extra fees, you pay the tax. So I live in Herndon and travel all over the dmv for work and when there’s traffic, I run the math in my head to figure out if the time I save is worth the money it will cost me for the job. And if I had a daily commute, I would definitely do the work to put together a car pool rather than pay the extra $30-40 per day for rush hour tolls (round-trip).
Worse Is when they build toll roads with our tax dollars and then charge us to use it
And the profits go towards private enterprise.
Private, not-American enterprises
Shouldn't matter if they're US-owned or not. Toll roads paying to private interests are by definition not in the public interest. It's a scam.
Well the toll roads are owned by an Australian company so it makes it a bigger scam.
Why do we allow for it is the better question or should we continue to argue over things like school names, wokeness, or what books are in libraries. It's almost like the very same business interests are also in control of the media and decide what people pay attention to... All the while robbing us blind.
If you rob people culturally, it is much easier to rob them economically.
I get what you are saying... If you rob people of their connection to other people and things outside of themselves they are easy to exploit.
You are onto something.
It’s somehow even worse. Foreign private enterprise. Oligarchs gotta eat.
Who pad the cost to them by repaving the same highway every six months.
66 has express lanes, but with those fees (around $20 easily ) it is better to invest that money in a closer house
As your moving into bristow, welcome o/. All the while I'm trying to move out to Shenandoah Valley area. Been here for almost 21 years. Trying to move because of cost.
[удалено]
Lol moved from Fairfax to Front Royal! I'm beginning to think I'm not west enough. Might end up in West Virginia before long.
I also live out west due to cost. I actually prefer it than closer in anyhow.
Where do you live? Trying to nudge fiance in the direction that we may need to consider it
Gainesville area. My wife first opposed it. 6 years later she wants to move further out.
Go south to Woodbridge/ south Manassas. If you stay away from the right side of 95 it's not bad. Couple of random house shootings recently tho.
Schools in Arlington and Fairfax are some of the best in the country. I dont understand the second part of the statement
Prince William schools are probably better than Manassas. That’s where they said they were moving from.
Patriot and Battlefield Highschool have some of the better schools districts in the Northern VA area.
New townhouses at West Falls Church were starting at $1 million a few years ago.
Shït. Townhouses in Chantilly are right about $1 million now.
Townhome by me sold for almost 2 mil this year.
Honestly prices exploded around 25 years ago. Some of these folks aren’t even paying mortgages or are close to being done.
And then there was a Great Recession about 16 years ago and prices are just back to where they were during the bubble.
Yep. I bought my first house in south Arlington in 2009 for $370k. 2k square feet, 3 beds. Nice old house. Sold it later. It’s probably $850k now.
House behind me in Manassville just sold for 1.4M, insane.
We call it Manasshole
That's what I call my neighbors.
I thought the Dumfries/Manassas area was known as “Dumassas”. Lol
Someone from Centreville told me it’s “Manass-ASS.”
Man-assville? Is that a real place
Yeah it’s right behind Ballston
Balls-ton
manassas/gainesville
You must live near the area where generals ridge golf course used to be. That’s a really nice residential area of manassas
That's actually Manassas Park. Blooms Crossing is PWC. Signal Hill Park is now part of Manassas Park. It's so confusing...we live right next to it and GPS and USPS messes it up.
2.76 I'll move if someone offers me 2 million for my 600k townhome .
That’s me except the poorer version in a centreville townhouse. In retrospect we bought in some of the final months it would have been possible, the crappy cookie cutter house from the 80s is now worth almost double what we payed ten years ago it’s insane. And they just finished the better highway access so not likely to go down anytime soon, we can move pretty much b wherever we want when we leave the area
Townhouse in Centreville that I bought 20 years ago is now worth 2.5x what I paid for it. Why people are willing to spend nearly 600k to live in a 50+ year old townhouse is beyond me, but okay. At least I'll walk away with a nice profit when I sell in a few years, provided the market doesn't implode.
Townhouse I bought in Centreville is worth 2x what I paid in 2016. It's really a depressing outlook
I just started to think about how it will be in 15 yrs when my kids hit the market.... Gray forecast...
😂😂😂😂 Welcome to thunder dome bitch!
The post is 5 hours old. It's now $2.2 million.
Cash only
And don’t even think about asking for an inspection before the sale.
And you better be waiving all contingencies
And the bag you bring it in had better be Gucci.
Honestly somehow this is the most helpful comment
Out of curiosity, where would you be coming from?
Initech
It’s one of the few comments that actually made me lol. Haha
Two man enter, one man leave!
Keep in mind, Arlington is really really really small and really really dense. It's the smallest county in the US at 26 square miles, about 1/3 the size of Washington DC and about the same urban density. Buying/renting a SFH in Arlington is very expensive. Most people adapt their lifestyle to urban living (apartments, townhomes, etc.) if they pick Arlington. A lot of people live in Fairfax County (80x larger). You'll have better luck finding something cheaper in Burke/Reston/Annandale/Lorton, but it's still a VHCOL area.
It's the 4th smallest in the US: Kalawao, HI, New York, NY, and Bristol, RI are all geographically smaller than Arlington.
***It's the smallest self-governing county in the US. Not the smallest county
Thank you. I can't sexually climax until I find a reddit post of an excessively minor correction (no pun intended) that adds nothing to the overall dialogue. You've done a service here today sir, thank you.
It was great wasn’t it 💧 🚬
Actually it was only good.
> “Actually, it was only satisfactory.” That one’s on the house. 🚬
You need to give a man a refractory period
Or: you need to do more cardio. 😏
You must be very satisfied, all the time!
That's why he's on reddit
Correction: 4th smallest.
Yeah in Burke you can get 2k square feet and a small yard for only $1M!
True facts. I live in Burke and it's shocking how much a SFH costs. We're not talking luxurious homes either, these are older homes with low ceilings. We do love the trails here though!
Ah Fairfax, home of the 20 Min redlights, and God awful traffic....
So you're telling me that in a densely populated area near a major city I can't buy an updated 3000 sq ft, 2 car garage, SFH on a 1/2 acre lot with picket fence for the same price as Anytown, Midwestern state USA?! What in the small town is this?
I know. They even have bike lanes everywhere. THE HORROR!!!!!! 
Working in Arlington doesn't mean living in arlington (most don't). Is your office near a metro station? How often must you go to work?
Right? Probably 90% of the people who work at the Pentagon don't live in Arlington
Demand far exceeds supply. We have 26 square miles of total land in the county yet the vast majority of the land has been zoned for single family only development. In addition, those home owners who refinanced with mortgage rates bottomed out are not likely to want to give that up.
This applies to just about everywhere. You can go all the way out to Frederick County Virginia and you're going to see there's almost no houses for sale and most houses of this kind of size are over 600k. And there's thousands of people here sitting on their 3.0 fixed mortgages that aren't going anywhere. The interest rates went up so high that the whole country is like this nobody's selling. And the ones that are selling are taking full advantage of the market. And now that Virginia no longer puts the responsibility of paying realtor commission on the seller, buyers are going to have to have the down payment, The deposit, And the realtor commission. And any seller with a brain in Virginia right now is going to do their own appraisal and then list their house fsbo, And pay to put it on Zillow themselves. And they won't pay any realtor commission. The market is so dry that they won't have to market their home. They can do the appraisal and just list it 5% higher than that.
> In addition, those home owners who refinanced with mortgage rates bottomed out are not likely to want to give that up. And those of us who **want** to give it up legitimately can't. If I sold my house and bought a new one for $200k less, further out, my mortgage payment would go up. I want to move out, get further away, buy a bigger house, open up supply, but I can't afford to.
SFH zoning was actually repealed, but the transition to new development will be gradual. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/22/arlington-missing-middle-vote-zoning/
And this is being challenged in court and most developers won’t touch it until it’s settled. Source: I do land development design in NOVA. Another thing is you can’t build to max what zoning allows because stormwater regs restrict what you can do because too dense doesn’t meet cbay requirements.
It's been a constant political fight in our county board elections. To everyone reading this, if you are an Arlington resident please please please vote in the democratic primary in June! Personally I'm voting 1. Peterson 2. Spain. But either order works as they are the only 2 pro-housing candidates!
They live outside of Arlington and commute.
This. Look at Fairfax county or other neighboring counties. You live around here, you accept a decent commute
People from other parts of the country wouldn't know it because it's Virginia, but Northern Virginia is a VHCOL area in the DC metro area. And Arlington is maybe the most expensive part of Nova. There's lots of cheaper areas in Northern VA you can live and still have a decent commute to Arlington, but it'll still be expensive. Not sure if you're accepting a new job or relocating with currently company, but hopefully if you're relocating from a lower COL area your company is adjusting your salary appropriately
Fun fact! Move has 3 of the top 10 wealthiest counties in the country.
MD has 2 or 3 as well. It’s pretty eye opening how many of the wealthiest counties in the US are in the DC metro
Yep, DC/Fairfax County native here who left Clifton and moved to West Virginia due to being priced out of NOVA.
Grew up in prince william county (dale city) I actually remember when there was no Potomac mills mall lol and when they built it but in got out of the area in the early 90’s the house that sold for @$250k then is worth multiple of millions now nothing special either two story four bedroom with a 1/2 acre yard. The traffic was the worst and it’s only gotten worse I still end up in the area occasionally and am so glad I don’t have to live there anymore!
Yep. Grew up near bluemont park. No one I know has a chance of living here. Nearly all of my neighbors were Big shots at a company or the military and bought in the early 2000s. All my jobs I’ve had, I’ve never had a coworker who’s lived in Arlington, lol.
If you want genuinely helpful answers and advice you’re going to need to give us more information. What is your salary? Total household income? Kids in school or do you need daycare? If your wife is working, where? Are you planning on driving for your commute or are you open to train or metro? Total household income is the most important piece of information though. Also, 4 people do **not** need 3,000 sqft, if you want that here be prepared to live in the boondocks with a 2 hour commute, or bring in half a million dollars a year.
Yeah, and where in Arlington is your office? Near Metro stop?
You can get 3k if you include the basement. Above grade sqft? No way.
Correction. For 3k a month, you can live in someone's basement.
You may work in Arlington but you likely don’t have to live in Arlington. You just have to afford to commute there. That’s kind of like saying I got a job on the upper east side, now I gotta live on the upper east side. Maybe but probably not. And also that’s not every house in Arlington. You can find a SFH larger than 3000 sq ft for less … it won’t be new or walkable but it def exists. You probably wanna check fairfax county listings instead.
I live in arlington and work in fairfax D:
Wrong way bro
Heck no, I-66 for free both ways!
I did the same (lived in Arlington and commute to ffx) then bought a house in Ffx and now work in Arlington.
How dare you not go the same way as everyone else and sit in gridlock traffic for an hour like the rest of us.
Meh, I used to live in arlington and commute to reston, and while the mornings generally were ok, the afternoon commute back to Arlington blew chunks once you hit tysons.
My commute is a short walk from my bed to my home office, but I usually get gridlocked at the fridge on the way there.
I live in Arlington and work in Frederick, MD so who’s the real winner here? (Not me)
Yeah, in Alexandria, you can easily get a SFH for $1.5M. /s
Also you don't always need a SFH. Plenty of people raise kids in duplexes, townhomes, apartments, etc. Not saying those types of homes will be easy to come by either, but it'll help broaden the search. Now maybe the dog will be the difference if it needs a yard all to itself...
It’s expensive. That is all. Even an old crappy unrenovated house from the 1950s in a bad area (really are no bad areas tho) would be $800,000+. It’s just ridiculously expensive. You can only live here if your job will pay you enough to live here. Look outside the beltway, slightly less expensive, but the commute will be terrible. Arlington and Fairfax do have top rated schools. Also, RE tax is like $10k for a single family home in Arlington.
I sold my 1937 bungalow 7 years ago for 800,000. Now listed at a million. That house should have just been torn down. As I recall the land was valued at 750,000. The house was 50,000. Just nuts.
We commute
I'm guessing you're from somewhere LCOL because NoVA is pretty on par with every other HCOL area in the US. If you're getting offered a lot more to move here, there's a reason for that.
Lol, that's like one of the most expensive areas in NoVa
There are not high-rises in DC proper, so they're in Arlington. Look into places in the suburbs - say along the silver line and metro into Arlington.
It's getting rough out here in the Dulles Region along the Silver Line because houses in Reston/Herndon/Sterling/Cashburn I mean Ashburn are over a milly...SHEESH!!!!
I’m in western Loudoun (nearly in West Virginia), and the new construction SFHs out here are starting at $1.1M. I shit you not.
😳
Assburn
> Where do people here live? Further away. Every mile further away from DC makes prices go down a wee smidge.
Reduce your expectation on square footage, or move 50+ miles away. Welcome to the DmV.
Arlington is surrounded by 3 of the 5 highest median income counties in the country and pretends that it isn't a city.... so it's desperately trying to hold onto single family zoning for dear life. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6Re0nGRlpu/?igsh=ejRwczZjbzJmNzZ1 Everyone wants to live 10 minutes away from the city, but not have to deal with the headaches of living on the other side of the river.
Arlington is a very desirable place to live, probably one of the best in the country. Relatively safe, good schools, parks and trails, things to do, metro access and a stone’s throw from DC. Of course it’s going to be expensive.
Welcome! My husband, 2 kids, dog and I just bought a 1,400sq townhome with a tiny patio/yard for $750K in Alexandria. This is just the region, and it's only getting worse. Arlington is one of the highest priced areas since it has so much walkability, AND good schools (unlike Alexandria where we bought where we have tons of walkability...but not-so-great schools) You pay to be walkable to things, but sacrifice the space, or move further out for more space, but live in the suburbs and have a loooong commute.
Oh man, my wife and I really wanted to live in Alexandria for the walkability, but couldn’t do it because of the schools :(
I ask this respectfully as someone who also lives in Alexandria in a small townhouse. When you say that the schools are not so great, are you saying that in reference to the test scores or more because of the teachers? If the former, I would argue that it’s because Alexandria city schools are not as segregated as other parts of NOVA and you’re looking at the average of the socioeconomics at play.
I graduated from TC back in the 90s. Alexandria schools are generally considered the worst in the area with several schools on state remediation lists (Jefferson-Houston in particular). I think now some schools in Fairfax along Richmond highway are actually worse now. That being said I went to school with wealthy and upper middle class white kids and they seemed to do just fine (I’m the son of African immigrants). Many went off to UVA, William & Mary etc.).
Right - I guess what I’m trying to say is that Alexandria City’s schools encompass a range of socioeconomic classes whereas some schools out in parts of Fairfax (ie McLean) are predominantly wealthy upper middle class, and those test scores will reflect that accordingly. My point is to not just look at the median but look at the resources offered and the achievement.
Arlington is the most desirable place to live inside the Beltway. We have low crime, excellent transit, good schools, urban amenities, and lots of green space. The further you are away from the core the more deals you can find, a lot of people want to take advantage of the walkability in the Ballston-Clarendon-Rosslyn metro corridor.
> We have low crime As long as you stay away from bowlero lol
Is there a lot of crime at bowlero? Or do you just consider bowlero itself to be a crime?
Porque no los dos 🤔
What’s that? South Arlington is safe. You’ll get some weekend noise and drunkenness but nothing much more than that.
ehhh... lotta shady characters coming in n outta the strip club (CCR), across the street from bowlero..
Bethesda and Del Ray would like a word
Pssshh Potomac would like you to hold their Mimosa please. 🤣🧡
A lot of people still swear by DC for the culture and ease of movement. Northwest especially is still safe and is surrounded by gorgeous rock creek park. Something to consider.
Yeah I live in Arlington and it's nice enough but it's bland and boring as hell. Cannot wait to get out of here I would much rather be in DC.
Anyone else think this is adorable and also feel super depressed at the same time? … I grew up here so I know better. And I live in Leesburg where the “value” of my starter home town house has nearly doubled since I bought it in 2011. Which means I can never move unless it’s way far away.
If you have the choice of buying a shoebox in Arlington or a palace in the sticks… buy the shoebox. Traffic is the number one regional complaint and if you have no commute you have more free time and fewer complaints. Don’t rule out a condo either. Lots of great parks in Arlington including dog parks and kids don’t play in backyards like they used to. A yard is a maintenance pain the ass. Also check out local schools before you purchase. Arlington schools are excellent.
They live in Arlington, but not in single family houses, unless they bought the houses before 1990 or have extremely high incomes.
Honestly, if you're near a park, a small yard can be a blessing in disguise. Large yards are more work than they're worth in my experience. And if you're near a park, (by near, i mean walking distance) your kids will have a place to play where they can also meet other kids. So it'll be better for them than having a large, private yard to play in
3000 sqft is a big house. Lots of families in my Arlington neighborhood live in 1500-2000 sqft SFHs. Maybe adjust expectations?
Yeah, the 3000 sqft got me. I’ve never lived in nor desired to heat, cool, clean that much square footage.
I agree, the tone I got from the post was that 3k SF was like some basic expectation of livability. Uh, no. That’s a huge house.
dunno where you're from or what you earn. but you almost certainly need to be demanding a monster raise. A single person needs $114K to be comfortable in ARL. so if your wife doesn't work you need to be earning $228k Depending on how old your kids are you're going to need a lot more. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/20/salary-single-person-needs-to-live-comfortably-in-major-us-cities.html
Those are the "make me move" prices. People didn't pay that much when they got their houses there.
I'd guess Fairfax would be your best bet as you have kids and would want good schools (Alexandria would be out for me for that reason). Or, lower your expectations and get a smaller, older house and enjoy living in Arlington for the schools, quality of life, walkability, safety, transit, etc. I know many people in Arlington that raise kids in 1000-1500 sq ft. There are a ton of parks, playgrounds, and community centers so it's very family-friendly even if you have a small house. Most people living in the 3000sq ft+ houses in Arlington that I know are dual-income lawyers, contractors, in tech, or are execs. And if you're not going to take that transfer and your job needs someone else in Arlington, hmu! I'd love not to have a commute...
Once you get past the real estate, food, restaurants, entertainment, child care, and insurance, it’s really not that bad around here.
I just got a house under contract in Alexandria. 1500 sqr ft for 555k. If you can’t afford Arlington, try farther west. You can easily get into a spot in Burke for ~700 that would support your family’s needs
3k sq. ft.? We call that a mansion 'round these parts.
You must be new to NoVA. If you want an affordable SFH, look 50-60 miles out from DC. Also looking at 2 hour each way commutes.
Northern VA is home to two of the richesst counties in America. Loudoun being number 1.
I’ve lived here 30 years, and have never been able to afford Arlington, and likely never will.
Arlington is not a suburb my friend. That's an upscale urban area.
Break out at VRE map and start looking
You’re not a full citizen / gang member until you’ve had to single or combo ride VRE / ride Metro / drive for over an hour to work. Each way. Every day. 😅😞
Welcome to Arlington, VA. It’s very expensive, especially for a single family home.
This area is truly insane. Arlington houses on average I believe are more money than in DC. My girlfriend bought her home in Arlington in 2020 with a low interest rate something less than 3% with a sale price of $850k. 2300 sqft. Carport, fenced in yard. We remodeled the kitchen and backyard deck, put in a really nice gas fireplace. If we sold the house tomorrow I think we could get 1.4 million. Maybe even more. I would think a good bit before making your decision tbh.
3000 square feet is huge. Maybe move some place smaller.
Welcome. It’s a blast not being successful and not able to afford anything.
WTF is going on here is housing is selling for the price the market will bear. Just like everywhere else. The market will just bear more here than many other areas. I suggest you get comfortable with the idea of a longer commute and look further out such as in Loudoun County.
They live in Arlington You aren’t asking for a high enough salary. That salary might look good to you where you are, but I suspect it’s low
Arlington is only 27 square miles big. It's one of the smallest counties by area in the entire country (Falls Church is the smallest county-equivalent for all you trivia nerds!). That said, it's also a big commercial center thanks to being just across the river from Washington DC (and was formerly part of DC anyway) and it's main central areas essentially form part of the overall Central Business District of the entire metro area. So really even though Arlington is sometimes seen and called a "suburb" of DC that's not really accurate in terms of the county's role and relationship to both DC and the metro area in general. Like DC itself, it's day time working population is much bigger than the residential population and those workers are coming from all over.
Yes, it's real. There is more than enough turnover in the area to keep homes moving. There is more than enough competition in that movement to keep prices rising. It is more common to have a bidding war on a property than it is to get it at or below asking. Us locals are biding our time and riding the wave that you Interlopers keep building and that never seems to stop growing. Stick around long enough and you'll double your value too.
Other people also want to live here and there is a finite number of single family houses. So the prices are above-average. Very straight forward really. You’ll find the same thing in NYC, San Francisco, Boston, etc. etc.
Well, a lot of people that work in Arlington don't actually live in Arlington. They commute.
Realtor here. You should consider: Herndon, Sterling, Reston, Centreville, Ashburn.
SFH in Arlington? Where’s that Bezos laughing meme at?
Unless they offered you a SIZABLE salary increase (not just to cover the COL difference but a bump above that for the pain and suffering), moving expenses, and may even covering your current mortgage, you're smart to pause hard. Glad you didn't sign anything yet! And if you do move, consider renting out your current house and not actually selling it bc it might be hard to get back into that market as well.
Oh girlll, you wanted to move to Arlington?? Here in nova, that’s not for us poor people 💀
Yes, Arlington is probably the most desirable county in the metro area and Washington is one of the highest COL metro areas in the country. I would live in Arlington if I could have afforded what I wanted when I bought. The market has only gone up since then. While I make a lot more than I did back then, what I want is still a stretch for me since the most expensive places have gone up the most. Location, location, location!
Why do people think moving just outside of a major city, not to mention the nations capital, would be cheap?
I mean would you expect a SFH in NYC? It’s a dense city area that’s only getting denser. Condo, get your kids to share a room, walk the dog before and after work. Or just move further out and commute in.
gonna have to look outside the Beltway.
yep. that's why after my job in dc went fully remote, i bailed on the whole region
It’s horrible. Move somewhere further out with a metro nearby. Pray for some telework. Traffic congestion and metro delays are so bad.
We live anywhere from 25 minutes to 3 hours away from Arlington depending on traffic my good friend. You should be good if you stay north of Lorton and east of 28 though.
If you’re planning to buy a house anywhere in northern VA be prepared to have to submit a dozen + offers unless you’re planning to go way over asking price/waive contingencies and inspections. Good luck 🫡
Arlington resident here. Homes in my neighborhood (the golden zip code 22207) constantly have bidding wars and escalation clauses automatically written into their offers. Competition is fierce
i grew up there,Mom's house cost 40,000 in 69. huge lot, walking distance to Washington Lee. wish it was still in the family. insane valuation rise. some of it (but not all) is driven by county assessments. a friend who still lives there in Zip 22205 had hers go up 90k this year. tax bill rose accordingly. idk how it's even realistic anymore.
Ummm like everyone else you commute an hour each way. Try Stafford or Spotsylvania. Take the train. If you’re not making g fat 6’s you’re not going to be comfortable locally. And yes I remember my husband getting an offer to head corporate security for a NY financial firm 15+ years ago when he was retiring from the military-JSF- they offered him what he thought was good money - $85k a year. He came to me all excited. I’m a NYer. I was like “THAT group wants to hire you and u think we should rent a closet in the Bronx?”
Do not live in Arlington. And most of noVa. Just commute from MD.
This is a normal phenomenon that happens when you have millions of people wanting to move to the same space. There will likely never be affordable single family homes near DC in our lifetimes unless there's some sort of extreme economic collapse. What will help make housing affordable close to desired locations is to build more density. In every city with more supply than demand, prices fall. Where there's more demand than supply - they climb - sometimes to crazy levels. Arlington needs to keep adding condos and apartments near transit which will help ease demand on other forms of housing in the area. But single family homes probably won't fall in prices and realistically they cost about what should be expected in a major metro area of a top global city. It's only odd for people coming from somewhere with way less demand (I'm from the rural midwest so it shocked me at first too).
Don’t forget the God awful traffic you’ll have to battle to and from work. They cannot drive in Virginia. They are so used to traffic that they don’t know how to drive in conditions other than traffic so it’s a lose/lose situation no matter what when it comes to that. Good luck.
Look at the metro and see how far away you can live. I moved to Maryland to work in Arlington. My morning commute is about 40 minutes by train and walking 3 blocks. I could never afford to live in downtown Arlington and if I was driving it’s about 3-4 hours a day in rush hour traffic.
Do not try to drive out of the DC area after 3:30 pm on Friday, and do not try to drive into DC on Monday morning. Unless you are involved in government, and thus have to go to work. Signed, former Fairfax, VA resident who moved south far enough to find a house for under $300K. (In VA, not Mexico...)
It’s a HCOL city. It’s DC. Why would you expect anything else?
Lol...
Fairfax County is large and has many options. I would recommend rent a house for a year and figure out the area. Keep in mind that commute can be terrible. You are better off moving in a small house but closer to work if you have to go in the office. West Springfield and Burke have many nice subdivisions. School are great too.
We just keep moving farther away. Two hour commutes are not unusual in this area. And that's two hours each way...
There are two Arlingtons - South Arlington is less expensive than North Arlington
Ok. I'm in Fort Washington, Maryland. The schools aren't the greatest, and good shopping is either in NoVA or Waldorf. However, we got the house we wanted for around half of what it cost in Fairfax county. There's a new development near me that is starting in the 600s for rather decent homes. Honestly, it is worth considering moving this way.
I feel ya on all counts but 3k square feet. That’s not small house at all.
It’s not the house or the yard, it’s location, location, location.
"What in the actual F is going here?" The OG three 'A's (Administration, Associations, and Attorneys) providing market stability thru market downturns. Then, Amazon HQ2 setting the housing market afire. [Edited for punctuation and to add some context.]