Recent comments in /f/arlingtonva

crimcol OP t1_jarudru wrote

Reply to comment by DUNGAROO in What's the average income for a family of three living in Arlington? by crimcol

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. My income is much lower at that moment $130k, because I have a working visa and am not able to change company. Waiting for a green card, but before using my savings. My high level calculations match with your numbers. For that moment $250k should be enough for renting, preschool, traveling, etc. But if you want to stay and buy a house you need around $350k or more.

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DUNGAROO t1_jarrsh7 wrote

Reply to What's the average income for a family of three living in Arlington? by crimcol

Oof this is a sore subject for us. My wife and I are of a similar age, with similar housing expenses (slightly higher, closer to $3,400 all-in) and are considering having children in the next 24 months.

We make a pretty comfortable living of between $250-275k/year(depending on how bonuses and salary increases go this year), and can afford a clean and comfortable (but by no means lavish) apartment, dining out every weekend, roughly $15k/year of travel, and a reasonable savings rate for retirement. The schools around our current apartment are quite good, so it would be a great place to raise a kid…if we wanted to continue to rent. When we looked at buying a condo or townhouse of comparable size and location to what we currently enjoy, all the math goes to shit.

We would like to both have children and become homeowners in the near future, but even with a household income of >$250k/year, we cannot afford to do both without either A) relocating to a different part of the county or further away from DC entirely and (likely) compromising on our current standards for public schools or B) directing almost all of our money towards housing and child expenses, leaving relatively little money leftover for home improvement, family recreation, and saving for college. I think to own a home of >1,200 square feet in Arlington, send your kids to a good school (by that I mean Elementary, Middle, and High Schools for the area are all rated a 6/10 or higher by Great Schools), and have enough discretionary income leftover for everything that people typically associate with “comfortable” middle class living (saving for retirement, saving for college, investing in home improvement, driving 1-2 reliable and safe cars, eating out occasionally, and still having money available to travel once or twice per year), you probably need to have a combined household income of $300k/year or more, probably closer to $400k/year if you want to do those things above but live in a townhouse or detached house that isn’t falling apart.

I know this is a controversial subject and some people do a great job of raising well-rounded kids on far less money and live a happy life. But if you were looking for an “ideal” number to aim for to raise a family in Arlington, that’s what I would aim for. (For the record, I don’t think we’re ever going to hit those numbers, which is why we’ll likely be exiting the DMV in the next 5-10 years entirely).

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Yak-Fucker-5000 t1_j9txst1 wrote

Reply to Where to host an engagement party by Melissaincognito

It's Alexandria, not Arlington, but Southside 815 in Old Town would be a good venue for this. It's a pretty large bar with lots of TVs and big dining area that could probably be reserved for events. Ample free street parking is available all around, prices are reasonable and they have some of the best bar tending staff in the DMV.

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