Home Buying & Real Estate Thread

[locpy]

How's the DMV market looking? About to begin searching for my first home. Was considering a condo in DC or townhouse somewhere in Montgomery County, MD. Anyone have any insight, pros/cons, or advice for the area? Also curious as to what price range I can realistically afford relative to my income?

 

[B Sox]

How's the DMV market looking? About to begin searching for my first home. Was considering a condo in DC or townhouse somewhere in Montgomery County, MD. Anyone have any insight, pros/cons, or advice for the area? Also curious as to what price range I can realistically afford relative to my income?

Can't speak on DC or VA. Where in MoCo would you potentially be interested? Feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

[phillie]

How's the DMV market looking? About to begin searching for my first home. Was considering a condo in DC or townhouse somewhere in Montgomery County, MD. Anyone have any insight, pros/cons, or advice for the area? Also curious as to what price range I can realistically afford relative to my income?

All of this depends on your income and where you want to live.  My wife an I bought our first home (townhouse) in MoCo last July.  Before we qualified for our loan we thought we might do a high end budget of $250k for a townhouse.  After search and then getting prequalified, we realized that in MoCo that wasn't going to get us much and had to add an extra $100k to our budget.  Places go quickly here.  You have to prepared to look at a few homes and make decisions quickly because any home you find that you think works perfectly for your budget and has most of the things on your need and wants list, someone else is likely thinking the exact same thing.  We looked at a townhouse after it had been posted for about 12 hours, told our realtor we wanted to put in an offer and the next morning (after not hearing back initially from the seller)  when the realtor went to submit the offer, the seller had already agreed to an offer and was not accepting any other offers.  All of this less than 24 hours after the listing went live.

 

[B Sox]

All of this depends on your income and where you want to live.  My wife an I bought our first home (townhouse) in MoCo last July.  Before we qualified for our loan we thought we might do a high end budget of $250k for a townhouse.  After search and then getting prequalified, we realized that in MoCo that wasn't going to get us much and had to add an extra $100k to our budget.  Places go quickly here.  You have to prepared to look at a few homes and make decisions quickly because any home you find that you think works perfectly for your budget and has most of the things on your need and wants list, someone else is likely thinking the exact same thing.  We looked at a townhouse after it had been posted for about 12 hours, told our realtor we wanted to put in an offer and the next morning (after not hearing back initially from the seller)  when the realtor went to submit the offer, the seller had already agreed to an offer and was not accepting any other offers.  All of this less than 24 hours after the listing went live.

Yup. This isn't surprising at all. Market in MoCo is very strong. Anything decent that is priced somewhat appropriately is moving really quick. Once you see something that fits your criteria, you need to be ready to go.

 

[dathbgboy]

I've been reading that a lot about some housing markets. Luckily for me Pittsburgh isn't one of them Unless you look to the outskirts of the city w/ the $200k+ homes and good schools.

 

[nazdrowie]

Can't speak on DC or VA. Where in MoCo would you potentially be interested? Feel free to shoot me a PM.

any insight into Howard County?

had two of my friends buy in Elkridge, said Columbia was somewhat restrictive due to Columbia Association regulations so they arent building new houses, that true?

Route 1 and 175 Intersection going north is seeing a ton of construction...

 

[phillie]

Yup. This isn't surprising at all. Market in MoCo is very strong. Anything decent that is priced somewhat appropriately is moving really quick. Once you see something that fits your criteria, you need to be ready to go.

That townhouse was about $50k cheaper than the house we eventually ended up buying.  Now our home is bigger and has more frills (Eat in kitchen and a separate dinning just to name a few), but that is when we realized even more that great deals go quickly.  Once we saw our eventual home, we made an offer immediately and were not satisfied until our realtor heard back from the listing agent.

 

[HankHill]

I think I'll be ready to purchase a home in MD within the next 2 years. Looking at something between $350-$400k range. Plan on getting rid of my student loans by end of next year so I'd have the extra funds to apply towards payments.

 

[HankHill]

Yup. This isn't surprising at all. Market in MoCo is very strong. Anything decent that is priced somewhat appropriately is moving really quick. Once you see something that fits your criteria, you need to be ready to go.

That townhouse was about $50k cheaper than the house we eventually ended up buying.  Now our home is bigger and has more frills (Eat in kitchen and a separate dinning just to name a few), but that is when we realized even more that great deals go quickly.  Once we saw our eventual home, we made an offer immediately and were not satisfied until our realtor heard back from the listing agent.

What part of MoCo?

 

[phillie]

I think I'll be ready to purchase a home in MD within the next 2 years. Looking at something between $350-$400k range. Plan on getting rid of my student loans by end of next year so I'd have the extra funds to apply towards payments.

Single or dual income for this future purchase?

 

[phillie]

What part of MoCo?

Gaithersburg.

 

[HankHill]

I think I'll be ready to purchase a home in MD within the next 2 years. Looking at something between $350-$400k range. Plan on getting rid of my student loans by end of next year so I'd have the extra funds to apply towards payments.

Single or dual income for this future purchase?

Single.

 

[B Sox]

any insight into Howard County?

had two of my friends buy in Elkridge, said Columbia was somewhat restrictive due to Columbia Association regulations so they arent building new houses, that true?

Route 1 and 175 Intersection going north is seeing a ton of construction...

I grew up in Columbia and my office is in Ellicott City, so I'm very familiar....

Columbia is basically all the way built out other than the new condos and whatnot that are going up around the mall. CA is definitely a bit restrictive on things, but that isn't the reason why new houses aren't being built. There's just nowhere else to go.

That Elkridge/Jessup area is really booming. Since there isn't really any land left in Columbia/Ellicott City, that is the next logical place to go. The high schools on that end of the county are over-capacity and they have plans to build new schools right along that Rt 1/175 corridor.

 

[B Sox]

Also, pricing in Howard County is completely dictated by schools. Despite having one of the top rated school systems in the entire US, there are a lot of school snobs, which have completely inflated the pricing in certain parts of the county.

 

[locpy]

All of this depends on your income and where you want to live.  My wife an I bought our first home (townhouse) in MoCo last July.  Before we qualified for our loan we thought we might do a high end budget of $250k for a townhouse.  After search and then getting prequalified, we realized that in MoCo that wasn't going to get us much and had to add an extra $100k to our budget.  Places go quickly here.  You have to prepared to look at a few homes and make decisions quickly because any home you find that you think works perfectly for your budget and has most of the things on your need and wants list, someone else is likely thinking the exact same thing.  We looked at a townhouse after it had been posted for about 12 hours, told our realtor we wanted to put in an offer and the next morning (after not hearing back initially from the seller)  when the realtor went to submit the offer, the seller had already agreed to an offer and was not accepting any other offers.  All of this less than 24 hours after the listing went live.

Can't speak on DC or VA. Where in MoCo would you potentially be interested? Feel free to shoot me a PM.

Thanks for the replies and tips. Yea I have heard about the market speed in both moco and DC, so will come prepared. Income will be single and right around 100k. If the search ends up in moco, I don't see myself living further from the city than rockvilleish

 

[HankHill]

^ Let me know how that turns out for you; we're in the same ballpark.

Grew up in DC and PG. Would prefer closer to those areas since I'd primarily be working in those areas in the next couple of years. Anything MoCo side would probably be restricted to Silver Spring or Wheaton. I've worked in North Rockville neear the medical center and nothing up there was appealing to me. Commuting on Rockville Pike or 270 would be overkill driving south.

I've worked in Columbia (off Tamar near Long Reach High School). Area was nice, but I was staying in Baltimore at that time so it wasn't an issue getting to and from work. Is that one of the snob schools or no?

 

[B Sox]

I've worked in Columbia (off Tamar near Long Reach High School). Area was nice, but I was staying in Baltimore at that time so it wasn't an issue getting to and from work. Is that one of the snob schools or no?

That's actually considered to be probably the worst school in the county

 

[nazdrowie]

I'm from Columbia too but never paid much attention to the area...my friends bought because of the schools, they found a new realtor bc their old one kept showing them properties in AA county...just weird place to me overall

 

[capital sb]

PG gets no love lol.

I plan on purchasing my next house at Woodmore Towncenter (Glenarden) .

Hoping I can scoop up a forclosed home in the 350K-400K range.

Interested in seeing what you all purchase.

 

[ekrev98]

Busy day today. Needed 2 cement trucks to pour concrete for the foundation, walkways, and back patio. Super excited cuz this was the major holdup for this project and we can finally get started on the interior. Looking for a 5 week turnaround just in time for the summer!

 

[dam itz lou]

Can an agent delete the price history from a listing on trulia or zillow ?

I remember the home I'm looking at now was listed in June of last year. All the dates of the price drops are gone. It's the weirdest listing i've ever seen. I googled the address and saw they were trying to rent it for $5700. No way in hell someone would rent that for $5700 unless they wanted 20 people living there.

 

[phillie]

 

 
PG gets no love lol.

I plan on purchasing my next house at Woodmore Towncenter (Glenarden) .

Hoping I can scoop up a forclosed home in the 350K-400K range.

Interested in seeing what you all purchase.

PG County gets no love because of the poor school system and the negative equity the homes have been generating for the last 5 to 10 years.  Why would a foreclosed home in PG County be anywhere near the $350k_$400k range? 

 

[capital sb]

PG County gets no love because of the poor school system and the negative equity the homes have been generating for the last 5 to 10 years.  Why would a foreclosed home in PG County be anywhere near the $350k_$400k range? 

I'm aware predominantly black areas get no love no matter what. Is what it is , the values might never make it back to pre crash.

The homes are currently selling for 550-750K so foreclosed I was thinking 350-450 would be the range. I wouldn't mind lower.

Edit: Also the homes haven't been generating negative equity the prices just never made it back up to pre crash levels . Values have been going up at a slow rate.

 

[dathbgboy]

PG County gets no love because of the poor school system and the negative equity the homes have been generating for the last 5 to 10 years.  Why would a foreclosed home in PG County be anywhere near the $350k_$400k range? 

I'm aware predominantly black areas get no love no matter what. Is what it is , the values might never make it back to pre crash.

The homes are currently selling for 550-750K so foreclosed I was thinking 350-450 would be the range. I wouldn't mind lower.

Edit: Also the homes haven't been generating negative equity the prices just never made it back up to pre crash levels . Values have been going up at a slow rate.

There was an article posted here not too long ago about the same problem in Atlanta (Decatur). black neighborhoods loose value and never recoup and this the property taxes take a hit which affects the schools, which become bad. Funding schools through property taxes is another form of manipulation in the U. S.

 

[capital sb]

There was an article posted here not too long ago about the same problem in Atlanta (Decatur). black neighborhoods loose value and never recoup and this the property taxes take a hit which affects the schools, which become bad. Funding schools through property taxes is another form of manipulation in the U. S.

Yup that article is what really made me open my eyes. Always knew something funny was going on with real estate values in predominantly black areas.

The fact that not one predominantly black metropolitan area neighborhood in ALL OF THE US has seen the value of their homes come back since the crash is very telling.

If I knew what I know now I would have bought the foreclosed house in my neighborhood instead and walked away from building a house.