Mikelly Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 WASHINGTON DC... I JUST READ TODAY that people in the DC washington Metro area which consists of anything North of Richmond and extends north to Baltimore and west into west virginia, East into the Atlantic coast, is paying DAY LABORERs and temp workers to the tune of $35,000 per year ON AVERAGE... I've always known that work in this region was plentiful and readily available, but I had not idea... Sell Sell now... FIRE SALE! Come out east and FIND YOUR Fortune! Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKDGabe Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I'll be right there! (I can live in your garage right?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joeyhammer Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 is that alot? im pretty young.. 28 and i made 50 last year .. 40 the year before that and no college at all.. best of all ill clear 70k this year. and weve got job openings if yorue serious. but uh i have trouble paying the bills and partying. i havent bought a z part in 2 years . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 23, 2004 Author Share Posted November 23, 2004 Uh, Joey, This is quoted income is for DAY LABORERS who are typically immigrants standing on a corner and temp workers doing labor with manual... And Uh, I'm probably the highest paid internet surfer on the planet... Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 of course the cost of living in the DC area means you have to make at least $40k to get by.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 I wouldn't go there if I were you... i'm pretty sure that I can NOT buy a 2500Square foot CUTSOM house with a detatched garage on a half acre of land in bedford MAss. for $1070 per month, Can I? Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akeizm Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Uh' date=' Joey, This is quoted income is for DAY LABORERS who are typically immigrants standing on a corner and temp workers doing labor with manual... And Uh, I'm probably the highest paid internet surfer on the planet... Mike 8)[/quote'] Not unless your bill gates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 While the Greater Boston Area is expensive it is not D.C. Bedford is a small (under 12, 000) bedroom community sandwiched between several very expensive towns (Concord, Lexington, etc.) but also borders blue collar towns too (Burlington and Billerica). I doubt if the bank would approve us today since our house (2600sqft on a .9 acre lot) has doubled in the past 10 years. Of course it would help if I still had my (better paying) job investigating serious environmental crimes, but the government doesn't do that any more. Not that there aren't crimes to investigate. But alas, I have ventured off the topic. Our payments are higher than you mentioned but not by that much. You could do fine for that amount in this area. Depending upon where you worked you could get .5 to 1.5 acres to go with the house (don't know what a custom house is however). Moving north or west by about 30 miles would get you a bigger house and more land. It's the driving to work and back, but RT 7 into say Falls Church is a nightmare that I hope never to live.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 I wouldn't go there if I were you... i'm pretty sure that I can NOT buy a 2500Square foot CUTSOM house with a detatched garage on a half acre of land in bedford MAss. for $1070 per month' date=' Can I? Mike 8)[/quote'] I'm paying almost that for a rent house here in the Dallas area. And I thought I was getting a good deal.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 OK Guys, Didn't mean to bust your chops so hard... The point of the post was that in the greater Washington DC area there are tremendous career opportunities that pay very competitively... And I stacked the deck... My mortgage is low because I refinanced it last year for a much better rate... Price of my home has shot up over 2Xs what I paid for it. A "custom" home is one that is truly just that... No existing general specifications... You go into many of the newer pre-planned neighborhoods across America and you see rows and rows of the same identical home, with the only changes being which side fo the house the garage is on, and which color siding is chosen... Our home was built by an architect who was building the home for himself and his wife, who dumped him within 6 months of completion... I've never been in another house like mine. Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Well....for all its shortcomings, here in CA I am still walking around in shorts and a T-shirt and 'flip-flops' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 Yea Yea yea... Well for most of the year we do have pleasent weather, but do experience the seasons... Our winter (Truly cold 30 degree temps) generally last about 4-6 weeks. Other than that, we have late (And short) fall seasons, and Spring is relatively pleasent most years... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 This is a classic example of trickle down economics. When people (most likely both husband and wife are employed) have jobs that cause them to work longer hours and/or make more money then they normally had before then the chores like yard work, daycare, housecleaning, etc. are done by others. That it pays well could be a factor of supply-side economics in which there is a shortage of workers and therefore the hourly rates are reflected in their salaries. Either way, IMHO, these people are in most part actually getting their hands dirty. And thanks re: custom house. I knew what I would call a custom house but didn't know what you would. They are one and the same. We have the cookie cutter and the customs here too. We also like you have the "mini-mansions" that have the now standard 3 car garage and the mulitple level roof design and some nice landscaping going for over $750k on 3/4 acre lots. But we also have houses going back from 50 to 200 years with a great sense of style. We had one of those before we moved into this boring but serviceable house. I believe many marriages break up over remodelling or house building events. As to still walking around in shorts and flip-flops, we have a guy a few doors down who was out and about dressed like that yesterday. His wife has been trying to get him committed for years..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 ...And I just heard this morning that in my line of work the Gov't is plussing up something like 40,000 Civillian Gov't employees over the next 18 months for intelligence work, Homeland defense related and other DoD type work... 18 years of working in this business, I've never been without work, or without competitive pay! Of course, I do commute to my job, and traffic is bad, but I'll suck it up for a while longer, or until one of my "other" irons gets hot in the fire! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Hey. I live mid way between DC and Baltimore. 3-4 bedroom cookie cutter homes start in the $400K range in my area. If you can find one. They sell in day right now. In Virginia anywhere near DC that same money will get you a townhome. I use to live in LA. Moved here 10 years ago to get more affordable housing, better schools and less traffic. The schools and traffic are still better than LA, but the price of housing has more than doubled in the last 3 years. Guess even with that it is less than LA, but not exactly affordable at even $50K a year income. Pisses me off to no end. I can believe the day laborer salaries. Everybody is using home equity loans to add sunrooms and decks. It is almost impossible to hire a building contractor they are so busy. Of course there are places in inner city Baltimore that can be had for $150k. Body armor is extra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKDGabe Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Well, I don't make what you do Mike but Hico is a little cheaper than D.C. they paid 15k for a 2 story 2,400sqft home here. Put that much more into it since then. Theirs free and clear! I pay a couple hours a week in labor for my rent... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 Funny you mention that... When we pull up stakes and leave, we plan to buy something outright somewhere in the boonies. I want to have a home about the size ours is right now on about 3-5 acres with a LARGE shop. And little to no commute... Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKDGabe Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Alot of people consider Hico to be the boonies... and they're not far off. It's not boonie enough for us though, we're building on 90 acres. I've already got a 30'X60' shop and it looks like I need another one! It doesn't matter how big it is... you always need more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 The difference in cost of living between an “inexpensive†area and an expensive one is largely illusory. With a few exceptions, taxes (state and local income, sales, property, etc.) aren’t all that different, unless you compare Anchorage with New York City. Food, clothes, books, furniture, whatever – prices are pretty much the same, for comparable items. The main difference is the cost of housing. A $150K house in one of the “better†neighborhoods of Dayton, Ohio, will cost around $400K in a mediocre neighborhood in Fairfax County, VA – and maybe about $250K in Fredericksburg, VA. But, here’s the catch: that Dayton house cost about $140 5 years ago, whereas at Fairfax County house was maybe $275K 5 years ago. And if the demographic, business and employment trends continue, the price curves will continue to diverge in the future. What this means is that indeed, the price of admission is higher in the “expensive†areas, but your housing investment will fare better over the years. So, the opportunity cost is actually lower! For a person who already makes reasonably good money, home ownership in the low-cost areas of the rural Midwest, the South, the Plains and the interior West will result in higher overall out-of-pocket costs than living along the urban coasts. I’ve been developing an inferiority complex over my house. Every time I visit my D.C.-area HybridZ buddies, I cringe in jealousy at how their houses keep rising in price, while mine stagnates or even falls. But it’s the basic law of supply and demand. People talk about escaping from the urban “rat race†and moving to the boonies, but mostly what happens in real life is the other way around. Unfortunately some of us can’t just uproot and move. One definite tragedy with the decline of American manufacturing is that white-collar jobs in the great urban centers have become almost entirely paper-pushing. With the exception of biotech and computers, engineers and scientists would be hard-pressed to find professional employment other than “science administration†in the D.C.-NYC-Boston corridor. Consider what’s happening in the Department of Defense, for example. Sure, D.C. is full of DoD administrative jobs. But the weapons labs have been downsizing and dispersing for 15 years. If you want to do research – goodbye Arlington, hello Dayton! The airplanes, the tanks, the satellites – they are designed, tested and built deep in the rural heartland, even though the programs are administered from inside the D.C. beltway. For another example, look at what happened to the aerospace industry in the L.A basin. Once nationally dominant, what little that’s survived has fled into the inland deserts. Goodbye Burbank, hello Palmdale. But hey, if you really want land, move to Southwestern Ohio. A 2,000 ft^2 house on 5+ acres, with a 4-car garage, will cost about $200K on the “good†side of Dayton, less than a half hour away from downtown. And you’re about an hour away from Colombus or Cincinnati. Go on, move out here, guys – help rebalance supply and demand! Do it, and help raise the value of my house!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 Man, you couldn't be more wrong about engineering jobs in the DC area. If you can't find work as an aerospace engineer in the DC area you need to find another line of work. This place is a gold mine. Research, production, flight test, sensors, weapons, intelligence. This place has it all. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find an area with a more diversified and extensive employment potential. There is probably as much fundemental research being performed in the Arlington-Crystal City area than any other single place in the world. I have been to Dayton. A lot of field offices, but I don't know of any large scale production facitilities in that area. And believe me escalating housing prices suck. Having the price of your house double or even triple is of no use if you can't afford to sell it and buy something else. I lived in LA long enough to see both sides of a housing boom and bust. I had friends who by sheer luck had everything work out just right, cashed out and bought horse farms in central California with their equity. But for the most part I knew a bunch of people who invested years paying too much for housing, moving from one over priced dung hole to another and putting up with horrendous commutes. After many years of this some of them finally built up enough equity that they could afford to buy a place in an area where they wouldn't be afraid to send their kids to the local schools. I also have known people who had to walk away from houses with mortgages that were so upside down it just didn't make any sense to keep paying them. I don't mind a risky investment now and then, but my one rule is you don't gamble with where you live. Give me an area with a 5% appreciation a year in housing prices any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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