NOTHING. Grrrr. Getting the house ready for sale isn't cheap. Moving isn't cheap (though I think we'll make it as cheap as possible with a UHaul and a pod and some serious dang decluttering).
And, boy howdy, renting then buying up there most certainly won't be cheap.
Since Arlington Co. is a possiblity for us, I looked up housing. oMg! I seriously think we would be looking at $2500 bare min and probably closer to $3K a month to rent.
when dh worked in northern VA and DC, we lived in Winchester because we could afford it. It wasnt great for commute time, but much cheaper to live. I really did like the area, but its been 7 yrs since we lived there. Carey lives there.
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Tanya
Wife to Keith (15 yrs.)
SAHM to Brooke (12), Sarah (7), Taylor (5) and Sydney Allison (8 months)
Christian, HS
Sydney & my nephew.....play nice.....ew, girl germs.....awww, love
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
Posts: 12,991
Oh, I remember. *shudder* Nothing about moving is cheap. It feels like you're taking handfuls of hundreds and burning them in the woodstove. I'm sorry. It will be over soon...and you're doing it as cheaply as you can. Definitely cheering you on to declutter everything humanly possible. Trust me, you won't miss it (I'm still sifting through boxes I haven't opened since Florida).
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I have great news! My friends who moved up there about 5 years ago have their house on the market, and they're willing to rent it to us month-to-month because the market is so slow and they need a break from paying multiple mortgages.
It's as big as my house here. A little quirky, and not as close in as we'd like to live permanently, but... It's about the same as what we're paying for housing right now (if you count our home ins and taxes) AND they don't mind us bringing our pets - they have more animals than we have.
DH is a little weird about renting from friends, but these are the nicest people you'd ever meet. I even lived with them in their basement once, and it was never weird. They're easily the most generous people I know. As long as we keep it nice and leave it as nice as we get it, they'll never have a complaint (I'm thinking a thorough move-out cleaning a la my maid days and a visit from Stanley Steamer should do that).
It doesn't make all of this cheaper or anything, but it will make it easier and take off some of the stress (not having to find an affordable place that will take 2 cats and 2 dogs AND rent to us month-to-month).
we put about $10k into the house, moving was another $10k or so, and we're paying in rent for a 900 sq ft 2 bedroom apt about what we paid for our mortgage.
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
Posts: 12,991
That's great!
You will appreciate renting *then* buying. We have not regretted it. It was great to have a chance to be sure we were where we wanted to be in particular (you know, which town to live in near Matt's job). It was worth the $.
Oh great!! Glad you found a decent situation so you can spend time trying to figure out where to live, etc. I hated the apartment in OP, so relieved to be in Gainesville now Now I can't wait to buy
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Meg
Mama to Alexis, 22; Jacob, 19; and Elijah 11/20/02 and Sophia Jane, 11/20/04
Elijah allows me to dress him nicely and take a picture!
So glad you found a solid interim solution. When we moved to Cville, we rented for almost a year before buying -- it was definitely the right choice for us -- So much easier to get a real sense of the area while actually living there. We ended up buying about 15 minutes from where we were originally renting.
Where's your rental? I used to live in St. Mary's County, and knew lots of folks that commuted in from St Mary's, Charles and Calvert County, which seemed insane to me, but they said it was worth it for cheaper housing, less traffic, higher quality of life, etc.
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Christine
mama to Ethan (8) and Noah (3
Prince Frederick in Calvert Co. is where my husbands family is..it's a long commute but now the houses there are getting really expensive, too. We get up there once a year so hopefully you will be close to that!
Our rental home will be in Woodbridge. Way further out than we were originally thinking, but it should be just what we need for the next several months. I'm hoping to settle around Fairfax, but that's just based on hearsay. I want to see all of it before we make a decision.
Our house needs to be near the orange, blue, or red Metro lines. That's important to us. DH will be working 3 blocks from a red line stop and 4-5 blocks from an orange/blue.. Neither of us can think of a good reason for him to drive in if his work is so close to train stops.
Most likely we'll land on the Virginia side when we buy, but Maryland isn't out of the question.
Yep - that Ikea was my indoctrination into the wonderful world of Ikea. I won't admit that I was just perusing my neighbor's new Ikea catalog. Nope. Not me.
I'm sorry. It will be over soon...and you're doing it as cheaply as you can. Definitely cheering you on to declutter everything humanly possible. Trust me, you won't miss it (I'm still sifting through boxes I haven't opened since Florida).
Now I can't wait to buy 
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