walvv?iwi . . m. . .
Qgs??WPfcm, 14.3% $Er? Cr), gf?i?z? cry/

  
  

 

 

something, I had no
interest in owning a big
house like my friends.
But my 40-year?old self

remodel, car payments,
and other debts onto
their mortgage. A few
years ago, she lost her

        






Emh?

My"




would like that very well-paying consulting 
. Ewe
much. Not only am I now job and they teetered on 
struggling to get by, the edge of bankruptcy. 

on six figures, but I feel
stuck in a starter home.
A starter home worth
half a million dollars on a
street where neighbors
have complained of see-

for $580,000. For years,
Kristen stayed at home

She got a new position
just in time, but they
were several months
late on bills. ?We bought
before the bubble,? she
told me, ?but we got

into the market.
I was wrong to

 

 

 

attractions, the company of interesting
multilingual neighbors, walkable public

 

addict who openly smokes crack in
the back yard and throws beer cans

   
     
    
  

 



Ilhe



Es?

WEN .

y. .x

[$22,220 A

rill I 
tee;

  

        
    
  
  
 

 

   

 

Mere?

ing prostitutes. sucked into the bubble I
I don?t often talk much the same way 
about money with my other people did.? 
friends who bought Christine and her 35;; 
here long ago, but I husband inherited a 11 DC I . Ellfl?l/?l?? 
imagined their finances home in Falls Church I ea 9 I?lmy? 
to be in far better from his father; it?s 39 E?gl 
shape than mine. When now worth $489,000, O?be?lO It Alread?f. . 
I asked them about and they pay only 
their bills recently, I the property tax. She 3y LauraM?oser 
learned that, indeed, 5 runs a daycare service E1 
three of them live in i there, and her husband h, wow, your house cost 5' big cities like, say, New York or San 5 33 
houses worth more recently left his job with five times what your Francisco. Tried to buy a condo in the 
than they paid. a local beer distributor childhood BFF paid for ?gritty? Mission lately? The median i 
My friend Kristen to become an English hers in exurban Dallas cost of a house in the District is 

and her husband, who teacher. They?re sav- and it?s half the size? You pay more 2 $475,000; in Manhattan it?s $972,000, 
works in IT, bought a ing for retirement and taxes than most residents of Missis- and in San Francisco it?s $1 million. 
two-bedroom condo in putting money away for sippi earn in a year and you don?t get And again, as in all things, you get 33 Egg
Silver Spring in 2004 their three kids? college a vote in Congress? What?s that you 2; what you pay for. There are still vast 
for $185,000, then sold funds but are feeling say?child care is eye-poppingly ex? swaths of Washington where you 
it just two years later cramped as a family of pensive and the public schools hit-or? can get a decent-size house for less .
for $380,000. They five in a three-bed room. miss at best? Well, news flash: There?s than the cost of a one-bedroom in 
paid off some bills and The houses that would a term for this tragic phenomenon. It?s the West Village or Pacific Heights. 
used the rest of their work for them? Around called LIVING IN A CITY. 1 Maybe you won?t live within walking \V?ig
huge gain for a down $800,000. But even Do you know what you get for the r: distance of any embassies, but I as- 
payment on a $555,000 with all the home premium you pay for living here in our sure you that?s a survivable fate. mis?g?? 
home in Kensington equity they?ve acquired, nation?s capital? Access to an unparal- True, I?d rather not raise my children 
that recently appraised they?re afraid to leap leled array of (mostly free) cultural directly next door to a deaf-mute drug Ely/Zia:



i



with the kids, so her assume my friends? transportation, the luxury of browsing over our fence and regularly passes . 
husband?s income was expenses were lower the Bill of Rights during your lunch me notes reading 1$ but 
it. Half of his check 8 than mine, or that they break, and excellent restaurants. That?s we all make choices in life. At least a?l
. . . ?1/4/14: I
goes toward their mort- ever greeted a major not good enough for you? Then move. l?m not hauling up five flights of stairs 3? 
gage, the other half life change worry-free On my pathetic writer?s salary, I to a railroad walkup or trudging nine ?$53
toward the rest of their 5, in this housing market. could live large in Paris, Texas, blocks to the nearest laundromat. (Af- 
bills. Now that Kristen?s If there?s one sentiment where my grandparents' planta- ter spending my twenties in London 

a romance writer, when

they do have extra, it

comes from her work.
My friend Liz told

I 
me she?s well aware that to our kids? schools, or increase it. (Plus I?d sooner have my in the first place! We might not have jquEE?$?y
1
today she could never just more suited to a teeth pulled out without anesthesia, much socked away for college, but WWII 

afford the Bethesda
home she bought more
than 15 years ago for
$258,000. It?s now worth

that unites us now, it?s
that we?ve all looked
around for something
better?larger, closer

growing family?and
decided there?s no
way we can afford it.
Upward mobility? Not

tion-style house recently sold for
$129,000. Oh, but wait~my income
would be a fraction of what it is here
and I?d have very few opportunities to

but that?s a story for another day.)
Living in a city, especially one with
as many big-money job possibilities
as this one, comes with a heavy sur?

and then New York, I?ve enjoyed those
privileges plenty.) And at least, even
on my family?s unspectacular house?
hold income, I can afford to have kids

we?ll cross that bridge when we come
to it. In the meantime, our lives are
challenging and full and seldom bor-
ing, and I wouldn?t trade our shabby

1
rill 
wheew

wig/ac.



ir~??m .

Wily/1%

 

$695,000. But she?s no
longer paying the mort-

in Washington. charge?that?s just the way it goes.

And the other thing: DC just isn?t

rowhouse on four major bus routes for
a stately manor just outside of Tulsa?



      

xv?c mmeA/VW, ,4 AM. 

 



 

 

gage she signed up for Kerry Sheridan (ker?ryc- that pricey compared with other not for any price.
in 1998, either. She and sheridan@yahoolcom) isa 
. i . i 
her husband reflna nced health and scrence reporter Laura. Maser (@lcmoser on Twitter) is coauthor of four young?adult novels ii
tw1ce, adding a kitchen forAgerzce France?Presse. and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal. @9352)?; 4/27" 


?M?s

irunaway?warns?saw 

4

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