On: This is why I don't give you a job

[caseysoftware]

If he's in Virginia (I was there 9 years), it takes a significant income to have a home. My old one bedroom condo at 835 sqft was 240k in 2005. A single family home in a reasonable neighborhood starts at $300k pretty easily which is easily 2-3x prices here in Austin.

The problem is that salaries in DC aren't double Austin.. they're more like 1.3-1.5x.

Also, once you're about the 50k threshold for income, some of those deductions - like for student loans - start decreasing and disappear.

[tptacek → caseysoftware]

A $300k single family home is a starter home in the upper middle class.

The only deductions I mentioned --- mortgage interest and state taxes --- don't vanish at $50k.

[mattgreenrocks → caseysoftware]

This is why I refuse to buy property in the DC metro area. Not a good deal at all. Better to export the salary elsewhere.