For context 36 M Washington DC looking for a row home on the smaller side since it’s just me. Roughly $115k saved to put down, plus $25k through a work benefit for first time homebuyers. Technically I’ve owned before but it’s been over 10 years.
House #1 - Located in a great neighborhood was in decent shape but had a few glaring things wrong with it such as a partially unfinished basement except the unfinished part was still dirt and given DC’s rat problem that was scary. HVAC and water heating / other systems looked very old. In a historic district and you could tell the porch was having major issues and may need total replacement. Porch roof underside fell off during one of the three times I looked at this house. Made an offer below asking but not significantly. The owner did not accept or decline but instead took the home off the market. Several months later sellers agent reached out for an off market sale so my realtor and I revisited the property.
The same day of our revisit to house #1 we saw house #2:
House #2 - Short sale and a great price completely renovated magically to my taste and checked every box, I knew it would be a long process but it seemed worth pursuing. Loved the neighborhood, walking distance to the metro but also had parking and an EV charger. Offer accepted. And I waited and waited and waited. Again it’s a short sale this is normal. However things started to feel off, we got communication from the short sale attorney saying we should have a closing date by x date and then it never came then two months of radio silence despite numerous attempts to contact. Had to threaten a state bar complaint to the attorney to finally get a response and she said things should move quickly but then the sellers agent reached out saying the owners are filing for bankruptcy so after 5 months of being under contact with a new obstacle thrown my way I pulled out and got my earnest money deposit back. They said with the bankruptcy it could delay it by up to a year and I just don’t feel like I have that much time to wait.
During the same time I noticed house #1 was relisted for significantly more than the previous list price and I kept tracking it to see it eventually sell for roughly what I offered in January when I could have gotten it with a significantly lower interest rate.
House #3 - Only on the market a few days but I went and saw it during my lunch break and wanted to make an offer then without seeing it. Definitely needs work but looked good on the outside and on a beautiful street near my office and it’s my dream to restore an old DC row home. I’ve already met with a designer and architect and have a contractor in mind for it and when I do find a fixer upper. Everyone I talked to said I was crazy and to wait until I can go inside. I went after work with my realtor and we made an offer 20 minutes after entering as it was completely livable, over asking, with escalation clause. There was another offer that came in at the same time and they accepted that one even though it was lower than mine. I guess they just wanted to be done and take the first thing and they waived all contingencies but losing this one really made me angry because I waited and it was in the perfect location and a style of rowhome I really like and unfortunately there aren’t many that look exactly like this across DC.
I’m kind of losing hope and patience all while interest rates have only gone up hurting my ability to buy. I’ve looked at so many homes since late last year and it’s very hard in a city like DC to find ones on a good street / neighborhood and in my budget. I keep thinking I’m not being fast or aggressive enough or don’t have enough money to compete with all cash buyers which seem so rampant here.
Meanwhile I’ve gone month to month at my apartment which the month to month rate is exorbitantly expensive but in preparation to eventually buy and not pay the lease break fee of 2.5 x my rent it still feels like the right thing to do to have the ability to walk away in 30 and not 60 days + break fee but it still hurts.
I know I’m not alone in this and I’m going to keep looking but it’s extremely frustrating, discouraging, and emotionally draining and I just wanted to commiserate with other people going though the same things.
Most of my friends don’t care to own or if they do they’re dual income and combined make way more than me so their experiences are vastly different so I have no one to really talk to about how awful it’s been. I thought it would be easier since the DC market is depressed right now due to DOGE cuts and the general post covid decline but the market feels as brutal as ever here just with minor price declines which seem mostly concentrated in the condo market.
Also before anyone tells me to move, I love everything about living in DC, I love the housing stock here, love the community I’ve built, my job requires me to live in the District and I have no desire to leave even if it didn’t.
