[speaker001:] All right so, uh, you live in Dallas?
[speaker002:] Yes, I live in Dallas.
[speaker001:] Now I understand that, um, the, the real estate market out there has really gone crazy, up and down, up and down.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I think right now it's, it's kind of bad [baby]. Uh, I don't live in a house, I live in an apartment [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] Are, are you in a house?
[speaker001:] Yeah, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Yeah, we have a single family home in northern Virginia just outside of Washington.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Well, I guess the best I can do is, is, uh, compare apartments [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] If it can compare the one that I have now,
[speaker001:] [Sniffing].
[speaker002:] with the one that I had the last time, the one that I have now, uh, has a lot more amenities, I guess is the right word, than the one that I moved out of. Uh, this one, you know, gave us free cable and, uh, ceiling fans and, uh, it was practically new when I moved in here and the carpet was new and,
[speaker001:] Huh. Do you live in the high-rise?
[speaker002:] No, it's not a high-rise. It's just a, a two story building.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh, but there's, you know, there, there are a lot of buildings but it's just two stories. Uh, on the second floor they have, they don't have a patio but they have a sunroom instead of the patio. On the first floor, um, where I am, there's a patio.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay. So, so you just, you have one floor all to yourself?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] The rooms are nice and large and, let's see, I have, I have two bedrooms. And, uh,,
[speaker001:] Oh, that's nice. Do you get your own washer, dryer?
[speaker002:] Well, I, I, I have a washer and dryer area and I, I did buy the washer and dryer, but they didn't provide it.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] The one that I moved from didn't, didn't have a place to put them, and that's one of the reasons that I did move.
[speaker001:] Yeah. That is nice.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] [Sniffing].
[speaker002:] Get tired of dragging clothes to the laundromat [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] So, tell me ab-,
[speaker001:] Yeah, I've always, uh, been pretty lucky. The real estate out here's been pretty good. It, uh, the, the prices of, well, the prices came down last year. We've, we had sort of like a Dallas syndrome [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] The past, uh, uh, year and a half prices have gone down which is totally new for northern Virginia.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. It just,
[speaker001:] It just never happened before.
[speaker002:] It's a real good,
[speaker001:] So it's really surprising everybody. [sniffing] All the developers don't know what to do [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, it's a good time to buy,
[speaker001:] Yeah,
[speaker002:] if you're in the market.
[speaker001:] unfortunate-, we're, uh, we actually have our house on the market because we have two kids
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and we have a three bedroom house. And it's pretty much filled up right now.
[speaker002:] Oh, so you want a bigger one.
[speaker001:] Yeah, uh-huh. Get an extra bedroom or a basement. Right now it's just a, a single level rambler.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. One thing about the houses in, uh, in Dallas, they don't, uh, utilize basements the way they did in New York.
[speaker001:] [Sniffing].
[speaker002:] My parents in New York had, uh, a, uh, three family house.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Actual [NOISE] a,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] two family house where the, the, um, the downstairs and the second floor they had, and then they rented the third floor with the whole apartment, you know.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, they had a basement,
[speaker001:] [Sniffing].
[speaker002:] and they, you know, they finished the basement, and they were able to rent that out also. But, uh, in Dallas I, I just, I just haven't seen basements in houses.
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker002:] And I've looked at a lot of them, [very faint] you know.
[speaker001:] Yeah, a friend of mine was thinking about coming down there, and that's what he said was that, you know, it just wasn't something that people had down there.
[speaker002:] No, it's a-,
[speaker001:] They put pools and garages on,
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] but, uh, no basements [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I haven't, I haven't, I have yet to see a basement in a house.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh,
[speaker001:] Maybe it's all the sand. Is there a lot of sand in, I always think it's like a desert, I don't know. [LAUGHTER] [sniffing] Dallas always,
[speaker002:] Well, no. [LAUGHTER] No, no, no, you know, I don't see that kind of sand here. Um, there are some areas though where, where they have a problem with, uh, the houses kind of sinking a little bit
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] into the, to the, uh, [lipsmack] or the foundation is sinking or something. You know, just a little, just a little bit, some more than others. But you, you have to know the right spot,
[speaker001:] [Sniffing].
[speaker002:] to, to pick where that doesn't happen.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, [very faint] uh,
[speaker001:] Well, out here we, um, we live in what used to be, uh, like a prairie or whatever a natural, you know, natural grasslands.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, uh, they, it's just, you go down four inches and you get to sands-, well, fourteen inches you get to sandstone.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And so any place where they put a basement in they had to blast [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I see.
[speaker001:] It's just solid sandstone.
[speaker002:] Huh. Where did you say you're at, Colorado?
[speaker001:] No, Virginia.
[speaker002:] Virginia, Virginia. That's right.
[speaker001:] Yeah, it's sort of unusual really. Most of Virginia is clay.
[speaker002:] Anywhere near, uh, Virginia Beach?
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah, uh-huh. [sniffing] Yeah. My, uh, my folks used to live there. Back before I was born,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] Oh.
[speaker001:] they lived there.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Well, different areas in Dallas have different kind, in, uh, in Texas I'll say because down in east Texas there's a lot of red clay.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, in the, in the Dallas, you know, Fort Worth city areas you don't see that.
[speaker001:] Yeah, well, uh, Texas is a big state so I imagine the, the type of houses and, uh, things like that are truly different from area to area [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, well,
[speaker001:] But, uh, [sniffing] that's the same way out here because, um, well, we, for example, and we live fifteen miles from the beltway that surrounds Washington
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and anything instead that beltway, the highway, the real estate's forty thousand dollars more expensive.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So, you know, you really can't afford, I, I, I could never afford a house inside the beltway. That's why we came out here. This is called the, the, the country, you know, with only, you know, maybe twenty miles total from D C, twenty-five
[speaker002:] Huh.
[speaker001:] from the city. But, um, it's considered the country since it's, uh, you know, that far out.
[speaker002:] Well,
[speaker001:] But, um, yeah, we live out by Dulles Airport.
[speaker002:] I see.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and, uh, [sniffing] that's one of the few places still in northern Virginia they have trailer parks that are down around the corner from here and, you know, it's, it's still pretty rural.
[speaker002:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, not too much of northern Virginia is like that anymore. Land has gotten so expensive they just can't afford to have low income housing like that.
[speaker002:] So, is your house in an area by itself? I mean,
[speaker001:] No, we're in a development.
[speaker002:] it's not connected to another one?
[speaker001:] There's, uh, yeah, there's another one half an acre away,
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] or a quarter acre away rather.
[speaker002:] But it's not, they're not connected are they?
[speaker001:] Oh, no. Huh-uh. You have to, uh, stay in one single family home. I sort of got spoiled with that when I was growing up.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, my folks, um, had an apartment for a while when we were kids but, um, for the most part i-, they, they always had, you know, and Pennsylvania always had a single family home and so,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] you know, as soon as we could we, we got a single family home, and that's all I ever knew growing up,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] so. I stayed in a townhouse for, uh, two years and then, uh, saved up enough money to, to get a,