Feedback on these two McLean houses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have close family moving from out of state to McLean with a budget of ~4 million. Wanted to get feedback and criticism on these two properties that they recently toured:

1. https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/8310-Weller-Ave-22102/home/9265755

2. https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/893-Georgetown-Ridge-Ct-22102/home/109702428

House 1 is in a preferable location but has a shared driveway. Looks like a nice new ski location house. House 2 is only accessible offf Georgeown Pike. Looks like many upscale newish shops and malls. Neither is large lot.

Realtor is driving the relocating family to weird properties. Need to move so how about this place? It's new!
Note some one bought a house in the reserve for less $ - https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/7797-Solitude-Ct-22102/home/9830358

This house is 20 years old! And showing its age. The kitchen and the master bath are dated.

Buyers at this price point want turnkey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

The baseboards are wavy along several walls if you look carefully. It would drive me nuts.

[Anonymous]

terrible both of them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they both are a pass. What about this one and do a few cosmetic updates:

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/1064-Silent-Ridge-Ct-22102/home/9843813

That one has good bones, but updating could be expensive depending on how far you want to take it

How do you know? 2003 building code is not as stringent as 2024 so the bones are not good. I also see a lot of builder grade stuff like generic subway tile not going up to the ceiling. Kitchen only has one island and the house feels small. The outside brick and interior is very dated a lot of money to update, the size of the home is at least 2000sf smaller than the new homes and the price isn't much lower. The only thing i like is the pool and backyard. Sorry it's a no from me dawg.

Totally, why I say it will be $$$$ to update that home, so you are essentially paying for the premium lot and the "bones" or a facade. Seriously speaking, why would anyone who can drop 4 mil or enter into such a humongous mortgage have a bathroom that looks like this? This is a budget apartment bathroom, and there are much better looking budget priced finishes now. is it livable and totally fine? Absolutely, but not for 4 million. Maybe older mcMansions will become new tear downs once premium areas run out of split levels and ramblers. These homes are looking for people with much deeper pockets who can drop 4 mil on land and then rebuild or spend 7 figures for gut renovation.

[Anonymous]

The house on Weller is sort of on a pipestem (I live near there). It shares a driveway with another house and there is literally no way I'd spend $4 million dollars to wait for someone else to use the driveway. On the plus side, it is near Spring Hill Rec center - but it is not clear there is a walkable cut through.

I've seen the house and I thought it would go for more like $2 million, honestly. It's right beside a pond of sorts but it's the kind of pond that will breed mosquitos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They sort of look like airports. Parts of airports.

I was at Dulles last week and there in a redone spiral staircase that looks exactly like the one here in the United section of the terminal.

House #1 staircase has flaws in the lighting of the staircase. You can see from the pictures that there is a stair towards the top that has the entire row of lights out. It also looks like whatever lighting strips or whatever they applied don’t go the full length of each step.

These houses look cheap and I would be embarrassed to live in one of them.

They don't look cheap, you just don't like their style. If you look at the other old mcMansions listed here they look cheaper to me and dated. Old renovated homes have better finishes now with all the new materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they both are a pass. What about this one and do a few cosmetic updates:

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/1064-Silent-Ridge-Ct-22102/home/9843813

That one has good bones, but updating could be expensive depending on how far you want to take it

How do you know? 2003 building code is not as stringent as 2024 so the bones are not good. I also see a lot of builder grade stuff like generic subway tile not going up to the ceiling. Kitchen only has one island and the house feels small. The outside brick and interior is very dated a lot of money to update, the size of the home is at least 2000sf smaller than the new homes and the price isn't much lower. The only thing i like is the pool and backyard. Sorry it's a no from me dawg.

I take back the pool, i don't like that it doesn't have an auto cover and there is no hot tub, i give this house a C

This house is a fixer upper for the wealthy. Not people for whom paying 4 mil is a hardship and they expect turnkey. People with deeper pockets can gut renovate and update pool and landscaping. It's banking on the fact that land must be very expensive there or it's an area that has certain prestige or premium value, if there are new construction homes there for 10 mil then this one is essentially a tear down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They sort of look like airports. Parts of airports.

I was at Dulles last week and there in a redone spiral staircase that looks exactly like the one here in the United section of the terminal.

House #1 staircase has flaws in the lighting of the staircase. You can see from the pictures that there is a stair towards the top that has the entire row of lights out. It also looks like whatever lighting strips or whatever they applied don’t go the full length of each step.

These houses look cheap and I would be embarrassed to live in one of them.

You would be "embarrassed" Where do you live now? If someone were to plop one of these on your lot for free or for something like 500K, would you say no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They sort of look like airports. Parts of airports.

I was at Dulles last week and there in a redone spiral staircase that looks exactly like the one here in the United section of the terminal.

House #1 staircase has flaws in the lighting of the staircase. You can see from the pictures that there is a stair towards the top that has the entire row of lights out. It also looks like whatever lighting strips or whatever they applied don’t go the full length of each step.

These houses look cheap and I would be embarrassed to live in one of them.

K boomer enjoy your lyod wright shack

Not a boomer, and I would take a Lloyd Wright shack over the dated blah mcMansion listed here any day. Both houses touted as better options are depressingly generic suburbia any-town USA with budget apartment building finishes for 4 mil. LLoyd Wright half the size would be a huge upgrade. I personally prefer modern houses and the ones listed by OP aren't terrible, they just need staging with proper furniture to show better and anything with so much glass needs an all around private lot or a heavily wooded lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they both are a pass. What about this one and do a few cosmetic updates:

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/1064-Silent-Ridge-Ct-22102/home/9843813

That one has good bones, but updating could be expensive depending on how far you want to take it

How do you know? 2003 building code is not as stringent as 2024 so the bones are not good. I also see a lot of builder grade stuff like generic subway tile not going up to the ceiling. Kitchen only has one island and the house feels small. The outside brick and interior is very dated a lot of money to update, the size of the home is at least 2000sf smaller than the new homes and the price isn't much lower. The only thing i like is the pool and backyard. Sorry it's a no from me dawg.

Without context and seeing the rest of the house, this looks like a bathroom in a budget rental apartment.

[Anonymous]

The Reserve was funny even when built bc the finished weren’t amazing. Lots of hollow doors, cheap plated hardware, lots of strange angles, particularly in the kitchens, tacky tray ceilings, etc. There are a handful of homes in there where people just bought the lots and completely customized them that are nice.

I think the Dominion one has relatively nice bones. The foyer and facade are classic. My issue w/ that home is the location right by the main gate house and parking lot. Not the view I would like

[Anonymous]

The Reserve was built in the late 1990s/early 2000/, and even back then, it had this vibe of trying way too hard to be something fancy. The name alone—The Reserve—is a joke. It sounds like it’s supposed to be some exclusive, high-end retreat, but in reality, it’s just a collection of HUGE overpriced homes behind a gate.

Even when it was first built, the homes didn’t exactly impress. The finishes were basic—cheap materials that didn’t match the price tag. The kitchens were/are especially bad, with awkward layouts that made you wonder if the designer had ever cooked a meal in their life. The bathrooms speak for themselves. The whole place feels like it was rushed to meet a demand for “luxury,” but with little attention to the details that actually make a home well-built or unique.

The homes sadly have not aged well. It’s awful and wasteful that it’s even being mentioned that a 8,000-10,000 sqft home built a mere 25 years ago is a possible tear down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Reserve was built in the late 1990s/early 2000/, and even back then, it had this vibe of trying way too hard to be something fancy. The name alone—The Reserve—is a joke. It sounds like it’s supposed to be some exclusive, high-end retreat, but in reality, it’s just a collection of HUGE overpriced homes behind a gate.

Even when it was first built, the homes didn’t exactly impress. The finishes were basic—cheap materials that didn’t match the price tag. The kitchens were/are especially bad, with awkward layouts that made you wonder if the designer had ever cooked a meal in their life. The bathrooms speak for themselves. The whole place feels like it was rushed to meet a demand for “luxury,” but with little attention to the details that actually make a home well-built or unique.

The homes sadly have not aged well. It’s awful and wasteful that it’s even being mentioned that a 8,000-10,000 sqft home built a mere 25 years ago is a possible tear down.

Interesting, I didn't realize this was a master planned community and why homes may be similar. These homes listed aren't tear downs maybe, but definitely will require hefty renovation budget. I am sure some people do this, buy these dated mcMansions that are already huge and have more than enough sq.ft and decent looking exterior and then renovate them on the inside, change landscaping/hardscaping and it costs them less than buying a brand new luxury home on a similarly sized lot in the nearby area. That is if you like the exterior style. You can't really go full on modern with these homes, but you can certainly make them more luxurious inside and with better flow.

[Anonymous]

Not only are many of the reserve houses of mediocre quality, they also come with a high HOA fee. A new build would probably be a better investment.

[Anonymous]

I guess these houses are a bit further west but I'd encourage anyone thinking of buying in McLean on the north side of Dolley Madison to experience just how terrible traffic is now near the Georgetown Pike/Balls Hill/495 intersection. It's a huge construction project and the traffic slows to a halt. If you had to pick your kid up at Cooper MS you may need to tack on an extra 20-30 minutes just to navigate the final mile closest to the school. The areas on the other side of Dolley Madison are much easier to navigate (and closer to DC and Metro as well).