Arlington losing families
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
+1 My kids are in college now. Arlington use to be the place where you could spend the same amount for a SFH as you would in Ashburn and it certainly wouldn't be as nice but it would be a decent, livable middle class house and the benefit was a short commute to work, good county services, and a district with small class sizes. Now that tier of SFH's is gone, fewer are commuting every day, and the advantage of class size seems to be gone. I see the new THs being developed through EHO and think that would mainly benefit people like me -- DH and I are empty nesters with strong ties in our community but would like to downsize in a few years, mostly to get rid of a lot of yard maintenance and the old-house issues. A new-build duplex in our neighborhood would be great. And then a developer will likely tear down our SFH and put up a 2M+ SFH (it's a small lot probably not a good option for MM housing) |
Anonymous
' Now we're all screwed. |
Anonymous
|
"Either that, or the county’s $1.5 billion annual fiscal budget will need to be nipped and tucked, in order to account for declines in valuations of commercial properties – declines that, potentially, could be permanent as work-from-home normality leads businesses, non-profits and government agencies to require less space."
Where's the guy who always tells us that Arlington is where all the job growth is? I guess Amazon and Boeing can't save the county from decline. (BTW, the actual job numbers actually always showed that the bulk of job growth in VA is happening in areas like Richmond.) |
Anonymous
And you think that happened in response to MM/EHO? Could you explain what timeline you're looking at and give a $ figure for what counts as a "cheaper fixer-upper"? Because it's been happening on my street for 20 years. |
Anonymous
+1 Builders were already snapping them up for SFHs. |
Anonymous
| It’s unfortunate that the housing prices in Arlington have skyrocketed to the point that it’s prohibitive to buy or upgrade. But Arlington looks pretty good to families in DC who can afford it and want to escape DCPSs and increasing crime. |
Anonymous
| Arlington has become more expensive, but it’s still a desirable place to buy a home. I get that it’s increasingly hard to break in to the real estate market, but the schools remain crowded and competitive, and most neighborhoods that have traditionally been full of kids are still full of kids. FWIW, we bought a decade ago and it felt prohibitively expensive then. It’s not a new problem in Arlington. |
Anonymous
I know teardowns have been happening in many parts of Arlington for many years, but I do feel like there are some neighborhoods where it has taken longer. I live in Waverly Hills and moved there in 2007. On my block, we just had our first actual teardown. But since I have lived there, there have been 5 houses that have added on additions onto the original 1930s house (including my own). The same is true for many of the houses around us since we have lived there. Just in the past 3-4 years have the teardowns started. Maybe that's because the price for buying an original non-renovated house is now about $900,000. Also, those who were able to renovate in the past 5 years usually paid much less since they bought the house 10+ years ago. It's hard to do that now when a buyer has to pay almost a million to begin with. |
Anonymous
|
Real estate agent here. It's the cost of housing. If they don't have big salaries or funds from another house sale, they just can't make it work unless they go further out.
Some recent buyers have mentioned the decline of the schools, but they are still looking in Arlington. Of course, those that mentioned it have the funds to go private. As a former educator and a big believer in public education, this hits hard. The gutting of public education. |
Anonymous
But if there's a capacity issue at Arlington, does it really matter if people go private? I used to think it was bad too, but now I think it doesn't matter much. |
Anonymous
| Arlington is unaffordable. |
Anonymous
| Tbh, more hipsters and empty nesters are moving pricing young families who want to buy a sfh out. I don’t know what the solution is. |
Anonymous
DP. DH and I both telework nearly full time (like twice a year I go into an office in DC and he sporadically goes out to Reston). We chose a SFH in Arlington because we wanted to be walkable to metro, parks, restaurants, etc. and have good neighborhood public schools so our kids would have friends nearby (I don’t like the idea of schlepping to play dates and sports all over town b/c their private school friends live 30 min away or they’re all divided up into the AP centers). It’s a very idyllic childhood with kids biking around, walking to school, etc. But we bought in 2018 and would be totally unable to afford our neighborhood now. We plan to hang onto this property for a long time so we can hand it down to our kids and they can hopefully rent it out or use it for down payment money if they want to stay in Arlington. Bottom line is that even many people teleworking want to live near amenities. I like popping out for coffee or to the gym on foot during lunch. |
Anonymous
And if it wasn’t that then it would be a giant $2m home. Arlington is going to have fewer and fewer of these less expensive older homes as time goes on no matter what. |
Anonymous
Oh, sure. Absolutely NO ONE with children chooses a neighborhood based on school quality. 
You are the clown. |