Anyone else grew up in McLean but can’t afford to buy there?
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Anonymous
| It’s not worth stressing over. The people who buy there now are often putting down so much in cash that they don’t need jumbo mortgages. |
Anonymous
| I was born here. And am fortunate to live here. Bought in 2007 in Langley forest. But couldn't afford my house today at the prices things are going for. Weird feeling. |
Anonymous
| McLean is not that nice or worth getting upset about being priced out of. I wouldn’t get too emo about not being near the strip malls near the Total Wine and Giant or not being able to walk to the charming shoppes along Chain Bridge Road. |
Anonymous
| Be patient. By a starter house elsewhere, save up for McLean. I couldn't afford to by a house in McLean until my late 30's. |
Anonymous
| Fairfax of today is the McLean of your era. Just buy there if you are set on repeating your childhood. |
Anonymous
+1. It's fairly common for families to move to McLean from Arlington or other parts of the DC area when their kids are near or in their teens, after having saved to buy a house there. |
Anonymous
| buy in chantilly hs cluster, it's what's next |
Anonymous
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It’s happening everywhere, OP - not just McLean. Prices are rising faster than incomes, so many people are priced out of areas that were previously affordable.
I bought my house in Springfield several years ago for appx $500k. Now, similar houses in the neighborhood are selling for over $800k. I love my house and neighborhood, but I wouldn’t buy here if looking now. My budget would push me out to Loudoun or Prince William or maybe even Stafford. |
Anonymous
| You can never go home again. Even if you buy there it won't be the idealized version that exists in your head. I'd just let it go and find somewhere that works for what you want now |
Anonymous
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This is not new. I grew up locally in one of the sought-after towns often referenced here, lovely home and neighborhood. My Dad was a government employee and my Mom stayed home part of my childhood and they had three kids.
I live in a sought-after town mentioned here, but it takes two good jobs to afford that, and some good fortune with real estate timing too. My home is comparable to my parents', but it takes two reasonably well paying jobs now. And we have an only child. Three kids would seem so expensive to me, like we would not be able to live and save how we do now. |
Anonymous
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Same thing in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Kensington, etc for the folks who grew up there in 80s and 90s. They are absolutely priced out. The folks who live there now have $$$$.
If they are lucky, the retired parents kept the house and the parents are now letting adult kids/grandkids live there to take advantage of good schools while the parents have downsized to a condo or moved to Florida. |
Anonymous
Sweet, another excuse to bash McLean thread... aren't you people tired of this? 
OP. You'd probably get more thoughtful replies had you said Falls Church City or Vienna or Arlington... If the NoVa area was the world. McLean would be America. Loved by many, but despised by far more. |
Anonymous
OP here. I was not trying to start a controversy. I just had a wonderful childhood with beautiful memories in McLean and the area near Great Falls park. Every weekend my family would go hiking there together. Tysons Corner mall was a small neighborhood only mall safe enough to drop your teens off when you're off running errands. Going to the McDonalds near the McLean Central Park after HS to eat sundaes with your friends. Taking my little sister and her best friend to the Clemijontri park. We lived in a small modest SFH and were surrounded by lawyers and other feds. It wasn't fancy but it was home. I can't seem to let go that I will never "go home" again. McLean is my home in this area. Everywhere else feels too far and in the middle of "nowhere." My Langley classmates who graduated in 2006 are now either in Arlington, Bethesda or Spring Valley. Others are dispersed around the country. DH and I are not in very well paid fields although together we bring in like 280k+. DH runs his own at home consulancy so in a good year we can have a HHI of 400k+. He grew up in Fairfax Station and has a negative impression of McLean along with thinking its too big a mortgage to take on when we can buy a bigger house somewhere in Burke or Herndon for 500k-600k. I'm just so torn about it. |
Anonymous
| Check out some of the communities in Fairfax. We are in Fox Mill and love it. The houses are affordable, the ES is great, and we love the vibe of the neighborhood. |
Anonymous
Great Falls is still here, as are the McDonalds near the park and Clemyjontri. Tysons was always a regional mall, not a small neighborhood mall, but people can and do still safely drop off their kids there. A household income of $280-400K is above average for most McLean neighborhoods. When we moved out of DC, I wouldn't consider McLean at first because I thought it was too old and stodgy, so we bought in Fairfax further out. Over time, I realized the commute was draining and that it would be nice to be closer to DC, and had heard more about the advantages of the McLean schools, which are on the smaller side for FCPS but still have amazing extra-curricular activities. So we moved to McLean, and wish we'd done so sooner. But it may not be as idyllic as you're recalling for the reasons other posters have mentioned. The people who live in McLean now often are very busy two-income families and it may not be as "neighborly" as you remember it. And Burke has its own appeal - it's more low-key than McLean, less congested than a place like Vienna, and has its own parks and amenities like Burke Lake. |