This Alexandria townhome for retired couple?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with the other poster, if you want something where you can just lock and walk away, an apartment maybe more ideal. Imagine having a TH, you are away, and mail starts piling up. Will be a massive sign for potential trespassers that no one is home.

I agree apartment in many ways (space, HOA) is not ideal as well but given the divide between your apartment and street level, coupled with a lack of stairs, I do think it may be a better bet. Either that or a TH in a more TH community setting with lots of neighbors so that you at least reduce the chances of a break in when away (but the massive amount of stairs will be annoying).

If apartment here is one I just saw, 3BR, decent Sq footage, and very walkable (can't comment on price as I don't have much experience with apartment pricing plus I find, due to my own inherent bias, to price them fairly since I feel they tend to be overpriced compared to TH options...but that's my bias I feel): https://redf.in/LghyI8

U know u can have usps hold mail?, right? I do it like ten times a year.

[Anonymous]

I've been in Old Town since 1971 and I've never seen water touch Union street south of Prince. Ever.

This board has a lunatic woman who spwnds here dying days posting about Alexandria and flooding. It's some sort of mental illness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re really paying for the boat slip with this condo. Do you have a boat? For $975k, I would expect a bigger kitchen. I know this area and it’s very nice. Would this be your primary residence?

And on top of the $975K, you’re paying $475 a month in conde fees.
Hard pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been in Old Town since 1971 and I've never seen water touch Union street south of Prince. Ever.

This board has a lunatic woman who spwnds here dying days posting about Alexandria and flooding. It's some sort of mental illness.

I have. And these specific townhomes I believe have underground parking, which I remember flooding during Isabel. Was that a long time ago, yes, but it can flood over there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good feedback. Thank you. I think I have 20 years before I need to worry about stairs, but I hadn't even noticed the boat slip, and don't want it. I'll continue looking. Just not loving the idea of an apartment.

If you’re looking in Old Town, be wary of Union Street. The first few blocks up from the waterfront are built on fill and flood pretty regularly. Look at the water level measure carved into the Torpedo Factory. The elevation rises pretty quickly, so anything more than a couple blocks up is fine.

This. I know a friend just two blocks from your property that was flooded out a few years back (I suspect you can find that flood in WaPO). It was a very serious deal at the time. His house was destroyed in the bottom levels (where he also had a business). Ask for flood maps. do your research. Talk to all of the old-timer residents about flooding, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with the other poster, if you want something where you can just lock and walk away, an apartment maybe more ideal. Imagine having a TH, you are away, and mail starts piling up. Will be a massive sign for potential trespassers that no one is home.

I agree apartment in many ways (space, HOA) is not ideal as well but given the divide between your apartment and street level, coupled with a lack of stairs, I do think it may be a better bet. Either that or a TH in a more TH community setting with lots of neighbors so that you at least reduce the chances of a break in when away (but the massive amount of stairs will be annoying).

If apartment here is one I just saw, 3BR, decent Sq footage, and very walkable (can't comment on price as I don't have much experience with apartment pricing plus I find, due to my own inherent bias, to price them fairly since I feel they tend to be overpriced compared to TH options...but that's my bias I feel): https://redf.in/LghyI8

U know u can have usps hold mail?, right? I do it like ten times a year.

+1. Plus, THs using have a setup similar to apartment buildings where there is a mail kiosk with lots of individual boxes. So it's not like anyone would ever know if the mail is piled up in yours. I live in a TH and I usually don't even bother to pick up my mail more than once a week.

[Anonymous]

Union street doesn't flood besides at King.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t be moving into something with stairs as a retirement home.

+1 my MIL finally moved out of her home that had stairs when she kept falling. She moved into her new bungalow, lived there for 15 months, and is now in the hospital due to breathing issues. We had been telling her to move for the past 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been in Old Town since 1971 and I've never seen water touch Union street south of Prince. Ever.

This board has a lunatic woman who spwnds here dying days posting about Alexandria and flooding. It's some sort of mental illness.

That’s me, and I’ve never posted about flooding in OT before (other than to explain that flooding doesn’t occur above Fairfax).

The house OP was interested in is on the river side of Union just South of Wolfe, which means the water wouldn’t have to touch Union in the first place, but virtually that entire area, including Union, is in the 100 year floodplain (as is virtually all of Union Street). There is a short stretch between Prince and Wolfe that is slightly higher (only in the 200 year floodplain), but it gets low again at Wolfe. And, as others have indicated, houses along S. Union did have flooding in Hurricane Isabel (most of them were built with garages on the first floor, for that reason). I have a friend who lived in one.

https://www.alexandriava.gov/sites/default/files/2023-07/5155190041F.pdf

[Anonymous]

Parking is in a below grade garage. Other than that, I would agree that there hasn't historically been at grade flooding past Prince.

I think Old Town is great for retirees but you can find a better fit than this place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t be moving into something with stairs as a retirement home.

+1

Any location along the Alexandria city waterfront - AND for several blocks to the west - will flood. It happens with most big rain storms. The TV news crews always setup there because it is a reliable visual of sandbags and widespread flooding.

[Anonymous]

That condo is definitely in a flood zone. I used to work in one of the stores a block or two away and we had a couple of times we had to put out sandbags and move merchandise higher from the floor. The water can go pretty far up king street in a bad storm.