With a $2M budget for a new home, should we consider Vienna or Pimmit Hills?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will pay the ridiculous 24% town tax in Vienna. Ripoff. Also, is $2m the total cost (land and building) or are you looking to purchase a lot and then have rgr $2m for construction? I don’t like the TOV tax, congestion, but Pimmit is crap also. Neither

A finished new house by builder

You not going to get much….try looking elsewhere or a used home

[Anonymous]

I really dislike the divide between the Town of Vienna and the rest of Fairfax County with Vienna mailing addresses, which the ongoing FCPS boundary review has laid bare. Pimmit Hills is less pretentious. Marshall HS isn’t better than Madison HS, but there’s no big difference apart from Marshall being IB and Madison AP, and Madison having more of a sports culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really dislike the divide between the Town of Vienna and the rest of Fairfax County with Vienna mailing addresses, which the ongoing FCPS boundary review has laid bare. Pimmit Hills is less pretentious. Marshall HS isn’t better than Madison HS, but there’s no big difference apart from Marshall being IB and Madison AP, and Madison having more of a sports culture.

I own in Marshall district and disagree - I’d choose Madison over it any day. Who wants to go to high school next to a congested freeway?

OP - for $2M, buy what you can in Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really dislike the divide between the Town of Vienna and the rest of Fairfax County with Vienna mailing addresses, which the ongoing FCPS boundary review has laid bare. Pimmit Hills is less pretentious. Marshall HS isn’t better than Madison HS, but there’s no big difference apart from Marshall being IB and Madison AP, and Madison having more of a sports culture.

I own in Marshall district and disagree - I’d choose Madison over it any day. Who wants to go to high school next to a congested freeway?

OP - for $2M, buy what you can in Vienna.

And it will not be a new home by a builder…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really dislike the divide between the Town of Vienna and the rest of Fairfax County with Vienna mailing addresses, which the ongoing FCPS boundary review has laid bare. Pimmit Hills is less pretentious. Marshall HS isn’t better than Madison HS, but there’s no big difference apart from Marshall being IB and Madison AP, and Madison having more of a sports culture.

I own in Marshall district and disagree - I’d choose Madison over it any day. Who wants to go to high school next to a congested freeway?

OP - for $2M, buy what you can in Vienna.

And it will not be a new home by a builder…

These sold in last 6 months in Vienna under $2M, seem fine to me. The first is a new build.

$1.9M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-John-Marshall-Dr-NE-Vienna-VA-22180/51769561_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

$1.92M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/217-Talahi-Rd-SE-Vienna-VA-22180/51771929_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

$1.8M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-Jade-Ct-NW-Vienna-VA-22180/51771201_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really dislike the divide between the Town of Vienna and the rest of Fairfax County with Vienna mailing addresses, which the ongoing FCPS boundary review has laid bare. Pimmit Hills is less pretentious. Marshall HS isn’t better than Madison HS, but there’s no big difference apart from Marshall being IB and Madison AP, and Madison having more of a sports culture.

I own in Marshall district and disagree - I’d choose Madison over it any day. Who wants to go to high school next to a congested freeway?

OP - for $2M, buy what you can in Vienna.

And it will not be a new home by a builder…

These sold in last 6 months in Vienna under $2M, seem fine to me. The first is a new build.

$1.9M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-John-Marshall-Dr-NE-Vienna-VA-22180/51769561_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

$1.92M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/217-Talahi-Rd-SE-Vienna-VA-22180/51771929_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

$1.8M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-Jade-Ct-NW-Vienna-VA-22180/51771201_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

Yep. It’s funny reading this from N Arlington. Your $ goes wayyyy further in ToV - might not be a new build, but it’ll be under 5 years old, 6000 square feet, and under $2M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in PH and we are very happy. Marshall is a better school than Madison; we are closer to DC and have great restaurants. I like being right off 66, 267, and 495. I was debating between a house in Vienna and PH and we ultimately chose PH because the house was better but we have been happy with our decision.

No.

By which measure is Madison better? Not by this one: https://www.fcps.edu/news/262-fcps-students-named-2026-national-merit-semifinalists-0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will pay the ridiculous 24% town tax in Vienna. Ripoff. Also, is $2m the total cost (land and building) or are you looking to purchase a lot and then have rgr $2m for construction? I don’t like the TOV tax, congestion, but Pimmit is crap also. Neither

It cannot possibly be twenty-four percent.. Nobody would live in a town that taxes people more than any state tax rate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will pay the ridiculous 24% town tax in Vienna. Ripoff. Also, is $2m the total cost (land and building) or are you looking to purchase a lot and then have rgr $2m for construction? I don’t like the TOV tax, congestion, but Pimmit is crap also. Neither

Not only that, Vienna is a LOT further out from DC than Pimmit. If you need to get to downtown DC, you want to be in Pimmit. Additionally, I dislike the fact that the only way to get in and out of Vienna is via Maple Avenue, which is often congested. The strip malls on either side of Vienna are unappealing. School selections, public and private, are better and easier from Pimmit. If you should pick a school in Maryland or D.C. (yes, we drove from McLean to three different schools over hte American Legion Bridge), you can do it a lot easier from Pimmit than from being buried down Maple in Vienna. You have only one good private in Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will pay the ridiculous 24% town tax in Vienna. Ripoff. Also, is $2m the total cost (land and building) or are you looking to purchase a lot and then have rgr $2m for construction? I don’t like the TOV tax, congestion, but Pimmit is crap also. Neither

Towns in Virginia never have an income tax. Real Estate tax in Vienna is nowhere near as high as that. The 24% above is totally bogus.

[Anonymous]

I live in TOV and our taxes are a bit higher but it pays for things like trash, snow removal, discounts at community center, etc so it honestly evens out. I would consider it a non issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really dislike the divide between the Town of Vienna and the rest of Fairfax County with Vienna mailing addresses, which the ongoing FCPS boundary review has laid bare. Pimmit Hills is less pretentious. Marshall HS isn’t better than Madison HS, but there’s no big difference apart from Marshall being IB and Madison AP, and Madison having more of a sports culture.

I own in Marshall district and disagree - I’d choose Madison over it any day. Who wants to go to high school next to a congested freeway?

OP - for $2M, buy what you can in Vienna.

And it will not be a new home by a builder…

These sold in last 6 months in Vienna under $2M, seem fine to me. The first is a new build.

$1.9M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-John-Marshall-Dr-NE-Vienna-VA-22180/51769561_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

$1.92M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/217-Talahi-Rd-SE-Vienna-VA-22180/51771929_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

$1.8M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-Jade-Ct-NW-Vienna-VA-22180/51771201_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

That first one seems wayyyy underpriced - trying to figure out why

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Either is fine. Pay attention to lot sizes, sidewalks, school locations, and parks for both places.

Unfortunately, FCPS has closed the centrally located elementary school inside PH. It would have been walkable from the whole neighborhood. Fairfax County now calls that building a senior center; no idea what is inside.

There is a large Fairfax County regional library that backs to a public park; that park and the library are walkable from much of the PH neighborhood. Another public park is close to 267. Neither park is very well maintained.

That location is not walkable from the WHOLE neighborhood. Nothing in PH is walkable for the entire neighborhood, it’s simply too large.

[Anonymous]

Maple Avenue in Vienna is a horribly congested road of strip malls. I have no idea why people act like it’s some beautiful, walkable amenity. Also Madison has a weird sports-obsessed culture. If your kids are academically oriented, Marshall is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maple Avenue in Vienna is a horribly congested road of strip malls. I have no idea why people act like it’s some beautiful, walkable amenity. Also Madison has a weird sports-obsessed culture. If your kids are academically oriented, Marshall is better.

I don’t think Marshall is better. Marshall games the US News ratings by automatically enrolling most juniors and seniors in IB English courses. If you know anything about the US News ratings, you know that they reward schools based on the level of their AP/IB participation.

Madison, like the other top AP schools, allows juniors and seniors to choose whether to take regular, Honors, or AP English courses.