Give Up Trying to Find House in Lyon Village?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Lee Heights, Tara, Larchmont, Ashton Heights, Maywood, Willlet Heights, Waverly Hills, Cherrydale. Similar to Lyon Village but better yards

I would agree with this. There are so many nice areas of N. Arlington that are still convenient/walkable. We are in Waverly Hills and can walk to the Lee Heights shops in 10 minutes. Not Clarendon, of course, but still some retail and decent restaurants. We can also walk to Ballston in about 15 minutes and Clarendon in about 40 minutes. My DH and I have done this a few times when we go out - it is a nice walk and good exercise! If I had my choice, I would probably live in Maywood - cute, cute, cute neighborhood - close to Spout Run and walkable to Clarendon in probably 20-25 minutes. That area is hard to buy in as well, though. I agree that Lyon Village is nice, but there are many other nice neighborhoods in N. Arlington that are close to retail and shopping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To us, the math looked like this:

South of Wilson Blvd:

Good houses, close to the restaurants and stores, not sure about the middle school.

Lyon Village. Good houses but not a lot of them and very expensive. Small yards. Good schools. Close to the restaurants and stores.

Cherrydale, etc. Good houses, better yards, some garages. Good schools. Not as close to the restaurants and stores.

So you are probably coming to the conclusion that we did - namely that you need to relax one constraint. That constraint is either money, schools, yard size, or proximity to Clarendon/Wilson Blvd.

You have to add 'The METRO' to Clarendon. That is huge --even if you don't use it to commute yourself.

[Anonymous]

Another alternative:

I am in Lyon Village---but if you love this area of Clarendon---another option is the few streets of houses behind 'Market Common'. They are zoned for the same schools as Lyon Village and I have seen a few tear downs--new houses being built...and a few lots which have the same potential. I think it is just listed as "Clarendon' zip 22201 on real estate websites.

[Anonymous]

We were very lucky to be introduced by a friend to a seller before our house went on the market. We snapped it up and avoided the inevitable bidding war that would have ensued.

Have you spoken to Ingrid Wooten? She a realtor and seems to have the monopoly on Lyon Village house sales.

All the best OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were very lucky to be introduced by a friend to a seller before our house went on the market. We snapped it up and avoided the inevitable bidding war that would have ensued.

Have you spoken to Ingrid Wooten? She a realtor and seems to have the monopoly on Lyon Village house sales.

All the best OP

I agree with this--and the particular realtor mentioned. Any inside info would help. So many houses do get snapped up before they go on the market.

[Anonymous]

our 'hood, not LV, is walking to an orange line stop and the houses are gone in days and that's even if they are listed. If you expand your search, you might find a great hood that offers everything you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our 'hood, not LV, is walking to an orange line stop and the houses are gone in days and that's even if they are listed. If you expand your search, you might find a great hood that offers everything you want.

What is the name of your "hood"?

[Anonymous]

We were looking at both sides of Wilson and even put an offer in on a house in Lyon Park. After 6 months of waiting, an aged LV house popped on the market and we were suddenly buying a house (along with three other bidders) on day 1.

I love living where we do and honestly don't think that there are many neighborhoods in the whole country that offer the urban/suburban combo AND have public transportation AND a stellar school district.

That said- we paid a silly amount (in a big hurry) for a too-small old house that we are now paying a silly amount to renovate to fit our growing family. Three years on, a teardown on a 6k lot goes for over a million; last year a teardown on a 12k lot went for $1.4 (and they are building a MONSTER on it! That's crazy especially since the top end of the market ($1.7+) moves much more slowly.

Don't forget that there are also downsides that come with the territory- parking, crime, loud college kids and speeding are all issues in LV that aren't as as present in other ARL neighborhoods.

There are lots of Orange-line neighborhoods that have their own charms and are within short biking distance of Clarendon- anywhere else in the country (I'm most familiar with San Fran, Portland) people would clamor for "bikable" stand alone houses near transportation (ART or bike to metro) with yards and garages.

Good luck on your search- I hate to say this to someone with a budget that high in a housing market as bad as the US housing market is supposed to be everywhere else but you may have to leap on something less than perfect on day 1 and then make it what you want after the fact. We explored tearing down our house and using a semi-custom builder (Stanley Martin) and were surprised at how much house you could build for $500k. There are plenty of streets in LV that haven't been fully re-developed (Garfield between Franklin and Wilson comes to mind) so you could always try and approach homeowners (it might help to have a visibly pregnant DW in tow... even if you have to borrow one). There are also a surprising number of rental houses around that cater to college kids (and are pretty trashed). Come summer they clear out and *maybe* the landlords would be interested in selling. Both of these approaches are being tried by others- we've been approached by several people and get a monthly mailing from BCN the developer.

[Anonymous]

OP, here. Thank you, everyone for your perspectives! We've expanded the search mostly because of what one of the posters said about: crime, noise, loud college kids, speeding etc. I actually live in a very similar neighborhood to LV and all those negatives are present. Maybe it's time for a change !!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, here. Thank you, everyone for your perspectives! We've expanded the search mostly because of what one of the posters said about: crime, noise, loud college kids, speeding etc. I actually live in a very similar neighborhood to LV and all those negatives are present. Maybe it's time for a change !!

This is what I don't get. There is no crime in LV...and very little noise or college kids unless you live right at the edge of the neighborhood bordering the bars.

From that one pp description---I am gathering that they don't live in LV proper. There are very, very few rental properties. The very few that they are near us our HHI household families paying upwards of $5k/month in rent. I can think of only 1 rental home in the neighborhood that has anything other than a single family and taht one is at the border of the neighborhood. The one thing I do like LV is that it has sidewalks...so many Arlington neighborhoods do not.

We've been here for over 5 years and it is very quiet and very serene..just walked home at 7:30pm from the park with my kids. Take a drive in the heart of the neighborhood.

I am one that picks location first and then gets the best house I can get for my $ after that. For me--a slightly smaller house and yard for an area that I can walk everywhere...and not a 25-30 min walk (which let's face it...you do twice a year). We walk to the restaurants, the gym, shops, etc on a daily basis....1-2 blocks home in 2 minutes. We an walk to the parades and other events and farmer's market. It is fantastic. As somebody else mentioned--there is really very few areas like this in DC or just outside DC. There is more to do and it is more convenient than our former DC neighborhood..with top-notch schools to boot.

.In the ten blocks between the Court House and Clarendon Metro stations, we have more than 60 restaurants and more than 80 shops. From car repair to incredibly diverse cuisine, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, 3 gyms, with movie theaters and great live music in between, Clarendon pretty much has it all. With metro walkable from LV and less than 3 miles to DC border. It looks much different than Ballston or Rosslyn which has really huge high rises and deosn't have the strip of shops dividing the two main streets...you also run into problems at the middle school level in some of the other neighborhoods.

For me- it was worth the wait--but look around. I'd just say be realistic about the 'walkability' aspect of other places.

[Anonymous]

Clarendon doesn't have high rises? Hunh. Wonder what those enormous red brick buildings are?

[Anonymous]

one of the three murders in Arlington in 2010 occurred in Lyon Village

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:one of the three murders in Arlington in 2010 occurred in Lyon Village

Wasn't it around 12th and Jackson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:one of the three murders in Arlington in 2010 occurred in Lyon Village

Wasn't it around 12th and Jackson?

the victim was from lyon village. s.arlington has a much worse track record if we are talking crime.

[Anonymous]

"Crime, parking and traffic" PP here-

Yes, we do live in LV "proper" near Franklin and Edgewood and we absolutely trade unparalleled convenience (1000' to Whole Foods) for parking issues, minor but frequent crime, loud drunk people and speeders. Also, a quick glance at the last BZA survey yields a 30% non-owner occupant rate in LV (proper). True, most of these properties are East of Highland but there are plenty of them. In fact, EVERY house (6) on the south side of Franklin near Java Shack is owned by Buck Realty and rented (usually to college kids or 20 somethings).

True, we are on the edge of the bars and there are plenty of areas deeper in the neighborhood that are very quiet (they get bigger lots, bigger homes, quieter streets but lose Science Focus and have a longer walk to WF) Still, ask anyone that lives on Franklin, Highland, Edgewood, Key or Danville about traffic and speeding. I practically wear out my stink eye glaring at people roaring through and playing toddler slalom at 40 mph.

One thing- I highly recommend that anyone consider a home anywhere in the orange line corridor take a peek at Arlington and Falls Church long term planning. It is very much in the county's best interest (in good ways for civic planning and bad NIMBY ways for those of use close to Wilson) to add density along the Wilson corridor. On any given day there are 1-2 re-zoning battles going on pushing the "buffer zones" of the neighborhoods. Buck owns that entire Franklin/Wilson block because he will one day tear it down and build mixed use high density housing backed by 12 townhouses.

So, bottom line- I still love where I live but there is some possibility that someone will build a 90' tall building pretty much right in front of my house. If you have the choice you may want to stay away from the buffer streets where they get close to Wilson (or Lee).