Please weigh in-should we renovate or move?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just buy a new house in Marshall district. No worries with revisions or home emergencies until the kids get older. Short move and comparable schools.

Where are new homes in the Marshall district?! All I see is old.

http://www.redfin.com/real-estate#!uipt=1&min_year_built=2013&v=8&sst=®ion_id=135930®ion_type=7&market=dc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No question, I would move closer in. Arlington or McLean, although don't pretend to know anything about the McLean market. But there are plenty of houses in Arlington that are not "new construction on tiny lots." In your price range, you can pretty much have what you want.

Yes, OP, you'll have to go look at houses as soon as they get on the market because it's very competitive around $1.5 in Arlington, but there are many that are on decent-sized lots in the price range. You should move - the one hour or more per day your DH saves in commuting will make a huge difference in your lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just buy a new house in Marshall district. No worries with revisions or home emergencies until the kids get older. Short move and comparable schools.

Where are new homes in the Marshall district?! All I see is old.

http://www.redfin.com/real-estate#!uipt=1&min_year_built=2013&v=8&sst=®ion_id=135930®ion_type=7&market=dc

If you want a better commute, you don't want Great Falls or Madison HS district. If you're spending $1.5mm, you don't want Pimmit Hills. If you're used to the space and small-town feel of Vienna, you don't want 'close-in' Arlington. If your DH won't consider MD, well, that's obvious. If you're looking for neighborhood-y feel, lots of McLean, but certainly not all, is out.

I think that leaves you City of Falls Church, Country Club Hills & surrounding area in Arlington, Franklin Park (probably out of range at $1.5mm) / Chesterbrook Woods / Kent Gardens areas of McLean. I'm sure I'm missing some, but those are all good choices. I agree w/ PP who said FCC is closest to Town of Vienna in small-town feel ... though local commerce/"walkability" has lots of room for improvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Vienna, and love it. But the time has come to either do a major renovation (big $$-changing roof lines, and footprint of the house), OR moving closer in. DH works in DC, and his commute has always blown. Now with tysons becoming much more populated, we're both worried that it will be even worse (we live near Wolftrap Elem). We love our house, our neighborhood, preschool, etc, and don't really want to move, but...the headache of living through a big reno, the potential of having the nicest house in our HOA, and the current/future commute to DC all are pretty big negatives for staying put.

DH and I are making ourselves crazy trying to decide...what would you do in this situation? We have a 1 yo and a 3 yo, a big dog, and haven't ruled out the possibility of a third child. We can afford a nice house (1.5 mil), but both hate the new construction going up in tiny lots in arlington, and aren't crazy about the lack of "neighborhood" in mclean. Ideally, we'd love an older house with charm and a big enough backyard to really play in, with a great sense of community, but they seem to be in short supply right now, especially as you get closer in to DC. Thoughts? Thanks!

I'd spend more time in McLean/22101 and Falls Church/22043. They have neighborhoods in your price range with as much of a sense of community as neighborhoods in the Wolftrap area like Eudora, etc. You get a shorter commute being on the other side of Tysons, and the lots are larger than in most of Arlington.

[Anonymous]

You love where you live, and Vienna is family friendly and the schools are good. Can you get DH to get a new job closer to home?

[Anonymous]

I would move to McLean off Kirby Road, on the 123 side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No question, I would move closer in. Arlington or McLean, although don't pretend to know anything about the McLean market. But there are plenty of houses in Arlington that are not "new construction on tiny lots." In your price range, you can pretty much have what you want.

I agree with this. I think for Arlington you need to drive around and see the different neighborhoods. I am not sure what you consider a tiny lot, but friends have a new construction house on a 10,000 sq. ft. lot in about that price range and there is plenty of room to play outside. There are tons of kids all over Arlington, but it varies street by street as to how "family friendly" they are. Some streets have lots of bbqs, block parties, and others do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just buy a new house in Marshall district. No worries with revisions or home emergencies until the kids get older. Short move and comparable schools.

Where are new homes in the Marshall district?! All I see is old.

I think there are two developments of new homes in your price range in the Marshall district. One is a Sekas development off Old Courthouse/Westbriar ES district. It's probably a non-starter if one of your goals is a shorter commute for DH, as there's no big difference compared to the Wolftrap ES area. The other is a small development on Hurst Street off Idylwood Road/Shrevewood ES district. It would offer a shorter commute than where you are now, but it looks like a small in-fill development, so the sense of community may not be great.

[Anonymous]

The OP says she prefers an OLDER home. Not new.

[Anonymous]

I'd look at renovated homes in the city of Falls Church or the parts of North Arlington that are a bit further from Metro, where the lots can be larger. I did a quick search and you can definitely find something (even a few new homes) on a lot that's 0.25 to 0.45 acres, which is pretty decent for the closer-in areas. I think that Lee Heights, Dover/Balmoral, Rivercrest, etc. might have something you'd like. (or Cherrydale - quick hop into DC via 29.) Homes don't move quite as quickly once you get over about the $1.2M mark, and the schools are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You must submit your issue at once to hgtv's Love It Or List It so we can all see the details of the house!

Ha! I love that show. Too bad they only do houses in Canada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No question, I would move closer in. Arlington or McLean, although don't pretend to know anything about the McLean market. But there are plenty of houses in Arlington that are not "new construction on tiny lots." In your price range, you can pretty much have what you want.

I agree with this. I think for Arlington you need to drive around and see the different neighborhoods. I am not sure what you consider a tiny lot, but friends have a new construction house on a 10,000 sq. ft. lot in about that price range and there is plenty of room to play outside. There are tons of kids all over Arlington, but it varies street by street as to how "family friendly" they are. Some streets have lots of bbqs, block parties, and others do not.

In Arlington, the closer you get to the river and the farther north you go (above Yorktown / 26th) the more likely you are to find larger lots and neighborhoods similar to those in Vienna ... closer in to the 'strip' in Arlington you're going to find more of the new build / small lot dynamic and a different type of community ... still very friendly, but not so much the little league / farmer's market community more of the cocktails in Clarendon / more urbane community ... Now I'll sit back and wait for the flaming for my use of stereotypes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP says she prefers an OLDER home. Not new.

Yeah unfortunately, these are few and far between in Arlington these days. Most houses in the $1.5 million range are all new construction. There was an older, renovated house in my neighborhood that was on the market for $1.3 million and it was under contract in like 3 days. They don't last.

[Anonymous]

When we were looking to move closer-in to DC from Vienna/22182, the places we liked best in Arlington were East Falls Church, Westover, Cherrydale and Lyon Park. I can't really explain why, other than to say they "felt" more similar to what we were accustomed. Country Club Hills seemed too formal, and Clarendon/Lyon Village too claustrophobic. In McLean, we liked neighborhoods in 22101 (Franklin Park, Salona Village, Langley Oaks, Chesterbrook Woods and Old Dominion Gardens) best; didn't think we'd really get a much better commute living in 22102 compared to Vienna. FCC also has its fans, and it's got some nice areas, but we didn't look there as we actually prefer the larger schools in APS/FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Try Chevy chase md