Give Up Trying to Find House in Lyon Village?

[Anonymous]

We'd love to live in Lyon Village in Arlington but can't seem to find that magic combo of: sizeable house (4-5 bedroom, 3-4 bath) on a lot with room for a deck and yard.

The houses are either very small (which is fine, I've lived in one for 10+ years) or super huge and priced accordingly ($2 million +). Finding either of these houses with any kind of lot seems to be impossible. We don't even need a huge lot, just enough to play some tee-ball with the kids or entertain 2-3 couples for a barbecue.

We've been looking for a while now and I'm beginning to think we should just move on. Anyone have thoughts to share?

[Anonymous]

We looked in lyon village for a full year and nothing ever came up for us. It was SO frustrating. We eventually expanded our search and decided to move to mclean. I lived right around lyon village for ten years before we started looking for a house and i didn't think i'd want to expand the search area but i love where we live now. the problem with lyon village is that there just aren't very many houses that come on, and the ones that did for us were generally too small or too expensive or too old (our limit was 900 which may have been the biggest problem). i would broaden your search area or it may take you a really, really long time.

[Anonymous]

Good to know! I'm glad you are happy in your neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

I never see "for sale" signs there... it is a very nice area and people are happy living there.

[Anonymous]

To get 4-5 bedrooms in Lyon Village you're going to need to pay more than $900k, I think. Maybe check out Lyon Park, on the other side of Washington Blvd.? Slightly lower price point, with just as much community feel. Or the area around the Lee-Harrison shopping center? Can't walk to Metro, but you at least have access to a couple great parks and some kid-friendly commercial.

[Anonymous]

Our price point is actually between $1.5 and $1.7. But even then there doesn't seem to be any yard. A house came on yesterday for $1,550,000 and it's a nice size but has no lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To get 4-5 bedrooms in Lyon Village you're going to need to pay more than $900k, I think. Maybe check out Lyon Park, on the other side of Washington Blvd.? Slightly lower price point, with just as much community feel. Or the area around the Lee-Harrison shopping center? Can't walk to Metro, but you at least have access to a couple great parks and some kid-friendly commercial.

im the PP w/the 900K budget. we were looking at 2 bdrms in lyon village in that price point. if there was a third it was basically a closet. and it was a major fixer-upper and very old. that's why we ended up going with mclean. With the OP's budget she can get a four bedroom but will probably be waiting a VERY long time to find something with a yard. we went to every open in the area when we were looking - even the ones way out of our price range, which most were, because we wanted to get a feel for prices. none of the houses, regardless of price range, had much of a yard. it's a very hard place to find something in general there because there's so little inventory.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We've actually been looking for years so I think it might be time to call it quits. Oh well, we just went driving off of Spout Run...so pretty over there....and will start looking there now instead. Thanks everyone!

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

In N Arlington the residential neighborhoods off the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor offer many options. I think too many people fixate on Lyon Village. It's certainly amongst the best little areas, but definitely not the only option. With OP budget there's always good stuff in the inventory throughout the corridor. Given OP budget, a developer would also gladly tear-down and rebuild for you too or do a massive reno/expansion.

We were looking in the area, and ultimately opted for a place near Ballston. We're not yard people and were not fixated on SFH for our own needs, so we settled on a large (3400 sq ft) TH that was new construction with high-end finishes. In the end, we're pretty happy given that the same sq. footage in Clarendon would have cost nearly double even as a TH. We rented in Clarendon, but now we 'live with' the 3-4 minute drive or 25 minute walk...such are the compromises in life!

Good luck with finding something that fits!

[Anonymous]

I've definitely seen newer larger homes in that price range in Lyon park in the last few years, but maybe not Lyon village. I agree that it's the yard that may price you out. Try looking at cherry dale. And there's no reason you can't look at more than one area at the same time! Geez, we looked at almost all of north Arlington at the same time. Spring housing season is only just starting this year after all.

[Anonymous]

By the time you've put a 5 BR house on a Lyon Village lot, there is no outdoor space left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To get 4-5 bedrooms in Lyon Village you're going to need to pay more than $900k, I think. Maybe check out Lyon Park, on the other side of Washington Blvd.? Slightly lower price point, with just as much community feel. Or the area around the Lee-Harrison shopping center? Can't walk to Metro, but you at least have access to a couple great parks and some kid-friendly commercial.

3 bedrooms go for over 1 million now. It's been that way for a year or so. 900k would only be for one that would need total renovation.

[Anonymous]

There is zero inventory in Lyon Village. It is the most walkable area of Clarendon to the nicer portion AND it is in the ScienceFocus/Key/Taylor school district. We have had people slip personal notes under our door asking if we are thinking of selling (not realtors). There are 'looking to buy' posts on the listserv, etc.

We looked aggressively for 2 years ....lost a few multiple contract bids...and FINALLY it all came together and we were able to pretty much get almost everything we wanted. My husband has a co-worker that has been looking even longer than we did...he eventually did give up and move farther out in N.Arlington.

I was willing to wait because I am a 'city' person. This area has changed sooooo much in just the past 12 months. It is unbelievable with what is opening up in the Clarendon Center near the Metro. I read there are over 80- restaurants and 60 shops in the short area between Courthouse and Clarendon Metro. This is really an area where you do not need a car.

I think it was definitely worth the wait because I wasn't willing to move anywhere we needed to get in a car for entertainment, or to drive to a Metro, etc. Unfortunately, I think given the total renovation of the Clarendon area---it has made Lyon Village even more desirable and this spring will be even more challenging. There really is zero inventory year round and when something pops up there is a circus-like atmosphere with a jam-packed open house...plus many things go before they even come to market.

[Anonymous]

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.