Tempted to move to great falls from McLean as prices seem to be falling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Really? We ARE one of those families. We own our house outright, and the 2 acre buildable lot next to it. So are a lot of my neighbors. Actually, one left to travel the country by mobile home, one moved to Ireland, one pair divorced. None 'spent all their money' or are 'struggling'

+1

I smell a McLean Booster. PP, just ignore him - he thinks he knows everything. He just sounds like the ass that he is.

I think you are right

It is odd that you'd assume PP is a "McLean Booster" when he's hapring on the misfortunes of Freddie Mac (based in McLean) and MicroStrategy (based in Tysons, and founded and run by Michael Saylor, who lives in McLean). Maybe your agenda is just to turn everything into an opportunity to bash McLean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

You can add to this list the Beltway bandits that made bank of unending war. And the former government employees working directly as contractors for the USG under personal services contracts. All that is thankfully shrinking as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Yes, because everyone in this situation is as you dictate - not reality, at all. Maybe they invested their "windfall" (much more than you think, BTW), and maybe they have family money, inheritances (plural) or other investments you know nothing about.

But since you know everyone and every single person's situation, I suppose reality is not a possibility, in your tiny mind. You think so, so it must be true.

You must be correct - the falling property values are just a big conspiracy. There cannot be market forces at play.

You have quite an imagination!

The decline in Great Falls prices is well documented.

http://www.zillow.com/great-falls-va/home-values/

That's interesting - down 4.2%. But if you plug in close in neighborhoods like McLean or Bethesda, they are only up like 1%. I would have thought it would be more from all the bidding wars documented on DCUM. Or are the bidding wars over the just the few 'perfect' houses?

Don't point this out.

It doesn't fit their narrative that everyone is moving inside the beltway to be closer to DC so that their kids can hop on the metro to visit the museums on the weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

Well things do change nothing is set in stone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Yes, because everyone in this situation is as you dictate - not reality, at all. Maybe they invested their "windfall" (much more than you think, BTW), and maybe they have family money, inheritances (plural) or other investments you know nothing about.

But since you know everyone and every single person's situation, I suppose reality is not a possibility, in your tiny mind. You think so, so it must be true.

You must be correct - the falling property values are just a big conspiracy. There cannot be market forces at play.

You have quite an imagination!

The decline in Great Falls prices is well documented.

http://www.zillow.com/great-falls-va/home-values/

That's interesting - down 4.2%. But if you plug in close in neighborhoods like McLean or Bethesda, they are only up like 1%. I would have thought it would be more from all the bidding wars documented on DCUM. Or are the bidding wars over the just the few 'perfect' houses?

Don't point this out.

It doesn't fit their narrative that everyone is moving inside the beltway to be closer to DC so that their kids can hop on the metro to visit the museums on the weekends.

+1

Except that they don't!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

Agree with this - there is absolutely nothing like it - Potomac is close but more spread out and connected to Rockville and Gaithersburg - Great Falls is an island (yet still adjacent to Tysons and McLean), and is very unique. Not for everyone, but it feels like a small town and removed from the chaos - I am personally not remotely worried about the 'trend' - love raising my family in Great Falls for so many reasons. If you are worried about your commute, or a short or long term pricing trend, it wasn't for you in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

+1

No kidding. There is a McLean poster who keeps trying to knock Great Falls. Clearly he knows there is a reason to be threatened by the Great Falls properties. Loser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Really? We ARE one of those families. We own our house outright, and the 2 acre buildable lot next to it. So are a lot of my neighbors. Actually, one left to travel the country by mobile home, one moved to Ireland, one pair divorced. None 'spent all their money' or are 'struggling'

+1

I smell a McLean Booster. PP, just ignore him - he thinks he knows everything. He just sounds like the ass that he is.

I think you are right

It is odd that you'd assume PP is a "McLean Booster" when he's hapring on the misfortunes of Freddie Mac (based in McLean) and MicroStrategy (based in Tysons, and founded and run by Michael Saylor, who lives in McLean). Maybe your agenda is just to turn everything into an opportunity to bash McLean?

Nope. Get off it and move on with your life, already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

Agree with this - there is absolutely nothing like it - Potomac is close but more spread out and connected to Rockville and Gaithersburg - Great Falls is an island (yet still adjacent to Tysons and McLean), and is very unique. Not for everyone, but it feels like a small town and removed from the chaos - I am personally not remotely worried about the 'trend' - love raising my family in Great Falls for so many reasons. If you are worried about your commute, or a short or long term pricing trend, it wasn't for you in the first place.

I am concerned that people who live there can't see the trend or negatives from Great Falls.

I just checked again and there are even more homes on the market, even multiple of the same model on the same street.

We are going to stop our search in Great Falls for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

Agree with this - there is absolutely nothing like it - Potomac is close but more spread out and connected to Rockville and Gaithersburg - Great Falls is an island (yet still adjacent to Tysons and McLean), and is very unique. Not for everyone, but it feels like a small town and removed from the chaos - I am personally not remotely worried about the 'trend' - love raising my family in Great Falls for so many reasons. If you are worried about your commute, or a short or long term pricing trend, it wasn't for you in the first place.

Great Falls is "connected" to Reston and Sterling in the same way that Potomac is "connected" to Rockville and Gaithersburg. It might be nicer if it were an island, but it's not, and those who live there have to put up with commuters piling on to the major roads that lead both in and out of Great Falls.

Some people don't care about the directions of prices, but the declining prices in Great Falls discourage others from looking there. To blow potential residents off with a line like "it wasn't for you in the first place" may make you feel better, but it's the locals who suffer when they can't find buyers for their homes and the schools start to empty out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I don't think prices there are going to fall over the long term. If you plan to be there a while - you will be fine. Go for it!

I agree. Great Falls is Great Falls and will always be coveted.

Agree with this - there is absolutely nothing like it - Potomac is close but more spread out and connected to Rockville and Gaithersburg - Great Falls is an island (yet still adjacent to Tysons and McLean), and is very unique. Not for everyone, but it feels like a small town and removed from the chaos - I am personally not remotely worried about the 'trend' - love raising my family in Great Falls for so many reasons. If you are worried about your commute, or a short or long term pricing trend, it wasn't for you in the first place.

I am concerned that people who live there can't see the trend or negatives from Great Falls.

I just checked again and there are even more homes on the market, even multiple of the same model on the same street.

We are going to stop our search in Great Falls for now.

Smart move. There are some really nasty people in Great Falls now, and even those who aren't obviously rude and crude often are in deep denial about the area's future prospects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Yes, because everyone in this situation is as you dictate - not reality, at all. Maybe they invested their "windfall" (much more than you think, BTW), and maybe they have family money, inheritances (plural) or other investments you know nothing about.

But since you know everyone and every single person's situation, I suppose reality is not a possibility, in your tiny mind. You think so, so it must be true.

You must be correct - the falling property values are just a big conspiracy. There cannot be market forces at play.

You have quite an imagination!

The decline in Great Falls prices is well documented.

http://www.zillow.com/great-falls-va/home-values/

That's interesting - down 4.2%. But if you plug in close in neighborhoods like McLean or Bethesda, they are only up like 1%. I would have thought it would be more from all the bidding wars documented on DCUM. Or are the bidding wars over the just the few 'perfect' houses?

Don't point this out.

It doesn't fit their narrative that everyone is moving inside the beltway to be closer to DC so that their kids can hop on the metro to visit the museums on the weekends.

From the April 2016 Washingtonian: "The traffic—and general trend of moving into city centers—is a culprit for the [Great Falls] Zip’s median price drop of nearly 5 percent."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Yes, because everyone in this situation is as you dictate - not reality, at all. Maybe they invested their "windfall" (much more than you think, BTW), and maybe they have family money, inheritances (plural) or other investments you know nothing about.

But since you know everyone and every single person's situation, I suppose reality is not a possibility, in your tiny mind. You think so, so it must be true.

You must be correct - the falling property values are just a big conspiracy. There cannot be market forces at play.

You have quite an imagination!

The decline in Great Falls prices is well documented.

http://www.zillow.com/great-falls-va/home-values/

That's interesting - down 4.2%. But if you plug in close in neighborhoods like McLean or Bethesda, they are only up like 1%. I would have thought it would be more from all the bidding wars documented on DCUM. Or are the bidding wars over the just the few 'perfect' houses?

Don't point this out.

It doesn't fit their narrative that everyone is moving inside the beltway to be closer to DC so that their kids can hop on the metro to visit the museums on the weekends.

From the April 2016 Washingtonian: "The traffic—and general trend of moving into city centers—is a culprit for the [Great Falls] Zip’s median price drop of nearly 5 percent."

Well, that settles that. The Washingtonian. That's real journalism. Not some fluff BS


As to the PP who said she was 'suspending her search in GF" - Troll score 0/10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like GF is good if you work in Reston or Tysons.

I do expect prices to continue to slide, however, as places need to capture a decent share of high-paid DC workers to maintain price levels as high as GF's historical levels. It doesn't matter if a handful of GF residents live close enough to catch a bus on Route 7 to a Metro station. For the most part, GF is the epitome of a car-dependent suburb with limited access to public transportation.

The distance to the middle and high schools is a negative, too. Imagine how much more convenient it would be if Langley were near 193 and River Bend Road, rather than near the Arlington County border. Unfortunately, there is only one high school in FCPS west of the Beltway and north of the Toll Road - Herndon.

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!!! Have you not heard about all the high tech west of the beltway????

It's less like Silicon Valley and more like the back-office operations you find in Jersey City or Schaumburg. Good jobs that typically pay salaries that make Ashburn and Chantilly affordable, not Great Falls at its current prices. That's why there is so much inventory there and why, insofar Great Falls is being repositioned as a residential area for those who work in Tysons or points west, prices are coming down.

The instiutions that created the demand for the 1.5 - 2.0M homes in Great Falls are either gone or shadows of what they were. Financial Services - Freddie Mac was a huge driver of employment and cash/option compensation. Bankruptcy wiped out all of that stock and options, and it is not generating the kind of compensation it once did. Tech bubble companies - AOL, Microstrategy, etc - are either gone, or much more mature and not spreading around cash like they did. Government contractors have been in a cycle of cuts since sequestration. There were at one point entire neighborhoods in Great Falls of folks who hit it big at AOL. 15 years on those folks have either downsized or are struggling to stay in their houses. It seems that if you give a purchasing manager a $2M option windfall, their skills and compensation are still that or a purchasing manager. So little by little they spend their windfall and then they need to move.

Yes, because everyone in this situation is as you dictate - not reality, at all. Maybe they invested their "windfall" (much more than you think, BTW), and maybe they have family money, inheritances (plural) or other investments you know nothing about.

But since you know everyone and every single person's situation, I suppose reality is not a possibility, in your tiny mind. You think so, so it must be true.

You must be correct - the falling property values are just a big conspiracy. There cannot be market forces at play.

You have quite an imagination!

The decline in Great Falls prices is well documented.

http://www.zillow.com/great-falls-va/home-values/

That's interesting - down 4.2%. But if you plug in close in neighborhoods like McLean or Bethesda, they are only up like 1%. I would have thought it would be more from all the bidding wars documented on DCUM. Or are the bidding wars over the just the few 'perfect' houses?

Don't point this out.

It doesn't fit their narrative that everyone is moving inside the beltway to be closer to DC so that their kids can hop on the metro to visit the museums on the weekends.

From the April 2016 Washingtonian: "The traffic—and general trend of moving into city centers—is a culprit for the [Great Falls] Zip’s median price drop of nearly 5 percent."

Well, that settles that. The Washingtonian. That's real journalism. Not some fluff BS


As to the PP who said she was 'suspending her search in GF" - Troll score 0/10

We were searching in Great Falls and have stopped. Not sure why that is a troll score? We are seriously concerned with the market and don't think it is a good time to buy a home there.