Mt Prospect in North Potomac

[Anonymous]

I think Mt. Prospect is a very nice community. If you can afford it, you are fortunate to live here. It has beautiful homes. It’s not for everyone. If it’s not for you, don’t bash it. Move on. I don’t live there but toured the model. It’s in a nice area.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know why they removed the palatine model? If that were available, I definitely would have bought a home here. They should bring it back.

[Anonymous]

The Palatine had a really large footprint and didn’t fit well on some of the more narrow lots. I think the separate 3rd car garage made it just too spread out. Nice house, though.

While the Kalorama is beautiful and a great replacement, the Parkhurst is still my favorite (and what I bought). Love the big windows overlooking the woods. It’s pretty spectacular in Fall - green woods all summer and then this explosive color display until Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Palatine had a really large footprint and didn’t fit well on some of the more narrow lots. I think the separate 3rd car garage made it just too spread out. Nice house, though.

While the Kalorama is beautiful and a great replacement, the Parkhurst is still my favorite (and what I bought). Love the big windows overlooking the woods. It’s pretty spectacular in Fall - green woods all summer and then this explosive color display until Thanksgiving.

Personally, I looked at the palatine because it had more indoor and outdoor living options, and the floorplan made it feel big and expansive with the motor court and 2 staircases. I did not like Parkhurst (personally) because when we visited the model, it felt really small; it felt no bigger than my current house.

I think my main issues with it were:
-No loft unless you remove the 2 story great room
-Weird master bedroom entrance, which made it so you had to add the wet bar there
-Master bedroom lacked a sitting area and is smaller than my current home's one
-Small master closets
The staircase does not feel grand
The foyer is not grand
-Not enough space between the living room and kitchen
-No butlers pantry
-Crammed mudroom that has a bathroom off it when you add the prep kitchen
-Multigen suites are also small in comparison to the ones available in the Kalorama and Renwick models

I wish they would bring the Palatine back. I loved the floating stairs and all the options available. And/Or add the Warhol model from Virginia. I felt like the Palatine worked really well on the smaller lots still.

The Kalorama has its advantages, though with the multi-gen suites the palatine lacked, much larger master closets, 3rd-floor walk-up space available, 2 story great room, and more garage options while still having the expansive look. Why don't they just leave more models to pick from? It does not cost any more...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Personally, I looked at the palatine because it had more indoor and outdoor living options, and the floorplan made it feel big and expansive with the motor court and 2 staircases. I did not like Parkhurst (personally) because when we visited the model, it felt really small; it felt no bigger than my current house.

I think my main issues with it were:
-No loft unless you remove the 2 story great room
-Weird master bedroom entrance, which made it so you had to add the wet bar there
-Master bedroom lacked a sitting area and is smaller than my current home's one
-Small master closets
The staircase does not feel grand
The foyer is not grand
-Not enough space between the living room and kitchen
-No butlers pantry
-Crammed mudroom that has a bathroom off it when you add the prep kitchen
-Multigen suites are also small in comparison to the ones available in the Kalorama and Renwick models

I wish they would bring the Palatine back. I loved the floating stairs and all the options available. And/Or add the Warhol model from Virginia. I felt like the Palatine worked really well on the smaller lots still.

The Kalorama has its advantages, though with the multi-gen suites the palatine lacked, much larger master closets, 3rd-floor walk-up space available, 2 story great room, and more garage options while still having the expansive look. Why don't they just leave more models to pick from? It does not cost any more...

I think your post perfectly shows that all buyers are looking for different things — and that shouldn’t be surprising.

We chose the Parkhurst because we liked almost all the things you didn’t.

We:
•Hate lofts
•Love our full wet bar/fridge in the primary bedroom and think it looks nice when entering the suite
•Disagree about the master - we have a king bed, sofa, coffee table, large chair with ottoman, dresser, nightstands, and armoire - plenty big for us and still a lot of open space to move around — we thought the other masters were too big. We like to watch TV in bed and didn’t want to be a football field away from the screen
•Think the closet space is appropriate — especially with the custom shelving
•Didn’t want a grand staircase/foyer - much preferred the more dramatic 2 story great room than the single story family room
•Thought the extra space between the kitchen and family room was weird in the Palatine
•Didn’t need a true Butler’s pantry because we have a similar area on the kitchen wall near the dining room that has tons of cabinets and a wine fridge
•Mudroom works for us - we don’t have little kids and we do have an extra closet in that entry, but I totally understand someone wanting it even bigger
•Our MultiGen area is used as a guest bedroom suite, but I can understand wanting it larger if you had a parent living there full time

Bottom line is choice is good! Everybody has different needs/wants.

I agree that it would be nice for Toll to have more Windmill models. They had a bunch of Hamlets to choose from, but not as many models for the bigger homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Personally, I looked at the palatine because it had more indoor and outdoor living options, and the floorplan made it feel big and expansive with the motor court and 2 staircases. I did not like Parkhurst (personally) because when we visited the model, it felt really small; it felt no bigger than my current house.

I think my main issues with it were:
-No loft unless you remove the 2 story great room
-Weird master bedroom entrance, which made it so you had to add the wet bar there
-Master bedroom lacked a sitting area and is smaller than my current home's one
-Small master closets
The staircase does not feel grand
The foyer is not grand
-Not enough space between the living room and kitchen
-No butlers pantry
-Crammed mudroom that has a bathroom off it when you add the prep kitchen
-Multigen suites are also small in comparison to the ones available in the Kalorama and Renwick models

I wish they would bring the Palatine back. I loved the floating stairs and all the options available. And/Or add the Warhol model from Virginia. I felt like the Palatine worked really well on the smaller lots still.

The Kalorama has its advantages, though with the multi-gen suites the palatine lacked, much larger master closets, 3rd-floor walk-up space available, 2 story great room, and more garage options while still having the expansive look. Why don't they just leave more models to pick from? It does not cost any more...

I think your post perfectly shows that all buyers are looking for different things — and that shouldn’t be surprising.

We chose the Parkhurst because we liked almost all the things you didn’t.

We:
•Hate lofts
•Love our full wet bar/fridge in the primary bedroom and think it looks nice when entering the suite
•Disagree about the master - we have a king bed, sofa, coffee table, large chair with ottoman, dresser, nightstands, and armoire - plenty big for us and still a lot of open space to move around — we thought the other masters were too big. We like to watch TV in bed and didn’t want to be a football field away from the screen
•Think the closet space is appropriate — especially with the custom shelving
•Didn’t want a grand staircase/foyer - much preferred the more dramatic 2 story great room than the single story family room
•Thought the extra space between the kitchen and family room was weird in the Palatine
•Didn’t need a true Butler’s pantry because we have a similar area on the kitchen wall near the dining room that has tons of cabinets and a wine fridge
•Mudroom works for us - we don’t have little kids and we do have an extra closet in that entry, but I totally understand someone wanting it even bigger
•Our MultiGen area is used as a guest bedroom suite, but I can understand wanting it larger if you had a parent living there full time

Bottom line is choice is good! Everybody has different needs/wants.

I agree that it would be nice for Toll to have more Windmill models. They had a bunch of Hamlets to choose from, but not as many models for the bigger homes.

Yes, definitely everyone has their wants/needs. That's why I feel like more options are needed for the windmill collection. Maybe add 2-3 more models (Palatine, Warhol, and maybe another one that's cheaper). Also, I am sure you bought at a good price considering you moved in, right now pricing is super steep, hoping it comes down a bit before buying.

[Anonymous]

We really liked this community but our biggest concern was the school district, after crown high school is built in 2 years. There is a high possibility that Mt Prospect will be redistricted from Wootton to Crown given the distance. Crown may be a good school but we don’t wanna spend 2M and take the risk. We bought our house in Potomac in the end

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how rezoning works, but wouldn’t a lot of the kids who go to wootton be rezoned to the new school? Is wootton currently overcrowded? Otherwise I would worry that kids from less desirable schools would be rezoned to wootton…in that case, I’d rather take a chance with Crown where a good portion of wootton kids would end up…but I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know how these things work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We really liked this community but our biggest concern was the school district, after crown high school is built in 2 years. There is a high possibility that Mt Prospect will be redistricted from Wootton to Crown given the distance. Crown may be a good school but we don’t wanna spend 2M and take the risk. We bought our house in Potomac in the end

This community will be rezoned though that should not impact resale value. Wootton is a horrible school, same with most public schools in the area so all my kids are in private school. Its worth the money and if you cant afford it look into financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We really liked this community but our biggest concern was the school district, after crown high school is built in 2 years. There is a high possibility that Mt Prospect will be redistricted from Wootton to Crown given the distance. Crown may be a good school but we don’t wanna spend 2M and take the risk. We bought our house in Potomac in the end

This community will be rezoned though that should not impact resale value. Wootton is a horrible school, same with most public schools in the area so all my kids are in private school. Its worth the money and if you cant afford it look into financial aid.

Wootton is not as bad as many other public schools…I’d say it’s one of the best relative to others, though private is a league of its own and I won’t argue that public is better than private in quality bc that’s not true. But compared to QO, Northwest, Gaithersburg etc, I think it’s pretty good…horrible is not how I would characterize it!

[Anonymous]

I've never heard of Wooton referred to as a horrible school. I grew up in the Eastern Shore though, so I assume that any education here would be better than mine.

-C Student

[Anonymous]

Wootton was ranked as the #4 best high school in the state of Maryland by US News & World Report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wootton was ranked as the #4 best high school in the state of Maryland by US News & World Report.

+1. My guess is that the PP who has all his/her kids in private school just universally refers to all public schools as “horrible” and hasn’t ever bothered to educate themselves as to how good some of them are. Wootton is an exceptionally good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton was ranked as the #4 best high school in the state of Maryland by US News & World Report.

+1. My guess is that the PP who has all his/her kids in private school just universally refers to all public schools as “horrible” and hasn’t ever bothered to educate themselves as to how good some of them are. Wootton is an exceptionally good school.

My kid goes to Wootton and says it's horrible. Everything is crumbling, to much pressure to take AP exams, which makes being at the top of your class near impossible (which is why schools like QO, Churchill, and Northwest are better). Also, apparently, the teachers don't care for the kids at all and half of them "don't teach" and all they do is the AP curriculum to the tea, the school is also heavily Asian-dominated (I am Asian but prefer a more diverse environment) plus the student body tends to be really problematic, especially amongst lower grades.

Rezoning will drop the estimates for homes here for sure, but if you try to resell here, even right now, it's going to be a struggle if you recently bought. If you bought towards the start, you are lucky.

[Anonymous]

and when i say crumbling i mean literally falling apart structurally.