Why has no one bought this house in Kensington?

[Anonymous]

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Kensington/10520-Wheatley-St-20895/home/10961737#agent_insight

I swear that I'm not the seller. I'm just a buyer searching in the Kensington area. Why has this home been on the market since January? It's at a good price now ($489) and it feeds to Walter Johnson. What's wrong? Has anyone seen this house?

[Anonymous]

It's a few yards away from the train tracks.

[Anonymous]

OP here - train tracks would do it. Do the trains run at night?

[Anonymous]

Yes, they run day and night. We actually live close by, but we have enough distance between us and the tracks that the train whistles sound far away and romantic. Not so on that part of Wheatley. But some people love trains and all that comes with them. This house needs that kind of buyer.

[Anonymous]

Because it's in Kensington, AKA pre-Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

I actually think it is not a bad price. My thoughts are that the train are the big drawback but there are definitely homes on that side in the town of Kensington that go pretty quickly. I think the Kensington neighborhoods on the other side of the train tracks are more desirable but that is still a good part of Kensington. I just don't know if that location has as much of a neighborhood feel as there seems to be a lot of commercial building around it. For the prior poster, parts of Kensington are just as expensive as parts of Bethesda so I'm not quite sure what you are saying about Pre-Wheaton. This house is in the Kensington-Parkwood, North Bethesda and Walter Johnson school district. Yes the Wheaton neighborhood isn't too far away but there is a big distinction.

[Anonymous]

They need to drop it to $450 because of the train tracks. Yes, it is in the snootier ToK with better schools, but your kids will never go to bed at night and will be terrors in school!

[Anonymous]

It was under contract and was just re-listed on July 8th. I think it will be under contract very quickly in the current market at that price, there is nothing else in Kensington under $600 (in WJ schools).

[Anonymous]

It's a somewhat sketchy industrial area right by there, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's in Kensington, AKA pre-Wheaton.

Friendly Kensington is too good for the likes of you, hon!

[Anonymous]

I currently live around 1000 feet away from train station.basically, track noise is ok by this distance, but train whistle will travel more than you think. sometime it travel more than a mile. Do not be surprised, train runs in the early morning and late night as well, but i never heard anything in between 11:30PM to 5:30AM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's in Kensington, AKA pre-Wheaton.

Can I take one guess on where you live?

[Anonymous]

I saw this house. Nothing to do with train tracks. There are pricey houses all over by the train tracks. I currently live in Garrett Park and we all, including million dollar homes, have the train tracks, and closer than this Wheatley home. I actually like the train.

The problem is the size and there is no room to add on. There is no basement at all, not even one that cannot be renovated, just none. The rest of the house is small, so storage was the biggest concern I had. Just can't see how it would work for anyone with a baby or kids. There just is no room for anyone to be or put things. I spoke to the neighbor and the owners have been living in SF for a while, so they need to sell and quick, but are definitely gonna lose on this one big time, but maybe they don't care.

The house is in a great location IMO. Beautiful house to one side, with a pretty empty lot in between, and a nice house across the way. Park close by. Negative is there is an office building across the way too, but that didn't bother me.

I loved the price, the schools, and the location. Just did not see it as at all possibly workable for a family of any size. And the lot, while very pretty, is a side yard. No backyard whatsoever. So if you did an addition, you would have no yard left whatsoever.

Inside the kitchen was nice, but the rest was blah. Lots of odd icky touches that someone would have to remove. Would look nice with about $25k put in to clean up the rooms.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, PP. You gave a very informative, fair response!