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

[Anonymous]

I think Badlands could stick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Badlands could stick.

The outback of Great Falls used to be called 'Grit Falls'. Before the mansions rolled in the 80's, the western part of GF was really low end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Badlands could stick.

The outback of Great Falls used to be called 'Grit Falls'. Before the mansions rolled in the 80's, the western part of GF was really low end.

If only to have bought land in GF or McLean in the 80s and kept it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yeah, some parts of McLean inside the beltway might as well be Arlington.

WTH does this mean? Arlington and McLean are not as much alike as you think. In fact, many people purposely choose Arlington over Mclean, for many strong reasons.

This mean Franklin Park and Chain Bridge Forest as well as the gold coast heading over the quaint Chain Bridge have flow. Unless you enter an address you don't always know whih county you are in and the same is true for Great Falls v Mclean on huge amounts of territory [ie Georgetown Pike east of Old Dominion intersection], Old Domion/Towlston. Parts of Mclean are closer to Great Falls village than are parts of Great Fall down Leigh Mill and Towlston.

+1. Lower McLean is pretty similar to North Arlington. I often can't tell the difference but for the street signs. I don't mind all the flow-through traffic though.

Except that N Arlington is much nicer.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of you are missing the mark here. GF residents are a whole another level of wealthy - think frequent international vacations, multiple homes, private schools, etc. Do you think Bill Gates is sweating if his property value drops a few percentage points? They are not slogging to a job downtown every day so they don't care about commute. They are not following real estate trends and trying to live somewhere "walkable to coffee" etc..they just want privacy and space

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of you are missing the mark here. GF residents are a whole another level of wealthy - think frequent international vacations, multiple homes, private schools, etc. Do you think Bill Gates is sweating if his property value drops a few percentage points? They are not slogging to a job downtown every day so they don't care about commute. They are not following real estate trends and trying to live somewhere "walkable to coffee" etc..they just want privacy and space

Silly clown. The median home value in the Badlands in 2015 didn't even crack a million. Are you sure your septic isn't contaminated?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/wonk/housing/overview/

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:.com boom nouveau rich 90s era, gf time has passed, only down hill from here

I'd prefer McLean, particularly Langley school district which gives you a better commute but still decent lot sizes. That being said, this is a bit of an overstatement. GF still has its place in the luxury market.

I think Mclean holds it value no matter what - Tysons, DC, Reston all easy commutes.

Read slowly, maybe a few times: It depends where you work. Not everyone works where you want them to work. Great Falls is an easy commute for most people. If you don't like other people's choices, you don't have to move there. Problem solved.

You are being overly defensive. For some people, great falls is a great commute. Many, many people work in places like DC, Rosslyn, Bethesda, Tyson's, etc. There are other residential locations far more accessible to those jobs centers, and given traffic in this area that definitely impacts pricing.

Same thing is happening in MD with a runup in prices in Brookmont, Glen Echo, Kensington, downtown Silver Spring at the expense of areas farther out, such as Potomac, that were formerly thought of as nicer / better.

Who knows if the trend will continue, but it is a real, obvious trend.

Great Falls does tend to fluctuate very slightly, in comparison to other (comparable) areas. But what you get for the money can't be beat, and this is important to many people. The slight fluctuations are negligible, in context.

What you can get in Great Falls for 1.2M versus inside the Beltway is amazing.

True, but what you get in McLean inside the Beltway for 1.2M versus outside the Beltway in McLean is amazing. Those McLean neighborhoods north of 123 but before Great Falls are ridiculously expensive. Very nice, but very expensive. Great Falls is a good less expensive alternative with a similarly sized house.

I've lived there - up Seneca Rd. The problem we had, and why we eventually moved, it that it's close to nothing. The village is servicable for day to day stuff, but if you have an interest in shopping for more than the basics or eating something more than pizza or pub fare, it's 6 or 8 miles to just about anything else on state roads filled with lights. That does not sound like much, but when it's every trip, it gets old. If your kids are in public school, Cooper and Langley are inside the Beltway, down 193.

Seriously?? I live in the same area and you can be at Tysons in about 20 minutes, a Giant in less than 15. Reston Town Center in 15 and it offers all sorts of restaurants.

And? We don't have to deal with panhandlers, worry about theft (well, raccoons and squirrels eat my birdseed), etc. Well, the illegal issue in Herndon and Sterling is causing small issues - thanks FFX Cty liberals!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There's a great blog about Greenwich CT real estate (look up Christopher Fountain) that has focused a lot on the slide in "back country" property prices vs. the closer-to-downtown sections of Greenwich. Land has shockingly low value once it's perceived as being inconveniently far away.

But not all desirable property is far away - there are plenty of Great Falls property that are perfectly accessible, and others that are well worth the drive. As PP noted, some people enjoy the peace and quiet of living on a beautiful property like many in Great Falls. It might not be for you, but you don't need to try to disparage (or beat down - which discredits you) other people's choices.

PP here that lived up Seneca - I loved it up there. It was green, quiet - I miss it. If I worked from home or didn't have kids in school, I would have stayed. The commute just ground me down. I totally get why people love it, and would even be ok with the commute to have that kind of living. The sometimes 2 hrs per day in the car just was too much for me - and that was for a Falls Church commute.

I drive my kid to FFX off Pickett every day - 45 minutes on the worst day. Don't know how you were going, but...wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of you are missing the mark here. GF residents are a whole another level of wealthy - think frequent international vacations, multiple homes, private schools, etc. Do you think Bill Gates is sweating if his property value drops a few percentage points? They are not slogging to a job downtown every day so they don't care about commute. They are not following real estate trends and trying to live somewhere "walkable to coffee" etc..they just want privacy and space

Silly clown. The median home value in the Badlands in 2015 didn't even crack a million. Are you sure your septic isn't contaminated?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/wonk/housing/overview/

To be fair, places like McLean, which are far more dense than GF, have had massive growth due to tear-downs and the erection of giant million+ dollar homes that take up the whole lot. At some point, McLean will become saturated and growth will even out. There is still a lot of unpopulated land in GF, not to mention many homes that are still in good shape. I predict that eventually (and especially as the older population in GF begin to move out, and after the vacant land has been purchased) we will begin to see new homes in place of the older ones (particularly in the part of GF that is already using public utilities.) I also think at some point, northern GF will cave to public utilities, which will open that area to more growth, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:There's a great blog about Greenwich CT real estate (look up Christopher Fountain) that has focused a lot on the slide in "back country" property prices vs. the closer-to-downtown sections of Greenwich. Land has shockingly low value once it's perceived as being inconveniently far away.

But not all desirable property is far away - there are plenty of Great Falls property that are perfectly accessible, and others that are well worth the drive. As PP noted, some people enjoy the peace and quiet of living on a beautiful property like many in Great Falls. It might not be for you, but you don't need to try to disparage (or beat down - which discredits you) other people's choices.

PP here that lived up Seneca - I loved it up there. It was green, quiet - I miss it. If I worked from home or didn't have kids in school, I would have stayed. The commute just ground me down. I totally get why people love it, and would even be ok with the commute to have that kind of living. The sometimes 2 hrs per day in the car just was too much for me - and that was for a Falls Church commute.

I drive my kid to FFX off Pickett every day - 45 minutes on the worst day. Don't know how you were going, but...wow!

Exactly. I live in GF and it takes me 10 minutes to get to Tysons. My headache is going through McLean!

[Anonymous]

^^ in rush hour.

[Anonymous]

True. Commute in GF is really only bad during typical rush hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True. Commute in GF is really only bad during typical rush hour.

Unfortunately rush hour is 9am through 6pm everyday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True. Commute in GF is really only bad during typical rush hour.

Unfortunately rush hour is 9am through 6pm everyday

I'm not sure what you are talking about. I live in GF, and the bottleneck for my commute is McLean. It takes me ten minutes to get to Tysons or McLean, then I hit the same bottleneck everyone else in McLean hits. On the way home, I try to avoid McLean altogether. Tysons is no big deal. I often pick my kids up from school in GF during rush hour, and then head down to Tysons to run errands before heading back home.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the commute is that bad either. I make downtown in under an hour during rush hour, which is fine for me. I get the appeal of lower McLean if you hate commuting but I don't mind the trade off for the bigger houses and lots.