Feedback on these two McLean houses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both seem fine to me. I'm curious as to why specifically there is so much distaste towards house #2

Did you not see the two islands?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

This is helpful. Thank you. My biggest concern was the shared driveway. The quality of new construction even at this price point has not been particularly impressive in the few houses I've toured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both seem fine to me. I'm curious as to why specifically there is so much distaste towards house #2

Did you not see the two islands?

I actually like having two islands, especially when entertaining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

This is helpful. Thank you. My biggest concern was the shared driveway. The quality of new construction even at this price point has not been particularly impressive in the few houses I've toured.

I agree with you on the quality of a lot of new construction. This house is particularly bad imo.

Is your family in a very tight timeline? They have a very budget. If they have a few months, there are beautiful, well constructed homes that come up at this price point.

I would also go to the websites of well-known builders. They often have coming soon houses if your family member has their heart 100% set on new construction.

Most of the new construction homes that have been on Zillow for a while are not great quality and/or overpriced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

This is helpful. Thank you. My biggest concern was the shared driveway. The quality of new construction even at this price point has not been particularly impressive in the few houses I've toured.

I agree with you on the quality of a lot of new construction. This house is particularly bad imo.

Is your family in a very tight timeline? They have a very budget. If they have a few months, there are beautiful, well constructed homes that come up at this price point.

I would also go to the websites of well-known builders. They often have coming soon houses if your family member has their heart 100% set on new construction.

Most of the new construction homes that have been on Zillow for a while are not great quality and/or overpriced.

Artisan Builders has a new development in the part of Great Falls that next to McLean. The homes start at $4.5M. They are very skilled and build incredible homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

This is helpful. Thank you. My biggest concern was the shared driveway. The quality of new construction even at this price point has not been particularly impressive in the few houses I've toured.

I agree with you on the quality of a lot of new construction. This house is particularly bad imo.

Is your family in a very tight timeline? They have a very budget. If they have a few months, there are beautiful, well constructed homes that come up at this price point.

I would also go to the websites of well-known builders. They often have coming soon houses if your family member has their heart 100% set on new construction.

Most of the new construction homes that have been on Zillow for a while are not great quality and/or overpriced.

Artisan Builders has a new development in the part of Great Falls that next to McLean. The homes start at $4.5M. They are very skilled and build incredible homes.

That low for an Artisan house? Thought it was more in the 6M+ range

[Anonymous]

Both terrible

[Anonymous]

Love the first house. But the pond screams mosquitos to me. And if your friends have little kids the pond might not be safe to have in the backyard. The second house is just awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both seem fine to me. I'm curious as to why specifically there is so much distaste towards house #2

It reminds me of the 1980s. Shiny, cold, hard, glossy finishes, weird curves, arbitrary dropped drywall ceilings. Dated curved grand staircase. There is no warmth or softness to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love the first house. But the pond screams mosquitos to me. And if your friends have little kids the pond might not be safe to have in the backyard. The second house is just awful.

the neighbors surrounding that pond treat it for mosquitos and otherwise take good care of their backyards, including the pond

[Anonymous]

I posted on a different thread last week that I do not understand why rich people in dc want to live in McLean. These listings are a case study in why. Zero character, vile new build houses dropped in a giant lot in the middle of no where without any character. Why would anyone want to live like this when you’re spending this much money? There are actaul nice established neighborhoods in the dc area at that price point that don’t feel like AI generated concepts of “mansion in suburbia”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted on a different thread last week that I do not understand why rich people in dc want to live in McLean. These listings are a case study in why. Zero character, vile new build houses dropped in a giant lot in the middle of no where without any character. Why would anyone want to live like this when you’re spending this much money? There are actaul nice established neighborhoods in the dc area at that price point that don’t feel like AI generated concepts of “mansion in suburbia”.

Target demographic for these homes are foreigners with mucho $$ that care more about schools and cache of McLean address, and could care less the homes look like mutated transformer misfits

[Anonymous]

[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

This is helpful. Thank you. My biggest concern was the shared driveway. The quality of new construction even at this price point has not been particularly impressive in the few houses I've toured.

I agree with you on the quality of a lot of new construction. This house is particularly bad imo.

Is your family in a very tight timeline? They have a very budget. If they have a few months, there are beautiful, well constructed homes that come up at this price point.

I would also go to the websites of well-known builders. They often have coming soon houses if your family member has their heart 100% set on new construction.

Most of the new construction homes that have been on Zillow for a while are not great quality and/or overpriced.

Artisan Builders has a new development in the part of Great Falls that next to McLean. The homes start at $4.5M. They are very skilled and build incredible homes.

That low for an Artisan house? Thought it was more in the 6M+ range

We built with Artisan. Have been very happy with our house. The new neighborhood is called Falls Farm. I keep wanting to go out to see the houses, but the open houses are always on Sundays when my kids have activities.

I think those houses are a built smaller than their normal custom houses. I have driven by neighborhood. It is right off of Georgetown Pike and you can see it on the left as you drive out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I toured #1 pretty quickly and was not impressed.

The workmanship throughout the house feels pretty shoddy. I would never pay this price tag for this in a house.

Examples:

Paint on the hinges on multiple doors
The banister on the staircase feels like it was a rush job - the finish feels gritty and you can see how they slapped together pieces of wood.
Obvious flaws in the glass of the staircase
The downstairs bar area lacks even a microwave. It’s just this massive marble slab
The grout in the walkway is already chipping
Baseboards look like they were slapped on without being properly sanded and cut correctly
Etc
Etc

The builders name is not one that I’ve ever heard of. I would have your family member do their research. There could be larger issues given how many cosmetic there are.

Location:

Pros:
The pond is great
Wonderful neighborhood

Cons:

The front yard is someone’s backyard and they are very close together

Shared driveway would be tough

This is helpful. Thank you. My biggest concern was the shared driveway. The quality of new construction even at this price point has not been particularly impressive in the few houses I've toured.

I agree with you on the quality of a lot of new construction. This house is particularly bad imo.

Is your family in a very tight timeline? They have a very budget. If they have a few months, there are beautiful, well constructed homes that come up at this price point.

I would also go to the websites of well-known builders. They often have coming soon houses if your family member has their heart 100% set on new construction.

Most of the new construction homes that have been on Zillow for a while are not great quality and/or overpriced.

Artisan Builders has a new development in the part of Great Falls that next to McLean. The homes start at $4.5M. They are very skilled and build incredible homes.

That low for an Artisan house? Thought it was more in the 6M+ range

We built with Artisan. Have been very happy with our house. The new neighborhood is called Falls Farm. I keep wanting to go out to see the houses, but the open houses are always on Sundays when my kids have activities.

I think those houses are a built smaller than their normal custom houses. I have driven by neighborhood. It is right off of Georgetown Pike and you can see it on the left as you drive out.

That should say a *bit* smaller

[Anonymous]

I don’t trust any new build listing that doesn’t include the builders name. That’s a giant red flag to me.