What do you think of this house/price/area (North Potomac)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Septic and well water??? No thank you!

Out of curiosity, what is the problem you have with septic and well?

[Anonymous]

I'm going to stay in DC. Except for the Chevy Chase DC folks, most people agree that DC is DC!

I lived in DC for 20 years. At least in the suburbs, there is some level of clarity with areas being CDP, postal codes, school clusters etc. When I lived in DC there was Georgetown, Burleith, Foxhall, Glover Park, Tenleytown, AU, Friendship Heights, Adams Morgan, Van Ness, Cap Hill, Union Station, ChinaTown, Foggy Bottom, Penn Quarter, Downtown, Mt Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and some place near U street that we called line between Heaven and Hell. For a tiny, tiny area that was mostly a section of NW DC there were tons of "neighborhood" designations.

No way does anyone in NW see DC as DC. They quickly omit SE, NE, SW, and even parts of NW from their consciousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually went to an open house at this home. It is actually pretty private and on the very end of the street. It's a very roomy home. What turned us off at the time was the price for the amount of work we would have had to do. I did not like the kitchen at all and would have had to put all hardwoods upstairs. Most of the acreage is in the front of the house. While the back yard is quiet and peaceful, there was not space for us to have put a pool in later on if we wanted to. There was a nice big pond, but it needed a lot of work and we did not want to have to deal with the upkeep.

We ended up buying a home close in price to this one, but with all the acreage in the back of the house. It is also move in ready and it is a much newer home.

Thanks for your input. Are you happy with the area in general?
I noticed many of these properties do have wells/septic. Anyone know the reason for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Septic and well water??? No thank you!

Out of curiosity, what is the problem you have with septic and well?

More maintenance for the owner. You have to get your septic tank cleared periodically, check for its integrity (this may be why the house is far back on the lot--due to the location of the septic tank) so that it doesn't leak, and be very vigilant about what kind of waste matter (toilet and kitchen) go into your system. If you have a leak, your lot will smell like sewage. See here for more info: http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/publications/Soilfacts/AG-439-13/ The good thing about being closer in so that you can attach to a public sewer system is that this is mostly maintained for you.

Wells also need to be vigilantly maintained. You don't want a leaking septic system contaminating your well water, for example. http://extension.umd.edu/environment/Water/files/well.html You also need to be careful about pesticide use and checking bacteria levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Price -- chances are it is overpriced. Stuff that is priced well sales quickly.

People seem to forget that this isn't 2006. It is overpriced for the current market. Real estate is a very simple game. If the price matches what a buyer (any buyer) is willing to pay, it is priced right. If no one is willing to pay that price (like this), then it is overpriced. Your home's value has nothing to do with what you paid for it, when you paid for it or what you value it at, it is what a buyer will value it at. Appraisers and evaluators try to gauge what the current market will value a property at, but don't always get it right.

Additionally, although some people may feel that they can afford such a house, banks have had to tighten up the requirements, especially for jumbo loans. Banks are frequently unwilling to make jumbo loans without 20% and extreme stability of income so many people who previously qualified for jumbo loans are not qualifying for as large. That decreases the number of people buying the higher priced home ($1M+).

I agree, it's not 2006 and sellers need to be realistic about price. But, remember, hopefully there will be another "2006" so to speak. I remember Boston in the early 90's and home prices plummeted. No one could sell, buyers didn't want to buy. Our circle of friends mostly waited things out. Big mistake. The one guy who had a downpayment (not an easy thing these days) bought at a great price and while the rest of us were still in condos, sold for about an $800k profit when the market rebounded about 5 years later. I know that things are unstable now in the market, but these things have happened before. If you think something has long term potential and you can swing the downpayment, it might be just the time to buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gaithersburg is a city. NP residents are not considered part of Gaithersburg city. If you want to take a class through the city of Gaithersburg you have to wait for the non-resident sign up.

There is a City of Gaithersburg, but there are also Gaithersburg addresses that are not part of the City of Gaithersburg. So I guess that means that Gaithersburg almost has its own suburbs? Anyway, not that anyone particularly cares, but I just wanted to point out that it is possible to live in Gaithersburg but not live in the City of Gaithersburg. And while I tend to think of North Potomac as having seceded from Gaithersburg in order to sound "richer", it really just is its own place.

But don't get me started on North Bethesda, because that is Rockville.

[Anonymous]

I actually like land in front of the house.
But too big for me
Nice area though. I have been there several times and do not know why so many are obsessed with runnning down that area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Septic and well water??? No thank you!

Out of curiosity, what is the problem you have with septic and well?

More maintenance for the owner. You have to get your septic tank cleared periodically, check for its integrity (this may be why the house is far back on the lot--due to the location of the septic tank) so that it doesn't leak, and be very vigilant about what kind of waste matter (toilet and kitchen) go into your system. If you have a leak, your lot will smell like sewage. See here for more info: http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/publications/Soilfacts/AG-439-13/ The good thing about being closer in so that you can attach to a public sewer system is that this is mostly maintained for you.

Wells also need to be vigilantly maintained. You don't want a leaking septic system contaminating your well water, for example. http://extension.umd.edu/environment/Water/files/well.html You also need to be careful about pesticide use and checking bacteria levels.

No Shit! haha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually went to an open house at this home. It is actually pretty private and on the very end of the street. It's a very roomy home. What turned us off at the time was the price for the amount of work we would have had to do. I did not like the kitchen at all and would have had to put all hardwoods upstairs. Most of the acreage is in the front of the house. While the back yard is quiet and peaceful, there was not space for us to have put a pool in later on if we wanted to. There was a nice big pond, but it needed a lot of work and we did not want to have to deal with the upkeep.

We ended up buying a home close in price to this one, but with all the acreage in the back of the house. It is also move in ready and it is a much newer home.

Thanks for your input. Are you happy with the area in general?
I noticed many of these properties do have wells/septic. Anyone know the reason for this?

We like the area a lot, but ended up moving to Darnestown. Got a newer house for about the same price. If you are a city person, the area is definitley not ideal. However, we like a more rural setting. We have found we don't spend much time in the city. When we do go out and do things we like to go to different parks, go hiking and do more outdoors types of things. We like that the city is not far, but that we can still have space and a peaceful, calm home to return to. Our home also has well and septic. I thought it was a deal breaker at first, but it's really not that big of a deal. We are putting a UV light on our water system for peace of mind and the septic you only have to have pumped every two to three years. As far as having to be careful what you put down the toilet and sink....half of thebstuff we put down our systems probably should not be put down there anyway! I think it also depends on how old your house is. The older the house, the older the system...unless of course they had it replaced. I have heard newer systems are much better with handling things like a garbage disposal. Best thing to do is research it and educate yourself on it. So while it does require some work, it's not a daily thing. Plus, you don't have to deal with a water bill anymore!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:North Potomac is not incorporated...it is no-mans land between Potomac, Rockville, and Gaithersburg, created by enterprising developers seeking to get higher prices in what had been mostly Gaithersburg zip codes. Schools feed into Quince Orchard (some feed into Rockville schools too I believe).

Granted, most of NoPo is nicer than Gburg, but let's call a spade a spade.

According to MCPS school assignments, it feeds into Wootton, Frost, and Travilah.

[Anonymous]

Way too big. 8 bedrooms? I also would never like to live in such an ostentatious looking place. Also with ponds in the back, could be perceived as a hazard for young children. I'd rather put money into nice vacations, smaller home near Metro, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Way too big. 8 bedrooms? I also would never like to live in such an ostentatious looking place. Also with ponds in the back, could be perceived as a hazard for young children. I'd rather put money into nice vacations, smaller home near Metro, etc.

They call two of the rooms in the basement bedrooms because legally, they could be bedrooms and are used as such. Most people would use the spaces as a gym/storage/playroom area. Actually, I think that all of the rooms had people living in them. Like, they had a big family and needed the bedrooms for them. So, is it still ostentatious when it's being used practically instead of for show? It is actually quite a cozy house on the inside and not flashy at all...but I hope you feel better having used your big word for the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Potomac is not incorporated...it is no-mans land between Potomac, Rockville, and Gaithersburg, created by enterprising developers seeking to get higher prices in what had been mostly Gaithersburg zip codes. Schools feed into Quince Orchard (some feed into Rockville schools too I believe).

Granted, most of NoPo is nicer than Gburg, but let's call a spade a spade.

Sure, and let's call a twit a twit while we're at it.

NP: I have no dog in this fight as I live in NoVA, but I would say that perceptions are perceptions, and whether you like Bethesda's perception or not, it's probably still shared by a lot of people in the area. So, the spade=spade argument is far more insightful than the twit=twit response.

[Anonymous]

This house is very bland, it needs some character. The land is pretty!

[Anonymous]

it's not potomac, it's gaithersburg, far from DC and everything.