recommend a neighborhood in or nearMclean for 800K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We wound up in McLean Hamlet and it is "OK". DH and I had our sights on Shouse Village but a home never came on the market. (Rumor from our realtor was that many SV homes sell before hitting the MLS in person-to-person deals due to their high demand.) I still drive through sometimes to visit a former coworker who lives there. I wish we had held out for a home there.
(also, the idea of structural issue for an entire neighborhod is bogus. Your realtor just wanted to redirect you and/or couldn't get you a home there.)

...Says the homeowner in Shouse Village.

There have been about 20 properties sold in that neighborhood in the last 2 years. I wouldn't call that 'rarely' coming on the market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We wound up in McLean Hamlet and it is "OK". DH and I had our sights on Shouse Village but a home never came on the market. (Rumor from our realtor was that many SV homes sell before hitting the MLS in person-to-person deals due to their high demand.) I still drive through sometimes to visit a former coworker who lives there. I wish we had held out for a home there.
(also, the idea of structural issue for an entire neighborhod is bogus. Your realtor just wanted to redirect you and/or couldn't get you a home there.)

...Says the homeowner in Shouse Village.

There have been about 20 properties sold in that neighborhood in the last 2 years. I wouldn't call that 'rarely' coming on the market.

Grow up. MH and SV are similar. I don't find it surprising that some might prefer one neighborhood, and others might prefer the other.

As to relative scarcity in SV, there aren't any houses in that neighborhood for sale now, and it is the case that some, but certainly not all, houses in that area are already under contract when they are first listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We wound up in McLean Hamlet and it is "OK". DH and I had our sights on Shouse Village but a home never came on the market. (Rumor from our realtor was that many SV homes sell before hitting the MLS in person-to-person deals due to their high demand.) I still drive through sometimes to visit a former coworker who lives there. I wish we had held out for a home there.
(also, the idea of structural issue for an entire neighborhod is bogus. Your realtor just wanted to redirect you and/or couldn't get you a home there.)

...Says the homeowner in Shouse Village.

There have been about 20 properties sold in that neighborhood in the last 2 years. I wouldn't call that 'rarely' coming on the market.

Grow up. MH and SV are similar. I don't find it surprising that some might prefer one neighborhood, and others might prefer the other.

As to relative scarcity in SV, there aren't any houses in that neighborhood for sale now, and it is the case that some, but certainly not all, houses in that area are already under contract when they are first listed.

Sounds like someone is trying to hype up their neighborhood. Must be the realtor. I've never heard of SV at all and DH is from DC area, grew up here. Our friends all grew up here too and have never heard of this place. It's not like everyone in DC area is aspiring to buy a house there, come on. It's probably the demographics of the area tend to be younger families, and not as much turn around as in areas where old people are cashing in and selling their old houses to developers for tear down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Sounds like someone is trying to hype up their neighborhood. Must be the realtor. I've never heard of SV at all and DH is from DC area, grew up here. Our friends all grew up here too and have never heard of this place. It's not like everyone in DC area is aspiring to buy a house there, come on.

Yea, I just went out and asked DH and EVERY SINGLE FRIEND that we have if they have heard of this neighborhood. Yeps, just for this single very thread, so I ran out and asked every one!
Trust me, my neighborhood is better than your neighborhood (and I don't even know where you live and I didn't tell you where I live!) What a stupid argument

[Anonymous]

I live in Vienna and agree that SV is a nice area. It has a pool club which as has been posted here before, are hard to get into in Vienna, so that is a big plus, as are the schools if you aren't happy with Madison/Marshall. Its also close to Wolf Trap which can be nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Vienna and agree that SV is a nice area. It has a pool club which as has been posted here before, are hard to get into in Vienna, so that is a big plus, as are the schools if you aren't happy with Madison/Marshall. Its also close to Wolf Trap which can be nice.

How close to wolf trap? Is it loud and can you hear the middle aged drunks?

[youtube]Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5k435zKbSo eT[/youtube]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Sounds like someone is trying to hype up their neighborhood. Must be the realtor. I've never heard of SV at all and DH is from DC area, grew up here. Our friends all grew up here too and have never heard of this place. It's not like everyone in DC area is aspiring to buy a house there, come on. It's probably the demographics of the area tend to be younger families, and not as much turn around as in areas where old people are cashing in and selling their old houses to developers for tear down.

This is 8:17, and I am not 7:29, a realtor, or a current or past resident of SV. Given the anonymity of DCUM, you could spend half your time on this forum claiming that everyone is a sock puppet if you want, so feel free to do so here.

Your post makes virtually no sense. The DC area is a large one. If you grew up here, the odds that you'll be familiar with most area neighborhoods by name is very slight, even if you are a realtor. So your lack of familiarity with SV doesn't mean much, and the idea that you'd go out and poll your friends to find out whether they'd heard of SV is, on its face, ridiculous.

On the other hand, if you're looking in the McLean/Tysons/Vienna area, and you have a budget under $1 M, the odds that you've heard of SV are pretty good. If you've ever been to Wolf Trap, and wondered what the name of the residential neighborhood outside Wolf Trap where the streets have names like "Trombone Court" and "Tuba Court," the odds that you've heard of SV are also good. The homes themselves aren't much different from those in many other parts of NoVa. But the neighborhood has a community pool, it's close to Wolf Trap, it's more affordable than some of the nearby areas in Vienna and Great Falls, and it happens to be in a more sought-after school pyramid (Colvin Run/Longfellow/McLean) than the adjacent communities in Vienna zoned for Marshall (sorry, but still true). Put it together, and you end up with a neighborhood where some homes will usually - but not always - sell quickly when they go on the market.

Of course that doesn't mean that everyone in the DC area is aspiring to buy a house there, but that was never the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Sounds like someone is trying to hype up their neighborhood. Must be the realtor. I've never heard of SV at all and DH is from DC area, grew up here. Our friends all grew up here too and have never heard of this place. It's not like everyone in DC area is aspiring to buy a house there, come on. It's probably the demographics of the area tend to be younger families, and not as much turn around as in areas where old people are cashing in and selling their old houses to developers for tear down.

This is 8:17, and I am not 7:29, a realtor, or a current or past resident of SV. Given the anonymity of DCUM, you could spend half your time on this forum claiming that everyone is a sock puppet if you want, so feel free to do so here.

Your post makes virtually no sense. The DC area is a large one. If you grew up here, the odds that you'll be familiar with most area neighborhoods by name is very slight, even if you are a realtor. So your lack of familiarity with SV doesn't mean much, and the idea that you'd go out and poll your friends to find out whether they'd heard of SV is, on its face, ridiculous.

On the other hand, if you're looking in the McLean/Tysons/Vienna area, and you have a budget under $1 M, the odds that you've heard of SV are pretty good. If you've ever been to Wolf Trap, and wondered what the name of the residential neighborhood outside Wolf Trap where the streets have names like "Trombone Court" and "Tuba Court," the odds that you've heard of SV are also good. The homes themselves aren't much different from those in many other parts of NoVa. But the neighborhood has a community pool, it's close to Wolf Trap, it's more affordable than some of the nearby areas in Vienna and Great Falls, and it happens to be in a more sought-after school pyramid (Colvin Run/Longfellow/McLean) than the adjacent communities in Vienna zoned for Marshall (sorry, but still true). Put it together, and you end up with a neighborhood where some homes will usually - but not always - sell quickly when they go on the market.

Of course that doesn't mean that everyone in the DC area is aspiring to buy a house there, but that was never the question.

Listing one in sv soon?.bahhhhaaaaaa.

[Anonymous]

Shouse Village is the exact same builder and layout and home models as Lakevale Estates. The Hamlet home might be another 5-10 year older. People love living in both communities, no doubt. The value of a pool community is huge if you have kids and want them to walk to the pool.

[Anonymous]

Sorry sv seems nice but is too far out and not in the beltway. Last I checked there are quite a few million dollar plus homes in 22182 marshall district under contract or sold. This isn't 1993 where living far out in a car dependent neighborhood is acceptable, traffic has gotten much worse. The difference between the mclean vs marshall pyramids are nothing but the name. In fact the last scores put the middle schools on par at perfect 10s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry sv seems nice but is too far out and not in the beltway. Last I checked there are quite a few million dollar plus homes in 22182 marshall district under contract or sold. This isn't 1993 where living far out in a car dependent neighborhood is acceptable, traffic has gotten much worse. The difference between the mclean vs marshall pyramids are nothing but the name. In fact the last scores put the middle schools on par at perfect 10s

Yes, there are many $1M+ properties in the Marshall district/22182. Most of them are not in walkable areas, and they usually don't sell as quickly as similar properties in the Madison or McLean districts (consider, for example, how many unsold homes there are in Maymont, or how long it's been taking Sekas Homes to sell out "Thistle Ridge" in the Marshall district compared to their "Francis Young" development in the Madison district or their "Hastings Estates" development in the Mclean district), but they are very nice houses. If you could afford a $1.2 M house in the Marshall district, you might very well pick that over a $800K house in the McLean district.

On the other hand, if you're budget is roughly $800-850K, and you can find a house in Vienna/22182 in the Langley, McLean or Madison districts, that house will still have an edge over a similar house in the Marshall district. So, for example, a house in Shouse Village (McLean district) or Eudora (Madison district) will typically sell more quickly than one in The Trails (Marshall district), although there is a really strong demand right now for houses in that price range anywhere in 22182.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Listing one in sv soon?.bahhhhaaaaaa.

No. I've never lived there.

[Anonymous]

I think part of your problem is that inventory is low because it's February. Because that's a popular price point and 4BR are harder to find than 3BR, try to get a really good feel for what's out there and what you like so that when something great comes on the market, you are prepared to jump on it quickly. Good luck!

I agree with 15:13. It also wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on homes in North Arlington, especially in/near 22207. We can get to McLean pretty quickly from our house in Country Club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry sv seems nice but is too far out and not in the beltway. Last I checked there are quite a few million dollar plus homes in 22182 marshall district under contract or sold. This isn't 1993 where living far out in a car dependent neighborhood is acceptable, traffic has gotten much worse. The difference between the mclean vs marshall pyramids are nothing but the name. In fact the last scores put the middle schools on par at perfect 10s

If you live in that area, I don't care what HS you are zoned for, your lifestyle will be car dependent even if you live walking distance to metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry sv seems nice but is too far out and not in the beltway. Last I checked there are quite a few million dollar plus homes in 22182 marshall district under contract or sold. This isn't 1993 where living far out in a car dependent neighborhood is acceptable, traffic has gotten much worse. The difference between the mclean vs marshall pyramids are nothing but the name. In fact the last scores put the middle schools on par at perfect 10s

If you live in that area, I don't care what HS you are zoned for, your lifestyle will be car dependent even if you live walking distance to metro.

This is exactly right. On the other hand, the percentage of people with kids who are looking in NoVa and want a car-free lifestyle is probably relatively low.

Obviously, traffic in this region sucks, but cars still provide most of us with mobility and opportunities that we would not have if we were entirely dependent on mass transit to get around. NYC is the only place in the U.S. where I'd personally be willing to live without a car.