Do you think the Pimmit Hills area will eventually become upscale?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm not seeing anything near the 2109 Pimmit "contemporary" that sold recently for over a million. I see a more conventional house a few blocks away that sold for slightly over $900 in early 2014.

On the other hand, there are contemporary homes in Arlington and McLean that have sold quickly for over a million in recent years. 2111 Rolfe in Arlington sold for $1.24 million in 15 days. 1933 Birch in McLean sold for $1.35 million in 13 days.

A PH contemporary listed for over a million may be at a disadvantage for being a contemporary, but it's also at a disadvantage for being listed for over a million in that neighborhood.

I agree with your last statement. I was just pointing out that expensive contemporaries have a harder time selling than expensive conventional houses. PH is not yet a place where a buyer with over a million dollars goes to shop routinely, either.

There is a house literally next door to the Pimmit Drive contemporary - just-completed new build with a craftman-ish look. A few days ago it was listed for over a million and now it isn't. I assumed it went under contract. But of course it could have disappeared for other reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm not seeing anything near the 2109 Pimmit "contemporary" that sold recently for over a million. I see a more conventional house a few blocks away that sold for slightly over $900 in early 2014.

On the other hand, there are contemporary homes in Arlington and McLean that have sold quickly for over a million in recent years. 2111 Rolfe in Arlington sold for $1.24 million in 15 days. 1933 Birch in McLean sold for $1.35 million in 13 days.

A PH contemporary listed for over a million may be at a disadvantage for being a contemporary, but it's also at a disadvantage for being listed for over a million in that neighborhood.

I agree with your last statement. I was just pointing out that expensive contemporaries have a harder time selling than expensive conventional houses. PH is not yet a place where a buyer with over a million dollars goes to shop routinely, either.

There is a house literally next door to the Pimmit Drive contemporary - just-completed new build with a craftman-ish look. A few days ago it was listed for over a million and now it isn't. I assumed it went under contract. But of course it could have disappeared for other reasons.

Could be that there was a sale and it hasn't been recorded yet. There is a lag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love new houses, but the ones they're building in PH are seriously awful. And the remodels are even worse. We toured so many that were frankenstein houses. Garages that didn't connect inside the house (had to walk around even though they were physically connected).

Can you point out some of the new ones that are awful? I am very familiar with all of the newer homes in the area and they all seem to be your standard spec builder. As for the remodels there are some pretty bad ones but those aren't really on the market and are usually marketed as teardown.

DP here. Don't know what the finished product looks like but the marketing of this house, which is at the absolute high end of the PH market, is atrocious.

http://frankly.com/FX8467784

On the other hand, I think this house looks fine, but it's an example of a PH house priced over a million that just sits on the market for months.

http://frankly.com/FX8450441

The second house is overpriced, that's why it's been sitting.

The first house is too eccentric to sell quickly. I drive past it every morning and I was shocked to learn it was a house built to sell. From the look and the layout, I assumed it was someone building a house for themselves because the style of that house is too unique for the market, certainly for the PH market. That house would have taken a long time to sell even in Arlington or McLean, simply because this style is preferred by a minority of buyers.

It's hard to say what's "unique" for PH, because it's whatever the buyer of a teardown wants to put up. There are houses built in the last few years in PH that look Colonials built in Ashburn in 1995 or Craftsmans built in Arlington in 2010. There are contemporary homes in Arlington or McLean that have sold for over a million in less than a month, so it's not only the style that is an issue. It's also price and, perhaps, construction quality (hard to say since it's been marketed unfinished).

I think it's pretty self-evident that contemporary houses are less popular in this area and move a lot slower. There is a comparable size house next door to the one you posted that was listed for over a million, and went very quickly. It's a fairly conventional Craftsman.

I'm not seeing anything near the 2109 Pimmit "contemporary" that sold recently for over a million. I see a more conventional house a few blocks away that sold for slightly over $900 in early 2014.

On the other hand, there are contemporary homes in Arlington and McLean that have sold quickly for over a million in recent years. 2111 Rolfe in Arlington sold for $1.24 million in 15 days. 1933 Birch in McLean sold for $1.35 million in 13 days.

A PH contemporary listed for over a million may be at a disadvantage for being a contemporary, but it's also at a disadvantage for being listed for over a million in that neighborhood.

Those are older homes and different a market. 2015 will be interesting but there are going to be a lot of new homes which will push up the price over a million, but just slightly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love new houses, but the ones they're building in PH are seriously awful. And the remodels are even worse. We toured so many that were frankenstein houses. Garages that didn't connect inside the house (had to walk around even though they were physically connected).

Can you point out some of the new ones that are awful? I am very familiar with all of the newer homes in the area and they all seem to be your standard spec builder. As for the remodels there are some pretty bad ones but those aren't really on the market and are usually marketed as teardown.

DP here. Don't know what the finished product looks like but the marketing of this house, which is at the absolute high end of the PH market, is atrocious.

http://frankly.com/FX8467784

On the other hand, I think this house looks fine, but it's an example of a PH house priced over a million that just sits on the market for months.

http://frankly.com/FX8450441

The second house is overpriced, that's why it's been sitting.

The first house is too eccentric to sell quickly. I drive past it every morning and I was shocked to learn it was a house built to sell. From the look and the layout, I assumed it was someone building a house for themselves because the style of that house is too unique for the market, certainly for the PH market. That house would have taken a long time to sell even in Arlington or McLean, simply because this style is preferred by a minority of buyers.

It's hard to say what's "unique" for PH, because it's whatever the buyer of a teardown wants to put up. There are houses built in the last few years in PH that look Colonials built in Ashburn in 1995 or Craftsmans built in Arlington in 2010. There are contemporary homes in Arlington or McLean that have sold for over a million in less than a month, so it's not only the style that is an issue. It's also price and, perhaps, construction quality (hard to say since it's been marketed unfinished).

I think it's pretty self-evident that contemporary houses are less popular in this area and move a lot slower. There is a comparable size house next door to the one you posted that was listed for over a million, and went very quickly. It's a fairly conventional Craftsman.

I'm not seeing anything near the 2109 Pimmit "contemporary" that sold recently for over a million. I see a more conventional house a few blocks away that sold for slightly over $900 in early 2014.

On the other hand, there are contemporary homes in Arlington and McLean that have sold quickly for over a million in recent years. 2111 Rolfe in Arlington sold for $1.24 million in 15 days. 1933 Birch in McLean sold for $1.35 million in 13 days.

A PH contemporary listed for over a million may be at a disadvantage for being a contemporary, but it's also at a disadvantage for being listed for over a million in that neighborhood.

Those are older homes and different a market. 2015 will be interesting but there are going to be a lot of new homes which will push up the price over a million, but just slightly.

There might be supply-induced demand, if people think the volume of more expensive new homes reflects a turning point in the neighborhood, or you could just end up with a glut of new homes that don't sell or only sell at discounts.

[Anonymous]

Upscale, please name an upscale area. Most of the teardown communities I have seen are not considered upscale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm not seeing anything near the 2109 Pimmit "contemporary" that sold recently for over a million. I see a more conventional house a few blocks away that sold for slightly over $900 in early 2014.

On the other hand, there are contemporary homes in Arlington and McLean that have sold quickly for over a million in recent years. 2111 Rolfe in Arlington sold for $1.24 million in 15 days. 1933 Birch in McLean sold for $1.35 million in 13 days.

A PH contemporary listed for over a million may be at a disadvantage for being a contemporary, but it's also at a disadvantage for being listed for over a million in that neighborhood.

I agree with your last statement. I was just pointing out that expensive contemporaries have a harder time selling than expensive conventional houses. PH is not yet a place where a buyer with over a million dollars goes to shop routinely, either.

There is a house literally next door to the Pimmit Drive contemporary - just-completed new build with a craftman-ish look. A few days ago it was listed for over a million and now it isn't. I assumed it went under contract. But of course it could have disappeared for other reasons.

Could be that there was a sale and it hasn't been recorded yet. There is a lag.

Drove by that house today. The address is 2105 Pimmit Drive. There is a For Sale sign in front of it, and about a week ago Redfin was showing it as being for sale for (I believe) 1.2 million or similar. Then it disappeared. Perhaps they pulled it off the market or something. Or it went under contract. Anything's possible. It's a very big craftsman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upscale, please name an upscale area. Most of the teardown communities I have seen are not considered upscale.

Perhaps not by you, but when teardowns go for over $800K, older homes in decent condition go for a million or so, and new construction is at least $1.8 million if not more, that's upscale, at least compared to Pimmit Hills.

[Anonymous]

Any community without a lot of trees in between the houses is considered "lower scale" than those with many trees in between. Smaller lots will never fetch what larger lots will fetch. If people spend X amount on a house, they don't want their cheesy neighbor in their face every time they are having sex in their hot tub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Any community without a lot of trees in between the houses is considered "lower scale" than those with many trees in between. Smaller lots will never fetch what larger lots will fetch. If people spend X amount on a house, they don't want their cheesy neighbor in their face every time they are having sex in their hot tub.

Whether or not the lots have trees or not has nothing to do with quality of housing.

Small lots don't seem to stop buyers in N. Arlington.

When it comes to the size of the lot, PH actually is decent for a close-in burb, because the lots are around .3 acres. Not bad for how close it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upscale, please name an upscale area. Most of the teardown communities I have seen are not considered upscale.

Perhaps not by you, but when teardowns go for over $800K, older homes in decent condition go for a million or so, and new construction is at least $1.8 million if not more, that's upscale, at least compared to Pimmit Hills.

There aren't many areas that have teardown for 800k, those areas are going to be out in Langley High School area and Potomac. I guess you could call those places upscale and everything else not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When main stream builders start building in it will upswing. Right now there are random builders constructing junk that will show extreme wear and tear in 10 years.

LoL, the random builders are very few, I see a ton of ndi, classic and stanley martin.

Those are not main stream. They are low end

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When main stream builders start building in it will upswing. Right now there are random builders constructing junk that will show extreme wear and tear in 10 years.

LoL, the random builders are very few, I see a ton of ndi, classic and stanley martin.

Those are not main stream. They are low end

That's your opinion. Nothing else.

[Anonymous]

We are considering building with Classic. Do people really consider it to be low-end? We know it's not "high-end" or "upscale" (and that's not what we are looking for, and nor is it in our budget if we want to build in Arlington), but is is really worse than a main stream spec builder? Any significant difference versus NDI?

[Anonymous]

Low end are the vinyl siding popups littering our area. Cape cods and ramblers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Low end are the vinyl siding popups littering our area. Cape cods and ramblers

splits are also low end. New homes are mid or higher, funny that the shit hole dwellers have to pipe up.