Why are homes in the DMV not nice?

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on what range homes you are talking about:
- Yes, multimillion dollar homes should look great in all ways.
- Under a million? Those are normal homes and people who own them will typically have to prioritize savings over renovations and decor, which is the sound and responsible thing to do.

[Anonymous]

This is such a stupid thread. There are plenty of nice houses in the DC area. Just because you can’t afford them or most were built after the 1930s doesn’t mean they aren’t nice. Grow up, whiners, or go back to your home town if you think it’s so much nicer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is such a stupid thread. There are plenty of nice houses in the DC area. Just because you can’t afford them or most were built after the 1930s doesn’t mean they aren’t nice. Grow up, whiners, or go back to your home town if you think it’s so much nicer!

Your home-depot accessorized house in Chantilly is not nice.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a stupid thread. There are plenty of nice houses in the DC area. Just because you can’t afford them or most were built after the 1930s doesn’t mean they aren’t nice. Grow up, whiners, or go back to your home town if you think it’s so much nicer!

Your home-depot accessorized house in Chantilly is not nice.....

The housing stock in upper NWDC, Bethesda and Chevy Chase is nice. But yeah NoVa has a lot of ugly housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a stupid thread. There are plenty of nice houses in the DC area. Just because you can’t afford them or most were built after the 1930s doesn’t mean they aren’t nice. Grow up, whiners, or go back to your home town if you think it’s so much nicer!

Your home-depot accessorized house in Chantilly is not nice.....

The housing stock in upper NWDC, Bethesda and Chevy Chase is nice. But yeah NoVa has a lot of ugly housing.

There are always threads like this started after there’s more bad economic news in MoCo or people are particularly unhappy with MCPS leadership over something like Crown or Woodward. Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax Station, Falls Church, Great Falls, McLean, and Vienna aren’t uniformly nice but have plenty of very nice houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on what range homes you are talking about:
- Yes, multimillion dollar homes should look great in all ways.
- Under a million? Those are normal homes and people who own them will typically have to prioritize savings over renovations and decor, which is the sound and responsible thing to do.

Under a million? Where are you people from? Tear down properties in many parts of DC metro go for a lot more than this. .5 acre of land can easily cost you 1.5 mil with an unlivable shack or nothing at all. A multimillion dollar home.. depends on how many millions 2 mil is very different than 5 mil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t a lot of real money in DC. Almost everyone is here for work. There aren’t insanely wealthy people like you’d find in LA, NY etc.

There is a decent bit of money here. People are just more modest and less showy because it is in poor taste to be flashy with your wealth. Many households here that 30-100M in assets. However, these people often live in the same 1-3M neighborhoods that others live in. They don’t have super fancy houses, just slightly nicer than average houses in premium locations.

No, not really. Yes, there are wealthy families but it pales in comparison to a city like Los Angeles or New York. It’s why across the board there are fewer luxury offerings. It’s a company town.

Can you please tell me the specific areas of DC metro you are visiting where you cannot find adequate supply of luxury offerings? I call BS. There are very many luxurious sprawling homes nestled in more scenic woodsy areas or in older neighborhoods of DC, Alexandria, even FC and some more rural parts of VA. "Palace" construction is specifically very popular in great falls. Tell me you drive by one of these monstrosities with wrought iron gates and various elaborate masonry and say to yourself how squalid and Home depot basic that looks Sour grapes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a lot of foreigners in NoVA and housing/lawn is not a priority. Designer clothing/high end cars/fine dining is more important. Most people do not entertain at their houses around here.

This is so completely full of cr*p. A lot of people entertain in their homes and affluent foreigners outsource everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice is subjective. The end.

False. Your vinyl crap house with 2 car garage front and center, full of mdf and builder grade everything is objectively awful and probably makes you feel low grade ill all the time.

Nailed it. DC has an inordinate amount of these plastic homes.

DC proper is a rowhome city with residential areas that have quite a few nice older homes. Most of DC suburbia was built midcentury with car usage in mind, utilitarian midcentury construction is undoubtedly ugly regardless if it's SFHs or residential boxy towers with small windows and drab brick exteriors. It was just the times when lots of fugly housing was built. The cities that experienced rapid growth during that time will have a huge inventory of that housing stock. Even Manhattan has tons of it. If you want quaint, then you need to go into the older city cores where historical preservation required owners to restore old homes vs. building new facades.

I am very familiar with CA. Lots of ugly housing which is made prettier simply by dramatic hilly terrain and different color paint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I visit my family in the Chicago suburbs and it’s very striking to me how much better their houses in regular middle class to upper middle class neighborhoods are. The houses are simply way better quality- quieter, better quality finishes. You can’t hear street noise because the house is tight (a major annoyance in my own home). The neighborhoods have a more cohesive aesthetic where the houses are different but compliment each other. There’s more brick houses, houses are larger. The landscaping is nicer. These are neighborhoods comparable to Bethesda, McLean, Arlington, etc.

Is this prewar housing? Because older homes were built prettier then: higher ceilings, nicer vertically oriented windows, masonry detail. Midcentury brought a lot of mass produced quick builds that are utilitarian. Low ceilings, boxy construction, drab red brick, horizontally oriented windows, zero external detail or paint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on what range homes you are talking about:
- Yes, multimillion dollar homes should look great in all ways.
- Under a million? Those are normal homes and people who own them will typically have to prioritize savings over renovations and decor, which is the sound and responsible thing to do.

I’m from Atlanta originally and you find attractive housing at all prices. If it has been renovated since the HGTV era, it looks good. The quality of the renovation may vary based on price, and it may be obvious if you’re in the space, but it will look great in a picture. I largely think it’s a reflection of labor costs and priorities. I love telling my sister in Atlanta about the quotes I get - she’s always shocked and appalled. I don’t think she’s ever done a house project that cost more than 10K, and she’s had major work done (adding bathrooms, finishing her basement, etc). At the prices we’re quoted here, I’m constantly asking myself whether it’s worth it. With the purely cosmetic work, it often isn’t.

[Anonymous]

I have been impressed by the quality, both design and construction, of higher end to expensive new builds and teardown replacements in Southern cities. Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, all have great new housing that is comparable to the classics from the 1920s-30s era.

Agree you don't see much of those around DC for whatever reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been impressed by the quality, both design and construction, of higher end to expensive new builds and teardown replacements in Southern cities. Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, all have great new housing that is comparable to the classics from the 1920s-30s era.

Agree you don't see much of those around DC for whatever reasons.

Agreed, I’ve noticed this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a lot of foreigners in NoVA and housing/lawn is not a priority. Designer clothing/high end cars/fine dining is more important. Most people do not entertain at their houses around here.

This is so completely full of cr*p. A lot of people entertain in their homes and affluent foreigners outsource everything.

NP. I agree with this requester. Go look at Great Falls. I see 2-5m homes with ZERO bushes, trees, or flowers.

[Anonymous]

My neighborhood is 1.25-1.5m. These are normal 4/5 bedroom center hall colonials from mid 90s- mid 00s. Most of my neighbors do next to nothing with their landscaping, don't even plant a single flower. They rarely repaint or redo bathrooms and kitchens. I go inside and most have little to no decorations and the furniture is worn. My neighbors make good money too 350k+. The cars are mid. Mostly Hondas, Mazdas and Toyotas. My next door neighbor made 2m last year and drives a 5year old Honda.

In comparison, my mom lives in a luxury 400k home. Amazing landscaping in her entire neighborhood, everyone has well decorated homes and many hire interior designers. All the cars are Mercedes/Lexus/BMW types. Most of her neighbors make less money than mine do (150k probably, whereas most make 350k+ here).

I could make similar comparisons for my friends who live in other states too like North Carolina. I think DC area people are just unstylish and their homes and cars reflect that. The new builds in the DC area that replace torn down homes are ATROCIOUS with no sense of architectural style or proportion. Actually I'm not sure an architect or a designer even came near those floorplans.