Washington, DC Metropolitan Area's Housing Stock Is UGLY

[Anonymous]

The housing in this region is some of the most poorly planned and designed, and cheaply built of that in any major metropolitan area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The housing in this region is some of the most poorly planned and designed, and cheaply built of that in any major metropolitan area.

Putting that big white McMansion in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue? What were they thinking?

[Anonymous]

The whole east coast south of Boston is a mess .

[Anonymous]

What do you consider attractive?

[Anonymous]

Yet people blindly pay top dollar...

[Anonymous]

You have to remember that if you're not familiar with an area, you'll only see what is on the main roads. And because some people don't want to pay top dollar for a house on a main road, sometimes the nicest houses will not be on the main road. Or they'll end up being rentals and not taken care of as well as owner-occupied houses. But then you'll get one street away and the houses will be very attractive.

[Anonymous]

Ever been to Chevy Chase or Bethesda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to remember that if you're not familiar with an area, you'll only see what is on the main roads. And because some people don't want to pay top dollar for a house on a main road, sometimes the nicest houses will not be on the main road. Or they'll end up being rentals and not taken care of as well as owner-occupied houses. But then you'll get one street away and the houses will be very attractive.

Oh how I wish that were true. But nope, we are house hunting and spending a lot of time on the side streets. Budget is 1.3 million. Many (truly, most, not just many) are seriously ugly. Even bueautiful streets in Kent with $2-3 million houses, the next block over has chain link fences. Hideous. throughout upper NW and Bethesda there are So Many unattractive additions globbed on to blah colonials. There are beautiful streets here and there (south 1/2 of Wesley Heights), a couple parts of Westmoreland Hills, there's always a touch of unkempt and rundown that creeps in to many of the neigborhoods. It's depressing.

[Anonymous]

I was ready to feel sorry for you OP, but our budget is 600k and the housing options are keeping me up at night with dread and worry. You can't truly fathom "ugly" until you've looked at DC area houses in our price range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to remember that if you're not familiar with an area, you'll only see what is on the main roads. And because some people don't want to pay top dollar for a house on a main road, sometimes the nicest houses will not be on the main road. Or they'll end up being rentals and not taken care of as well as owner-occupied houses. But then you'll get one street away and the houses will be very attractive.

Oh how I wish that were true. But nope, we are house hunting and spending a lot of time on the side streets. Budget is 1.3 million. Many (truly, most, not just many) are seriously ugly. Even bueautiful streets in Kent with $2-3 million houses, the next block over has chain link fences. Hideous. throughout upper NW and Bethesda there are So Many unattractive additions globbed on to blah colonials. There are beautiful streets here and there (south 1/2 of Wesley Heights), a couple parts of Westmoreland Hills, there's always a touch of unkempt and rundown that creeps in to many of the neigborhoods. It's depressing.

Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

I thought so too when we first moved here from the West Coast. However, one thing I will say is that in SoCal most of the houses look the same, with that same Spanish-style architecture. Here, at least you get some variety. Not a big fan of colonials myself, but I do like many of the Tudors, Dutch colonials, etc.

[Anonymous]

19:59, shut up you piece of garbage. Some of us like it here. Go back to Wichita or whatever rat ass town you came here from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to remember that if you're not familiar with an area, you'll only see what is on the main roads. And because some people don't want to pay top dollar for a house on a main road, sometimes the nicest houses will not be on the main road. Or they'll end up being rentals and not taken care of as well as owner-occupied houses. But then you'll get one street away and the houses will be very attractive.

Oh how I wish that were true. But nope, we are house hunting and spending a lot of time on the side streets. Budget is 1.3 million. Many (truly, most, not just many) are seriously ugly. Even bueautiful streets in Kent with $2-3 million houses, the next block over has chain link fences. Hideous. throughout upper NW and Bethesda there are So Many unattractive additions globbed on to blah colonials. There are beautiful streets here and there (south 1/2 of Wesley Heights), a couple parts of Westmoreland Hills, there's always a touch of unkempt and rundown that creeps in to many of the neigborhoods. It's depressing.

Get over yourself.

Dear God, this.

You're really bitching about depressing and unkempt houses encroaching on your 1.3m neighborhood???? You sound freaking obnoxious.

[Anonymous]

Aww man, I like my house. Guess it must be hideous though, since I only paid $450 for it and you can't find a nice one for nearly 3x as much.

[Anonymous]

The history of this area was not affluent until the early 90s so the housing stock reflects that.