Explain why my neighbor’s house can’t sell

[Anonymous]

Beside other people's description of the neighbor.
Too expensive for a house with no back yard.
Busy street and not a neighborhood I would live in at that price. Sorry, I grew up near there and driven through it many times in my 20s-30s.
But, our friends would gladly put out that amount of money for that place and they have, near the same area.

I rather buy an old smaller house in on a less busy street in Bethesda, Kensington or Chevy Chase or somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Despite the small yard and the busy street, this house still would have had redeeming value that would have made it appealing to some buyers. The location (aside from the busy intersection) is fine, there is a back yard (small but still bigger than most backyards for a townhome or condo), and 4,000 square feet. None of those are to be sneezed at. However, the flippers/rehabers made two critical errors.

The biggest mistakes the flippers or rehabers made was the kitchen placement. Whether they felt they had to place it there (because of pre-existing plumbing) or not, they were left with a weird layout. Then they made a second huge error, which was installing that pantry instead of leaving that as open space. With only the stairs coming down and no pantry, they would have had a nice 25' x 18' space for a kitchen, small dining table and then the living room space. The house would have made sense. Even adding a beam, if necessary, for the pantry wall would have been worth the cost financially.

Then the back room becomes a gigantic Great Room with loads of space for kids and toys. Carve out a small room for an office and a small room for a laundry room / mudroom, and you've got a winner. I especially like the basement because it would make a great rental unit or use it for an au pair or MIL suite if you didn't need the bedrooms for your own family.

The third error they've made is in staging. It looks really weird to have a dining room table in the room that the front door opens into. Seeing that sets a bad tone that is hard to overcome no matter how much a buyer may want the house to work because of its size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver spring is the sad version of Bethesda

Most residents of silver spring would never live in Bethesda. And not bc they can’t afford it.

I mean that’s one of the main reasons but you do you. That said every resident of Bethesda turned down silver spring, is that why silver spring residents are so bitter about them? What did you think it would be like moving to the discount area with all the poor people? Your own insecurities are showing

This discussion is so ridiculous, on both sides. We live in Bethesda because I work in Georgetown, and the commute from Silver Spring would be an absolute killer. If my office was elsewhere and it was more convenient, we'd happily live in Silver Spring.

I refuse to believe that most of my neighbors (or the residents of Silver Spring, for that matter) are as ridiculous as the two of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver spring is the sad version of Bethesda

Most residents of silver spring would never live in Bethesda. And not bc they can’t afford it.

I mean that’s one of the main reasons but you do you. That said every resident of Bethesda turned down silver spring, is that why silver spring residents are so bitter about them? What did you think it would be like moving to the discount area with all the poor people? Your own insecurities are showing

This discussion is so ridiculous, on both sides. We live in Bethesda because I work in Georgetown, and the commute from Silver Spring would be an absolute killer. If my office was elsewhere and it was more convenient, we'd happily live in Silver Spring.

I refuse to believe that most of my neighbors (or the residents of Silver Spring, for that matter) are as ridiculous as the two of you.

It’s not ridiculous to say people who value diversity snd don’t want to live around boring people would drive 15 more minutes.

[Anonymous]

OP here with the final update - thought folks might be interested to hear that it closed this week for $868k. It took listing twice and waiting 3 weekends but looks like sellers essentially got their ask in the end.