Mt Prospect in North Potomac

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Do you know something we don't about a change to another school district? To what district? Is there a boundary study and reassignment that is happening soon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got the same email, they made it sound like a building, calling it a "studio."

They are going to have a LOT of pissed off customers if they aren't transparent about what the experience will be. People are going to show up to a trailer expecting a real design studio. They should at least offer appointments in Northern Virginia for DC-area people.

I really wish I had gone with another builder. If you are reading this and haven't put down a contract RUN.

Where are you building? I am in Mt Prospect and haven’t received this message. Regardless, I had one appointment so far in Columbia and while it was nice to see the few kitchens (I believe there were 5), we spent most of our time looking at the various sample floors, tiles, carpets and cabinets. It would be nice to have more space but I don’t think the ultimate selections experience and process will be any different. Also, there are 3 models right outside that have kitchens, basement wet bars, and bathrooms that can give you more examples.

New poster, but lurk around here for any news. (Like this, I guess, woo.) We're building in Turf Valley and got the same email. I'm a little bummed, when we built previously, going to the nice design studio was my favorite part of the process. My only real concern is there won't be the space to view full/large sized samples (like full cabinet doors, larger panels of tiles, countertops etc.). I actually emailed the design people and asked if, if that was the case, we could at least browse at the Northern Virginia location in between our first and second appointments assuming there were at least some overlapping options. I'm pretty sure I know what I want after looking at their virtual design center tours/pictures, so it would just be nice to confirm.

I saw another poster say they were also building in Howard County got the same email. Would be...odd...if us HoCo folks were getting moved down to your neighborhood and you weren't, lol.

[Anonymous]

I went to the Colombia studio; it is okay.
Online, the VA studio seems much nicer with more options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to the Colombia studio; it is okay.
Online, the VA studio seems much nicer with more options.

The Virginia studio online walkthrough is totally different then what’s currently available. Due to Covid, half of the options you see online are not actually available. Same for the Columbia location...options are drastically reduced. Maybe that’s why they’re downsizing. Either way, don’t get attached to what you see in the models or online...good chance it won’t be available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Agree with both. Subpar materials. Also why buy a new home in this area when the public schools are about to be changed so that you get much less for the money. You're better off buying closer to the soon to be established new Wootton boundary. No point buying in Mt. Prospect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Agree with both. Subpar materials. Also why buy a new home in this area when the public schools are about to be changed so that you get much less for the money. You're better off buying closer to the soon to be established new Wootton boundary. No point buying in Mt. Prospect.

How do you guys know it is low quality ? when I visited the windmills it looked amazing. There is a reason the prices went up over $200K already. The school district change is a nonsense argument. People who can afford millions dollars houses can send their kids to private school if needed. Houses is the school districts nearby are not that cheaper and they are old houses .. People who bought phase 1 at Mt prospect made a great deal..

[Anonymous]

I would also like to ask what you mean by "low quality"?
We took a look at Chase (Lennar Homes) community and those homes are going for 900 K +. They seemed okay. What I saw at Mt. Prospect felt much better than those homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also like to ask what you mean by "low quality"?
We took a look at Chase (Lennar Homes) community and those homes are going for 900 K +. They seemed okay. What I saw at Mt. Prospect felt much better than those homes.

With the caveat of "it'll come down to the on-site contractor," I agree that I've been more impressed by Toll's quality over most of the other tract builders in our area. Only exception to that is Mitchell & Best. Would have loved to have bought from them, but just didn't have a neighborhood in an area we knew we wanted to be in. When you buy from a builder like Toll, you should expect a solid house that doesn't give you headaches in the short-term, but not some fine craftsmanship that you'd get in a truly custom homes.

If helpful advice for anyone: Before buying in a community, I make it a point to snoop around the houses in the middle of construction on Sundays when the workers are usually gone and also the houses near completion as well as the quick delivery homes. We're "new home" people, and this has worked out well for us both times we've built.

[Anonymous]

Wootton is a great school because of the students that attend there. If they redistrict, the school that these kids attend will become the new “great school”. I would rather buy in Mt Prospect and know that my kids will attend the same school (wherever it is) as all the other kids in the north Potomac area. Wootton will only go down in rankings after redistricting...so those who argue home prices will drop are wrong in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Agree with both. Subpar materials. Also why buy a new home in this area when the public schools are about to be changed so that you get much less for the money. You're better off buying closer to the soon to be established new Wootton boundary. No point buying in Mt. Prospect.

How do you guys know it is low quality ? when I visited the windmills it looked amazing. There is a reason the prices went up over $200K already. The school district change is a nonsense argument. People who can afford millions dollars houses can send their kids to private school if needed. Houses is the school districts nearby are not that cheaper and they are old houses .. People who bought phase 1 at Mt prospect made a great deal..

I agree with the school issue. The rezoning concern is a nothing burger to most families buying at MP.

As for the low quality, fair question and the reality is that to most here, it's subjective. I am a poster who was really interested in MP early on and was let down once we toured the Orchard and Hamlet. Some things that I noted (and I acknowledge I am not a contractor lol)...

First, for context, I've toured several new home builders: Mitchell and Best, Wormald, Caruso, Kettler Forline, Lennar/NV.

- First off, not a big deal, but the design/decor was not awe inspiring. I know they got a lot of their stuff from RH but still, it was unimpressive. I expected more.
- The floor boards in the house are spring. Not sure if it relates to the subflooring approach but I did not get that in the other homes except for Lennar. The kind of subflooring that seems to have some bounce to it. This was the big thing for me.
- The weird layout of the hamlet and its outdoor space.

Those are the things off the top of my head. Nice homes, but I expected more given the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is a great school because of the students that attend there. If they redistrict, the school that these kids attend will become the new “great school”. I would rather buy in Mt Prospect and know that my kids will attend the same school (wherever it is) as all the other kids in the north Potomac area. Wootton will only go down in rankings after redistricting...so those who argue home prices will drop are wrong in my opinion.

The north Potomac kids are a small percentage of the overall high school population. If it gets redistricted to QO, QO is not going to get substantially better. This is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Agree with both. Subpar materials. Also why buy a new home in this area when the public schools are about to be changed so that you get much less for the money. You're better off buying closer to the soon to be established new Wootton boundary. No point buying in Mt. Prospect.

How do you guys know it is low quality ? when I visited the windmills it looked amazing. There is a reason the prices went up over $200K already. The school district change is a nonsense argument. People who can afford millions dollars houses can send their kids to private school if needed. Houses is the school districts nearby are not that cheaper and they are old houses .. People who bought phase 1 at Mt prospect made a great deal..

I agree with the school issue. The rezoning concern is a nothing burger to most families buying at MP.

As for the low quality, fair question and the reality is that to most here, it's subjective. I am a poster who was really interested in MP early on and was let down once we toured the Orchard and Hamlet. Some things that I noted (and I acknowledge I am not a contractor lol)...

First, for context, I've toured several new home builders: Mitchell and Best, Wormald, Caruso, Kettler Forline, Lennar/NV.

- First off, not a big deal, but the design/decor was not awe inspiring. I know they got a lot of their stuff from RH but still, it was unimpressive. I expected more.
- The floor boards in the house are spring. Not sure if it relates to the subflooring approach but I did not get that in the other homes except for Lennar. The kind of subflooring that seems to have some bounce to it. This was the big thing for me.
- The weird layout of the hamlet and its outdoor space.

Those are the things off the top of my head. Nice homes, but I expected more given the price.

Why do you think that? I live in the surrounding communities. At least half Go to public schools in the million dollar plus homes. Do you think they will all go private? Not many kids in the neighborhood or what?
I’m just curious since it was absolutely a huge concern and much talked about in our neighborhood around the times of the school board elections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is a great school because of the students that attend there. If they redistrict, the school that these kids attend will become the new “great school”. I would rather buy in Mt Prospect and know that my kids will attend the same school (wherever it is) as all the other kids in the north Potomac area. Wootton will only go down in rankings after redistricting...so those who argue home prices will drop are wrong in my opinion.

The north Potomac kids are a small percentage of the overall high school population. If it gets redistricted to QO, QO is not going to get substantially better. This is silly.

I believe the boundary stretches from dufief mill (at rt 28) to river road...that’s a huge percentage of wootton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Agree with both. Subpar materials. Also why buy a new home in this area when the public schools are about to be changed so that you get much less for the money. You're better off buying closer to the soon to be established new Wootton boundary. No point buying in Mt. Prospect.

How do you guys know it is low quality ? when I visited the windmills it looked amazing. There is a reason the prices went up over $200K already. The school district change is a nonsense argument. People who can afford millions dollars houses can send their kids to private school if needed. Houses is the school districts nearby are not that cheaper and they are old houses .. People who bought phase 1 at Mt prospect made a great deal..

I agree with the school issue. The rezoning concern is a nothing burger to most families buying at MP.

As for the low quality, fair question and the reality is that to most here, it's subjective. I am a poster who was really interested in MP early on and was let down once we toured the Orchard and Hamlet. Some things that I noted (and I acknowledge I am not a contractor lol)...

First, for context, I've toured several new home builders: Mitchell and Best, Wormald, Caruso, Kettler Forline, Lennar/NV.

- First off, not a big deal, but the design/decor was not awe inspiring. I know they got a lot of their stuff from RH but still, it was unimpressive. I expected more.
- The floor boards in the house are spring. Not sure if it relates to the subflooring approach but I did not get that in the other homes except for Lennar. The kind of subflooring that seems to have some bounce to it. This was the big thing for me.
- The weird layout of the hamlet and its outdoor space.

Those are the things off the top of my head. Nice homes, but I expected more given the price.

Why do you think that? I live in the surrounding communities. At least half Go to public schools in the million dollar plus homes. Do you think they will all go private? Not many kids in the neighborhood or what?
I’m just curious since it was absolutely a huge concern and much talked about in our neighborhood around the times of the school board elections.

Not that they would go private, rather, I don’t think they would care a whole lot if their house gets rezoned to QO instead of wootton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was so disappointed in the low quality Mt. Prospect finishes and the school district is going to be changed--I stopped considering it.

Agree with both. Subpar materials. Also why buy a new home in this area when the public schools are about to be changed so that you get much less for the money. You're better off buying closer to the soon to be established new Wootton boundary. No point buying in Mt. Prospect.

How do you guys know it is low quality ? when I visited the windmills it looked amazing. There is a reason the prices went up over $200K already. The school district change is a nonsense argument. People who can afford millions dollars houses can send their kids to private school if needed. Houses is the school districts nearby are not that cheaper and they are old houses .. People who bought phase 1 at Mt prospect made a great deal..

I agree with the school issue. The rezoning concern is a nothing burger to most families buying at MP.

As for the low quality, fair question and the reality is that to most here, it's subjective. I am a poster who was really interested in MP early on and was let down once we toured the Orchard and Hamlet. Some things that I noted (and I acknowledge I am not a contractor lol)...

First, for context, I've toured several new home builders: Mitchell and Best, Wormald, Caruso, Kettler Forline, Lennar/NV.

- First off, not a big deal, but the design/decor was not awe inspiring. I know they got a lot of their stuff from RH but still, it was unimpressive. I expected more.
- The floor boards in the house are spring. Not sure if it relates to the subflooring approach but I did not get that in the other homes except for Lennar. The kind of subflooring that seems to have some bounce to it. This was the big thing for me.
- The weird layout of the hamlet and its outdoor space.

Those are the things off the top of my head. Nice homes, but I expected more given the price.

Why do you think that? I live in the surrounding communities. At least half Go to public schools in the million dollar plus homes. Do you think they will all go private? Not many kids in the neighborhood or what?
I’m just curious since it was absolutely a huge concern and much talked about in our neighborhood around the times of the school board elections.

Not that they would go private, rather, I don’t think they would care a whole lot if their house gets rezoned to QO instead of wootton.

I agree. I think buyers in MP (at least ones that are local to this area) are aware of the school situation and either a) won't care a whole lot if their house gets rezoned to QO b) would consider private school if it bothered them or c) understand the risk, but see it as a bigger gain to get a newer updated house in a planned community and are willing to take the risk. If it was just about schools, then surely someone would just buy as close to their desired high school as possible, but there are so many other factors that people are considering.