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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: McLean resident here. We live in a very un-impressive old and not well constructed small home simply for the schools, location with regard to work,etc. and safety (as compared to previous neighborhood). While all the houses are the same there is also a nitpicky HOA and some annoying politics.

If the elementary school near Pimmit Hills had been stronger we would have probably chosen to live there. I like that there is more ethnic and age diversity in PH. We live in what could be mistaken for a whitewashed/vanilla retirement community. Many of the older neighbors are lovely people, but a few prance around like they own the place and those same people are the ones who have the most time and interest in taking HOA leadership positions and keeping everything the SAME. Wish there were more families with children. Pimmit Hills may look hodge-podge, but cookie cutter isn't a dream either.

McLean does have the best elementary schools but Pimmit Hills has pretty good ones as well. In the Marshall/Kilmer Pyramids Westgate and Lemon Road are stronger than most of the inside of the beltway except for Stenwood. We are in McLean and today I wouldn't hesitate to use Westgate or Lemon Road but 10 years a go is a different story.

[Anonymous]

Plus you can still attend McLean High if you want AP.

[Anonymous]

Most of the DC area's older homes are upscale resale crap anyways. Just cause a shack has brick on it doesn't make it better than one w/ siding, it's still a shack no matter how you dress it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it will ever be truly upscale - there are only a few neighborhoods around here that are truly upscale. It has too many houses at different price points and ages and styles to probably get that descriptor.

Country Club Hills is upscale. There are a couple of neighborhoods near CCH that are pretty upscale. Parts of McLean are definitely upscale, but not all of them. Lyon Village has certain upscale streets and the price tags to match.

Pimmit Hills has gotten a LOT nicer there than when I looked at houses there in 1999, and will continue to get nicer as more of the original houses get torn down and new houses go in.

Actually, most of McLean, while not as "dumpy" as some consider old PH; is of the same era and similar construction as PH. You are paying for the land, unless you have a new house, just like PH. There is not as much of a difference as some would lead you to believe.

That's just about completely wrong. One of the things that will continue to make McLean more expensive than PH is the fact that the older homes are nicer and the contrast between the old and new homes is not as stark as in Pimmit Hills. And much of McLean was developed well after all the PH homes were built in the mid-1950s.

You must not be familiar with actual old McLean homes. They are nicer than PH in that they are mostly brick, but they are the same dumpy ramblers. The contrast between them and new builds is rather stark. What McLean has and PH lacks is the quantity of intermediate-build homes - split levels and other 70-s and 80s construction houses, often 2 or 3 stories, and completely livable. PH tends to be either old shacks or very new builds, with a quantity of original houses with additions.

+1

PP here. The other poster sounds like a paranoid old timer McLean person, afraid of getting priced out soon! Ignore.

No, I'm just being accurate about the difference between the two areas. I know that's a problem for you. Getting priced out of Pimmit Hills, now or in the future, isn't something that worries me.

I was not referring to PH, I was referring to McLean. But now you have me convinced it is indeed both.

No, I'm not one of your mythological older McLean residents freaking out about their property taxes, either.

I just know the housing mix in Pimmit Hills, McLean and Vienna is quite different. You can drive through the neighborhoods, and look at ACS data, and the differences are quite obvious.

It is what it is. If being squarely in the middle mattered that much, they could have taken their money elsewhere and bought larger houses with longer commutes, lower-rated schools, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The term used was "upscale." A lot of other neighborhoods have been thrown around -- Del Ray, for example. Del Ray has certainly become a nice place to live and be, but it's hardly "upscale." The same may come true of Pimmit Hills, but it will never be "upscale." What is or is not "upscale" was established decades ago.

Neither Del Ray nor Georgetown have generations of affluence. Del Ray began to gentrify in I think the late 80s. Gtown in the late 40's. Gtown has advantages Del Ray will never have. Walking distance to downtown DC, the University, and easy proximity to the River. Its got little to do with generations of affluence, and much more to do with location.

1940s was three generations ago, pp.

And Del Ray gentrified in the mid-to-late 1990s. And much of it is still rather sketchy. A lot of people confuse Rosemont with Del Ray. The only really nice part of Del Ray are the streets between Mount Vernon Avenue and Commonwealth. And then you're kissing Beverly Hills.

Old Town is "upscale."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was not referring to PH, I was referring to McLean. But now you have me convinced it is indeed both.

No, I'm not one of your mythological older McLean residents freaking out about their property taxes, either.

I just know the housing mix in Pimmit Hills, McLean and Vienna is quite different. You can drive through the neighborhoods, and look at ACS data, and the differences are quite obvious.

It is what it is. If being squarely in the middle mattered that much, they could have taken their money elsewhere and bought larger houses with longer commutes, lower-rated schools, etc.
Explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the DC area's older homes are upscale resale crap anyways. Just cause a shack has brick on it doesn't make it better than one w/ siding, it's still a shack no matter how you dress it.

I know that's part of the ShitShack Manifesto, but I don't think the market agrees with you. In fact, while most of the older homes in PH have vinyl or aluminum siding, there are some blocks where the original homes are mostly brick, and they tend to sell for more than the other PH houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was not referring to PH, I was referring to McLean. But now you have me convinced it is indeed both.

No, I'm not one of your mythological older McLean residents freaking out about their property taxes, either.

I just know the housing mix in Pimmit Hills, McLean and Vienna is quite different. You can drive through the neighborhoods, and look at ACS data, and the differences are quite obvious.

It is what it is. If being squarely in the middle mattered that much, they could have taken their money elsewhere and bought larger houses with longer commutes, lower-rated schools, etc.

Explain.

It's important to some PH residents to assert that the housing there is similar to housing in much of, or most of, McLean or Vienna. It isn't. It's still, for the most part, smaller and less expensive.

But it's not a poor area by any stretch, and those folks could easily live in another area where the surrounding neighborhoods would, indeed, be quite similar to theirs. They chose to live in a more affordable part of one of the most expensive parts of the DC region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was not referring to PH, I was referring to McLean. But now you have me convinced it is indeed both.

No, I'm not one of your mythological older McLean residents freaking out about their property taxes, either.

I just know the housing mix in Pimmit Hills, McLean and Vienna is quite different. You can drive through the neighborhoods, and look at ACS data, and the differences are quite obvious.

It is what it is. If being squarely in the middle mattered that much, they could have taken their money elsewhere and bought larger houses with longer commutes, lower-rated schools, etc.

Explain.

It's important to some PH residents to assert that the housing there is similar to housing in much of, or most of, McLean or Vienna. It isn't. It's still, for the most part, smaller and less expensive.

But it's not a poor area by any stretch, and those folks could easily live in another area where the surrounding neighborhoods would, indeed, be quite similar to theirs. They chose to live in a more affordable part of one of the most expensive parts of the DC region.


If you compare the county's rating of "construction quality" for both placed you will see similarities. Of course there are mansions in McLean with Average construction. I think you are thinking of how a home presents-outward appearance, landscaping, re-models, fancy smancy counters, which is different from the quality of construction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the DC area's older homes are upscale resale crap anyways. Just cause a shack has brick on it doesn't make it better than one w/ siding, it's still a shack no matter how you dress it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was not referring to PH, I was referring to McLean. But now you have me convinced it is indeed both.

No, I'm not one of your mythological older McLean residents freaking out about their property taxes, either.

I just know the housing mix in Pimmit Hills, McLean and Vienna is quite different. You can drive through the neighborhoods, and look at ACS data, and the differences are quite obvious.

It is what it is. If being squarely in the middle mattered that much, they could have taken their money elsewhere and bought larger houses with longer commutes, lower-rated schools, etc.

Explain.

It's important to some PH residents to assert that the housing there is similar to housing in much of, or most of, McLean or Vienna. It isn't. It's still, for the most part, smaller and less expensive.

But it's not a poor area by any stretch, and those folks could easily live in another area where the surrounding neighborhoods would, indeed, be quite similar to theirs. They chose to live in a more affordable part of one of the most expensive parts of the DC region.

If you compare the county's rating of "construction quality" for both placed you will see similarities. Of course there are mansions in McLean with Average construction. I think you are thinking of how a home presents-outward appearance, landscaping, re-models, fancy smancy counters, which is different from the quality of construction.

PP is talking out of his ass. I would bet he knows maybe one person who lives in McLean. Maybe we can limit this discussion to people who know what they are talking about; actual residents of PH and/or McLean. I have property in both.

And other PP, the "mythical" older McLean residents are indeed NOT mythical, and you mailed it. BOY do they have too much time on their hands. And talk about a need for anxiety meds - the pharma industry could easily close shop after serving the older McLean busy bodies that are hell bent on others being as miserable as them. They dream up issues and wonder why they are so miserable. For real??!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the DC area's older homes are upscale resale crap anyways. Just cause a shack has brick on it doesn't make it better than one w/ siding, it's still a shack no matter how you dress it.

I know that's part of the ShitShack Manifesto, but I don't think the market agrees with you. In fact, while most of the older homes in PH have vinyl or aluminum siding, there are some blocks where the original homes are mostly brick, and they tend to sell for more than the other PH houses.

Are you out of your mind? You know people are paying for the land right? Do you know anything at all about real estate? Why are you here? Rhetorical questions, of course. You need to bring your chip on your shoulder elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I don't care where I live, just keep me away from PP. He's a moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If you compare the county's rating of "construction quality" for both placed you will see similarities. Of course there are mansions in McLean with Average construction. I think you are thinking of how a home presents-outward appearance, landscaping, re-models, fancy smancy counters, which is different from the quality of construction.

Yep, I was referring to general appearance, upkeep and size, not the county construction-quality ratings.

But, I'm also pretty sure that, if you tallied up all the construction-quality ratings in Pimmit Hills and McLean, you'd see a rather different distribution. There are certainly some properties rated "Average" in both areas, consisting primarily of any Pimmit Hills home originally built in the 1950s and many McLean homes of a similar vintage. However, most homes in McLean were built later, and are rated at least "Good" by the county in terms of construction quality. With respect to newer construction, many new homes in Pimmit Hills get rated "Good" with a possible boost ("Good 10" or "Good 20"), whereas newer homes in McLean typically get rated "Excellent" or higher, all the way up to the "Mansion" category. All of that tends to affect the market in terms of what people are prepared to invest in the area, although I'm one of the posters who's argued here that Pimmit Hills may be able to push into a higher price range in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the DC area's older homes are upscale resale crap anyways. Just cause a shack has brick on it doesn't make it better than one w/ siding, it's still a shack no matter how you dress it.

I know that's part of the ShitShack Manifesto, but I don't think the market agrees with you. In fact, while most of the older homes in PH have vinyl or aluminum siding, there are some blocks where the original homes are mostly brick, and they tend to sell for more than the other PH houses.

Are you out of your mind? You know people are paying for the land right? Do you know anything at all about real estate? Why are you here? Rhetorical questions, of course. You need to bring your chip on your shoulder elsewhere.

Go fuck yourself, moron. There are still some people who buy in Pimmit Hills without tearing down the house right away.