Reply to If you bought in Pimmit Hills, when and why did you do it? What made you choose PH?

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Reply to "If you bought in Pimmit Hills, when and why did you do it? What made you choose PH?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I wrote a post on PH a couple of years ago, nothing changed except more new construction.

I live in PH. Here's a post I wrote a year or so ago, nothing changed:

We moved to Pimmit Hills in January 2011. We’ve been looking for a place in close VA suburbs with a budget of approximately 500K, and couldn’t afford North Arlington, didn’t like South Arlington, and refused to move further than West Falls Church because we both work in DC and don’t want to spend three hours in a car every day. We have a one-year old.

Once we discovered Pimmit Hills, we didn’t want to look anywhere else, and it took us six months to buy there. It took me a while to warm up to it, I admit. We bid on several renovated houses and were outbid every time, with all of them selling above list. We finally bought a 3 br, 2 bath, 2200 sf house on a 0.3 acres that needed some work for 450K.  We are working on it little by little. Note that I was a devoted city girl before moving. Here is my take on PH:

Pros:

Location, location, location. We can get downtown in 20 minutes by Rt 66. The Beltway and GW Parkway are right there. Once Tysons Metro is online, it will only get better. Some parts of PH are closer to West Falls Church.

Price. Housing stock in PH is modest – the original PH saltbox house is 880 sq ft. It is frankly one of the few remaining neighborhoods inside the Beltway with good schools and no safety concerns where SFH can be had for under 500K (admittedly unrenovated).

Lots. Most PH houses are on substantial lots of 0.3 – 0.25 acres, which offers opportunities for expansion. Lots of young families have been buying into the neighborhood, tearing down or adding to their houses and still have enough land to enjoy some outside time.

Amenities. PH has lots of parks (Olney Park is fab), great trees, is wonderful for walking with strollers, close to Trader Joe, Whole Foods on Rt 7, Safeway on Anderson Rd and McLean business district in 5 minute drive or less. There are several restaurants in WFC and McLean centers, and Falls Church City is 15 minutes away if you want more.  Latin, Russian, Persian, Lebanese food stores are 5 minutes away. I am a devoted cook so that matters.

Diversity. The neighborhood has lots of everyone and no one particular group dominates. Our neighbor to the left is from India. Our neighbor to the right is a government attorney. We are a mixed family of two adult immigrants from different countries.

Schools. Westgate ES is a block away from us, and Kilmer/Marshall have a good reputation. Those who want AP can also attend McLean High.

Cons:

Well, diversity. PH does not have a look of uniform affluence you see in some Vienna or Dunn Loring neighborhoods we looked at. You have to have some tolerance for blue-collar element, chain link fences, and the fact that all houses look different. The upside of that is people are very down-to-earth.

Eccentric. PH does not have rules for what you can and cannot build, so some expanded/added houses look great, and some do not.

Aesthetics: Some PH houses are good-looking. Some are not. The former prevail for now.  If you look for uniform, manicured look, you won't find it here. Yes, there's chainlink.

Traffic. We don’t commute that way, but if you have to go on Rt 7, it can get unpleasant. There are alternatives, though.

Overall, it has been a great move for us. PH is a family-based neighborhood, lots of young families with small children in similar stages of life. I love the trees, the greenery and space in a location so close to DC. I choose to believe that things will get only better as people run out of affordable neighborhoods close to DC and continue to move in and expand/rebuild their houses. Once Tysons East metro opens, we will be able to walk to metro. My DH and DS will be able to walk to a park to shoot hoops or play soccer as much as they want. They can also walk one block to school. [/quote]

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