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[quote=Anonymous]My post is a few years late, but I've just finished reading all 27 pages of this thread, which I found informative and entertaining.  I currently live in Palo Alto, CA but grew up in Great Falls in the 80s/90s and am here for the week visiting my family.  Our home is located in one of the neighborhoods with homes in the $4mm+ and 5+ acre range not far from Great Falls Center.  I was surprised at all of the change in Great Falls, which is how I stumbled onto this site.  I'd like to address a few points that have been frequently raised and would love your thoughts:

1.  Declining median home prices:

Could this be a direct result of the mere fact that Great Falls now has more affordable Toll Brothers-inspired model homes and fewer custom homes on large properties, which have now become subdivisions undifferentiated from those in neighboring towns like Reston?  One would expect median home prices to decline if more low-quality homes have been built atop (formerly) more expensive properties.

Could this be driven by the possibility that Great Falls today offers fewer amenities that cater to the wealthy (horse trails and barns, open land, high-quality social/golf clubs, easy access to private schools)?  It was my impression that many of the Great Falls families in the 80s and 90s lived here to be close to their horses and to enjoy their open space.  Sending children to St. Albans/Sidwell/Potomac School from Great Falls was not uncommon.

Could this be an indirect result of speculative home builders creating abominable monstrosities that baffle the mind and which few would appreciate? It's possible that these eye sores are indeed a plague on all our houses as they detract significantly from the former aesthetic value of Great Falls.  Some claim that these homes appeal to a different, sometimes foreign, sense of style, but I'm not convinced.  I've traveled the world and have never seen the same whimsical placement and/or omission of windows, roof lines, materials, and colors.

Examples below: 
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RJUndCLZzM[/url]
[url]https://www.trulia.com/p/va/mclean/1383-woodside-dr-mclean-va-22102--2020424719[/url]
[url]https://www.trulia.com/p/va/mclean/938-peacock-station-rd-mclean-va-22102--1150804225[/url]
[url]https://www.trulia.com/p/va/great-falls/800-hortense-pl-great-falls-va-22066--2020401357[/url]

2. Traffic makes a DC commute infeasible

Based on comments from my parents, the commute into DC is only slightly worse today than it was in the 90s, but as an earlier poster mentioned, the drive is no longer "worth" it.  Is it possible that the commute time isn't much worse, but the quality of the commute is?  I have childhood memories of parents saying that they actually enjoyed the scenic drive on Georgetown Pike or Old Dominion Drive, with the many open meadows to gaze at.  Even in traffic, it was apparently enjoyable to stare into an adjacent meadow and admire the horses or deer.  Studies have shown that merely looking into nature from a window has noticeable health benefits, but Great Falls today might offer the opposite: imposing out-of-place souped-up model homes with "glamorous" gates and fountains in front.  In the 90s, consensus thought was that McMansions would increase median home values and the appeal of Great Falls, but I wonder now if they are failing to hold value and have irreparably detracted from Great Falls' former charm.

3.  Is there anything we can do through the Great Falls Citizens Association or otherwise to reverse some of these possible trends?[/quote]

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