GF is cheaper per sq.ft. than premium Arlington and Mclean. It's a long known fact. You get more for your money and nicer stuff in GF, so it's a good value for people who don't need to commute daily and seek tranquil picturesque nature setting, less crowded local roads, access to nature with bigger lots, and huge homes for less money. It's also popular with wealthy people who want to build really extravagant sprawling mansions, host huge parties requiring many cars to park and having privacy from neighbors. As desirable as arlington and mclean premium areas are, it's hard to build a sprawling estate on less than 1 acre lots

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are currently looking in Great Falls and I just made note of the lack of appreciation...glad I did a search before I started a new thread! Has the rezoning issue been decided yet?

School board officially votes on it Feb 22nd. The recommendation they are voting on does not include any change to Forestville homes. So appears the neighborhood somewhat safe, but keep in mind in the new policy mandates a county wide review every five years.

This vote already took place on January 22nd. Nothing was moved out of Great Falls but about 1/3 of Tysons that had been zoned to McLean got moved to Langley. That will create enrollment pressure on Langley in the future that could result in moving part of Great Falls and the small pockets of Herndon and Reston zoned to Langley to Herndon at some point. Herndon got a big expansion a few years ago but around the time it was finished started to lose kids.

Actually, the school board already announced the schools and topics they would be addressing in 5 years time, and the Langley school district is not included. So safe for at least 10 years.

That’s simply incorrect. Reid put out a list of boundaries staff are planning to revisit in one year and by the next county-wide study in five years, but the latter has never been characterized as an exclusive list. In no way does it keep the School Board from doing other things.

Also, there will be a different School Board by 2030-31, and they will be able to make other decisions or, for that matter, get rid of the five-year reviews now called for under Policy 8130 if they decide they are unnecessary.

The main reason for buying in Great Falls is because big lots cost less than 22012 and 22101.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are currently looking in Great Falls and I just made note of the lack of appreciation...glad I did a search before I started a new thread! Has the rezoning issue been decided yet?

School board officially votes on it Feb 22nd. The recommendation they are voting on does not include any change to Forestville homes. So appears the neighborhood somewhat safe, but keep in mind in the new policy mandates a county wide review every five years.

This vote already took place on January 22nd. Nothing was moved out of Great Falls but about 1/3 of Tysons that had been zoned to McLean got moved to Langley. That will create enrollment pressure on Langley in the future that could result in moving part of Great Falls and the small pockets of Herndon and Reston zoned to Langley to Herndon at some point. Herndon got a big expansion a few years ago but around the time it was finished started to lose kids.

Actually, the school board already announced the schools and topics they would be addressing in 5 years time, and the Langley school district is not included. So safe for at least 10 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are currently looking in Great Falls and I just made note of the lack of appreciation...glad I did a search before I started a new thread! Has the rezoning issue been decided yet?

School board officially votes on it Feb 22nd. The recommendation they are voting on does not include any change to Forestville homes. So appears the neighborhood somewhat safe, but keep in mind in the new policy mandates a county wide review every five years.

This vote already took place on January 22nd. Nothing was moved out of Great Falls but about 1/3 of Tysons that had been zoned to McLean got moved to Langley. That will create enrollment pressure on Langley in the future that could result in moving part of Great Falls and the small pockets of Herndon and Reston zoned to Langley to Herndon at some point. Herndon got a big expansion a few years ago but around the time it was finished started to lose kids.

Anonymous wrote:We are currently looking in Great Falls and I just made note of the lack of appreciation...glad I did a search before I started a new thread! Has the rezoning issue been decided yet?

School board officially votes on it Feb 22nd. The recommendation they are voting on does not include any change to Forestville homes. So appears the neighborhood somewhat safe, but keep in mind in the new policy mandates a county wide review every five years.

We are currently looking in Great Falls and I just made note of the lack of appreciation...glad I did a search before I started a new thread! Has the rezoning issue been decided yet?

There’s a very decent chance that neighborhoods zoned for Forestville will be rezoned to Herndon High.

Also do you have a large lot, close to access to major roads, maybe a fancy pool, basketball court, game room, amazing kitchen, nice community, near to a school or park, etc.

Simple, the closer your are in Great falls to Tyson and 495, generally speaking the more valuable your land is.

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the specific properties and the specific locations. Some Great Falls homes have shown handsome appreciation. Those are well located, well-designed in that they are modern properties with the styles and features buyers want, and they benefit from access to Langley and McLean High School pyramids, and easy access to many private schools. Many residents in GF do not commute downtown, so that attribute, which favors closer in suburbs, in not a consideration for everyone and is not necessarily a factor in price appreciation. Further, some buyers want larger lots and relatively quiet surroundings, areas where GF also has an edge.

That said, there are certainly going to be individual homes in all locations mentioned which appreciated more, and also some which appreciated less. Making sweeping generalizations is usually unhelpful.

No one in Great Falls goes to McLean HS. They go to Langley HS, which is even higher rated and, unlike McLean, recently renovated, but some of those Great Falls neighborhoods may well get reassigned to Herndon HS in the next year or two as part of a county-wide boundary study. Many Great Falls homes now zoned to Langley are 10 or more miles from Langley but only a few miles from Herndon.

As for appreciation, it depends on your timing. If you bought before 2008 and sold before 2020, you probably fared much better in North Arlington and McLean than Great Falls in terms of appreciation. Then, with Covid and more people working remotely, Great Falls may have appreciated quite a bit in the last few years as people were less concerned with commutes and more interested in having privacy and space. And now there's the uncertainty about the school situation, which may be a drag on prices in the most western parts of Great Falls.

It depends on the specific properties and the specific locations. Some Great Falls homes have shown handsome appreciation. Those are well located, well-designed in that they are modern properties with the styles and features buyers want, and they benefit from access to Langley and McLean High School pyramids, and easy access to many private schools. Many residents in GF do not commute downtown, so that attribute, which favors closer in suburbs, in not a consideration for everyone and is not necessarily a factor in price appreciation. Further, some buyers want larger lots and relatively quiet surroundings, areas where GF also has an edge.

That said, there are certainly going to be individual homes in all locations mentioned which appreciated more, and also some which appreciated less. Making sweeping generalizations is usually unhelpful.

From what I remember of the crash, prices of houses in Great Falls tanked much more than McLean and Arlington. So I would say that is true. It’s all about location location location.

Arlington, Mclean for sure have better appreciation. Its a simple fact that closer you are to the center, the more it rises.

I’m getting some work done on my North Arlington house. I was talking to one team about the value added of certain things relative to the price and someone said that North Arlington, McLean, and Great Falls it’s hard to go wrong blah blah blah. Obviously grain of salt but I’ve actually always really liked Great Falls because of the larger lots, good schools, and newer housing stock. But because it is so far for commuting purposes I didn’t think it holds its value as well as say North Arlington or McLean (both of which I like less). Does that ring true to you?