We'd been looking for a house in Mclean with a $1.3mln budget. Almost all of the houses in this price range are still old (unless located on a busy street like Kirby or have very little land), but are much larger than the $800K ones. We ended up buying a very well renovated and upgraded home in the 22101 zip code for mid-800K. It seems that we probably need either $2.5-3 mln for a dream home in Mclean or a lot of time to take care of the construction ourselves.

We also consider being close to Falls Church as one of the PPs nicely recommended. Haycock elementary has very good reviews, but is very crowded. Is this a better choice given that it is so desirable otherwise?

Thank you all again! I am definitely starting to see that we are limited with our budget and priced out from some areas. What about elementary school ratings, presense of GT programs or other special needs programs? We would ideally like to be zoned for the school that would give more options and would like to be walking distance to our elementary school.

Churchill Road school has a few houses in our price range, most are fixer uppers and that is ok. Franklin Sherman has a few listings as well and as I read it's a smaller school, but without a GT center. chesterbrook seems to get really nice reviews and there are more houses zoned for that school on the market in our price range. Which elementary school would you recommend? Is it worth it to go with the less walkable area zoned for Chesterbrook due to nice reviews of the school? Is it worth it to pay a bit more to be close to Churchill Road? Is it better to be near Franklin Sherman due to small class size, but will it be a problem later if we need a GT program and this school doesn't have it?

Some of the "Langley side of McLean" is in the 22101 zip code closer to DC. It's the area north of 123/Dolley Madison.

There just aren't a lot of homes in that area for around $800K, though, and the ones that do surface from time to time are usually pretty ugly. If you can afford $1 M or more, things start to open up in that area. In the area of 22101 assigned to McLean, there are more homes in the $800K price range and, while they may be older and could benefit from some updating, the exteriors are often pretty nice (some of the houses in Potomac Hills, for example).

I live in 22043 in Falls Church, we go to Haycock elementary (a GREAT school, love it) and McLean HS. We are about 1 mile from Kirby rd and on the other side is Mclean. We are also about 2 miles from N Arlington.

I would look in 22043 and 22046 if I wanted walkability, and then the 22101 side of Mclean. Where we live, we can walk to the schools, and walk around our neighborhood, but the metro would be a 25-30 min walk (less than 2 miles, but with our current lifestyle we are not doing it.) I really miss this because we used to do this a lot when we had no kids or just one young baby.

I love where we live--the house, the schools, proximity to DC, VA, MD, Tysons, the neighbors, etc. But the one thing I wish was that we lived closer (walking distance) to a restaurant or a shop. you may be able to find that in the zip codes above though---think Falls Church City, Rt. 7 as well.

I would also consider Dunn Loring metro area of Vienna--lots of cute colonials there and they are revitalizing that area. 22180.

The Langley side of Mclean (22102) is more like Great Falls--definitely not very walkable.

With $800k I also might look at homes in N Arlington in 22207 near the Lee Harrison shopping center and park. Also some can be near EFC metro.

Good luck!

This looks like a decent remodel in the section of Falls Church/22043 that's assigned to the McLean schools:

http://franklymls.com/FX7672626

Also, close to WFC Metro station, which is a plus.

That 800k will get you further in Vienna or Falls Church.

We had the seem budget last winter when we were looking in McLean. Honestly, you will be spending 800k on a dump. Plan to spend another 100k-200k to update it

No one has the crystal ball to answer your question. General rules for the DC area will apply.
1. Closer in is better.
2. Closer to metro is better.
3. Good schools matter - but both Langley and McLean are so good that there really isn't a distinction for real estate value purposes. Homes in the Langley pyramid are not more expensive because of the school but because they are bigger/newer/more upscale homes on bigger lots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your replies. We are not looking for a Mcmansion or to be in some exclusive enclave areas. We are ok with the older ramblers/split levels, which we see scattered around Mclean in many areas. Even most expensive ones as long as they are not too exlcusive have older homes and we are fine with the smaller place that needs updates. We are just worried about buying into unstable RE environment and wonder how well the values will hold should we need to sell the house in the next 3 years or so if we don't like living there for some reason or if we need to move job-wise.

Do the areas walkable to the downtown or in Langley pyramid hold values better?

If you are worried about what will happen to RE values over the next few years, why not rent instead? I think it's hard to predict what might or might not cause values to hold up better in one part of McLean than another.

We've been renting our whole lives already, now it's time and we feel ready to buy our first home. We want to also take advantage of low interest rates. We are not really looking to rent anymore.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your replies. We are not looking for a Mcmansion or to be in some exclusive enclave areas. We are ok with the older ramblers/split levels, which we see scattered around Mclean in many areas. Even most expensive ones as long as they are not too exlcusive have older homes and we are fine with the smaller place that needs updates. We are just worried about buying into unstable RE environment and wonder how well the values will hold should we need to sell the house in the next 3 years or so if we don't like living there for some reason or if we need to move job-wise.

Do the areas walkable to the downtown or in Langley pyramid hold values better?

If you are worried about what will happen to RE values over the next few years, why not rent instead? I think it's hard to predict what might or might not cause values to hold up better in one part of McLean than another.

Thank you for your replies. We are not looking for a Mcmansion or to be in some exclusive enclave areas. We are ok with the older ramblers/split levels, which we see scattered around Mclean in many areas. Even most expensive ones as long as they are not too exlcusive have older homes and we are fine with the smaller place that needs updates. We are just worried about buying into unstable RE environment and wonder how well the values will hold should we need to sell the house in the next 3 years or so if we don't like living there for some reason or if we need to move job-wise.

Do the areas walkable to the downtown or in Langley pyramid hold values better?

Franklin Park is in the part of McLean closest to Arlington; it's much closer to DC than the sections of McLean out towards Great Falls. Nice lots and a secluded feel, yet close to both Arlington and DC. School pyramid is Chesterbrook/Longfellow/McLean. Salona Village is closer to "downtown" McLean. It's a mix of older houses from the 50s and tear-downs replaced with new houses by different builders (Buchanan-Price, Morris-Day, Tradition Homes, Sekas, ANV, etc.) $800K gets you an older rambler or split-level from the 1950s there; most of the new houses go for $1.5-2.3M. School pyramid is Franklin Sherman/Longfellow/McLean.

If you want to be in the Langley pyramid, you need to be north of Route 123. There's not a lot north of 123 close to "downtown" McLean for $800K or less that isn't ugly. There are more homes in that price range in the Langley pyramid in Great Falls, but you definitely need a car to get places if you live there.

Test scores are higher at CR than at FS because CR has a GT/AAP center and FS does not (FS kids in AAP program go to Haycock). Langley test scores are higher than McLean test scores because pretty much every neighborhood that feeds into Langley is upper-middle income or higher, whereas McLean pulls in some less expensive areas. In any event, they are usually ## 1 and 2 in Fairfax County after TJ (out of 25 high schools), so ask yourself how important it is to you to be in the top-ranked district. I'd think proximity to DC, whether in the Langley or McLean HS pyramids, counts more than the school assignments in terms of McLean real estate holding value.

Why are you so caught up in what is considered desirable? With this budget, you will be priced out of some parts of McLean, especially the ones in the Langley pyramid, and likely most of Franklin Park. If walkability is key, have you considered living in Falls Church near WFC metro? Those neighborhoods (parts of 22043 and 22046) feed into Haycock/Longfellow/McLean, a very good pyramid.

We are looking to buy in Mclean and are a bit confused by various neighborhoods and what is considered more desirable and would keep the value better as we are worried about prices going down after we buy. I hear Franklin park mentioned many times here as a very desirable area, but it seems not closer to DC than any other area and it is not less expensive or walkable. Is it that the elementary school there is better?

we prefer to be walkable to the downtown area FWIW, even though may not be much value added given that it is a collection of strip malls, but still, nice to not feel stuck in case you don't have access to a car. it is important for my mother who does not drive and would come to visit to babysit DC. Also we would like to be close to the public transportation although metro access is not really there, but at least there are buses in case one of the cars breaks down, and there is an option to get to places.

Some neighborhoods have sidewalks, but they don't lead anywhere like in some parts of Potomac Hills. Overall, we like the areas closer to the downtown and there are two parts, the part that goes to Mclean pyramid and the part that goes to Langley. We hear that Langley pyramid is the best, but does this really matter? The elementary schools are Franklin Sherman and Churchill road and CR is supposed to be better, but will this really be that much difference? Seems like prices in the parts going to FS and Mclean are a bit better, is this area "Salona Village" not as desirable or it just has smaller homes? More Mcmansions are definitely in the Langley part north of Dolley Madison and along Kirby rd closer to GW parkway. I would think the places too close to the river would also have much airline noise, so I am not sure why they are so expensive. Our budget is around 800K.

Thanks!