Moved to Mclean from Falls Church City in 2016. HHI at the time around $650k i think, house was ~$1.4M. Still in the same house.

Our section of Mclean is an easy place to live. We have young kids, and the schools are all within a few minutes (Elementary now, but middle and HS are all very close). Lots of kids around. Local pools, good kids sports leagues, easy access to shopping, easy commute just about anywhere for work, etc.

The one thing Mclean lacks, in my opinion, is attractive housing. If you have $4M to spend you might find or build a beautiful home but the neighborhood housing is mostly just not attractive. It's unfortunate, but a tradeoff worth making for the other amenities.

Anonymous wrote:HHI over 600k here and hated the neighborhoods I saw in mclean, closed off, unfriendly neighbors and shopping a pain with only one option. went to vienna and purchased and couldnt be happier.

I almost thought this is my wife's writing lol. .We moved to Vienna as well from Mclean. Now we are closer to Wholefoods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And why? How old were you?
How much did your house cost?

Right now apts there are as low as $1400/mnth. If you work there or love the area it is not about super high HHI.

Mclean does have multifamily and townhouse communities too, it's not all about 3m+ McMansions and multimillion dollar estates.

Anonymous wrote:HHI over 600k here and hated the neighborhoods I saw in mclean, closed off, unfriendly neighbors and shopping a pain with only one option. went to vienna and purchased and couldnt be happier.

Where in Mclean? There are walkable parts of Mclean where you could walk or have very short drives to most things and there are more secluded very car dependent parts. I am sure this is true about Vienna or any other suburb, there are more connected and convenient areas and there are more car dependent isolated areas. I am shocked that Mclean, especially near its downtown would be a pain to run errands. It's literally 10-20 min drive into DC and even closer to Tysons where you can get any shopping you want.

Anonymous wrote:And why? How old were you?
How much did your house cost?

Right now apts there are as low as $1400/mnth. If you work there or love the area it is not about super high HHI.

Anonymous wrote:You might want to ask Jeff if he could edit your thread title.

I actually think the use of McLean as a verb in the thread title kind of works haha

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bought house in Vienna in 2011 for 1.3 mil
HHI $350K

Bought house in Mclean in 2018 for 3.4 mil
HHI 2.5mil

Liked Vienna more as a family town. More food options, bike trail, parades, etc. Hated commute to DC!
Mclean is where our kids go to school and most friends were, also much easier to get into DC, so much less traffic (prior to Covid and now).
Less idea for young family in Mclean. But happy with our choice.

If yo I don’t have to work on DC, and have younger kids, Vienna is less expensive and more family friendly.

HHI $2.5M?? Why didn't you continue to live like a "poor person" making $350K for another 5 years, bank an insane amount of money and then retire? Always with the lifestyle inflation!

So annoying when people assume everyone has the same goals and interests. Our HHI is slightly higher and we have zero interest in retiring? What would we do? We already travel as much as we would like an volunteer. We don’t have any amazing volunteering skills so it seems more efficient to continue working and donate money. We also don’t want to set the example to our kids if not working or rushing to retire. We are trying to show them the importance and benefits of building a career you enjoy.

Good for you! If you don't mind me asking, what do you do that you enjoy your jobs (if you both work) and make so much money? Are you doctors?

Bought in 2019. HHI $275 and purchase price of home was around $900K. 3000 sq ft

I think we were one of the last people to buy a house not destined to be a tear down for less than $1M. Our house needed some updating, which we are working on, but totally livable.

Now even the tear downs sell for $1M.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bought house in Vienna in 2011 for 1.3 mil
HHI $350K

Bought house in Mclean in 2018 for 3.4 mil
HHI 2.5mil

Liked Vienna more as a family town. More food options, bike trail, parades, etc. Hated commute to DC!
Mclean is where our kids go to school and most friends were, also much easier to get into DC, so much less traffic (prior to Covid and now).
Less idea for young family in Mclean. But happy with our choice.

If yo I don’t have to work on DC, and have younger kids, Vienna is less expensive and more family friendly.

x100000

-100000. Vienna is more affordable. We did not find it more family-friendly.

We couldn't be happier where we are in McLean, where all the schools (ES/MS/HS) are fairly close by. That wasn't the case when we lived in Vienna.

Anonymous wrote:Bought house in Vienna in 2011 for 1.3 mil
HHI $350K

Bought house in Mclean in 2018 for 3.4 mil
HHI 2.5mil

Liked Vienna more as a family town. More food options, bike trail, parades, etc. Hated commute to DC!
Mclean is where our kids go to school and most friends were, also much easier to get into DC, so much less traffic (prior to Covid and now).
Less idea for young family in Mclean. But happy with our choice.

If yo I don’t have to work on DC, and have younger kids, Vienna is less expensive and more family friendly.

x100000

Bought for $700k in 2010. HHI $150K.

2018. HHI was $250k. Bought house for $900k.

Sold and moved within McLean in 2021, bought new house at $2mn. HHI now $450k.

2010. HHI was $1.4M, bought for $1.8M.

Still happy here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And why? How old were you?
How much did your house cost?

$130HHI
32
$280k

We moved because we were in a smaller house in N Arlington and McLean was cheaper.

Was this 1990?

1997

If only I had thought to buy a house at 8 years old.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And why? How old were you?
How much did your house cost?

$130HHI
32
$280k

We moved because we were in a smaller house in N Arlington and McLean was cheaper.

Was this 1990?

1997

Ugh, that was my senior year of college, lol
No wonder we got priced out in ‘04