I visit my family in the Chicago suburbs and it’s very striking to me how much better their houses in regular middle class to upper middle class neighborhoods are. The houses are simply way better quality- quieter, better quality finishes. You can’t hear street noise because the house is tight (a major annoyance in my own home). The neighborhoods have a more cohesive aesthetic where the houses are different but compliment each other. There’s more brick houses, houses are larger. The landscaping is nicer. These are neighborhoods comparable to Bethesda, McLean, Arlington, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even higher end/more expensive homes in McLean, Potomac etc. have poor finishings, bad landscaping, mediocre appliances etc.

Compared to nicer suburbs around LA, NYC, Miami or other metro areas (even Charleston homes tend to be nicer) it appears as if people in this area either have no clue how to make a place "nice" or don't care to?

Is it because it's transient so they don't want to put in a La Cornue range when a Wolf would do?

They don't want to spend $$$ on proper high end landscaping which may take years to come in?

Interested in any other thoughts!

The even Charleston mention is comical and so typical. OF COURSE homes in Charleston are nicer. Heck, homes in Kansas City are nicer. DC has practically the worst housing stock of the entire country. California also has some bad housing stock but the weather makes up for it.

I once started a thread on here about how house shopping in this area is depressing because even most of the expensive homes are hideous and everyone yelled at me and told me I was wrong. But I'm not, they really are! The row houses in DC have some charm (sometimes, at this point most have been gutted to a generic open floor plan with no character or interest or flow at all) but the SFH stock is especially awful. And you'd think when it gets to teardown time, at least they'd be replaced with something attractive. Nope, it's all those stupid faux farmhouses in white or gray that are blocky and ugly and always too big for the lot with weird proportions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice is subjective. The end.

False. Your vinyl crap house with 2 car garage front and center, full of mdf and builder grade everything is objectively awful and probably makes you feel low grade ill all the time.

Nailed it. DC has an inordinate amount of these plastic homes.

Historically, this has not been a wealthy area. Lots of government workers. We didn't have the wealth that NY and other major cities had.

I think a major issue here is that people tend to be risk-averse and not that creative. It's feds and lawyers and consultants and policy wonks. Some media people but on the hard news and commentary side, not entertainment media. Yes, there's now quite a bit of tech here, but it functions similar to like the defense contracting industry -- federal focus, lobbying work, not innovation. The result is that people make conservative (with a little c) choices. It's not just about money because even when people do custom built or custom re-designed houses here, they all look the same.

Anonymous wrote:Even higher end/more expensive homes in McLean, Potomac etc. have poor finishings, bad landscaping, mediocre appliances etc.

Compared to nicer suburbs around LA, NYC, Miami or other metro areas (even Charleston homes tend to be nicer) it appears as if people in this area either have no clue how to make a place "nice" or don't care to?

Is it because it's transient so they don't want to put in a La Cornue range when a Wolf would do?

They don't want to spend $$$ on proper high end landscaping which may take years to come in?

Interested in any other thoughts!

The even Charleston mention is comical and so typical. OF COURSE homes in Charleston are nicer. Heck, homes in Kansas City are nicer. DC has practically the worst housing stock of the entire country. California also has some bad housing stock but the weather makes up for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t a lot of real money in DC. Almost everyone is here for work. There aren’t insanely wealthy people like you’d find in LA, NY etc.

There is a decent bit of money here. People are just more modest and less showy because it is in poor taste to be flashy with your wealth. Many households here that 30-100M in assets. However, these people often live in the same 1-3M neighborhoods that others live in. They don’t have super fancy houses, just slightly nicer than average houses in premium locations.

No, not really. Yes, there are wealthy families but it pales in comparison to a city like Los Angeles or New York. It’s why across the board there are fewer luxury offerings. It’s a company town.

We have a lot of foreigners in NoVA and housing/lawn is not a priority. Designer clothing/high end cars/fine dining is more important. Most people do not entertain at their houses around here.

Anonymous wrote:Handymen charge a fortune here compared to other places

This. And the landscapers are awful. Do you think I want to do all my yard work at 64? No. But every time I hire it out it’s done not only incorrectly but destructively. Shrubs are pruned wrong, lighting wires are cut, mulch is piled too high, perennials are pulled out or round up is sprayed and it kills everything in its path, including things it shouldn’t. I once had a witch hazel killed because it was cut off near the ground - that was the pruning. They cut it down. And the large climbing antique rose was severed mid trunk and left to die.

What price range are you looking at?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t a lot of real money in DC. Almost everyone is here for work. There aren’t insanely wealthy people like you’d find in LA, NY etc.

There is a decent bit of money here. People are just more modest and less showy because it is in poor taste to be flashy with your wealth. Many households here that 30-100M in assets. However, these people often live in the same 1-3M neighborhoods that others live in. They don’t have super fancy houses, just slightly nicer than average houses in premium locations.

are you serious? There are literal palace like structures all over various leafy suburbs, so many humongous homes in GF and some parts of Mclean, Alexandria, etc. There is a good amount of homes over 20 mil in this area now. And extreme luxury just starts at a different price point than what OP was looking at.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even higher end/more expensive homes in McLean, Potomac etc. have poor finishings, bad landscaping, mediocre appliances etc.

Compared to nicer suburbs around LA, NYC, Miami or other metro areas (even Charleston homes tend to be nicer) it appears as if people in this area either have no clue how to make a place "nice" or don't care to?

Is it because it's transient so they don't want to put in a La Cornue range when a Wolf would do?

They don't want to spend $$$ on proper high end landscaping which may take years to come in?

Interested in any other thoughts!

I completely agree. Except for a few subdivisions, the homes in Potomac are grotesque. I grew up in an upper class suburb in the Midwest and the houses and neighborhoods are way more beautiful than anything around here. Maybe because the suburbs around here developed later than the early 20th century? Except for a few.

Agreed. Places like Grosse Pointe are far nicer than any DC suburb. Georgetown and Old Town are incredibly nice though as is Spring Valley. The suburbs are by and large the problem because once you get out into The Plains and Middleburg it’s far classier than any gouche Miami exurb.

Anonymous wrote:Even higher end/more expensive homes in McLean, Potomac etc. have poor finishings, bad landscaping, mediocre appliances etc.

Compared to nicer suburbs around LA, NYC, Miami or other metro areas (even Charleston homes tend to be nicer) it appears as if people in this area either have no clue how to make a place "nice" or don't care to?

Is it because it's transient so they don't want to put in a La Cornue range when a Wolf would do?

They don't want to spend $$$ on proper high end landscaping which may take years to come in?

Interested in any other thoughts!

I completely agree. Except for a few subdivisions, the homes in Potomac are grotesque. I grew up in an upper class suburb in the Midwest and the houses and neighborhoods are way more beautiful than anything around here. Maybe because the suburbs around here developed later than the early 20th century? Except for a few.

There are nice homes within the District.

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t a lot of real money in DC. Almost everyone is here for work. There aren’t insanely wealthy people like you’d find in LA, NY etc.

There is a decent bit of money here. People are just more modest and less showy because it is in poor taste to be flashy with your wealth. Many households here that 30-100M in assets. However, these people often live in the same 1-3M neighborhoods that others live in. They don’t have super fancy houses, just slightly nicer than average houses in premium locations.