Anonymous wrote:I love the hood, BUT I think I'd double check on some of the infrastructure, especially storm drains around there. It's probably not an issue with most of the houses and might have all been fixed, but there have been incidents with sinkholes and storm drains flooding in, IIRC, the 1990s.

http://www.captainfiddle.com/floodglenecho.html

That was in Glen Echo, not Glen Echo Heights. The "heights" is your clue that it's less likely to flood because it's not the lowest ground nearby.

I love the hood, BUT I think I'd double check on some of the infrastructure, especially storm drains around there. It's probably not an issue with most of the houses and might have all been fixed, but there have been incidents with sinkholes and storm drains flooding in, IIRC, the 1990s.

http://www.captainfiddle.com/floodglenecho.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live there and love it. Just the past 2-3 years have seen lots of tear downs and rebuilds, and it seems to be accelerating. However I wouldn't say that all the newcomers in the expensive houses are all giggly about the older places, mainly the ones in disrepair. There is a place that is half finished, overgrown and has a man living in the attic. Several neighbors, mainly newer ones, keep trying to figure out how to address it. It's probably to be expected when people are now paying 1.5-2M for a house.

LoL. Yes, it's true.

There is a reason to put some covenants in place. No one likes to be told what color to paint their house, but there should be some limits.

Glen Echo Heights is a great neighborhood and feeds into a great school pyramid. If you really like uniformity, it is definitely not the place for you. Even the new builds represent a huge variety of styles, sizes, and exterior finishes.

I'd call the neighborhood happily eclectic. It doesn't tend to attract the snobby crowd because of all the older homes.

I lived there for 15 years (until two years ago). We lived in a modest house and then bought a different lot and built a new house.

Kids played outside on the streets. They would play hide and seek in all the neighbors yards. We had enormous block parties a couple of times a year. Our street had a mix of old timers (original home owners) and lots of newcomers. Almost everyone got along well.

I agree with the PPs who said you will either love it or hate it. If you dislike the smaller, "ramshackle" houses, I would avoid the neighborhood. It's never going to be as high end as Spring Valley or parts of Chevy Chase that favor uniformity. You will never, ever see a covenants committee in Glen Echo Heights. That would go totally against the grain of the community.