Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would think that D.C. home prices would steer more home buyers into MoCo, but that does not seem to be happening.

Maybe I’m an anomaly, but when I bought 6 months ago, DC was not only cheaper but also less competitive than the areas I was fruitlessly touring and bidding within in MoCo. MoCo has gone off the rails. I wonder how many pandemic buyers will regret choosing MoCo over DC once this blows over.

Anonymous wrote:You would think that D.C. home prices would steer more home buyers into MoCo, but that does not seem to be happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is also this happening in suburbs. People can't afford Potomac, MD mansions so, they aren't buying them. Hence those prices are...well I have no idea now, but 2 years ago they were not increasing and were actually going down.
But, in areas where houses are 500K, 600K prices and the demand increasing.
Lots more people can afford 650K but not 1M. And this started happening in the summer. My neighborhood could not sell his house that needed updating for 9 months. 2500 sqft. Sold for 530K which was over 80K under the first price. Fast forward a smaller, worse roadhouse sold for 45K over the asking price, for 650K.
Why? Because people can afford 650 instead of 550 easier than 1M.

Maybe because the previous owner was Patrick Swayze?

Actually so funny! Kind of proud of myself for that mistake! DH is a major Roadhouse and Swayze nut case!
I tell him Swayze was a ballerina....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is also this happening in suburbs. People can't afford Potomac, MD mansions so, they aren't buying them. Hence those prices are...well I have no idea now, but 2 years ago they were not increasing and were actually going down.
But, in areas where houses are 500K, 600K prices and the demand increasing.
Lots more people can afford 650K but not 1M. And this started happening in the summer. My neighborhood could not sell his house that needed updating for 9 months. 2500 sqft. Sold for 530K which was over 80K under the first price. Fast forward a smaller, worse roadhouse sold for 45K over the asking price, for 650K.
Why? Because people can afford 650 instead of 550 easier than 1M.

Maybe because the previous owner was Patrick Swayze?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m new to the DMV. We don’t plan to stay longer than 5 years so we watch the market very closely to ensure we don’t over renovate, etc. Not to hijack this post, but can someone explain to me why homes in CCDC seem to sell at a higher cost per square foot than CCMD. They seem very similar. Or does it come down to being “walkable” to metro and/or the 4 shops on CT? Generally curious.

Having a D.C. address and zip code has better cachet. That's basically it. You see the same thing with Potomac DC versus Potomac MD and the only difference is a dividing invisible line.

Property taxes in D.C. are also substantially lower. We only pay a city tax. Maryland residents pay both county and state at higher rates.

Where is Potomac, DC?

Sorry I was talking about Potomac Heights - also known as the Palisades. Homes start at $2M and the equivalent just across the border in MD is $1.5M.

https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/5240-Macomb-St-NW-20016/home/9943300

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/4101-Maryland-Ave-20816/home/10640029

Anonymous wrote:There is also this happening in suburbs. People can't afford Potomac, MD mansions so, they aren't buying them. Hence those prices are...well I have no idea now, but 2 years ago they were not increasing and were actually going down.
But, in areas where houses are 500K, 600K prices and the demand increasing.
Lots more people can afford 650K but not 1M. And this started happening in the summer. My neighborhood could not sell his house that needed updating for 9 months. 2500 sqft. Sold for 530K which was over 80K under the first price. Fast forward a smaller, worse roadhouse sold for 45K over the asking price, for 650K.
Why? Because people can afford 650 instead of 550 easier than 1M.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Demographics. There are now the successful millennials who are jumping into the market - often with help from very successful parents. So there are more buyers combined with fewer new builds due to the 2008 crash. Also we are becoming like Paris - the city center is where the elite live and the banlieue or suburbs are where poorer residents live. Just look at MoCo! What a difference 20 years makes - boomers leaving, immigrants from Northern Triangle taking their place.

Gotta admit that I had to look up what the Northern Triangle was, and you are correct about MoCo's demographics. It's not just Central Americans though. Tons of migrants from Brazil, Ethiopia, the Caribbean, China, Vietnam, and various parts of Africa.

There's a lot of net positives with this shift (great food, for one), but there are some net negatives too that the bongwater left will never admit (low skill, low wage and exploitable workforce, gang violence and crime).

You would think that D.C. home prices would steer more home buyers into MoCo, but that does not seem to be happening. I guess the school system is no longer an enticement to raise a family in Montgomery County, so young couples opt for the charter rodeo in D.C. [/quote]

Except when you go on the DC schools forum and all you see is talk about fleeing.

Expecting DCUM to be representative of anything is a fool's errand. The statistics clearly show that the DC student body is getting whiter, and the percentage categorized as disadvantaged is decreasing pretty quickly.