OK, I tried to post this a minute ago but used a trigger word (have no idea what that would be) so I will keep this shorter.
Please give me your opinions about this house, which I do NOT own. In particular, I'm curious about how you would trade off the busy street location vs. other features of the house (see comments and link to more photos at the bot*tom of the page)
It is lovely. The renos look well done and nice choices were made, but I don't think the materials used were expensive. Mid range at best. The kitchen cabinets look perfectly lovely, but I think they were an affordable reno choice. Same with all the fixtures, tile, flooring, trim, carpeting. Perfectly lovely, chosen with a very good eye, but all affordable choices. Would be interesting to know what the cost of reno was. I am sure that those improvements did not cost 1.2 million and I'm having a hard time justifying why they thought they could take a $600K house spin it pretty on a budget and then get 1.8 for it.
The elementary school would not bother me. The busy street would. It's sandwiched between two *iffy* pieces of bread - the street and the school. Good design choices were made IMO, but someone should have sharpened their pencil and thought this thru at the get-go.
Thanks, funcolors, I had exactly the same reaction to the materials when I toured it. Thanks for your other views as well.
Something I should have clarified earlier - most of the house is new build, rather than reno. They took an existing house and built up from the garage level or possibly the next level up, though there must have been extensive reno on all existing levels.
It looks very nice. The front exterior steps may scare some people, but personally I would like being up high. Isn't there an old rule about not being the most expensive property in a neighborhood? In today's market I don't think it will sell for much more than the nearby homes.
Posts: 138 | Location: Colorado | Registered: Dec 14, 2007
That's kinda scary. If buying the property, would definitely want a thorough inspection and knowing the backstory of who the architect, GC, etc. were would be really important.
HomeDude, IMHO, they are cheating a bit in that sq. ft. count--it includes the finished basement as well. On the two above grade floors, it's about 3450. Still huge, though.
The water question is a good one. There is a retaining wall/deck that goes across the whole house but I didn't see a sump pump.
Thanks, Coniston, I also don't like all the steps and I think that old rule still applies. Arlington is a very odd market right now -- some houses flying off the market as in the old days and others sitting. It appears to be a matter of right pricing. It's the outer suburbs to WDC that are suffering price drops (Prince Wm. Co. down 25%, Loudoun also down, but not as much). But who knows for sure, since the volume of sales has fallen so much everywhere, including Arl?
I agree about the steps and the slope. But what bothers me the most is even though it's attractive, it looks like a monster compared to the smaller homes on either side. OK, things like this bother me
Posts: 163 | Location: MO | Registered: Nov 30, 2002
There shouldn't be a problem with the slope (which isn't very much compared to our house and this general area) if it is graded correctly. There may be tile which isn't usually visible except at the outlet point, which could be on the other side of the fence.
This could be an excellent price. I grew up in Crescent Hills (it was new then!) on 31st Road North, and according to the records it is valued at over $600K. Maybe it has been improved a lot - it is on about 1/3 of an acre and within walking distance of Yorktown HS and Williamsburg (Junior High, then) Middle School.
I know there is a huge difference from one community to the next, so maybe this million dollar home is a steal! Hard to know without more information. In my community this house would be price somewhere around $700K - $750K, and with a MUCH bigger lot!
The street - is it busy by Arlington standards? I lived on a cul-de-sac which had only resident traffic.
I also would not live in the most expensive house in the neighborhood - anywhere.
Depending on how much reno there was, they could have put several hundred thousand into it quite easily, especially if it was redone from the ground floor up. But to advertise at $1.7? Greed, pure and simple! Obviously it hasn't sold at that price. I would be interested in seeing what it does sell for; I bet it is closer in price to the other houses even though it may have a lot more to offer. If I were to buy a million dollar home, I would want it to be in the lower third of the price range in the neighborhood.
Never buy a home that backs up to or next to a church next to a school next to a shopping center next to a bar next to an apt. complex next to a condo complex next to a condominium community...
or ON A BUSY STREET!! Unless you are looking for commercial potential.
Thanks, jameysmon and funcolors, those are good points. Bmrbabe, I know where that is - there's a Crescent Hills house on the market right now (www.homesdatabase.com, can be searched by zip)! The house to which I linked is on a very busy and not pretty street by Arl. standards. I believe that if this house were two streets east of where it is on a cul-de-sac, it would have sold a long time ago. The seller is definitely going to take a loss on this, because he bought at the height of the mkt., unless the Realtor making the comment on the link in my initial post is right that this price is a marketing ploy or an auction trick and people start bidding (when the listing agent dropped the price by $450000 last week, he said he would not take offers until April 13). So it's a strange situation. I agree with you about the undesirability of being on the high end of the market although just a few streets over are houses (a lot) more expensive than this. Definitely agree about the greed, and apparently a lot of other people do too!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: ACWhite,
Wow, that house is so lovely! I adore the kitchen!
I don't have an idea of the Arlington market, so I don't know what the price really means, or what "busy street" really means, either. Arlington is so highly desirable that it may not be a concern.
I would think, however, that a family would be interested in that house at resale time, so the busy street would be an issue. People do buy houses on busy streets - just for less than their counterparts on less busy streets, and maybe will take a bit longer. Again, we're talking Arlington, so ...
I wish I could be more help!
If you do offer on it - start low. The listing details are practically telling you to do so.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: tangychick,
I may be wrong, but this appears to be an older established neighborhood and this house does not blend in with the neighborhood. This is happening alot in the DC area and long time residence are upset with the Macmansions being built along side of a traditional 2,000sf home built in the 40's and 50's. Apparently there are no rules about size, siding, etc for people who are redoing to use as guidlines. It seems it would benefit all concerned for the homes to compliment each other--better curb appeal. Just my thoughts.
Thanks, Tangychick and marylandbluecrab, excellent points. All the comments have been really interesting and informative.
Marylandbluecrab, actually, several years ago, Arlington did impose new rules (after a long period of fighting about it). They were a compromise, mostly having to do with how much of the lot is covered by a house and driveway footprint. So for example, a monstrosity that was 12000 square feet that was among those that sparked the controversy got away with it because it was on a double lot. I'm not sure that they regulated style because residents argued over how much that restricted people's rights to have different tastes on their own land. But I know a lot of people feel the rules should go farther (I live in a much smaller old place several miles away - I pass this house during commutes and it does stand out).
The house I linked to did meet the sizing guidelines at the time.
Years ago when my SIL bought some land from a farmer, the HOA stated the structure had to be stick built (no modular) and the face of the house had to be brick, but the sides and back could be aluminum siding. Even though everyone's home was different, there is to this day, a visual sense of continuity in the community. No matter how beautiful this house is on the inside it definately goes "POW" in your face when you drive upon it. I'd never buy it.
This house doesn't make me say, Wow! And for a Mil, I need to be wow!ed. Nice hardwood floors, but no Wow!, nice kitchen but no Wow! Nice area/space in backyard but no Wow!, and so on; and so on.
The house is plug-ugly! As an architectural statement, it is mediocre at best. It looms over the rest of the street's more modest homes and looks completely out of place. Did you catch the awful sight lines from the windows?
Inside, I agree with an earlier poster that the materials and finishes are just so-so. Whatever character the home may have had has been completely erased.
Landscaping/curb appeal: zero. Busy street and steep slope: huge-turn-offs.
Dont get me started: I honestly could not find anything appealing or attractive about the house, even it were being offered for half the listed asking price.
The lot seems small for a house this size. Also (one of my pet peeves) the 2nd picture of the kitchen shows double oven and refrigerator right next to one another with no place to put something down unless you turn around and walk to the island. For 1.7 I would certainly expect better designing than that. edited for typo
This message has been edited. Last edited by: jeriSC,
Thanks!
The listing details are practically telling you to do so.