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Friday, October 1, 2010
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18 comments:
Katie, I have also watched that Falls Church house since it was listed, and relisted.
I think it is now at a price where it will have a good chance of selling, but I haven't actually been inside the house so I can't say whether there are any major flaws that don't show up in the listing.
Have you been inside? What are your thoughts? (Just to be clear I am not considering buying this house because it is on the wrong continent for me, but I am curious because someday I will return to the DC area.)
It is worth noting that the house is not without competition within the City of Falls Church.
This second house is cheaper, but smaller, less updated, and farther from the metro:
http://franklymls.com/FA7437962
While this third house is similarly priced, and roughly the same distance from the metro (EFC stop in its case) but is much larger and has a more conventional layout(but is located on a corner of a slightly larger street and across the street from a cemetery):
http://franklymls.com/FA7404044
If I had to rank the three, again without having seen any of them in person, I would probably put this third one first, primarily due to its greater size and more desirable layout, I would put the house you originally asked about second as it does appear to be a decent option, and I would rank the 505k house third.
(In other words I would rank them in order of price... all three are probably priced in the right ballpark.)
It will be interesting to see what they sell for.
Leroy -
The biggest issue that isn't on the listing is that the ground level wood floors either need refinishing or are maybe even beyond help and look pretty ratty (first thing you notice when you walk in now that all the nice furniture is moved out). The kitchen is completely low-end Ikea, but seems fairly functional. There are two patched cracks through the brick and concrete into the basement from - something, but it doesn't look too serious, just a point of interest. The whole place is what you'd expect from a '60s house in size, except of course the basement master suite which is new in the past 6 years. It does have a very nice drainage system around the house, so the basement will not have water issues unless you let the stairwell drain clog up. That's a hard-to-beat feature, since many older homes don't even have a sump pump.
It's hard to tell the finished square footage on that house, too. Between the MLS facts, redfin "public" facts, and Falls Church city facts, I gave up trying to figure it out.
We comped it with solds 906 Park Ave and 921 Lincoln ) and figured it was definitely worth more than 912 Lincoln and less than 906 Park in the same taxable subdivision.
It does seem like it has a good chance of selling now. I'm watching with interest.
housebuyer said
I would agree I think there will be a lot of new development on the silver line. The only reason that I mentioned merrifield is that every time I go to Chipotle I walk by two massive construction projects. Both the mosaic district and the hallstead 3 are expected to be completed in the next 2 years. They should add housing for a few thousand people and are trying to revitalize the rest of the area. It is a little strange that the entire orange line area in VA is pricey except Dunn Loring.
Please point me to cheap housing in Dunn Loring. ;) I find it to be pretty expensive.
I do see a price decrease for homes in the Falls Church pyramid but that's true for FCHS homes near the Vienna Metro as well. I don't see cheap homes in Dunn Loring that feed to Marshall.
Pimmit Hills near WFC metro is still pretty cheap even as many speculators eye it as a prime investment opportunity.
I think Fairfax County has done the most in terms of building around Dunn Loring than the Vienna and WFC stops. I know there was a big project planned near Vienna but that seems to be on hold and the website has not been updated forever: http://metrowestva.com/index.html Has anyone seen any activity on that?
It seems like the growth in Merrifield is not really intended to bring a lot more foot traffic. They are widening Gallows Road. Interesting before/after maps here. I think the area will look nicer though.
Robert,
I saw the jobs article you linked earlier. It will be an interesting test of your thesis that what is important is total jobs and not unemployment rate. The article noted it looked like many of the jobs were being filled by those already with jobs and those from out of town:
Economists see a dichotomy in the region's recovery: Even as the area experienced a year-to-year net gain of 20,000 jobs - with steady growth in federal government and professional and business services - the number of employed people during the 12-month period fell by 5,000, and the number of unemployed people climbed by 1,500.
To experts, this is more evidence that many job openings are being filled by people who have jobs or who are moving here from outside the region, not by unemployed people in the region.
Leaving aside the unemployed, because that can shift as people are actively or not actively looking for work, what does this mean:
Even as the area experienced a year-to-year net gain of 20,000 jobs - with steady growth in federal government and professional and business services - the number of employed people during the 12-month period fell by 5,000...
Does this mean, for instance, that someone from say West Virginia is commuting to the region to work? Therefore they have a job in the region, but they don't live in the region. Or does it account for someone that had one job and takes on a second full-time job.
Job counting smells fishy.
TBW,
On MetroWest-
It was supposed to be ready for sale by 2007 or 2008, but Pulte is saying it will be sometime in 2011.
Last year, the original plan was changed to reduce the number of residential units and increase office space.
perhaps i'm hallucinating but i seem to recall all four listings below went UC not too long ago, but now active again. anyone one else follow low-mid tier N Arl SFHs?
1001 LARRIMORE ST
6421 26TH ST N
5135 19TH RD N
4763 ARLINGTON BLVD
what worries me is, i hope it's not a reflection of how tough lending has become if indeed all their contracts fell through...
MM - I had 26th Rd. N as a redfin favorite for a few weeks before spouse & I decided we weren't going to end up in N. Arlington. It's been UC and back active at least 4 times, if not more. I wondered if it kept failing to appraise or was attracting the wrong kind of buyers, or what.
MM,
My gut reaction to those 4 listings is that they're overpriced by about 10%. I think those brick colonials need to have some sort of addition to command $550k+, especially that close to route 50 in the case of the Arlington Blvd home.
My $0.02
MM
thats the deal, the procession rate is low.
banks were lending like mad 5 years ago, now they won't lend at all.
any speck, (A job history less then 18 months, a credit hit, appraisal,
LTV) they won't even bother writing.
Deals they should do where it's clearly fundable and profitable they aren't writing.
Robert
I suspect the Jobs are growing asspending in the area increases, but the employed are falling as people retire, go on disability or
stop working as the self employed.
TBW-
All of the condo's in Dunn Loring area are probably ~30% cheaper than the ones in Arlington or Falls Church City. A lot of the houses that are in this area Dunn Loring are as cheap as pimmit. Although I have heard bad things about the elementary school.
Housebuyer - The "Dunn Loring" house you just linked to is not in Dunn Loring, but the town of Vienna, in an area assigned to Madison HS.
There are no areas in Dunn Loring with SFHs that are similar to Pimmit Hills. Dunn Loring Woods is similar to, if not slightly more expensive than, Vienna Woods (in the Town of Vienna). The new residential areas in Dunn Loring off of Gallows Road generally are pretty expensive. Most, though not all, feed into Stenwood ES, rather than Cunningham Park ES. They may be less expensive than similar houses in the City of Falls Church or Arlington, which isn't a big surprise, since they are further from DC (and some areas are very close to major roads like 495 or 66). On the other hand, they're at least as expensive as similar areas in Oakton.
Further to this, the latest Forbes survey of the nation's most 500expensive zip codes included both Dunn Loring (22027) and the 22182 zip code in Vienna (the Wolftrap area), but not any of the Falls Church zip codes, including the zip code for the City of Falls Church, the other Vienna zip codes, including the zip code for the town of Vienna (22180), or the Oakton zip code (22124).
That's but one further indication that a comparison between the Pimmit Hills and Dunn Loring areas is pretty much off the mark, a few anecdotes about Merrifield condos notwithstanding.
Mozart-
Sorry I wasn't paying enough attention to the specific boundaries of Dunn Loring. This house is still similarly priced to Pimmit. This is on a very large lot and is almost 1800 sq. ft. offered for 455K.
You are correct that most of the houses in Dunn Loring are expensive, but that is because they are very large. Price per sq. ft. is still way cheaper than Fall church city. Although it is a mile or two further from the city it is closer to Tyson's so at least compared to falls church city the locations really aren't that different.
Housebuyer - I'd fully expect that houses in Falls Church City are more expensive per square foot than in Dunn Loring. The homes are smaller to begin with, and closer to DC, which has more very high-paying (as opposed to high-paying) jobs than Tysons. Overall, however, as previously pointed out, the Dunn Loring zip code is more expensive than the 22046 zip code that includes the City of Falls Church.
There are some older houses in Dunn Loring Woods that aren't in great shape, including the one that you provided in your latest post as a link. They tend not to sell very quickly, just as is the case with similar older properties in the Vienna Woods section of the Town of Vienna. Homes that are in better shape in that neighborhood sell quickly. By way of example, the house listed below went under contract in less than a week:
http://franklymls.com/FX7432523
Mozart-
I agree that the zip you pointed out is expensive. Although my original comment was about work being done in the Dunn Loring Merrifield area. All of the work is being done in the 20231 zip, which is mostly condos that are ~200-250 for 1 bedrooms and ~300-350 for 2 bedrooms. There are also some townhomes in the area too.
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