Where to Find a Newer Built Home for 1,000,000 Near McLean, VA?

by Lizzy Conroy
October 5, 2010

Recently, I have had the opportunity to work with some buyers who are looking to move within McLean.  They currently live in a 1960’s era home and would like to move to a newer home.  The thought of gaining more closet space, an open floor plan and higher ceilings excited my clients to start looking.  The only challenge is that they want a home built 2005 or later for $1,000,000 or less in McLean because they prefer to stay in McLean High School district!  I knew off the top off my head without looking in the Realtor’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system that such a home does not exist.  So where does a buyer go to find a newer build closer to $1,000,000?

I turned to the MLS to determine what the options are.  (Data is as of September 28, 2010 and Solds are from the most recent 6 months.)

Built 2005+            
  22207 22201 22202 22066 FC MHS Vienna MHS/LHS
ACTIVE            
Avg. List $ $1,623,605 $2,022,777 $3,491,425 $2,540,459 $1,224,633 $0
Avg. Acre 0.24 0.45 1.45 2.35 0.25 0
# $1.25M< 6 1 0 3 2 0
# $1.25M> 23 35 20 39 1 0
 

 

SOLD

           
Avg. Sold $1,530,716 $1,925,841 $2,930,445 $3,012,938 $1,192,875 $1,650,000
Avg. Acre 0.23 0.59 1.41 2.25 0.17 1.58
# $1.25M< 4 0 0 0 3 0
# $1.25M> 18 13 11 8 1 1

 

Arlington 22207 has 6 homes available for sale under $1,250,000; Great Falls has 3; Falls Church in the McLean HS pyramid has 2; and McLean 22101 has 1.  Why does McLean only have 1 newer home you ask?  Take a look at the lot sizes for the cities inside the beltway.  The newer builds in Arlington 22207 sit on an average lot size of around 0.25 acre.  Average lot size in Falls Church is somewhere between 0.17 (for Solds) and 0.25 for Active homes.  In McLean, the average lot size for newer homes in 22101 is 0.45-0.59; and in 22102 the average lot size runs nearly 1.5 acres. 

Great Falls lot sizes are substantially larger, but this market area has seen substantial price pressure down with all newer builds over the past 2 years.  So if you move to Great Falls you can get a newer home under $1,250,000 on an average lot size of around 2.25 acres!

If you want to purchase a home built in the past 5 years and remain in the McLean High School pyramid, your choices are very slim.  Otherwise, I recommend broadening your geography to include Arlington or look for an older home in McLean that has been opened up, expanded and renovated.  If you decided to look for a renovated older home in McLean, be ready to write an offer quickly for those homes that are in great neighborhoods, are priced well, sell fast.  These houses go very quickly because all of the buyers who would like a newer home in McLean but cannot afford them look for the next best thing.

If you are in the market for a newer home in Northern Virginia and don’t know where to start, please call or email Lizzy Conroy of the Huckaby Briscoe Group at Keller Williams Realty McLean at (202) 441-3630 or lizzy@hbgroup.us.

Lizzy Conroy is a Partner of HBC Group. She has served as a real estate professional since 2009 and has worked with hundreds of clients. Lizzy graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Economics and has served in a number of professional capacities in the Washington, DC area – first with the international trade group of Hogan Lovells, then as a marketing manager with MicroStrategy of McLean, VA. She also held business development positions with Kalmia Construction, a Maryland-based commercial construction company, and Newmark Knight Frank, a commercial real estate firm.
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