Homeowner? Would you sell your home for 30% over market to a developer? (Annandale: apartments, loan)

[Socially Inept]

Developers are approaching Fairfax County Homeowners and offering them 30% over the market to sell their home so the developer can tear it down and redevelop. Are you interested?

A number of options are available to the developer:

1) Tear down the 1950-70s era home and replace it with a large modern home. (It's happening all over Vienna and McLean)

2) Tear down the house on 1/2 or 1 acre lots and replace it with 2-4 homes if they can get the County to rezone the property.

3) Buy out the whole subdivision and replace it with townhomes or apartments. (You see it in the Vienna Metro area and near Fairfax Corner off of Lee Highway.

Would you sell and what do you think about replacing the old homes and neighborhoods with huge homes or high density? Would you feel guilty if the developer destroyed your neighborhood with the clear-cutting of the neighborhood or putting a home that did not fit with the rest of the neighborhood?

[spencgr]

if I was one of the last "older" homes in a sea of new McMansions, absolutely.

I'm thankful that I live in an area that it won't happen to.

[meowmeow25]

Considering I don't live in the home I own nor ever plan to return to its city, yes, yes I would! I'm not fond of the cookie-cutter neighborhoods where the homes are packed so closely you can smell your neighbor's cooking but if I'm not living there

[jillybean720]

I would sell IF that price (30% above current market value) was significantly profitable to me. If someone offered me that price for my property in Lake Ridge, it still wouldn't be enough to pay off what we owe on the remaining mortgage, so no deal!

I would probably feel guilty for about half a second. Beyond that, I would realize that, in the grand scheme of things, my one home probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

I'll add I think it's funny looking when they throw up a new McMansion in a sea of smaller, older homes. It looks so out of place. But, hey, someone's happy to live in that McMansion, I'm sure, and the more they build nearby, the more the values will increase. I can't honestly say I'd pass up a McMansion in lieu of my 1970's home (that needs new windows, new doors, just replaced the hot water heater, needs new gutters and exterior trim, needs a new patio, needs new siding, needs a new driveway...).

[rootless_in_va]

Dayum, why aren't these developers in Annandale? I'd have gone for that in a heartbeat! Selling right now the conventional way.

[Fredesch]

Yup, I would and move to Hawaii.

[CAVA1990]

I'll take that deal. However, home prices will likely double over the next few years so perhaps it's not that great.

[elias9193]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I'll take that deal. However, home prices will likely double over the next few years so perhaps it's not that great.

What makes you say that home prices will double in the next few years? As a home owner I would really like to believe you, just curious how you came to that conclusion.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by elias9193

What makes you say that home prices will double in the next few years? As a home owner I would really like to believe you, just curious how you came to that conclusion.

I've done the math. It's just starting and the main thing holding us back right now is liquidity. However, as prices rise above average loan balances the steeper the price curve becomes. It's all about leverage.

[yolli71]

Yes, I'd do it.