Your Thoughts on This Part of Falls Church (Arlington, Pimmit Hills: real estate, 2013)

[nytimes703]

I'm looking to relocate to falls church for a shorter drive into the district for a new job. Is anyone familiar with the area south of 29 and north of 50 between graham and annandale rd? what are your general opinions? based on the appearance of these four major roads, i would guess it's not the prettiest of areas. i see mostly older homes with a few rebuilds. The schools aren't considered the best according to greatschools.org but my kids are 1 and 3....still have a few yrs before elementary. Wondering if their overall ratings can go up by then.

[Carlingtonian]

Some nice-looking prewar houses, but prices are lower due to the schools, as you noted. Mostly lower-middle-income and Hispanic right now but will probably appreciate in the future, due to its proximity to a lot of things.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Some nice-looking prewar houses, but prices are lower due to the schools, as you noted. Mostly lower-middle-income and Hispanic right now but will probably appreciate in the future, due to its proximity to a lot of things.

Most of that area is called Greenway Downs. It's largely older Cape Cods, with some new construction. There are also some garden apartments off some of the major roads.

I do not believe that "most" of the area is lower middle-income and Hispanic. The relevant census area is about 33% Hispanic and has a poverty rate of below 7% (which is slightly lower than the poverty rate for Arlington as a whole).

There are many long-time homeowners in that area, yet that zip code (22042) has already seen some of the highest appreciation in the DC region in the past few years (about 35% over a recent three-year period).

West Falls Church CDP QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

Golden Zip Codes 2013 | Real Estate | Washingtonian

I do not disagree with the comments about the public schools, but the school demographics are not the same as those for the area as a whole. I believe the eventual renovation of Falls Church HS will help the area.

[nytimes703]

i'm not too familiar with the reliability of greatschools ratings and how much weight one should put on them. redfin shows falls church high school as a 7 while greatschools.org itself shows a 4. perhaps a data synch issue. the elem school serving that area has a rating of 6. maybe their rating system is so sensitive that a little blip can cause big movements?

due to proximity i figure values should somewhat hold up and the area may see some improvement but the question is when will that happen. i don't want to purchase a house today and see 0 appreciation when i sell 7 years from now, while a house a few miles away appreciates x% over the same period.

[PK12]

That area has a sizeable Vietnamese community as well

[JD984]

Originally Posted by nytimes703

i'm not too familiar with the reliability of greatschools ratings and how much weight one should put on them. redfin shows falls church high school as a 7 while greatschools.org itself shows a 4. perhaps a data synch issue. the elem school serving that area has a rating of 6. maybe their rating system is so sensitive that a little blip can cause big movements?

due to proximity i figure values should somewhat hold up and the area may see some improvement but the question is when will that happen. i don't want to purchase a house today and see 0 appreciation when i sell 7 years from now, while a house a few miles away appreciates x% over the same period.

There was an issue with GS a few months ago. Some schools temporarily were bumped up and others temporarily went down. GS has since adjusted the ratings, but some real estate sites continue to use the "blip" ratings.

Who knows what direction prices will take? If we did, we'd all be flipping houses or shorting mortgages, not posting on CD. Nearby Pimmit Hills might be a safer investment, although I'd also tend to think much of the potential appreciation there is already reflected in the current prices. People have known for a long time now that the Silver Line was coming and that the Marshall HS pyramid is good.

[sequon]

Originally Posted by nytimes703

due to proximity i figure values should somewhat hold up and the area may see some improvement but the question is when will that happen. i don't want to purchase a house today and see 0 appreciation when i sell 7 years from now, while a house a few miles away appreciates x% over the same period.

Originally Posted by JEB77

Who knows what direction prices will take? If we did, we'd all be flipping houses or shorting mortgages, not posting on CD. Nearby Pimmit Hills might be a safer investment, although I'd also tend to think much of the potential appreciation there is already reflected in the current prices.

Exactly although I don't know about Pimmit Hills in terms of "investment." The values are already gone up in my opinion. In terms of investment, I would say, buy one of those older homes and flip or build a bigger home. Or, buy one and stay put, while hoping that all the other homes in the neighborhood would upgrade and sell high, then you get some trickle-down effect of appreciation without your active effort...

[Fallout Zone]

I rented in that neighborhood about a decade ago and strongly considered buying there when we purchased 5 years ago. The neighborhood was hit pretty hard by foreclosures, but seems to have made a strong comeback. We have current neighbors that used to live there and they described the community as pretty close-knit, with cookouts and such. The houses are small and close together. The biggest problem with the cape cods that we looked at were the low-ceiling basements.

[ameridreamNoT]

stay away. I have been living in 22042 area for 7+ years and believe me, you're better off elsewhere. My '04 Camry parked in the driveway (single house) and someone broke in without the need of braking the windows...and stole stuff. Then all the stop signs now have graffiti marks on them. I am beginning to setup surveillance cams and front and back house light sensors.

[kieplangdu]

Originally Posted by ameridreamNoT

stay away. I have been living in 22042 area for 7+ years and believe me, you're better off elsewhere. My '04 Camry parked in the driveway (single house) and someone broke in without the need of braking the windows...and stole stuff. Then all the stop signs now have graffiti marks on them. I am beginning to setup surveillance cams and front and back house light sensors.

It's not as bad. I have a rental property just across from lee highway which makes it Falls Church City. Hardly ever any problem.