Making Room: Uniting Against the McMansion (Arlington) (Alexandria, McLean: rentals, houses)

[k350]

Originally Posted by sonnymarkjiz

https://www.arlnow.com/2020/07/06/ma...the-mcmansion/

I kinda see this ladies point, but it seems like she has a gripe against people who build large homes on expensive pieces of land in Arlington. But if you're going to buy a .4 acre lot for $1M, would you live in the old house, or would you rebuild?

We had wanted to live in Arlington and buy a home, but when we did, the homes were $1M for an old 1940s style rambler that had 2 bedrooms and needed a ton of work. Then you see the giant homes next to the old ones and it'd look off.

The comments to this article are especially hilarious.

Ms. Green is a moron. She does not even own property there, and she invests her time in Arlington's absurd "affordable housing" initiatives whereas most of those in the program do not even work in Arlington county, which begs the question why they want to live in one of the most expensive places, and why are tax payers paying for it. She thinks that SFH are evil and should be replaced by multi-family housing and lots and lots of apartment buildings. You will not find any criticism from her regarding the mowing down of old homes to make way for more apartment buildings.

[sonnymarkjiz]

Originally Posted by k350

Ms. Green is a moron. She does not even own property there, and she invests her time in Arlington's absurd "affordable housing" initiatives whereas most of those in the program do not even work in Arlington county, which begs the question why they want to live in one of the most expensive places, and why are tax payers paying for it. She thinks that SFH are evil and should be replaced by multi-family housing and lots and lots of apartment buildings. You will not find any criticism from her regarding the mowing down of old homes to make way for more apartment buildings.

I read one of her older posts yesterday. She lives in a rental apartment and basically feels like everyone should be living the same way as she is. I realized that it seems like she has an agenda.

[dkf747]

What’s wrong with replacing a 1500 square foot house with a 2000 square foot house rather than a 6000 square foot McMansion?

[Ffxdata]

We have developers trying to take down two 2-bedroom homes in our neighborhood and replace them with 18 townhomes at $800k each. The existing homes are eye sores, but the townhomes are going to flood our street with unwanted parking. The current set up means they will have 5 spaces that aren’t garage spaces and no driveway parking at all. So higher density doesn’t mean more affordable. My own 5 bedroom older home on the same street is about $600k. This is in Fairfax City.

[TheseGoTo11]

The root problem is the crappy, post-war housing throughout many expensive parts of North Arlington. McLean has this issue too. A lot of 50s/60s/70s homes in great school districts with reasonable commutes and very dated looking architecture. These places aren't going to look great either way.

[Annandale_Man]

The house is usually 2.5 times the value of the land. You MUST build a "McMansion" type house if you tear down an unlivable shack on the existing property.

[BOS2IAD]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

We have developers trying to take down two 2-bedroom homes in our neighborhood and replace them with 18 townhomes at $800k each. The existing homes are eye sores, but the townhomes are going to flood our street with unwanted parking. The current set up means they will have 5 spaces that aren’t garage spaces and no driveway parking at all. So higher density doesn’t mean more affordable. My own 5 bedroom older home on the same street is about $600k. This is in Fairfax City.

With upscale townhouses, you will avoid things like buyers who make illegal apartments in the basements (assuming they have basements) or investors who rent them to someone who creates a flophouse. All those are huge problems in lower priced townhouse communities.

Still, I see your point about the parking issue. With no driveways and very few guest parking spots, there will be overflow due to people having parties or those who own 3 or 4 cars.

If I were in your shoes, I would do what I could to fight this from happening.

[Flamingo13]

I tend to disagree with your blanket statement that upscale townhouses avoid illegal apartments. Some (many?) - only buy something more than they can afford because they plan to rent to many people, many "family" members, etc.

[BOS2IAD]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

I tend to disagree with your blanket statement that upscale townhouses avoid illegal apartments. Some (many?) - only buy something more than they can afford because they plan to rent to many people, many "family" members, etc.

Have you witnessed that happening? If so, does it happen frequently or is it a rare occurrence? I knew someone who lived in an upscale townhouse community and every time I would go visit, there was always plenty of guest parking available.

OTOH, when we had our house, we had two lower end townhouse communities next to ours and we were constantly plagued with their overflow parking. It got so bad that we had to petition the county for a permit parking district.

Either way, from what was described in the post I was responding to, I agree that those 18 townhouses will end up causing parking problems. Thus, my remark about fighting against this proposal.

[Carlingtonian]

I'm not in favor of this at all--we live very near some McMansions--but I think that in the future this is likely to happen. Look at other expensive places, like San Francisco. Lots of old houses that have been subdivided.

The reality is that since a McMansion in N. Arlington/McLean/Falls Church costs an average of about 1.5 million, at some point their value as detached houses will exceed what buyers are willing to pay. Is anyone ever going to be willing to pay 3 million for an average McMansion?

Just as one can find remnants of old farms here and there, whose lots have long since been divided, eventually these huge houses will do likewise.