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Found our dream town home, but need your opinion
So...DH and I found our dream town home that would be a new build in Ashburn. The town home will be within walking distance to the new metro in Loudoun County and on one of the busier streets. The town home ROCKS - it has a brick exterier, front/rear deck, hardwood floors, gourmet kitchen, 3 beds, ridiculously awesome master suite, 2 car garage... not to mention great schools.
Here's the problem/concern...DH and I are from the midwest where SFHs rule. We would never consider a town home or anything close to public transportation. Additionally, because the new metro rail stop and all the amenities (office buildings, stores, parks, etc.) is only in the planning stages, we really aren't sure what could be across the street from us. Worst case, it could be a commercial office or retail store. Is that such a bad thing, though? I feel that the mindset on housing is different in the NoVA/DC market. The other thing is that the new metro rail isn't set to be done until 2016. The land is still farmland.
We are looking at this as an investment and it's big enough for us to comfortably live in for the long haul. We just don't want to make a bad move.
Thoughts? Would love your opinion.
Re: Found our dream town home, but need your opinion
Where do you work? I wouldn't live in Ashburn if I worked in DC, but lots of people do.
I haven't been keeping up with the metro development out there, but if they say 2016, I'd count on 2018 - if at all. I'm sure others can chime in on whether they think it will really happen or not.
What is your five year plan? Kids? Townhouses in that area are beautiful and big - and certainly big enough for kids, but I've had friends say that once they had kids they wish they had 2 stories instead of 3 because the stairs get old with kids. Lots of people do it though, so you just have to decide whether it's a concern for you.
How much have you looked around? It's hard to compete with new construction, but if you do the commute from Ashburn a few times, you might have second thoughts about the commute. We could buy a MUCH bigger house further out, but we chose an older house 6 miles from DC b/c we didn't want the commute. It has such a positive impact on our day-to-day happiness that even with the issues that come with owning an older home, I don't regret that decision.
All that being said, I would have no particular reservations about buying a townhouse. Lots of people do it in urban areas. And there are definitely benefits to it - less outside care, amenities in the community covered by HOA fees. My husband on the other hand refused so we ended up with a SFH.
Thank you for your input. We currently live in Ashburn so the commute wouldn't change for us. As far as kids - we plan on having one (maybe) in about 5 years. This town house is about 500 sq ft larger than our house was in the Midwest so I feel that it is definitely big enough to accommodate a child - but good point regarding the steps.
The other thought I am having is that the community is small (47 units total). Our unit is the smaller version and there are only 8-9 units built like ours. This should be to our advantage when we sell since we won't have to compete with dozens of units that look like ours on the inside.
The only thing I'd be concerned about would be living on a busy road. I guess you don't know exactly how busy it will be, because it hasn't been developed yet. I'd rather live on one of the side streets in the development rather than the main road.
I agree about it being a benefit to live near public transit however I'd want to know what's going to be built across the street. DH and I also grew up in the midwest where it was nothing but SFH. Personally I wouldn't want to live on the busy street due to the traffic and noise from traffic. I'm not saying everyone is a bad driver or doesn't pay attention but with little cones coming eventually I'd worry a bit about that.
I live in Ashburn (not one of the super-new areas though) and I really like it here. Metro might be delayed by a few years but this has been a really nice, sought-after area and I don't have a reason to think it won't continue.
To me, a dream home includes what's around it. It doesn't sound like it really is your dream home. Also, it sounds pretty much like other luxury townhomes all over the place. I'm sure it's a nice house, but I don't think you'd have a hard time finding something else like it. Many places have the features you mention.
If you'd never consider a TH or being near public transportation, then why are you considering this house?
Personally, if I were buying a forever home where I'd raise kids and I was alraedy someplace way out there like Loudoun, I wouldn't live on a busy street. What's the point in being in the way 'burbs if you have traffic all the time in front of your house?
My husband is from a small town in PA and I'm from Alexandria. When I first met him he lived in Ashburn and had never really come close to living in a place with more of a city-like feel. Because of a job, he ended up moving closer to me to Arlington 2 years ago. Now I think his opinion of more city-like living has changed after living in an area where he could walk to the grocery store and restaurants.
You never now how much you might like living near retail until it happens HOWEVER I wouldn't recommend getting too experimental with real estate because that's more of a permanent situation. There are lots of communities out there. I'm sure you'll be able to find something similar that fits more of what you are looking for.
I concur with this. While we don't live on a busy road, we do live on one where we have to be cautious and it is hard to teach youngsters that. I grew up on a dead end with 5 houses and we had the reign of the road, if there was anything about my house l would change, it would be the location so I wouldn't have to worry as much.
What is the market like in Ashburn? I would be wary of buying new development for fear that it would not fully sell or it would take a long time to sell and the developer would be passing on costs to the HOA. I know quite a few people who have gotten burned buying into a new development right at the time the market started collapsing and some of those communities are now suing the developer for not fulfilling their obligations, are burdened by increasing HOA costs, and/or the units are a very high percentage renter to owner which knocks the value down and created a different community than they thought they were buying into.
Take this with a grain of salt, but when we were looking, it seemed to me that luxury town homes were often more than SFH, especially if you were paying the new development premium. I don't know if that holds true in Loudon County, I was looking inside the beltway.