Reston Real Estate: The High-Low Game, Plus The High-Stakes World of Speculative Construction

Have you finished all your Founder's Day shopping yet? If not, maybe it's time to leverage pick up some prime Reston real estate for everyone on your Founder's Day list. So grab your checkbooks and join us for yet another round of everyone's favorite game of Reston real estate wheeling and dealing, the High-Low Game(tm)!

At the high end of the spectrum is this awesome gem on North Village Road in the "20194," as the kids today don't say.

REDUCED $200K!! Model showcase for THE DECK HOUSE, a post & beam architectural gem! Awarded for high quality construction featuring mahogany doors & trim, soaring wood ceilings, walls of glass & passive solar heating. Prime location on treed 1 acre between Lake Anne & Lake Newport, steps to lakes, tennis, pool, & shopping. 2-story solarium w/spa,chef's kit & designer lighting, totally remodeled!!

Actually, this house is quite lovely. At $949,500, we would totally live there, if we lived in a universe where "web loggers" got paid $949,500 for copy and pasting stuff and writing comments like "awesome" our tireless efforts. They had us at this futon:

BTW, Don Johnson called. He wants his comforter back from the sleepover after the Animotion LP release party.

Anyhoo! On the other end of the spectrum is this two-bedroom "flat" on Lake Anne. Priced at $219,900, it's not the cheapest condo in Reston, but it's the cheapest one with this kind of view.

This charming walk-up flat feels like a European Village. Great kitchen renovation, fire plc, water views and a wonderful life style. Listen to concerts from your balcony, walk downstairs to grab a beer & watch the game at the tavern, enjoy the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. Condo fee inclds ALL utilities & TV cable. This well run & maintained condo hasn't had a special assmt in 10 years!

Okay then. But if neither property is your cup of tea, fret not. The house featuring the refrigerator with a TV in it is still on the market!

Or maybe you've tired of the residential market. Maybe like our next president, you want to make your fortune in commercial real estate. Or maybe not:

When Chris Walker broke ground on an office building along the Dulles Toll Road at the peak of the commercial real estate market, he often imagined how people would describe the new building.

One description that never entered his mind: “Chris Walker’s empty building.”

But three years after the entrepreneur delivered the $55 million Reston building — one he hoped to be his swan song after a long development career — that’s exactly what they call it. His is the only office in the building.

Which is too bad. Dulles Corridor is one of the less ugly buildings that's cropped up along the Toll Road in recent years, plus it's close to some awesome public art.

Anyhoo, that's about all the time we have this week. Until next time, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars DRB-approved overhead lighting fixtures!