Bummer: No Giant Wheelbarrows of Cash as Metro Arrives

It is another truth universally acknowledged that the imminenteventual arrival of Metro service will be good for one thing: gridlock developers midscale chain eateries our property values.

Since we live within "walking distance" of the new station, give or take a few miles, we keep expecting a developer -- ideally wearing a top hat and a Snidely Whiplash mustache -- to appear on the doorstep of Restonian World Headquarters with a couple of wheelbarrows full of cash to make us an offer we can't refuse.


It would be a tough decision, but in the place of our lovely, if somewhat dated, manse would rise a very skinny 97-story condo with excellent exercise facilities whose vowel-free name would resemble a Welsh village. As for us, we'd adjust to writing our fancy new "web log," the Ashburnian (essentially the same thing, only with the incessant references to the Macaroni Grill replaced by incessant references to Wegmans), punctuated by the occasional caviar break and weekend in Gstaad.

But one Realtor has "harshed our buzz," as the kids no longer say (except maybe in Washington and Colorado). Lay it on us, Debbie Downer:

I hear things like "Should I wait for the Wiehle Metro Station to be completed before we sell?" or "How will the Metro effect [sic] my homes [sic] value when it opens?" These are all valid questions and deep down what I think they want me to tell them is that they’ve hit the Metro Lottery and their home’s value is going to spike, just like it did in 2005.

I can already hear it now "But my home is only a 1/2 or a mile from the metro!"; "It's going to double when the metro is done!" Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not going to happen. Prices have already adjusted in those areas in anticipation of the Metro coming. It's true; homes close to the Metro will always trade at a premium relative to its competition and will hold their value better as the market fluctuates. But a Metro Lottery it is not.

The column's author argues that in general, property values have "returned to 2004 levels" but have not ascended back to the lofty heights of 2005 and 2006.

With continued home inventory remaining low, interest rates holding steady at low levels, and the continued growth that we will experience as the Metro opens in Reston, I foresee a 3-5 percent appreciation per year over the next 5 years.

Bo-ring. If we wanted a 3-5 percent return, we'd invest in tax-free municipal bonds or pork bellies. We want to be where the action is!