Duel: McLean v. Spring Valley

• September 8, 2008
• 2 Comments
• Duels

by Mark Wellborn

Click photo for full slideshow

Spring Valley

McLean, Virginia and the DC neighborhood of Spring Valley are two places in the metropolitan area synonymous with wealth. They may differ in size (McLean covers a much larger area) and location (Spring Valley is in DC, McLean is about 25 minutes outside the city), but both cater to the upper tier of home buyer, and are usually mentioned in conversations about where well-off families live in the DC area. In an effort to see how the two stacked up against one another, we compared them in various areas. Here are the results.

Round One: Real Estate Prices

It is pretty hard to find a home on the market in McLean for under $1 million; in Spring Valley, it is virtually impossible. Both neighborhoods are the preferred habitat for heavyweight politicos (Colin Powell, Dick Cheney) and successful businessmen and women (Washington Nationals owners Ed and Debra Cohen), and property prices reflect this reputation. However, Spring Valley’s listings cater to the uber-wealthy while McLean is a place where buyers have a wider range of price options because the housing inventory is larger.

* Source: Redfin

Click photo for full slideshow

A Home in McLean

Round Two: Size/Convenience of Location

Spring Valley is a small neighborhood (700 acres) in Northwest DC near American University Park and Palisades (see map here). The street borders are roughly Nebraska Avenue to the south, Delacarlia Parkway to the west, and Massachusetts Avenue to the northeast. Despite its suburban feel, Spring Valley is just minutes from downtown DC, and that convenience is tough to rival.

McLean is about a 25-minute drive from downtown DC in Fairfax County, Virginia (see map here). As noted above, it is much larger than Spring Valley with a total area of about 18 square miles and a population of around 40,000. You need to have a car in McLean as the area lacks a Metro stop, and in order to get many places in the area you need to hop on the Beltway.

Click photo for full slideshow

A Home in Spring Valley

Round Three: Schools

The DC public schools have fallen on hard times in recent years and some of the best teachers have headed to better-paying positions in Maryland and Virginia. As a result, many families in Spring Valley have opted to send their kids to private schools like Sidwell Friends and St. Albans once they reach high school age. The neighborhood does have one of the better elementary schools in DC with Horace Mann, so the transition from public to private usually happens around 7th grade.

McLean has reputable public and private schools. Langley High School and McLean High School are known for their outstanding athletics and academics (both have made Newsweek’s list of top pubic high schools in the country). Many of McLean’s high school-aged residents also attend Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school which has been ranked as the #1 high school in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Round Four: Commute and Public Transportation

One of the most attractive aspects of the Spring Valley neighborhood for prospective home buyers is its proximity to downtown DC. By car, it takes about ten minutes to get downtown, and while there is no Metro station, the D3, D5 and D6 Metrobus lines run from the neighborhood down to Dupont Circle, Farragut North and Metro Center.

Even though a number of companies are based in McLean (Freddie Mac, USA Today) and the town is very close to the CIA headquarters in Langley, it is still about a 20-30 minute drive to downtown DC. And the public transportation options are limited (there is no Metro stop), so if you commute into DC, a car is pretty much imperative.

Conclusion

If you work in DC, have a family, and can afford a home there, Spring Valley is a great place to live. However, buying a home in the neighborhood is an endeavor that requires a good deal of money. In McLean, there are very expensive homes and then there are homes priced within reason for middle-income families. For this reason, and the fact that the school system is top-notch, we chose McLean as our winner in this duel.

2 Comments

1. Frank Borges LL0SA- Broker FranklyRealty.com said at 1:35 am on Tuesday September 9, 2008:

   I’m biased. I grew up 25 years in McLean. Loved the location and small town charm.

   Frank

1. matty D said at 3:12 am on Wednesday September 17, 2008:

   very interesting article. One thing the analysis neglects, however, is the expense of paying for $4 gas and driving many miles everyday to commute from McLean. McLean clearly would still win out, but the benefits of living in an urban area with access to great public transportation should be fully included.

   The shame of it is that even if Spring Valley real estate were a lot cheaper, McLean would still make more sense for a family because of the schools. And that’s bad for the environment because of all those people driving their cars to work everyday without the option of public transportation. The lack of good urban public schools make it difficult for even the upper middle class to live in cities.

   Out!

Join the discussion