Thursday, September 28, 2006

The rise of the Urban Society



A year ago, I had taken real estate classes. It was the real estate boom in the DC metro area and it seemed to be a promising area to enter. I did not take the classes to become a realtor. I was interested in the why's and how's. After completing the courses to be a realtor (I took the semester plan at a community college to learn more rather than the free two week course at the realtors), I took classes on Real Estate Appraising. Fascinating course that helped strengthen my resolve on the free market economy. For those who do not know, appraisers compare a property with other similar properties, in other words the look at the competition and give the value from the market data. The real estate is a competitive market, therefore the prices are given, you can set the price to what you wish when selling, but the appraiser will set the value to what the market claims it to be; the real estate does not set its own price but is a price taker as the market gives it the value. All these classes were fascinating, but what I overheard discussed was the possibility of Tysons Corner, an area in Northern Virginia that is home to many corporations, was to lift the limits on the height of buildings to allow Tysons Corner to be viewed as a Downtown Chicago.
Tysons Corner currently is a mess. As many corporations have their headquarters located there, but there is hardly any housing available near by causing long commutes. Along with the traffic problem, the sidewalk is almost nonexistent. Thus, the plans for the urbanation of Tysons Corner have emerged showing the expansion in height for the buildings and a creation of residential areas surrounding the area. With the Metrorail expanding its routes into Tysons Corner, you can only imagine the growth that will be expected.
I have been speaking to others about something like this to occur in airplanes, in lines when shopping, whenever the topic leads to the direction of real estate or business. Of course, next on the list is Roslynn and Pentagon City. Two more hot beds that are home to many corporations and with the departure of the military leaving the private buildings, we can expect a large increase of private industries that will try to push for expanding the tower limits. Especially since they are around the corner from Ronald Reagan Airport.
Northern Virginia, its slogan should read, Not Just for Politicians anymore....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Might be a good time to buy real-estate over there...

Ian Dunois said...

I agree, although Tysons Corner already has a high price on its real estate. Those who bought real estate before the proposals were drawn and proposed to the county will gain the most. If you have the money, why not invest it in the area. Plus it appears that it will be a large increase. Even though the market is slowing down in Northern Virginia, I am sure many people will move to the newly developed residential areas in Tysons Corner in order to reduce their travel time to work.