11004 Piney Meetinghouse Road - Saddle Ridge - $1,594,000

Listed By Long and Foster

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Saddle Ridge is one of the more prestigious Potomac Communities. These homes sit along a ridge (or saddle) along Piney Meetinghouse Road. It is a lovely property with fabulous views from the rear of the home.

Piney Meetinghouse can be very busy during commuting hours. When I saw the address of this property, I assumed I was dealing with a road front lot with lots of traffic noise. What a pleasant surprise when I found this group of homes located on a "service road" separate from Piney Meetinghouse. The service road puts some distance between the main road and this property taking road noise out of the equation.

This home is well sited. It sits on a knoll that gently slopes in the back to the rear of the 2 acre lot. There is a beautiful vista from the back of the home to green rolling fields in the distance. This view is Potomac hunt country at its finest.

The home has a contemporary look from the exterior. From the white brick and circular drive, you know there is something modern inside. The front door is very cool. It is a commercial steel door with etched glass. Very artsy, certainly custom and I am sure expensive.

When you walk through the door you notice the home is all white. White walls, white wool carpet and white tile. Modern and clean, the home shows beautifully. This is a custom design with a modern feel that will even appeal to those that may usually like traditional. What is not to like about high ceilings, lots of light and perfect maintenance?

For a home this expensive, it is not super large. With 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, the sleeping space throughout this home is modest in size. The bedrooms and baths are exquisitely done and nicely proportioned. Most of the square footage of this home is in the public space. The family room is bright and spacious. The kitchen is sleek and modern. All of the public spaces are beautifully designed and finished.

The 2 car garage is side loaded and over sized. The floor is finished with a synthetic flooring system (think expensive) with an area way in the rear of the garage leading to a full basement. The basement is huge with high ceilings. It is the entire footprint of the home above. Lots of space for wine cellar, family room, home theatre and darkroom. All of this and still plenty of room for storage. It is that big. The current owners are currently finishing the family room portion of the basement. The rest will be left up to the new owners.

With all that this home has going for it, there are also some problems. Currently, it is impossible to access the basement without going through the garage. This is a very unattractive reality with this home. A solution would be to find a spot in the public space that a stairway of some kind can be put through the floor. It would be smart to find a potential solution to this problem to present to potential buyers before they allow this issue to erase this property from their short list. Chapter One in every salesperson's book of tricks is to be able to overcome objections. This is one of the few problems with this home, but it is a significant one. A solution in advance could procure a sale.

The beauty of a custom built home is you can design it to fit your individual lifestyle. The potential pitfall is that your lifestyle and design may not be suited to the public in general. This home and design, although lovely, is flawed. Unless a solution is found to make the basement accessible from the inside, the home will not find a buyer at asking price. For now, I see a 10% discount to attract a buyer and get this home to settlement.

Are you interested in Chevy Chase homes?

Highland Farm Court - Saddle Ridge - $4,200,000

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Can you say turkey?

To celebrate Thanksgiving Day, I am featuring a listing in Potomac that is $1mm overpriced.

Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful contemporary home in one of the more exclusive communities in Potomac. Open and airy with lots of amenities, this home has it all for a luxury buyer. The problem is there are 20 other comparable homes on the market in Potomac at a significantly lower price tag.

This home has 5 bedrooms and 5 full baths on the upper level. The main level has a unusual design. The rooms are not palatial, and have good scale. I expected them to be a bit larger based upon the price. A small sun room and small sunken study off were the only rooms out of scale.

The basement is large, and finished. There are two additional bedrooms on this level that can be used for an au-pair or maid. There is also plenty of room for Billiards, Home Theater and exercise room.

The backyard has a pool and pool house, and is nicely landscaped. The lot is approximately two acres, and is completely fenced in the back.

Is the cache of the neighborhood worth a large enough premium to warrant this price? Only time will tell. If you based your guess on review of the competition for similarly appointed homes in the area, it would be a tough sell. The competition in this market is ferocious. It is my guess that this home will sell at between $3.0mm and $3.2mm when all is said and done.