Tuesday, March 24, 2015

House Hunting: Ryan Homes Matisse at Greenbelt Station

And, finally, what probably drew you to this blog: we checked out the Ryan Homes community at Greenbelt Station. There were two models in our price range, the Matisse and the Picasso, both of which are townhome condos. The Picasso is a great size at 2,600 square feet, but we ruled it out for the same reason we nixed the nice condo in Rockville: too many stairs. So, on to the Matisse.

The Matisse clocks in at 1,642 square feet, with 3 bedrooms, and 2.5 bathrooms. It has a reasonable condo fee of about $250, which takes care of snow shoveling, mowing, and landscaping around the community.





The Pros:
  • Under budget & closing assistance
  • Safe neighborhood
  • Home would be under a 10-year structural warranty
  • Home would be energy efficient
  • Lots of natural light
  • Less than a mile to the metro & MARC trains
  • Community includes plans for a 2 acre park
  • Garage for the car
  • Inside the Beltway
The Cons:
  • In a struggling school district
  • The Matisse's first level doesn't leave a lot of room for a dining table
Obviously, a big plus was the price tag, especially with how expensive the DC Metro area is. Buying a place under-budget gives us the breathing room to save for house repairs, furniture, or just paying down the mortgage faster. It also means we have the flexibility of going out to eat every once in a while without feeling like we're breaking the bank.

Beyond the price tag, though, we loved the home's design. Each room receives a huge amount of natural light, and the master bedroom is enormous, with two separate walk in closets. We liked that the laundry was upstairs, convenient to all the bedrooms. We also liked that the home came with a lot of luxury items standard: double sinks in the master bathroom, granite in the kitchen, stainless appliances, etc.

We took a while to make our decision, but the combination of having a great house, Metro access, and under budget makes it the perfect fit for us.

3 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I am considering the same model, is there any noise fron the train/ metro ? Also is part of the upstairs abive the neighbor garage a problem?
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Good questions. My particular unit has a 'buffer' from the metro tracks by the Verde apartments, so I personally never hear the metro. Like, at all. Sometimes at night the freight trains (CSX) blow through, and if they toot the horn, we'll hear that, but it's pretty infrequent... it definitely is not an issue for us. I notice that when I play with my dog in the park off Center Drive, I can hear the metro announcements from the trains ("we're approaching the final stop, please collect your personal belongings...") but I have no idea if that's audible in the homes. I can say for sure we never hear it.

      The garage noise is a trickier one to answer. We use that space as an office, and you do hear some noise, but it doesn't bother us. Neither us nor our neighbors go in/out that frequently, so it's not bothersome. I genuinely don't know if I'd say the same thing if we used that area as a bedroom, but none of our visitors have been bothered by it either.

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  2. Do you hear your neighbors upstair?

    ReplyDelete