The two real estate offices that I manage are located in Arlington and McLean, Virginia, two quite wealthy suburbs of Washington D.C. When working with buyers in Northern Virginia, no matter what price range we're looking in, we inevitably drive past some very large, very expensive homes. After all, in McLean, over 2/3 of the homes on the market are priced at over $1 million. If you drive just down the street to Great Falls, Virginia, most of the large homes are on some acreage -- often 3-5 acres or more
A lot of clients will ask me: "How do 'they' afford those big homes?" This question comes with a sense of awe, sometimes a tinge of jealousy, and most likely a genuine curiosity about who it is that's purchasing these often behemoth palaces of brick and stone that dot the Northern Virginia residential landscape.
The first answer is that Northern Virginia is home to several of the wealthiest counties in the United States by median household income. In Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Falls Church City, Arlington, and Alexandria, median household income is close to or above $100,000 -- well more than most other areas of the country.
Second, Northern Virginia is the suburbs of Washington D.C. -- the capital of the United States, the center of power, and a big bustling metropolitan city. So, of course, there's the politicians, most of whom maintain a residence in the area. And you've likely heard that the Senate is a basically a "Millionaire's Club." Then, like any major city, D.C. has its share of professional sports teams. Nobody needs to tell you that professional athletes make quite a bit of money. With the Nationals, Capitals, Wizards, and Redskins all calling D.C. home, many of the sports stars put their money into Northern Virginia real estate.
Finally, an article in today's Washington Post also sheds some light on wealth in the D.C. area. Entitled "Stock awards and bonuses push up compensation totals" this article details the high salaries of some of the CEOs of companies headquartered in the Washington area. (The iPad version of the article has a catchier title "What D.C. area's CEOs make") Guess what? These CEOs and other upper management often purchase their homes in Northern Virginia. According to the Post, defense contractor CEOs dominated the top ranks, with Wesley Bush of Northrop Grumman making $22.1 million, Robert Stevens of Lockheed Martin $19.1 million and Jay Johnson of General Dynamics $13.8 million.
With more large companies being aggressively courted by local jurisdictions to move their headquarters to Northern Virginia, we can expect even more wealth to arrive in the area in the near future. And more big home sales...
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