Just for fun, type in “luxury homes off Braddock Road” into your Google search. Home buying sites will generate a variety of featured properties. Typical two or three bed renovations in Old Town Alexandria, to new construction three and four-level townhomes with open floor plans. There are some gorgeous monster homes off Braddock that define the luxury market, communities that encompass the farm winery lifestyle and plenty of historical sites dotted throughout. What you won’t find? Many options under $650,000. That is until you take a drive a little further down, past Chantilly, and into the town of Aldie.

Tanglewood, a three-phase luxury community of single-family homes built by Van Metre, features a variety of floor plans, starting at $650,000. There are currently 92 homes within the community, with plenty of room for development to come in the surrounding areas.

At the time of our tour a week ago, there was only ONE lot left in The Preserve, featuring 3,800 sq ft of move-in ready home with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, and a gourmet kitchen. We’d be more than happy to help you nab the last one!The second phase, the Enclave, was intended for first level living, featuring a one level brick floor plan called The Cottonwood. With a lack of demand from empty nesters for main level living, Van Metre introduced their floor plan “The Talbot”, which they had already been building in West Virginia. The Talbot features 1,965 sq ft with 3-5 bedrooms. While the community will now be a mix of both floorplans, all homes will still have the main level master bed and bath available, with a minimum two car garage and optional deck off main level, starting at $609,990.

Lastly, the Arbor features 34 homes with 3 floor plans available: The Talbot, The Portsmouth, and the Southbury. The Southbury and Portsmouth both include two-car garages, with five to eight bedroom options and similar square footage- about 3,600 sq ft. The main difference? The Southbury has a spectacular two-story family room. Homes start at $656,990 and $666,990.

We were impressed with the detailed design offered in the standard features of these luxury floor plans. The gas fireplaces are surrounded by slate. The homes are adorned with crown molding, chair railing, and coffered ceilings in the master bedroom. The gourmet kitchens exude luxury without compromise to function. They’re clean, elegant and finished with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances, and Timberlake 42-inch flat panel Fairfield cabinetry. Most importantly, the homes benefit from an abundance of natural light from the many over-sized windows. Gorgeous!

With a community enclaved by woods, away from the blur of the traffic burdened East, and a laundry list of luxury amenities, Aldie, Virginia is starting to sound really good. Don’t you think?

There appears to be a Bermuda Triangle of zip codes east of Highway 28 between Dulles Access Road to the north and Highway 50 to the south. If you’re coming from Reston, you probably refer to this area as Herndon. If you’re coming from the east, this is Fairfax. From the south – Chantilly? Yet, if you’re standing at Discovery Square, a 63 acre property by developer Timber Ridge, this is Oak Hill. Attached to Floris Elementary, Carson Middle and Westfield High School and positioned just 3.5 miles from the Wiehle Metro – it’s a cross-section of real estate with an interesting (and surprising) demographic.

What started as Lincoln Residential apartments, merged into NVHomes, Ryan Homes and K. Hovnanian all offering different configurations of condos. Piggy back, townhouse and elevator – some with garages, some without. When I visited last week, the staging furniture was coming out of Ryan Homes model as they are nearly (if not already) sold out. I toured with a K. Hovnanian sales rep who echoed the same – a few units of the elevator condos left with another building delivering early in the new year.

Just across the Air & Space Museum Parkway, we have Lennar and their 4-level rooftop terrace garage townhomes. Starting at $580,000, these “everything included” models range from 2,604 to 2,921 square feet with both front and rear loading garage configurations. With standard brick fronts, gourmet kitchens (granite counters, stainless steel appliances) hardwood flooring and 9-foot ceilings, the conveyance of luxury is nicely delivered.

If you follow along my Instagram Stories, you may recall that my tour included a tutorial with Amazon’s Alexa. The whole home automation system could lock the door, turn on the lights, raise the blinds and play music – all with simple voice commands. The coolest part? Alexa is included in all Lennar homes sold at Discovery Square.

What can you expect from life at Discovery Square? At $81 a month (for townhomes), the association will take care of common area maintenance, snow and trash removal, recycling, a tot lot and outdoor seating areas. It’ll be another two years or so before homeowners can take advantage of the Metrorail but Innovation Center and Herndon stations are both about 3 miles away.

The surprising bit about the Discovery Square buyer is they’re not looking for your typical search criteria – schools, amenities and transportation. In a real estate market where it’s not uncommon to have “one size fits all” options, Discovery Square is a hot spot for Dulles Corridor commuters (most of whom can ride a bike or walk along the beautifully landscaped public areas), the downsizing couple (who don’t want to forfeit the enormous walk-in closet or double oven) and the investor. Yup, the investors are buying new construction.

Now I’m just “spitballing” but imagine getting a $399k condo with a $2,000 monthly payment (principle, interest, taxes, insurance AND condo fee…message me if you want to see the numbers) and renting it for $2200+ a month? Is it a good option? SURE! Is it a slam-dunk yes? Not quite. But there is some benefit to having a virtually zero-maintenance investment property and I’m not making this up – just do the math!