Washington Post AT HOME Magazine | Summer 2008
“Bewitched by Water: Whether it’s biological or psychological, there’s no denying the allure of H2O.”
By Joyce Gemperlein
Real estate agents hear it all the time: There’s been a mistake, a serious environmental misplacement. Their clients were born to live on the waterfront or at least with a view of water. They don’t know why, but they feel what can only be described as a biological imperative . . . .
A huge selling point of homes at New Mark Commons just south of Rockville along Interstate 270 is the 4.5 acre New Mark Lake . . . .
Sally Guardia bought a townhouse right on the water . . . . She didn’t do that because of the water feature but has come to love her ability to gaze out the window into an ever-shifting scene of Great Blue Heron, koi, geese, beavers and turtles.
Lori Nicely, on the other hand, purchased her detached house, one of the few single-family houses at New Mark with a lake view . . . .“Having a water view was a significant deciding factor. . . . It has a calming, peaceful, relaxing effect. When friends and family visit, they often comment that our home feels like a vacation home even though it isn’t”.
Nicely says that the conventional wisdom in her neighborhood is that a water view adds at least 15% to the value of one of their dwellings.