DC (Ashburn) to Greensboro (Raleigh, Wilmington: crime, houses, job market)

[NC211]

I've been poking around the NC boards for a while now. We're originally from NC (Wilmington, E/NC, Raleigh) before heading north for the past few years. We are interested in returning to NC someday, hopefully sooner rather than later. What I do for a living has selective locations around the country. Downtown Greensboro so happens to be one of them.

We have two little kids, both elementary age, one with special needs (mild autism). We live in the Ashburn area of DC (near Dulles Airport). We like it here very much, but if NC came calling, we would listen.

So, anyone in this area of NC familiar with the Ashburn area that can share some guidance on what areas to look around that would be a decent match? Housing budget-wise, likely in the $450k to $600k range. Obviously schools are of the utmost importance to us, along with safety for my wife and kids. I've seen some posts about NW Greensboro and along 220 (Summerfield). Any other areas? We also would like to be in an area of young families. We like kids and would hope to find a neighborhood where our son (7) could make new friends to play with on a daily basis.

If anyone can shed some light on the autism services in the area, that too would be wonderful. Our daughter is 4 years old.

Here in VA, to find these types of areas is pretty easy, as you simply go to a national builder's website and look for new projects. But, the DC market is unique in that regard, given the health of the job market and exploding population base for the past several years. All of the builders are in the Ashburn area, and if they're not, they're trying to be. I recognize the uniqueness of that though when compared to other markets.

For the past 6 years I have been commuting to either Tysons Corner from Dulles, or near downtown Chicago from Glen Ellyn, each roughly 20 miles one-way. Each taking 45 minutes to 90 minutes. An hour is my max tolerance before going nuts. I like a 30 minute commute, as it allows me to clear my head at the end of the day, and get my head in the game in the mornings. If you have little kids, then you likely can relate to finding the value of the "me" time. With that being said, would Winston be a better fit for us?

I've read some of the posts on what parts of Greensboro to avoid. Honestly, I've only been to Greensboro a couple of times in my life. One was to look at buying a car while we lived in Apex in 2006 (Raleigh). The other was for a wedding, and a buddy who was attending Wake Forest Law back in the late 90's.

thanks!!

[Tarheel8406]

I'm originally from Greensboro, but I've lived in Northern Virginia for a few years. If you're looking for something similar to Ashburn, then Summerfield and Oak Ridge are your best bets. Most of the developments there are relatively new. If you're looking for older housing stock (like parts of Falls Church, Fairfax, and Vienna), then you should check out parts of northwest Greensboro. It's hard to recommend a particular neighborhood though without knowing your exact criteria. Crime isn't much of an issue in northwest Greensboro or Summerfield and Oak Ridge, but if you want to check out crime stats, crimemapping.com is a good resource.

You should able to find plenty of houses in your price range (or for a lot less), given the lower cost of living in North Carolina. The newer developments also tend to be less dense than what's available in Northern Virginia, so you'll have more space if that's important to you. If you commute into downtown Greensboro from Summerfield and Oak Ridge, you're looking at 20 or 30 minutes. If you're commuting in from northwest Greensboro, it could be anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. Either way, traffic is nowhere as bad as in the DC area.

I can't really speak for autism services, but most of the schools that feed into Grimsley, Northwest, and Page High Schools do pretty well. You can find the school assignment zones on Guilford County Schools' webpage.

[booney56]

Greensboro Public Schools (it's a county system) is large enough that they offer good services for things like autism once your daughter is in school. There are a few major hospitals and universities here also. I don't think you'll have a problem on that front.

Oakridge, Summerfield are typical "new" suburban neighborhoods. Many of the people are from the Northeast.
Oakridge, Summerfield, Pearce, Northern are great schools. (Stokesdale may be okay,but I don't really know).

For the price range you mentioned you can live in any neighborhood in the Northwest. Trotter Ridge would be worth a look.
(off of bunch road). The Northwest is filled with young families. You'll fit right in.

People moving from places like New Jersey usually get a bigger house for less money than they were paying.

You may need to move further out if you want a 30 minute commute...sorry...around here a 45 minute commute would put you out of the county..

[NC211]

Thanks you two, very helpful information! Really appreciate the time you took to respond in such good detail, really do appreciate it. The comparisons against Fairfax was especially helpful. We'll see what happens, might be coming, might not. But if we are, we know where to look now.

From what we've heard, NC in general is far ahead of VA with approaching the autism epidemic. I say epidemic, because what used to be 1 in about 300 just a short few years ago, is down to 1 in 68 now. It was 1/88 just two years ago. It's quickly becoming more than a "group" to becoming a "segment" of the general population. Can't be ignored anymore.

[Sue at the Rock]

My great aunt and uncle lived in Leesburg. Their place was Janelia Farms. I think the developers still call it that.

It's nice up in Summerfield and Stokesdale is kind of cute. I have to drive up that way regularly for work. 200 is under big construction, which may make getting back and forth into town messy for a while. You might consider that if you need to do regular doctor/PT/OT appointments.

Look at Fisher Park. I love older neighborhoods, and it's very close to downtown.

[Tarheel8406]

Yeah, Fisher Park and Irving Park are both really nice neighborhoods that are close to downtown. I'd say they're like parts of North Arlington in the Northern Virginia area. There's also New Irving Park if you're looking for newer construction. You'd have a 5 to 15 minute commute from those neighborhoods, and I believe they're in the Grimsley and Page school districts.