About to loose hope on Ft. Belvoir oppty..Help! (Fairfax: contractors, tax)

[dansuz1]

Don't discount Manassas and Manassas Park. I live in the 20111 area of MP and we like it very much here. The house we bought is very much in your price range. The house is very nice, the lot is not so big, but there is enough neighborhood play area for our young kids to run around in.

I made the same insight you did regarding the "best" schools. The schools in MP and PWC are good. Don't let folks talk you into more house than you want.

When I drive to Fort Belvoir in the early morning (around 6 am) it takes me about 35 minutes.

I say you guys should go for it. We were coming from the same kind of situation when we moved here, and wanted the same basic things. We are a one-income Civil Servant family as well.

Good luck,

Dan

[back2cos]

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

Usually it's not too bad, but there are days where it takes forever to get to Gordon Blvd. Traffic stacks up from Minnieville just to get onto Old Bridge. Also during the summer, traffic is lighter but picks up again when school is back in session. When I could take HOV, I'd go to the Telegraph Road access instead of going down to Gordon.

While PWC schools aren't rated as high as FCPS, it's still rated very well.

PWC also has had great job growth: Prince William gets national nod for job growth | InsideNova.com (http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/prince_william_gets_national_nod_for_job_growth/60684/ - broken link)

Here is an interesting blurb about Dale City (a section of Woodbridge, VA): Where homes are affordable - Dale City, VA (15) - Money Magazine

Great info!! Thanks!

[NYmama2dallas]

Originally Posted by back2cos

Hi and Thanks soo much everyone!! I'm grateful for all the suggestions and happy to have more things to research...

NYmoma2dallas, I def. get your point which is why this is a hard decision to make. Yes, we are very fortunate for where we are and don't have any complaints about our standard of living (N. Florida
~ work at NAS Jax), but my husband has really hit a glass ceiling and has been itching to to move forward in his career for a while now. At his level, with over 20 years experience, the majority of career options for him are going to be in and around DC because he's a civil servant. As far as the pay goes here, he is maxed at his currently pay level which means no more raises~ AT ALL~ for at least a few years until the pay scale catches up to him plus the work is mundane and unchallenging now and no where to promote to. That part stinks. He is the sole bread winner, so I value his career concerns and goals.

I think the pay he would be starting at for Ft. Belvior is a bit low for the area, but at least he would be back to the start of a new pay scale with the opportunity for raises again and the work is very exciting to him (Defense Logistics Agency). Admittedly, I am not entirely positive what we could afford for a home taking into account real estate taxes, etc., but I know I don't want to be "house poor" either....perhaps we may be able to reach closer to $400K, but I dont' think that makes a huge difference in NOVA ;-)

While I'm on a role here, LOL, just want to mention that what some may consider the "best schools" statistically aren't always what I would consider the best. Right now we are in the Best Schools area, and while test scores, stats. are good, the environment isn't necessarily what I would call the best (overcrowding, over-privledged kids and recreational drug use).

Oh I totally understand where you are coming from (and only you know whether it is worth it to stay in Florida with no raises for a few years vs moving. Can he negotiate to come in higher than Gs whatever, step 1 based on experience or anything?

Here is what the cost of living calculator estimates:
A salary of $100,000 in Jacksonville, Florida should increase to $159,059 in Alexandria, Virginia
Jacksonville U.S. Avg. Alexandria
» Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed
Cost of Living IndexesJacksonvilleAlexandria Overall85135 Food10299 Housing57206 Utilities8998 Transportation10693 Health10198 Miscellaneous10198


edited to add: Look in Burke, also. There might be some nice townhouses in that price range, or older smaller SFH. Very good schools and a decent commute.

[Mrs. Hos]

My husband works at Ft. Belvoir. We live slightly north of the Aquia area in Stafford. Actually we live right outside the gate to Quantico MCB off of exit 150. We lived in a townhome in Lake Ridge for 2 years before buying our house and honestly, his commute isn't much different. When traffic is bad, it's just bad regardless of which road you are travelling on. We live in a brand new neighborhood convienent to 95 and Rt. 1. I love our house. DH will be getting out of the Army soon and we will be staying here, because as you said, there are so many career opprotunites here!

[back2cos]

Originally Posted by dansuz1

Don't discount Manassas and Manassas Park. I live in the 20111 area of MP and we like it very much here. The house we bought is very much in your price range. The house is very nice, the lot is not so big, but there is enough neighborhood play area for our young kids to run around in.

I made the same insight you did regarding the "best" schools. The schools in MP and PWC are good. Don't let folks talk you into more house than you want.

When I drive to Fort Belvoir in the early morning (around 6 am) it takes me about 35 minutes.

I say you guys should go for it. We were coming from the same kind of situation when we moved here, and wanted the same basic things. We are a one-income Civil Servant family as well.

Good luck,

Dan

Wow~ Thanks for letting me know....my husband has done early shifts alot (flex schedules) to avoid the more congested traffic times and has no problem leaving at 5am for an early shift to work if it would make the difference in where we could live.

I'm all for decent schools, but my kids are very self-motivated and I know would do well in school no matter where they went, just as long as it is a safe and supportive environment ;-) Test scores and such don't matter to me as much...been there/done that LOL.

Yard size doesn't matter to us really....as long as we have some little space of our own is all...we've been in postage sized lots (.18 or so) the past two houses (13 years) and now~ with all the heat in FL and grass cutting~ kinda wish our lot was even smaller!

Thanks again Dan I am going to share w/the husband right now

[CaliTerp07]

FYI, I work for DLA as a contractor. If you have specific questions, I have a lot of contacts I can reach out to.

Ironically, my DLA boss just moved from Virginia to Florida (the reverse of you guys)--he was sick of the rat race up here, and took a job with Disney

[back2cos]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

FYI, I work for DLA as a contractor. If you have specific questions, I have a lot of contacts I can reach out to.

Ironically, my DLA boss just moved from Virginia to Florida (the reverse of you guys)--he was sick of the rat race up here, and took a job with Disney

Yep that's definitely a slower pace! My husband knows people who work there, but the pay is supposedly awful.....you get great benefits though

[back2cos]

Originally Posted by NYmama2dallas

Oh I totally understand where you are coming from (and only you know whether it is worth it to stay in Florida with no raises for a few years vs moving. Can he negotiate to come in higher than Gs whatever, step 1 based on experience or anything?

Here is what the cost of living calculator estimates:
A salary of $100,000 in Jacksonville, Florida should increase to $159,059 in Alexandria, Virginia
Jacksonville U.S. Avg. Alexandria Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed
Cost of Living IndexesJacksonvilleAlexandria Overall85135 Food10299 Housing57206 Utilities8998 Transportation10693 Health10198 Miscellaneous10198

Yep, good point, negotiations could be very helpful....we'll be trying!

The comps are a good tool, but Jax is really huge and prices are a bit lower.... actually, we don't even live in Jacksonville. We live in a higher cost, small city to the south (about 30 min.) from downtown Jax in Clay County. Our houses, real estate taxes and sales tax are much higher than in Jax ....7% sales tax and $5000 year property on a $275-$300K house, plus HOA, CDD fees and all. There isn't a calc. that has our town on it so it's hard to do an accurate comp for us. I don't think the discrepency would be as high as for Jax to Alexandria, maybe a good figure would be to split the diff. in half ?!?!?

[back2cos]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Hos

My husband works at Ft. Belvoir. We live slightly north of the Aquia area in Stafford. Actually we live right outside the gate to Quantico MCB off of exit 150. We lived in a townhome in Lake Ridge for 2 years before buying our house and honestly, his commute isn't much different. When traffic is bad, it's just bad regardless of which road you are travelling on. We live in a brand new neighborhood convienent to 95 and Rt. 1. I love our house. DH will be getting out of the Army soon and we will be staying here, because as you said, there are so many career opprotunites here!

Thanks!! Another area to check out It is hard to tell some of these areas exist~ I will try to find it looking near Quantico...

[tux]

I would seriously look at Aquia Harbour south. Your husband could ride the VRE to Lorton & then take the Fairfax Connector to the DLA. If your husband is a govie, he will get SmartBenefits from the Federal government. This will pay his public transportation costs. He will ride the VRE tax free.

Some contractors also offer this.