Moving to the Northern Virginia area for work in DC. (Dale City: house, neighborhoods)

[ACWhite]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I don't get the responses to her question. She said they want to buy an SFH with a $2K a month payment (a $300K home maybe?). Talking about Falls Church, Crystal City, etc. isn't very helpful. Sounds like she needs someone familiar with PW County as that's where the homes in decent neighborhoods in that price range are.

If you'll look again, I was responding to claremarie re: Crystal City, etc., because her assertion of 45 mins. commuting time from Arlington really isn't correct for many parts of Arl. and many times of the day.

If you have followed threads like this, I'm sure you know that many times posters who are moving from other parts of the country begin with one price range and a wish list and simply do not know what the boots-on-the-ground tradeoffs (particularly long commutes into DC) are, until people comment. So they need to know this info, and they may want options that they have not yet considered. Many times people come back and say they are changing their price range because they don't like what they would have to give up from their wish list. Or, they decide that what they thought would be an hour's commute will likely be twice that, and that the homes they were considering are out of the question. Or, they may decide to rent rather than buy, or something else.

I think all comments that respond with factual information are potentially helpful, but that's really up to the OP to decide.

[fiddlestick]

From what I've seen and from what other people say, Woodbridge seems very crappy. I have seen a few decent neighborhoods but thats about it. Am I wrong? Is there a nice part of Woodbridge?

[hollyetz]

We're moving to West Springfield next week and the homes in that area are closer to $500k but the area is nice and the schools are good. Good luck with your search!

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by fiddlestick

From what I've seen and from what other people say, Woodbridge seems very crappy. I have seen a few decent neighborhoods but thats about it. Am I wrong? Is there a nice part of Woodbridge?

Tell us what you've seen, where you've been, etc. so I can get an idea of what your definition of "nice" is. Nice is rather subjective for each person.

For instance, my coworker lives in Fairfax and in his neighborhood he still has people with Christmas lights up and a house decorated in all Redskins colors and paraphenalia. His other neighbor has junk cars on the side yard, and another neighbor has no dirt in his yard. I don't think that looks nice and I have seen a couple of places in Woodbridge that look like that. It's EVERYWHERE.

So, in Woodbridge, I think all of the neighborhoods off Cardinal Drive are nice.
I think all of the neighborhoods off Old Bridge are nice with the exception of a group of places off of Clipper Drive.

I think all of Montclair is nice (admittedly that's Dumfries).

90% of the houses of Minnieville Road past Cardinal are nice.

There are some spotty areas in the "A" and "B" sections of Dale City.

Marumsco Hills and back behind Marumsco Plaza are funky as is most of the stuff south of Belmont Bay.

To me, that is a smaller percentage of the entity of Woodbridge and by no means the norm.

[Sparklekitty]

I live in a very nice area of western Prince William county. Off of Yates Ford/Davis Ford Road.

10 minutes to the VRE in Manassas. Look there.

[Sparklekitty]

P.S.

I agree with some of the negative comments about Woodbridge.

[claremarie]

Well, you're not going to find a SFH in Fairfax County for under $350K, unless it is a teardown. If you really want a house with a yard, you'll have to go further out.

[Lemming95]

Think more about your commute then a large lot. If you are never home it's hard to appreciate the extra space.
Springfield has some homes on the market that have nearly 1/2 acre lots around 420 -450k My math says that is over a 2000 a month for payment and taxes are going to bring the payment up. But Springfield has the Metro and VRE rail line.

As far South as you were looking you would want to take the train out of Fredericksburg or try the sluglines from Woodbridge.

[Flamingo13]

Back to the OP - how on earth can anyone ask about prices a year and half out?

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by ACWhite

If you have followed threads like this

Sorry, I haven't followed many threads like this. They're usually more responsive to the OP's situation.