Va To Dc ~ Commuting Nightmare? (Arlington, Alexandria: house, neighborhood, to buy)

[winnie]

Originally Posted by VT Hokie 2007

hey, Winnie, genius, I was talking about living 30 minutes from DC and commuting. Learn to read.

Maybe you should have said so. Your post was pretty vague - you are talking to a person who commutes 1.5 hours a day IN NYC and say you have no sympathy for those stuck in traffic. Pretty dumb if you ask me.

And maybe your attitude regarding people who have to commute to work should change as well. If everone had live within 2 minutes of the subway there would be skyscrapers 2 miles high. SOME people like to give their family a better quality of life than a tiny 2 bedroom house in the armpit of a city.

[MaryBB]

And often times in NYC the cost of living within 10 minutes of your job is impossible for most working people. My father was a commuter on the LI railroad, working in NYC with 7 children to pay for I think we could not have lived with any quality of life in the city if there was any way possible to pay for it...

[VT Hokie 2007]

winnie, I'm sorry, I thought on the VIRGINIA board the original poster was asking about commuting from 30 miles outside of Virginia to D.C., which is what the poster in fact said. Maybe you should learn what "context" is.

And ya know something, I live 7 miles from D.C. and withing 5 minutes of 2 metro stops and the area I live in is wonderful. I'm sorry if NYC is a dump.

[winnie]

Originally Posted by VT Hokie 2007

winnie, I'm sorry, I thought on the VIRGINIA board the original poster was asking about commuting from 30 miles outside of Virginia to D.C., which is what the poster in fact said. Maybe you should learn what "context" is.

And ya know something, I live 7 miles from D.C. and withing 5 minutes of 2 metro stops and the area I live in is wonderful. I'm sorry if NYC is a dump.

Why not find somewhere else to spout your nasty attitude???

YOU might think where you live is wonderful. But I know personally that someone who has taken the time and commitment to commute 1.5 HOURS away from NYC cares a great deal about the quality of life for their family. And the OP wants to live 30 miles away from DC. I know why! My father did the same thing for me for 20+ years and there is noway in hell that I would dismiss him saying tough s#*% you deal with traffic!

In return for his sacrifices, I went to awesome, SAFE, schools and did not deal with any of the urban BS he dealt with growing up. Do you see where I am coming from???? Do you really think they need to hear your crap about having no sympathy for those "stuck in traffic"????

I ADMIRE people who sacrifice to give their family that bit extra. I am TERRIBLY sorry you don't.

[winnie]

So if you are a college grad, how can you comment on people's choices if they have a family to support??? (I am taking a wild leap and assuming you are single from what you have said)

I DO know what I am talking about. I have seen the prices of homes in the DC area - having helped several people try to relocate there, and I have seen the traffic there with my own two eyes. You will see, maybe when you have a family to support, the areas you thought were GREAT to live in as a single 21 year old don't seem so awesome when you are older. My husband is driving 1 hour each way to work to provide the kids with a better life. Else we could only afford a ghetto house if we had to live within a 15 minute drive. If I had no kids to think of things would be different.

[VT Hokie 2007]

That's funny. My middle class federal worker parents live in the EXACT same town I live in and manage just fine. But they do live in a modest house, drive pre-owned cars, take modest vacations, don't join country clubs, and send their kids to public schools. Oh yeah, they both have wonderful commutes, too. People manage.

[dreamfollower]

Hello, again. I am the original post and I thank you all for your honest and passionate opinions.

Yes, it is true that a home further out from DC is more within my budget. Looking closer to the DC area, from my viewing homebuilder sites on the net, I am looking at townhomes which are quite nice, but with a bit less privacy.

Naturally, being able to work in DC would be great, but since my work background is in Catering Sales/Event Planning, the VA suburbs also afford me a decent choice of employment venues.

If I am looking at DC, the key is to find housing as close to your transit stops as possible. The choices do become slimmer when dealing with a particular budget, but it is true that it always becomes a trade-off at some point.

Your comments have truly helped me get a good perspective on what to expect.

[Electron]

I'd rather spend a day at Starbucks with the college guy than get back in that traffic. I'll take a sharp stick in the eye over that traffic anymore.

[kitkatjmu]

Hokie 2007, you are giving Hokies a bad name! Be nice. I know you will have a comeback for this, just calm down. Life's too short to argue with somebody on a forum like this over irrelevant details just trying to show that you are right. Who cares!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Electron

Fear not. His punk ass gets out in the world looking for gainful employment, he'll settle down. Right now he's still a student, so he automatically knows it all.

Agree. He'll be fine. Right now he reminds me of that old Mark Twain quote:
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
- attributed by Reader's Digest, Sept. 1937. This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, but until the attribution can be verified, the quote should not be regarded as authentic. Source: twainquotes dottt kommm

s/Mike, been there, had that attitoood too at one time....