Relocating to Fairfax (Arlington, Falls Church, Orange: renting, house, theater)

[cypher101]

Hello all,

I have accepted a new job offer and am relocating to Fairfax, VA from College Park, MD. Initially, I thought I would be able to make the daily commute but realize being stuck on the Beltway for 2hours everyday isn't going to be too appealing. So I need a nearby area (Dunn-Loring Metro stop is literally 2 blocks away from workplace so Metro/Commuting are both viable options), targeted towards young professional/grad student crowd (mid20s+), my ceiling is 1300ish rent/month.

Ideally, I would like to stay near the Orange Line. So any advice on places to hit/avoid would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Southside906]

For your case, you may want to look at East Falls Church. Its only a couple metro stops away from work and downtown Falls Church has the State Theater (club) along with a few bars.

If you want to go even further toward the city anywhere from Courthouse to Ballston metro could work. Lot of hip night spots.

Above all else, I'd recommend renting part of a house if you are in your 20's. Not only is it almost usually under 1,000 utilities included it also provides a way of meeting some new people.

[cypher101]

Thanks for the advice. Couple followups. Is there a reverse commute from College Park/Greenbelt to Fairfax? Also, is relying on the metro a feasible alternative (mind you this is from the start of the Green line (Greenbelt) to pretty much the end of the Orange Line (Dunn-Loring). Google maps and the metro estimator indicate an hour to possibly hour and half commutes so I was wondering if this was accurate, especially during the morning/afternoon rush hours.

[CaliTerp07]

You really don't want to stay in college park. There's no way to make it a reverse commute, and that's a long metro ride. I would move to somewhere in Arlington (or falls church) on the orange line, grab some roommates somehow, and have a nice commute to work with time for a social life after work.