Searching for my first home in NOVA - advice on Sterling, South Riding/Chantilly, etc? (Arlington: renting)

[Liam O]

So I have lived in the DC/MD/VA area my whole life but I still don't really know 100% where I want to buy my first house. I live (rent) in West Springfield/Burke right now.

My price range is $425k-475k. I have a job in Arlington but might be working in DC soon. I'm okay with a commute up to about an hour, after that it gets iffy (the house would have to be really awesome).

I want a 3BR+, 2BA+, SFH pref but TH is okay. No condo. I can see what is around and available on all the realty sites but I wanted to post here because there are some things that are harder to find out that are high on my priority list (namely SCHOOLS, but also safety to a point).

I'd like to stay in FFX County but with my price range I am also willing to look at the closer areas in Loudoun County.

I don't know anything about Sterling except that the prices are great - which is usually indicative of some other major down side. I've searched the forum and come up with some useful information but I'm hopeful for some more advice.

What are the schools like in Sterling? What are they like vs. the Chantilly/South Riding area? vs. Fairfax County?

What's the market like in these places? Are places moving fast, or the opposite? Difficult to re-sell? Are there any macro-trends I should be aware of?

I mention safety because it's a primary concern but I'm pretty confident that most of these places will be pretty safe, however if that's not the case then please do mention it.

Thanks in advance for any advice or helpful suggestions you might have!

[hilsmom]

If I were commuting to DC, I would look closer in. How big is your family? I think 1 hour to DC from these places on a GOOD day is a stretch at rush times. Our house is in Greenbriar (22033 Fairfax zip code), we are right on the border of Chantilly. My husband commutes to Ashburn and I commute a couple days a week to Lorton. If we were commuting to DC, we probably would have picked a different search zone. It can be done, but I don't know if I would want to do it day in, day out.

It is too hard to say how the schools are in the entire area without focusing more on neighborhoods in general. Sterling and Chantilly (non-South Riding) are large areas with a wide range of neighborhoods, which will affect the neighborhood schools. Fairfax County schools and Loudoun County are good in general.

[Liam O]

Yeah, it's kind of difficult because I'm actually looking for a new job at the same time as I'm looking for a new home. I don't really know if I'll be working in DC - I work in the technology and non-profit sectors, so it's a likely destination, but I may just as well be in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax or Reston. Would be great if I could find work out in Reston.

But at any rate, because of this my search range is pretty wide right now. I'm on the "initial research" phase of a buy - I don't have anything rushing me but I'd like to start looking in earnest sometime in the next year. Hopefully by then I'll be settled at a new job but we'll see how that goes.

My wife works in Arlington and will probably be there at least the next 3-4 years, if not more.

Right now the family is just me, my wife, and our 5 month old daughter... but we hope that the house will find will be somewhere we can be the next 5-10 years, so we will likely have another child in that time frame.

Thanks for your input!

[hilsmom]

Reston to Arlington isn't so bad. I did that for almost 5 years. Things will start to change as the Metro line goes in - now you have to take a bus to West Falls Church. I even went downtown a couple times from there.

Trying to find a house somewhere between your jobs is ideal, obviously. It never hurts to start looking in various areas you think you MIGHT be interested in.

Is there a reason why Burke wouldn't work for you guys in the long run? I think I've seen people posting about getting houses in that price range in Burke recently.

I would attempt to be as close to public transportation options as possible. We have some park and rides nearby to our home in Greenbriar - haven't tried them yet. Maybe someone who has used them into DC can tell us what kind of commute you can expect? I also wonder if people use slugging to get into the HOV lanes on 66?

Aside from the traffic issues in our new neighborhood, we are pretty happy with the location. We can walk to the grocery store and several places to eat in our local shopping center, Fair Lakes is about a mile away, Fairfax Corner isn't far, we can walk to all 3 levels of public school and the library. I even enjoy that we can hear the games at Chantilly HS on Friday nights. You can definitely get a 4 BR house in our neighborhood in your price range. They aren't as new or big as the houses farther west, but I like not being completely car dependent.

[Caladium]

My first question is where were the places you saw in Sterling? Sterling is a huge area. It really should be broken into pieces, and would easily create 3-4 fairly large communities if it was.

If the prices were really low, you may have been looking at places in Sterling Park (the area near the DMV). If so, approach cautiously. Some parts of Sterling Park are great; others have petty crime issues. Parkview High School is usually at the bottom of the heap in ratings. Not that it's such a horrible school. Hey, somebody has to be the one at the bottom, but still if this is important to you it's something to think about.

[boyd888]

You should definitely take care of your job situation before looking at homes. There's nothing wrong with renting.

I say this because South Riding to DC will crush your soul, but South Riding to Reston isn't that bad. Do you like Springfield? There is plenty in that price range there and it somewhat centrally located in that you are like 15 miles from everything.

[stpickrell]

Agreed, get your job sorted out, especially if it's a job you will be at for several years. I work in IT, so (1) generic commute isn't as important since I usually change jobs every 3-5 years and (2) living in Loudoun isn't as bad since many of the IT jobs are in Tysons/Reston/Ashburn.

[geekocaster]

check out the schools in countryside/cascade/lowes' island at zipcode 20165.
the reason we chose that is because the boundaries were set for the most part and we knew exactly what school the kids would be going to. both my kids went from Kindergarten thru highschool (currenly a senior and sophomore) we've been happy with schools and the houses are in your price range. there's also the loudoun county commuter bus that picks up right in the neighborhood that will take you to the WFC Metro stop, and it's pretty cheap/nice. if you work in DC, it's a quick drive to the ashburn commuter lot to catch the LoCo bus that goes directly to the city.