Want out of NY. (Arlington, Manassas: appointed, coupons, employment)

[Meandering]

Hi

Just want to point out that commute time in this area can really be dependent on when you leave for work.

For instance I live about 30 miles from my job in DC. If I want to be at work by 7am I give myself 45 min to get to work.

If I want to be at work by 8am, I give myself 90 minutes for the same commute.

I also am listening to our 24 hr traffic radio, and have an alternate route in mind just in case.

[GoRangers]

Thank you everyone for your input on traffic and commuting times, I do appreciate it. With that being said, could you please comment on PWC - particularly Haymarket and Gainsville which seem to be highly regarded in other forums, but other towns would be appreciated. I see the "small town" feel may not fit, but that is fine. We've seen a number of nice properties (in Gainsville and Haymarket) in PWC which were very reasonable in comparison to Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.

Thanks again everyone.

[Middlin]

Gainesville, Haymarket & Bristow tend to get lumped together since the close proximity to each other and the area is mostly families with kids. In Bristow alone there are six elementary schools which give an indication of the demographics of the area.

Small town? - as others have pointed out, NoVA is better known for suburban sprawl, but Warrenton has a quaint old town as well as Old Town Manassas and both are close by.

I will say that Atlas Walk development in Gainesville is very convenient. A variety of shopping needs, places to eat, etc. This area could do w/o the abundance of chain restaurants and currently there is no higher end shopping. If your needs are Target, Lowes, Best Buy, BJ's etc you are in luck. You can take the train from Old Town Manassas to get to NY or Charlottesville which is convenient.

If you search the forum using any of three names you'll find a lot more information. I will say that a college age kid or recent grad would find this area really, really boring. The commute into DC is fairly brutal from this area unless you are willing to leave very early. NoVA is a mecca of jobs, so I wouldn't necessarily bank on the fact that the kids would have to work in DC or even Arlington.

[VRE332]

You're probably going to pay 1/3 the taxes in virginia than you did in NY.

[Middlin]

PW rate is 1.28 per $100 of assessed value. The assessments can run as much as 10% below whatever you will pay for a house.

[chariega]

Honestly, I'd consider Richmond--there are plenty of neighborhoods with the small town feel, but you still have access to cultural activities, great restaurants and shopping in Richmond and only 1.5 hours from DC, attractions of VA beach area, and you're not far from the mountains and all the universities out west.

The cost of living is much cheaper and for $400k you'd get a lot more for your money.

Are you specifically looking to move for the sake of the kids to have access to DC? From the kids' perspective, it might get a little bit annoying for your kids to commute every day from PWC or Loudoun into the city, or anywhere that has the small town feel in NoVA. Not many kids in their 20s would be happy about living that far from town and would probably find apts closer in eventually anyway. Using the house as home base to search for jobs would be fine, but chances are they'd move after they found a job in the city if you're living too far out.

[GoRangers]

Our kids will move out eventually, probably to DC, Arlington, or Alexandria. As our kids are older, we would like to be far enough from DC, but close enough (if that makes sense) without the two hour drive (minus rush hour). PWC seemed to fit that criteria. We still want a family friendly town close enough to shopping, dining, etc., while still being able to go into DC for the day.

At this point, I would like to focus on PWC, so the more info you can give us about PWC, the better. Thanks.

[Meandering]

Check out Manassas old town area and the area around Yates Ford road/PWC parkway.
The VRE is 5-10 min away, it is equidistant to I95/66 and there are some back roads you can take to DC.
Nice big houses and lots.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by GoRangers

Our kids will move out eventually, probably to DC, Arlington, or Alexandria. As our kids are older, we would like to be far enough from DC, but close enough (if that makes sense) without the two hour drive (minus rush hour). PWC seemed to fit that criteria. We still want a family friendly town close enough to shopping, dining, etc., while still being able to go into DC for the day.

At this point, I would like to focus on PWC, so the more info you can give us about PWC, the better. Thanks.

I just want to point out a difference between DC and NYC - it's possible it won't really be DC that anyone is commuting to for any reason. In NY the city is the center of everything - people go to "the city" for entertainment, work, etc. In Nova it isn't quite like that. Lots - maybe even most - people commute to other parts of nova rather than directly to DC. And I don't know anyone who doesn't live in DC who goes there regularly for entertainment purposes. In fact, I"ll wager most people in the area rarely if ever go into DC. If you told someone here that you were going into "the city" they wouldn't even know where you meant. So proximity to dc is not really such a big factor. Also, the metro here runs into the suburbs, and for occasional trips into the district it is usually easier to just drive to a metro.

Haymarket is more like small-town upstate NY than other parts of nova. Think 2 hours north of the city, and that's a reasonable approximation of Haymarket in terms of density and overall appearance. I think housing might be a little more expensive than upstate NY, but of course the taxes are lower. Gainesville is suburbia, not small-town. It's spread out strip malls, newer housing developments - long on convenience, short on charm. However, it does offer easy access to both the east and the west, provided you avoid the heaviest rush hour traffic (shouldn't be an issue for retired people - that's why there is a very large retirement community there). The advantage to Gainesville is that it is right on the border with the more rural areas (just a few minutes closer in than Haymarket), so it offers rural small-town charm if you drive a few minutes one way and job opportunities and probably younger family members if you drive the other way. Development is happening fast in that area, though, and Haymarket is just down the road from Gainesville, so it might not belong before urban sprawl eats up the area between them and they become indistinguishable from each other. Either one would work as far as location in relation to where your children will likely be working and living.

[VRE332]

If you're 55+ years young then you should consider this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...rJZEQbvvXdpWGQ