Family-friendly neighborhood within 30 min commute of Countryside (Sterling) (Alexandria, Reston: 2014, apartment complexes)

[Bubblace]

Hi. This is my very first post, and I thank you all in advance for your responses.

After 11 happy years in Alexandria, we have decided to move closer to my husband's job, located at Countryside in Sterling. Since we won't know anybody and have an 18-month old, we're looking for a family-friendly neighborhood where we can meet other parents of small children and make some friends.

Our goal is to be within a 30-minute commute radius from Countryside (off Rt. 7). We'll need a single family home in a price range hopefully in the 700's.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Please don't say something like "Ashburn" because that is too huge of an area... I'm looking for names of specific developments/neighborhoods/communities within places like Ashburn, Leesburg, Cascades, Brambleton, Broadlands, Chantilly, Great Falls, etc.

I look forward to your responses!

[Margery]

You can find great homes in the 20165 zip code, even some close enough to walk to work in Countryside. There are some nice homes there but they are 20+ years old. Try the Potomac Lakes section of Cascades, my daughter lives on Cutwater and there are many small children there and an active network of moms that carpool, arrange playdates and have neighborhood parties. Cascades has a great website, cascadesva.com, you can access back issues of the monthly newsletter for more community information. I have lived in the area since 1992 and can highly recommend it, close to shopping, great restaurants and plenty of activities for the whole family.

[mroy]

Hello - I absolutely agree about looking in 20165, I really like Cascades in particular due to the newer construction and school pyramid. There is a Sterling Mom's club and tons of activities for moms and young kids, and Margery is very right about the neighborhoods being tight knit with things like block parties, book clubs, etc. you could get a very nice single family home these days for $700K.

If you want newer construction you could go further down Rt 7 to Lansdowne, or over to Ashburn and still be within a 20 min or so commute to Sterling.

[MortgageMom]

I am in Belmont Country Club (20147) and absolutely adore it. We moved from Reston in 2003 when I was pregnant with our second child. My kids are now 2 and 4 and they must have 20+ kids on our street to play with.

Most of our neighbors have small children and everyone is extremely friendly and down-to-earth (suprising for a gated, country club community). There is an active Mom's Group and the club always has family-oriented events. If you ever want to come out and take a look around, feel free to contact me directly.

[nmlarkin]

Does anyone know of any mom's groups in the McLean area?

[5stones]

Belmont CC, landsdowne, Cascades, Potomac Falls (leesburg), Rasberry falls (leesburg)

There are a ton...just google the areas. I take it you are intereseted in a new plannned commnunity? There are just too many to name between Ashburn and Leesburg. All a great family areas with lots of animenties. All are within 30 min of countryside.

Plus...with the market you can probably get a VERY nice huge McMansion for 550-600k.

[Bubblace]

This is all terrific information. But I find it interesting that no one is really suggesting Leesburg too much. Does Ashburn really have more to offer than Leesburg? I get mixed reviews when I ask various people. Some say Leesburg is terrific, but others say to stay away from it. Any thoughts?

[dullnboring]

Originally Posted by Bubblace

This is all terrific information. But I find it interesting that no one is really suggesting Leesburg too much. Does Ashburn really have more to offer than Leesburg? I get mixed reviews when I ask various people. Some say Leesburg is terrific, but others say to stay away from it. Any thoughts?

Leesburg and Ashburn came to be very differently. Ashburn is a planned community, largely started from scratch, with few homes or buildings that have been around for longer than 15 years old. It sprouted up in your quintessential planned suburban fashion with a series of strip malls, no town center, heavily residential, and nicely landscaped. Leesburg is an older town, one that until around 20 years ago, was pretty independent from the rest of the DC area. It's only been since then that the sprawl has made it's way out that way. Leesburg has an actual somewhat high-density urban core with a traditional downtown which makes it unique amongst the rest of Loudoun County's suburbs. Due to taxation and space issues, many of the newer developments, in terms of home and retail, situation themselves outside of the town limits but within the Leesburg postal codes. That means that some of the older areas of downtown Leesburg, are, well, older. Some homes, apartment complexes and businesses appear a bit outdated and in disrepair. The higher-density living attracts more renters and a lower income bracket as it enables commuting to work without a car (many can walk to their jobs at the local strip malls or take the bus elsewhere). Leesburg is still a nice town, within the town limits and outside of it, but Ashburn is basically uniformly cookie cutter and middle class and upwards. Leesburg doesn't have any ghettoes by any means, but it has some scruffier sections, whereas Ashburn has none.

As far as other advantages of Leesburg over Ashburn; well, housing is cheaper. That's probably the biggest thing, although the differences in cost aren't as pronounced as they used to be. I'd also say that Leesburg has more retail within it's boundaries. Ashburn is largely residential with a handful of large strip malls within each of it's communities where you get your daily needs met (i.e. grocery stores, video stores, barbershops, banks, coffee, fast food, etc.) but little in the way of major big box stores which will require a trip into Sterling or Dulles for the most part (which is really only a 10 minute trip so it's not a huge deal), whereas Leesburg has a bit of it out there.

[Bubblace]

Thanks, dullnboring. You're a wealth of information!

[mroy]

Another thing I would look into as you review communities in Loudoun County are the specific schools in each neighborhood. These days it is very easy to do your research. You can get test scores and ratings on greatschools.net. You can review the Boundry Maps - just google Loudoun County boundry maps. Look carefully at which communities feed into each middle and high school. That should help your decision somewhat. There are a few highly rated high schools in Loudoun - check the Newsweek article that ran earlier this year.

If you are looking in the newer areas of Ashburn (broadlands, brambleton, etc) and outer areas of Leesburg, they are still building so expect the boundries to change down the road. The communities that are a little "older" and already built out have pretty well established boundries now.

Good luck!

PS - if you are looking in Sterling, try to get in the Riverbend MS, Potomac Falls HS district.