SFH in Vienna (Burke, Reston, Centreville: for sale, real estate, house prices)

[mtrip22]

Can anyone give me some idea of the price for a SFH in Vienna. It is hard to look online as I don't know the area that great. Should he get the job DH would work in Fairfax right in the Pan Am Plaza (?) in Fairfax, zip 22031. How would the commute from Vienna be. After reading some threads on here it seems like Vienna is a nice town and on the map not to far from Fairfax.

[5stones]

around 500k for older smaller 3 bedroom. 600-700k for a bigger one that has been redone.
Oakton is nice too.

[saganista]

Pan Am Plaza is in Fairfax about half a mile from the southwest corner of the Vienna town line. Estimated commuting time...75 seconds if you catch the lights on Nutley Street. SFH prices do begin in the low 500's in Vienna and go up to...well, pretty high. For a good place to get a feel for what's on the market in Vienna right now at what sort of price, try...

Trulia - Real Estate, Homes For Sale, Sold Properties, Real Estate Maps

and type in Vienna, VA. Addresses that have a quadrant after them (NE-NW-SE-SW) are in the Town proper. Those that don't are in the environs. Houses in the northern quadrants (north of Route-123) will tend to be a little more expensive, those on the south side a little less so. Vienna is indeed a nice town. Very little not to like about it...

[mtrip22]

Can you explain what it meant when someone says Town proper. I don't think I have ever heard that term and just want to be sure I know what it means. TIA

[saganista]

Sure...unlike most areas in Fairfax County, Vienna is an incorporated Town with actually defined borders and it's own local government. If you live in the Town proper, you pay Town taxes in addition to County taxes. If you live in Vienna, but not in the Town proper, you pay only the County taxes, then you get to arrange and pay for things like trash, leaf, and junk removal all on your own. You don't get to vote in Town elections, and you might have to pay fees for some community services that Town residents don't have to pay for. The other potential difference is in school districts. Virtually all of the Town proper is in the Madison HS pyramid. Various areas just outside the Town are not. As Madison has a very solid reputation, this can make a difference to some...

[mtrip22]

Excellent explanation, thank you. I did a search on the website you posted for SFH and wow, we may not be able to afford something in this area. Well afford and settle I guess are two different things. We currently live in a 3000 square foot home that we built 3 years ago. 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths open floor plan very nice. We are definitely not going to afford that in this area from the looks of house prices. The homes I found looked to be older style homes possibly needing work/updating. Our first home was around 1800 square feet fixer upper and we only paid 94,500 for it. It is important to me to have some sort of home that I have been used to the last few years, close to his job with no more of a 45 minute to hour commute, safe, good schools, family friendly. Ugh, I am getting a little discouraged. He is there now and I am heading down to the area tomorrow to look around. This would be a good opp. for our family but just not sure what sacrifices I/we are ready to make regarding standard of living. Sorry to ramble, thanks for listening.

[saganista]

No problem. It's a relatively expensive area. You can cut into the prices some by moving further away from the Metro, but then the commute starts to become an issue. Another good place to look around if you have time is...

MilitarybyOwner.com - Real Estate near U.S. Military Bases

Select Virginia, then Fort Myer. You don't have to be military to use this site, but with so many military types coming and going, the site picks up some traffic that more traditional sites don't...

[5stones]

what price range are you looking into? for a house even close to what you have now you will have to go up to at least 700k more likely for new (under 5 years and 3000sqft) that's gonna run about 1mil in Vienna/Oakton.

Look in Clifton, Burke, kingstowne as well. These are a bit more affordable than Vienna.

so it comes down to give and take...what are willing to give up? space? newness of house? or commute time?

To get what you want in a house and school you will be out of a 30min commute. Chantilly & south riding area. But your commute will be longer. (ALOT longer) if you go out to South riding you could look in Brambleton a new development it's a bit futher but not much. (if you are into a 1 hour commute)

Reston is closer in but again you won't get a newer home for under 700k. around 500k will get you a bigger older home than in Vienna.



Have you thought about a TH? you may be able to get a nice TH in Vienna for around
450-500k but again it won't be under 5 years.

This area is crazy expensive.

[mtrip22]

We aren't ruling out a TH. I just want something that we don't have to fix up/update. We did that with our first home almost 10 years ago and just don't want to have to fix up again. I am not set on a brand new home but want something that is in great shape, more modern. We'll see. We are meeting with a realtor on Thursday. I have printed out a bunch of stuff from here so hopefully we can get a good look at some of the areas mentioned in this post and my other post. His hours would be somewhat flexible but I don't want more than an hour commute at the most. As for new homes in the 700s that is out of our price range. We are looking more at $450-$550k I am guessing.

[pwrl3ss]

You may want to also look at Centreville (20120). The area I lived in was called Sully Station II. Really close to I66 and RT28. I think SFH are in your price range but some (if not most) could be a bit older than 5+ years. With traffic, commute would be close to 40-45min. If there's no traffic at all, 20mins would be doable.