Job in Arlington. Looking for suburban living without long commute. (McLean: houses, housing)

[claremarie]

...

OP, I agree that if you didn't like Bethesda, you aren't going to like Arlington or any parts of Fairfax County within your preferred commuting time.

[stpickrell]

Take the job in Ashburn and live in Leesburg.

You won't find much in the way of small towns within a 30 minute commute and you probably won't like what you can find for 500k in Arlington/inner Fairfax.

[Fallout Zone]

Man, is this a concerted effort to scare off new people?

I am from a 50k town, and went to another of the same size for college. There was some culture shock coming out here, but it isn't like Nashville is a podunk city. Even if the OP lives in the burbs, she has experience with large metro areas.

I'm not sure the OP's general ideas are that far out of the realm, they just have to be somewhat adjusted. My guess is that the bulk of Bethesda that the OP saw was the Wisconsin Ave. area, which is basically just an outward extension of downtown. Spending any time in the wooded cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods nearby may have given her a different idea.

I'm not going to talk about Ashburn because others know way more about out west. I work in Ballston, so I have a very good frame of reference there. Your zone for a 30-45min commute is actually further out than where I live, and I'm in a quiet suburban area. My next door neighbor is a SAHM.

The keys for working in Ballston and living elsewhere: 1) You aren't going to find what you want in Arlington or McLean or Falls Church City. Just too expensive. 2) Your husband can't use I66 during HOV hours inside of the Beltway (495). 6:30-9am in the morning and 4-6:30pm in the afternoon. 3) Parking at the metro and riding a few stops might be ideal in your case. The metro stops to look at are West Falls Church, Dunn-Loring, and Vienna/Fairfax.

If you look at school rankings, they are pretty much dead in line with demographics. The more non-native speakers, the worse the scores on tests and sites like GreatSchools. It doesn't mean that they are bad schools, and northern VA schools are generally considered among the best in the nation.

The advantages to living around here are the great job opportunities, the great schools, the amount of stuff nearby (I can get to about 8 grocery stores in less than 10 minutes drive from my house), and the cultural attractions (free museums, good public parks). And crime rates are low considering the population.

The disadvantages really center around the amount of people that live here - primarily traffic and cost of housing. The concern I would have for you is if your kids are very active in out-of-school activities, you may be frustrated driving them all around in traffic. Maybe some parents could chime in on this.

Again, I'm not certain that the fast-paced lifestyle is a huge concern for you, if you can find a house in a quiet area. The housing stock if your husband is in Ballston will mainly be 1950s-1970s builds. I love my solid as a rock 1965 house, but others insist on newer build. That might be a dealbreaker for you, or at least shove you well out west.

[choff5]

Originally Posted by ARFJ

What about the Ashburn area? He has another potential job in that area.

The Ashburn job location would give your family the closest to your parameters. As others said, you can go west from there, hopefully still be in the commuting time as well as house price. Loudon County Schools are excellent.

While it sounds like there is a lot about this metro area that doesn't fit your comfort zone, remember there is a wealth of opportunities for your family to explore. The museums are incredible, free as part of the Smithsonian. You probably won't be going into DC a lot but the fact is you can. What others come here to visit as tourist is yours for the taking whenever you want. Best of luck with your choice.

[Fallout Zone]

10161 TAPESTRY Ct, FAIRFAX, VA 22032 | MLS# FX8094099 | Redfin

Just an example from a housing search. Probably 15 minute drive to the metro, another 15 minutes on the train to Ballston. Or alternatively, a 40-ish minute drive.

However, the other posters are right. If the Ashburn location gives your husband the same pay and same opportunities, you will probably feel more at home out west.

[NC211]

OP: I've toured Nashville in the past for my job. Ashburn/Leesburg area would be comparable to Franklin south of Nashville. Suburban Class A office parks, new development going on, family suburb living. I can assure you that Arlington isn't what you're looking for to replace what you've got now, given your earlier comments. Go Ashburn for the job, and you will have several options that would be a better fit for what you're looking for, and what you're used to. Google these phrases to give you some visual ques to the area: "Brambleton", "Broadlands", "Leesburg", "Purcellville", "Sterling", "Dulles". Go onto realtor.com and search zip codes 20148 and 20147. Download Google Earth to your computer and use it as well, it'll help tremendously!

Housing is tight here, and getting tighter. That's why we have new neighborhoods popping up all over the place from many national builders (and some local). Google "Van Metre", "Toll Brothers", "Miller and Smith", "Lenar", "Brookfield", "Pulte", "Stanley Martin" to help give you an idea of their developments in the area.

While Nashville isn't the back of the sticks, you won't be hearing Brooks & Dunn giving TSA announcements at the airport either (always chuckled when I went to Nashville over that). As you should expect from a town that happens to be the capital of the United States of America, it is a very diversified region, which can be quite refreshing. Ashburn is a well educated and comfortably wealthy area, where family comes first to many of us, if not the majority. There are kids crawling all over the place! So much so, that even if you're like me, someone who loves kids (I have two, 5 & 2), even I get tired of hearing them rooting around my garage refrigerator looking for juice boxes and planting their cute little sweaty faces on my back door windows looking for my 5 year old. I may have 2, but it feels like 12 sometimes with all of the neighborhood kids who seem to roam in packs. By sunset, our driveway looks like Toys R Us threw a bomb in our garage. But, the kids love it, so whatcha' gonna do...

24 months ago, $500k was the sweetspot on price for around Ashburn. That's gone up now to around $600k. You can still get in for $500k, but it'll most likely be an older home built in the 90's. The further west you go from "Brambleton" towards Leesburg, the better the odds are. Go further west of Leesburg towards Purcellville, and you'll probably find exactly what you're describing. It's nice there! Ashburn is realizing around a 12% annual appreciation rate on housing prices right now. Loudoun County in general is one of the tightest housing markets in the nation, easily in the top 3 in this regard. If you find one you like, you need to be prepared to pay at least 98% of what they're asking for it, and quickly. Seriously, my neighbor sold his house 2 weeks ago within 8 hours for full asking price. He bought it new from the builder 12 months ago. He cleared over 13% in profit in that short timeframe without having to do a single thing to the house as delivered from the builder.

Be warned though, Ashburn has a nickname, "cAshburn", and it's appropriate at times. Look at Google Earth. See that stretch of road that looks like a highway from Dulles Airport to Leesburg, called 267? That puppy is called the Greenway, and it's owned by a private outfit in Australia, and it's the biggest scam in town. At rush hour, it currently costs $5.90 to travel on it one-way, regardless if you're going from Leesburg to Dulles (end points), or from exit 7 to exit 6 two miles down the road. Off peak times, I think it's $4.90 one-way. Not sure what you're husband does for a living, or where he'll be located, but if you have to travel the Greenway, budget for it on an annual basis. Factor in $500/month on the highside to be safe. There is Rte. 7 to it's north, the other main arterial roadway that'll lead you all the way from Leesburg into DC. It gets heavy during rush hour, but it's free.

You also have areas south of Brambleton you can look at too. Google "Aldie", "South Riding", to give you an idea. On Google Earth, look at the southern edge of Dulles Airport. You'll see Rte. 50 running east/west. The further west you go, the better the odds in finding what you want. You can also google "Haymarket", but that's about 30 minutes away from Brambleton (Dulles airport) to the SW. Nice area though! Toll Brothers is heavy down there.

Good luck! I know the shoes you're in (we're from NC originally, burbs of Raleigh). We love Ashburn/Brambleton.

[airjay75]

Originally Posted by NC211

You can still get in for $500k, but it'll most likely be an older home built in the 90's.

This line made me chuckle. Having only searched for housing in Fairfax county, I would consider a home built in the 90s as a fairly new home. Really, if you're talking about SFHs, even an 80s home is not very old in Fairfax county to me. A 70s home is pretty common (such as the one I just bought) as are even older homes in many areas. And, having moved here from the inner ring of Philadlphia's suburbs, the housing stock of Fairfax county overall feels much newer to me than it did in suburban Philadelphia. All one's perspective I suppose.

To OP - I agree with other's perspectives on here. I grew up mostly in small towns in Montana, Illinois, and Ohio. I lived in California and Philadelphia before moving here so NoVA hasn't really been an adjustment for me, but I think it would be pretty hard to replicate the small town feel here. I'm not real familiar with Loudon county, but it sounds like that might be your best bet - however, even there, I would fear that whatever small town atmosphere that currently exists there will be slowly swallowed up by suburban sprawl and expansion. That said, I think there are still neighborhoods in NoVA, even in Fairfax county and closer, that have a real sense of community and are great places to live. But, many things will be likely require an adjustment - the crowds, the congestion, the diversity, the cost of living, etc. I would not move here with any expectation of replicating the feel of a small town in middle America.

[ARFJ]

Thank you for all the advice. I am originally from MA and my husband is Canadian. We lived in Orlando for years before moving to Nashville, so we are prepared for the differences in culture. I am acutally looking forward to having more diversity again. What about areas west or southwest of Arlington? I agree that the Ashburn are might be where we would prefer, but we may not have the choice between jobs.

[CaliTerp07]

Areas southwest (I live in Burke, minivan central) and west are fine, but you will have a hard time finding your desired commute length to arlington within your budget.

[Fredesch]

Springfield, Annadale and Burke have metro bus lines that express to the pentagon metro. If you did something like that, the commute would approach an hour. 495 has HOT lanes you could take from Braddock Rd or you could go up 395 and cut up to the GW parkway. These commute times depend on where you are going, but it used to take me about 50 minutes to get to the courthouse area from Kings Park.