Large Family with Special Needs moving to NOVA (Annandale, McLean: real estate market, 2013)

[pkburris]

I've been reading A LOT of threads on best places to live. However, our situation is unique in that we are a large family with 8 people. We have six adopted children with special needs ranging from deaf, severe heart condition, ADHD/Fetal Alcohol, Motor Sensory and a gifted child. We currently live in Seattle area by Joint Base Lewis McChord. Husband is getting relocated to the Pentagon for a few years. We need a large enough home to accommodate our family, in a good school district due to the special and gifted needs of our children, and close enough to therapy since I take my kids to Speech, Physical, and Occupational therapy weekly. Of course we don't want husband to be commuting hours a day, but we recognize that due to our family circumstances, commute time may be lower priority whereas good medical, therapy and schools convenient and close may be higher priority. Our daughter is also going to be having a number of reconstructive surgeries for her ears since she has Microtia/Atresia and is deaf. Therefore, there will be a number of surgeries in our near future. Also, our two deaf children have recently been implanted with cochlear implants, but both adopted from Thailand and China so very delayed and behind in language. I do know the area has excellent deaf programs.

I recognize you can get more house farther out you go like in Stafford area, but I also do not know what medical resources we can find. Any help in detecting the best area for our family would be greatly appreciated. I've looked at the closer communities like Falls Church, Annandale, McLean, etc. but the cost of the homes and the size just doesn't seem reasonable. For the best medical, is it best to look North, South, or West of DC? We haven't heard good things about MD due to the school system not being in par with VA, and the crime rate. But, any suggestions for MD is also appreciated. Thank you all for your input.

[acgood]

I would think your target medical institutions would be Johns Hopkins / Krieger (Baltimore), Children's (DC), and/or INOVA Fairfax (VA). Have you talked to your current specialists about where they would recommend your kids get medical care in our region? I would start with that question and move on to housing, etc after that.

[stpickrell]

If your husband works at the Pentagon, the only decent commutes would be from places in Prince George's I would not recommend due to school concerns. However, there are areas of Prince George's (such as Bowie) I would be fine with, school-wise.

I also wouldn't dismiss Montgomery, Howard, Frederick, or Anne Arundel out of hand.

But with that said we would need to know your budget, house size, and lot size needs. If you're going to want a 5BR new place for $350k on 1+ acres, then welcome to Spotsylvania more than likely. If you're fine with an older 4BR place on a quarter acre and have a budget of $450k, you have more options.

[Fallout Zone]

To get good feedback from this board, you should probably also indicate the price range and housing size you are looking for.

Kudos on your family situation. I married into a family with two adopted special needs children, and have seen firsthand how difficult it can be.

[Nova Mom]

Montgomery County in Maryland has an excellent reputation and is often compared to Fairfax County in Virginia. Actually the school system in Maryland, as an overall state, ranks higher than Virginia, according to Education Week. Check out the below link.

Education Week ranks Maryland schools No. 1, Virginia schools No. 4 | WJLA.com

Having lived in both Fairfax County and Prince William County and having Twice-Exceptional children that received excellent services through Special Education and the Gifted program, I would recommend both counties.

Fairfax and Prince William both have commuter buses that go directly to the Pentagon. It is a sweet commute when someone can just walk a couple of blocks to a bus stop that takes them to work.

The Western end of Prince William County has many high ranked schools but, a commute from the western end is almost as bad a commute from Stafford. Also, you will have to likely drive further for the variety of medical services that your children require. The "better" elementary schools on the Eastern end of Prince William are concentrated in Lake Ridge and Westridge and the commuter bus to the Pentagon has many stops within/near these communities, especially, Lake Ridge.

[pkburris]

Thank you everyone. Right now we are looking at renting with MAX rent being 2800/mth. Hoping for a 5/6 bed but okay with no less than a 4. Kids will have to share but makes it tough with some of them due to their special needs. But some homes have 4 bedroom with office that we could convert. Not looking for a HUGE lot, but definately want a lot where the kids can go out, be safe and have fun. Also need to mention have a Standard Poodle, but he is a service animal for our deaf kids so would not fall under the normal pet policy. Probably 1/2 acre would be in our range of lot size, but all the better to find an acre plus (which isn't going to be easy closer to DC). If we decide to buy, which considering we will only be there about 3.5 years MAX, budget would be no more than 550k. But, just doesn't make sense to us to buy since we do not know how quickly homes move in the real estate market out there, and of course that all depends on the area you are in. We could find this in the Stafford area, but concerned we may have tougher time selling in that area. Also, does Stafford/Fredericksburg have decent medical? I will look in to the suggestions for the MD area that people have suggested. I do suspect being military they may require us to go to Walter Reed for her surgeries, etc. so may be beneficial to not rule out MD. In particular, we need cochlear mapping and audiology services on a quarterly basis. Speech/OT/PT therapy weekly.

[claremarie]

Agree that you need to pin down the location(s) for your regular medical/therapy sessions first. The surgeries are a different issue -- unless your child will be hospitalized for long periods of time, it probably doesn't make sense to base your housing decision on the location of the hospital.

You might consider posting some of your questions (on schools and medical services) here. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/36.page This forum seems to attract people with very granular knowledge about all kinds of issues, especially special and gifted education.

[pamnbam]

I lived in Stafford for years and loved it. You can probably find a house of that size in your price range. The school system is fairly good and might be a good fit for your kids' needs. There are decent hospitals in the Stafford area, but I always took my son to the better Children's Hospital office in Fairfax for his appointments. Might be too much running around for your needs. There are OT and speech therapy offices in North Stafford, but we had issues with the OT office billing-wise and stopped going (said they'd give us a payment plan then reneged and wanted all the $$ at once and threatened to take us to court). The therapists were great, though. In terms of your husband's commute, he can expect at least 1.5 hours each way in rush hour traffic unless he carpools ("slugs" or takes the commuter train).

You will likely get the best school services in the Fairfax County school district. There are also lots of private OT and speech services there. Inova Fairfax is a good hospital and Children's in DC has a satellite office of specialists there. Hopkins is really good, too, but is in Baltimore, MD. Fairfax may be a better fit for your needs but your price range may be too low for the size house you want. Your husband's commute is likely to be better depending on the side of Fairfax you look at, but you have both the Metro system and closer distance on your side. Good luck!

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by claremarie

Agree that you need to pin down the location(s) for your regular medical/therapy sessions first. The surgeries are a different issue -- unless your child will be hospitalized for long periods of time, it probably doesn't make sense to base your housing decision on the location of the hospital.

You might consider posting some of your questions (on schools and medical services) here. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/36.page This forum seems to attract people with very granular knowledge about all kinds of issues, especially special and gifted education.

Great post but C-D won't let me rep you

[pkburris]

yes, I've been looking for rentals in Fairfax but having a very hard time finding something in our price range...HUGE bummer!