Moving to Winchester - where to live? (Reston, Harrisonburg: for sale, real estate)

[anniem18]

My husband and I are moving to Winchester in a few months and are unsure as to what neighborhoods to look closely at. We ideally would like a home with a few bedrooms and bathrooms (enough room for us both and our cats) that isn't too far outside of downtown. We would also like to have a decent sized yard. Additionally, it is very important to us that we are living in a nice and safe neighborhood.

We are looking to find a home for $300,000 or less. Any suggestions on where we should look and what parts of town we should consider?

Thanks for any help!

[goldenmom7500]

Can anyone help with Winchester???

[Robbie1]

I have lived in Winchester almost four years and love it. The developments surrounding the town are all easy access to shopping, hospital, etc. Housing prices are pretty high, but I would think for your price range you could find a nice home in Briarwood, Carlisle Hts, Soverign Village areas. These are nice areas in the North end of town and good schools. There are many developments in other areas as well surrounding town that are nice too and any of the realtors in town would be thrilled to find you a nice place -I wouldn't live in downtown Old Town though, or in the city school areas. Frederick county school districts are on the perimeter of town and that is where the developments are. There are also many homes scattered around the countryside. Rt. 50 E. is just beautiful.
I am not speaking as anyone who is prejudiced, but the influx of illegal immigrants has been a rising problem for the schools in the area, as well as a rise in crime. Don't get me wrong, it is still a wonderful place to live and the surrounding countryside is breathtaking. A twenty or thirty minute drive out of town and you are in absolute splendor. Moutains, vineyards, orchards, preserved battlefields, plantations, etc. For the price of housing, shopping, good schools, hospital, history, activities, art and beautiful scenery, you would be hard-pressed to find better in N.Va.

[cathy J.]

I have lived in Winchester since 1974 and pretty much what the above poster has said I agree with. But there are few things I have to add about Winchester and Frederick County...

For starters it is actually quite easy to find a place there. Not many places there do credit checks. My sister for example has HORRIBLE credit. Even been evicted from a few places. Yet she still had no problem finding a place to live in Winchester.

A married couple should have no problem finding a place in Winchester. Neither should a single person living by themself. However if a man/woman plans on moving to the area and plan to share a house with a bunch of their buddies, then they may have to consider moving elsewhere as both Winchester and Frederick County in recent months have put rules in to place that regulate how many unmarried adults can live in one home.
There is actually a debate as to why they are doing this. Some say its to target the growing number of hispanics moving to the area, others believe its a "gay" thing ( I have had many gay friends who have since left this area and they all swear Winchester is the most homophobic city out there, the local paper Winchester Star does shine some light on this ). And yet there are others who believe both the city and county want to control growth . I think the latter is the case.

As I said earlier I have lived in Winchester since 74, while it is a good area, it does have a few drawbacks. Winchester may very well have the worst public transportation system in the nation. For starters the buses dont travel into Frederick County which I believe is a major mistake.

In other threads I have read about the lack of traffic in Winchester. I beg to differ on this. For a town of 25,000 ( 40,000 if you add all the new developments that have been build around the city limits of Winchester ), Winchester does have it share of traffic woes. Enough so that most of the local radio stations there like WINC-FM were forced to start airing traffic reports.

Winchester is home of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. That is both good and bad. Good for all the money it brings to the area, bad if you have no interest in parades, carnivals, has-been celebrities ( Wayne Newton for example ), massive traffic or crowds. Banks, many retail stores and even schools shut down for this which makes Winchester a horrible place to do business for those few days in May.

Winchester area media is both good and bad. Winchester's radio scene is actually better than many large metro areas. The two newspapers, not so good. The Winchester Star is very ultra conservative while the Northern Virginia Daily tend to get graphic in their news coverage. Also forget getting a local Sunday paper there. Both papers refuse to publish on that "day of rest".

Televison in Winchester gets interesting. Last March Winchester got its first TV station. ABC 3 !!. There website is TV3 - Home Winchester - tv3winchester.com After years of being ignored by the TV stations in DC, Baltimore and even Hagerstown, Winchester finally has a newscast to call its own. But as always with the good comes the bad. Last year the FCC approved plans as a result of the debut of Winchester's channel 3 of taking Winchester and Frederick County out of the DC TV market and place it into nearby Harrisonburg's. Once that happens one might as well forget about watching any television out of Washington or Baltimore. Unless of course one plans on installing an antenna on top of their roofs, but be warned many homeowners groups in Frederick County have gone after those who chose that route. But then again local TV is among the least of one's concerns when moving to a new area.

Retail and restaurants in Winchester...all of the main stores are already there, if not they are coming soon. Same with restaurants. Winchester does have a nice sized mall..Apple Blossom Mall. However the mall's owners Simon is planning to re-do the mall into a mix of a lifestyle center and keeping a much smaller part inside. Rumor has it that Macys is coming to Winchester, which I am sure will please many.

Neighborhoods in Winchester, most I found to be not that bad. Yes there are a few rough spots but not a whole lot of them. And if one can't find what they want in Winchester, I am sure one can find something in Frederick County.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this area an 7. There are problems here but the good outweighs the bad.

[bennieowen]

Anybody commute from Winchester to Herndon/Reston area? If so, how would this be? 90 minutes typically?

[srenner]

Originally Posted by bennieowen

Anybody commute from Winchester to Herndon/Reston area? If so, how would this be? 90 minutes typically?

No, not typically. Maybe once every 3 months. I can get to Herndon anywhere from 45 to 55 minutes. Reston is 50-60...

[5stones]

I can get to Herndon anywhere from 45 to 55 minutes. Reston is 50-60...

during rush hour??
on 267 $$$ or rt 7?

how fast do you drive?
ON RT 7 (267 is quicker but $$$)
It can take easily 40 minutes to get from Winchester to Leesburg and then another 30-45 min from Leesburg to Herndon. (during peak rush hour, forget if the weather is bad)

Leesburg to Herndon in non rush hour on rt 7 driving the speed limit and NOT getting stuck at every red light...20 min easy. add in winchester another 30 min (again if you don't get caught up in the business 7/rt 15 bottleneck)

so..... in non rush hour I can see you getting from Winchester to Herndon in 45 taking 267. But during high commute times...no way.

90 minutes I think is abit long, I'd give just over an hour on your usual day, 90 on a bad evening.

One thing to remember in moving out for a lower cost of housing...is that you need to take into account the higher cost of gas and wear and tear on your car and...if you use 267 the ammount of tolls. (about $5 one way from Leesburg to Herndon...that just about an extra $200 per month)

[vickilynn]

My husband works all over northern VA/MD/WV...he says it takes him a bit over an hour for Reston.

Original poster: we moved to Winchester this past summer...there is a brick ranch next to us for sale (quiet street, nice neighborhood...very convenient for commuting. Near town and mall. We love the location). It is on a corner lot. Also, the house on the other side of us will be going up for sale in a month or so. I'm not sure what he will be asking (his mother is now deceased, so he is selling) but I'm sure it is under 300k. This is a good time to be buying! We got a great deal last summer. Send me a private message if you want any specifics. Beth Paisley at Long and Foster (real estate) is great...give her a call! Will you both be commuting?

[srenner]

I guess it depends on how you define rush hour.

I typically leave anywhere from 7:45 to 8:30 A.M. So there is a good chance that I'm missing the bulk of the traffic delays at route 9.

I know the times you speak of where it's smooth sailing from Winchester to Hamilton/Clarke's Gap and then a 10 minute delay or so.

Then I jump onto the GREENway and at my time it's usually moving. I certainly do hit those days where it starts to backup at LoCo Parkway and I just start to moan and groan, but the majority of the time it does not backup.

P.S. I move with the flow, but usually it's 10 mph above the speed limit.

Originally Posted by 5stones

during rush hour??
on 267 $$$ or rt 7?

how fast do you drive?
ON RT 7 (267 is quicker but $$$)
It can take easily 40 minutes to get from Winchester to Leesburg and then another 30-45 min from Leesburg to Herndon. (during peak rush hour, forget if the weather is bad)

Leesburg to Herndon in non rush hour on rt 7 driving the speed limit and NOT getting stuck at every red light...20 min easy. add in winchester another 30 min (again if you don't get caught up in the business 7/rt 15 bottleneck)

so..... in non rush hour I can see you getting from Winchester to Herndon in 45 taking 267. But during high commute times...no way.

90 minutes I think is abit long, I'd give just over an hour on your usual day, 90 on a bad evening.

One thing to remember in moving out for a lower cost of housing...is that you need to take into account the higher cost of gas and wear and tear on your car and...if you use 267 the ammount of tolls. (about $5 one way from Leesburg to Herndon...that just about an extra $200 per month)