Single in the Suburbs (Arlington, Alexandria: county, town, church)

[dmv101010]

Not that I am much of a matchmaker but there is also a single female afriad to take a job in dulles for the dating scene, perhaps????????
Check out her post.

[ACWhite]

The Mosaic development in Merrifield might work for you, depending on where the job is.

[Spaten_Drinker]

Originally Posted by car54

Is this something new....we now have a the "burbs" and "inside The Beltway"?

I always thought the burbs, in our case, was anything outside the city limits of the District of Columbia. Way outside the city used to be called the "exurbs".

Are the same hipsters that came up with the "DMV" crap responsible for this? LOL

This is a Northern Virginia forum. DC is NOT the center of our universe. The 'burb' is anything west of Fairfax City or south of Alexandria.

[Fallout Zone]

Originally Posted by car54

Is this something new....we now have a the "burbs" and "inside The Beltway"?

I always thought the burbs, in our case, was anything outside the city limits of the District of Columbia. Way outside the city used to be called the "exurbs".

Are the same hipsters that came up with the "DMV" crap responsible for this? LOL

I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with classifying the close-in suburbs differently. Arlington/Alexandria certainly have different feel than Vienna/Reston. So, you have City (DC) - inner suburbs or "inside the beltway" (Arl, Alex) - suburbs (Reston, Herndon) - exurbs (Leesburg, Warrenton).

[Spaten_Drinker]

Originally Posted by Fallout Zone

I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with classifying the close-in suburbs differently. Arlington/Alexandria certainly have different feel than Vienna/Reston. So, you have City (DC) - inner suburbs or "inside the beltway" (Arl, Alex) - suburbs (Reston, Herndon) - exurbs (Leesburg, Warrenton).

Arlington, Alexandria, Reston, Herndon, Leesburg, Warrenton are ALL cities.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by car54

Is this something new....we now have a the "burbs" and "inside The Beltway"?

I always thought the burbs, in our case, was anything outside the city limits of the District of Columbia. Way outside the city used to be called the "exurbs".

Are the same hipsters that came up with the "DMV" crap responsible for this? LOL

LOL, yah I know what you mean. But when you're trying to explain things to someone who doesn't know the area you need to come up with something to separate one huge suburban area.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, all of northern Virginia is considered "suburb." They have us listed as suburban all the way from Alexandria to Leesburg. The exurbs don't start until you get west of Leesburg. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/12/art1full.pdf

Denny--if you get a job near Dulles, then yes, you're going to want to live in that area too. It may be a relatively boring part of Nova but you will be so much happier living near your job. Commuting can get very tiresome. I'm absolutely serious when I recommend that you look for the job first, then live for a year near that job, and by then you will know what neighborhoods appeal to you and if the job is going to work out. That's the time to pick your neighborhood. At the same time, if you prefer to pick a neighborhood first and then look for a job there, I'd focus on Tysons Corner, Falls Church, and Mosaic District (Merrifield).

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker

Arlington, Alexandria, Reston, Herndon, Leesburg, Warrenton are ALL cities.

*cough* Of those, only Alexandria is a city under Virginia law, with its own schools, tax rates, etc. Reston isn't even a town; Arlington is a county which gets treated like a city for the most part. The others are towns, though.

/sorry for being pedantic.

[Fallout Zone]

Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker

Arlington, Alexandria, Reston, Herndon, Leesburg, Warrenton are ALL cities.

I'm not sure what your point is. Are you telling me that Herndon is somehow distinguishable from Reston/Chantilly/Sterling? These "cities" are now all just part of a conglomeration known as northern Virginia. I barely know when I'm leaving Arlington to enter Falls Church or even what city Merrifield is supposed to be in. Where is the Vienna/McLean division in Tyson's? This is nothing to disparage any of these areas, they are all quite nice, but this is a major metropolitan area with sprawl, and we in northern VA are all connected to DC whether we like it or not.

[DennyCrane]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

I'd want to know your tolerance for "hustle and bustle."

Is, say, the area of THs outside of Vienna Metro and Reston Town Center too much "hustle and bustle"? Is downtown Frederick/Leesburg too much of that? Old Town Alexandria?

What are you looking for budgetwise? I'm guessing you'd like a 2BR townhouse at the least.

Ideally, I'd like to find a 2-3 bedroom townhouse. In terms of hustle and bustle, I prefer a quiet area, but not one where it's dead quiet. Budget wise, I would never go over 600K. Even 500K is stretching it. Townhouse quality matters too. I don't want something old that requires a lot of rehab. Reston Town Center is kind of what I had in mind. Lots of shops and restaurants nearby within walking distance. My only gripe with it is how far from DC it is. If I could find something like RTC closer in, that would be great. But then it would be even more expensive. I do know that I would never want to live farther west than Reston. Are there parts of Alexandria equivalent to RTC?

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

Ideally, I'd like to find a 2-3 bedroom townhouse. In terms of hustle and bustle, I prefer a quiet area, but not one where it's dead quiet. Budget wise, I would never go over 600K. Even 500K is stretching it. Townhouse quality matters too. I don't want something old that requires a lot of rehab. Reston Town Center is kind of what I had in mind. Lots of shops and restaurants nearby within walking distance. My only gripe with it is how far from DC it is. If I could find something like RTC closer in, that would be great. But then it would be even more expensive. I do know that I would never want to live farther west than Reston. Are there parts of Alexandria equivalent to RTC?

There's 2-3BR THs in Old Town Fairfax for under 400k.

Old Town Alexandria -- you'd be really stretching it, living on a main road (Duke, Prince, etc.), or living in a shadier part of town. There's plenty of condos available though.

South Arlington -- you might get something near Columbia Pike east of Glebe in your budget.