Ethnic areas of NOVA -what real estate agents won't tell you? (Arlington: apartments, low crime)

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by carlymac

Thank you! Interesting. I'm not familiar with most of those areas. I just got back from 4 days of house hunting and didn't really notice any particular area more saturated than any other. We looked from Arlington, clear out to Vienna and Oakton. We stayed in Fairfax. I did notice a couple groups of Latinos hanging out on the corners and in 7-11 in Fairfax. And when I went into McD's to try to get an ice cream cone, neither of the women behind the counter seemed to understand or be able to communicate very well in English. That was a bit weird. Not that they were Latinos, but that they had a job in a restaurant One couldn't understand what I was saying and the other couldn't seem to answer with words. Just pointing.

It looks like you are looking for a mostly white neighborhood, with a nice, very light, sprinkling in of upper-middle class immigrant families.

You will not find that in Fairfax County, unless you are looking in very exclusive, expensive areas.

Look at the local school demographics to get a better idea of the neighborhood.

And I'm not sure if it is illegal, or just unscrupulous for real estate agents to talk about the racial makeup of neighborhoods, but I'm pretty sure that it is one or the other.

You know where I see white McDonald's employees? West Virginia. Other rural areas where I wouldn't deign to live. Maybe you should look in places like that.

A Leesburg friend of mine bragged that his neighborhood is 83% white - LOL. I told him to just give it some time.

My husband grew up in white trash country, and he said that it is WAY worse there, in every single way, than it is in NoVA.

[Stagemomma]

Hmmm, this raises some interesting issues.

We moved to Springfield in 1985. Yep, a long time ago. We found that our first neighborhood was very diverse, but it didn't seem to matter. eVERYONE kept to themselves. Lots of two income families, so the neighborhood was too quiet for our tastes. IMHO< that is a far more important factor when moving to the DC area than ethnicity.

THen we moved to a different neighborhood. Less diverse, but people still kept to themselves. It took my parents years to get to know people and start forming some bonds. In retrospect, it was hard to move right at that empty nest stage because the easiest ways to meet people are just for people with little kids. T-Ball, scouts, pta, etc. Their house is within walking distance of a Mormon church, and Mormons make great neighbors.

I will agree that many of the service oriented jobs in NVA are filled by non-English speaking people. And it adds to the lack of community feeling. I currently live in Raleigh, and there is a much greater sense of community here, regardless of ethnicity.

You didn't mention kids so I guess you don't have any. If you really want to know the ethnic make up of a neighborhood, go to the Fairfax county public schools website and look for ESL population data. The percentages of ESL students in each school building will be listed somewhere, as will the Free and reduced lunch data. Then match the house you are looking for with the school, and you've got what you need.

[airjay75]

Originally Posted by Stagemomma

You didn't mention kids so I guess you don't have any. If you really want to know the ethnic make up of a neighborhood, go to the Fairfax county public schools website and look for ESL population data. The percentages of ESL students in each school building will be listed somewhere, as will the Free and reduced lunch data. Then match the house you are looking for with the school, and you've got what you need.

There are often significant differences between the demographic composition of a neighborhood and the demographic composition of schools to which it is zoned. There can be many types of people who live in a neighborhood that will not be reflected in the school data - empty nesters, double income/no kids, single individuals, families that utilize private school. Moreover, many schools draw from a variety of different neighborhoods, which is especially true in NoVA where you can have very expensive homes located close to much cheaper housing.

I think a far more reliable way is to find the census designated place (CDP) in which a home resides and look at the statistics on census.gov, although even there you will find that neighborhoods within a CDP can and do vary.

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

And I'm not sure if it is illegal, or just unscrupulous for real estate agents to talk about the racial makeup of neighborhoods, but I'm pretty sure that it is one or the other.

I do not think it is legal.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by Old Guard

I do not think it is legal.

Thought so. I would probably dodge that question myself if I were a real estate agent.

[Carlingtonian]

Be careful about the Irish. They are everywhere.

OK, but seriously: The OP's question is clearly not based on racial animus, so I will say this: The areas that are dominated by any one ethnic group are obvious when you drive through them. There is no way you would not, looking in person at the areas that are 90%+ first-gen immigrants from Central America, see this right off the bat based on who is on the street, getting into their cars, etc.

If you buy in a fairly upscale area (i.e., upper-income but not the truly wealthy), you will probably have a mix of ethnic groups--mostly white but a few of everything else. If you look in a really expensive area, it will be overwhelmingly white but with a smattering of a few other groups (mostly East Asian and South Asian folks, but people from other backgrounds here and there).

[carlymac]

Originally Posted by PK12

I have yet to experience this in any of the fast food joints here - these people may speak poor English, but it's enough to get the order complete and get the job done. Which McDonalds was this?

Or did I just waste my time feeding the troll?

Not a troll. It was on Fairfax Blvd. I went in and asked if the ice cream machine was working because they frequently aren't. The girl had to turn to another lady there to either ask what I said or how to answer. The other lady stammered out, 'No. Is not working." If she were a cashier, standing next to the machine, the girl should have known if it was working or not. I got the impression she didn't know the words to say.

[carlymac]

Originally Posted by Old Guard

I do not think it is legal.

I think it's both not legal and against their ethics code. She couldn't tell us if there were kids in the neighborhoods either. Not sure what that was about except for child protection maybe. We asked about it in an apartment complex we were looking at. The manager wouldn't answer that question either.

By the way, I do have two children who will be with us. The rest of the kids are in college or married.

[ACWhite]

Originally Posted by carlymac

I think it's both not legal and against their ethics code. She couldn't tell us if there were kids in the neighborhoods either. Not sure what that was about except for child protection maybe. We asked about it in an apartment complex we were looking at. The manager wouldn't answer that question either.

By the way, I do have two children who will be with us. The rest of the kids are in college or married.

Problems with "family friendly", etc.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2007/06/24...=all&referrer=

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Be careful about the Irish. They are everywhere.

OK, but seriously: The OP's question is clearly not based on racial animus

Oh, really?

Look, I totally understand not wanting to live in a recent immigrant tenement. That should be fairly easy to spot on sight, though.