Moving To Dulles ... (Reston, Centreville, Chantilly: condos, daycare, townhomes)

[NooSkye]

Hello all ... My family and I currentally live in South Mississippi, but my husband will have us moved to the Dulles area (I think maybe Loudon County? ... Chantilly???) around the first of the year for his new job. Is there any way anyone could provide us with a little information on the area?? Like which community would better benefit a family with three small children?? School Districts?? Links to the Schools would be GREAT so I can compare scores and stuff like that ... Cost of living?? Recreation?? (sp?) Churches???

Anything anyone could think of to enlighten the decision would be wonderful!

Thank You ....

[DavidS827]

Welcome to VA! Depending on what you can afford and how long you are willing to commute, you'll find plenty of very nice homes here. The schools are also great. Check these sites out http://cmsweb1.loudoun.k12.va.us/50975427144147/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=53138 (broken link) (broken link)

In terms of recreation there are plenty of things to do. From seeing DC to going to the beach or mountains there are tons of opportunities for fun. There are also tons of churches here, so I'm sure you wont have a hard time finding a great church to call home. There are some negative aspects of the area though. Traffic is probably the worst of it. It can be brutal for some people, so if you're looking for a short commute to work, you better live very close to your job. However, if you can work flex hours where you go in extra early or late, then it wont be so bad. Another negative, depending on where you move, will be the people. Northern VA is not known (anymore) for having the nicest people in the world. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Many people hate this area b/c the people are very self centered and flat out rude. People often complain that they don't know their neighbors, kids don't play outside and they have no sense of community. However, this tends to be less and less of a problem the farther away from DC you get.

Good luck with the move and welcome to VA!

Dave

[dullnboring]

Most people who work in the vicinity of Dulles Airport live in either Fairfax County or Loudoun County in the communities of Chantilly, South Riding, Sterling, Ashburn, Herndon or Centreville. Some venture a bit further out to places like Leesburg, Reston, Fairfax and Manassas, but it's a safe bet that this is the general area that you'll be. This portion of Northern Virginia is basically your quintessential suburbia with the strip malls and subdivisions and traffic-clogged roads and chain stores and such. School-wise, you don't have much to fear. Schools are top-notch in this part of the state and county and you really can't go wrong. It's hard to direct you towards a specific school to research, especially at an elementary level, without knowing your specific address, and the school boundaries in the area are really screwy. Of the communities I listed, Ashburn and South Riding are pretty much new and without any remotely bad areas whereas the other communities are generally nice but have a handful of more rundown and older sections that some people may refer to as "ghetto" but are really nowhere near it. Churches you can find everywhere. Recreation-wise, parks are fairly few and far between and seem to always be empty but there are of course the odd sporting fields scattered around and you can find them at pretty much every school as well, and there are gyms and recreation centers usually no more than 15 minutes from a point in this area. Cost-wise, well, condos generally run from 250-350K, townhomes from 350-450K and single family homes generally start at around 450K, the more inexpensive the further away from DC you go. The difference in housing prices between the more inner suburbs in Fairfax County and the outer suburbs in Western Fairfax and Eastern Loudoun used to be far more pronounced than it is nowadays. Places like Herndon and Sterling used to be a bargain. Not so much anymore.

I think you may want to check out Ashburn Village where I currently live. Lots of families, very safe, and a planned community full of bike paths and soccer fields with a free rec center/sports pavillion to local residents with afterschool daycare (I'm assuming you must pay for that), gym, indoor/outdoor pool, basketball court, racquetball courts, tennis courts and multiple classes offered. The schools in the area are good as well and there are a handful of homes going in the 430K range although you can generally expect to pay in the upper 400Ks here which believe it or not, isn't too bad for the DC area. In non-rush hour traffic, you are around 15 minutes from Dulles Airport and 10 minutes from Dulles Town Center, a large indoor shopping center. There are several strip malls for your basic daily needs (i.e. grocery store, bank, fast food, barber shop, Blockbuster, etc.) nearby and more shopping with big box stores is found around 10-15 minutes away in Sterling along Route 7. The bad things about the area David brought up in his post. The traffic can be ungodly awful and for that reason, I personally recommend not living more than 10 miles from the workplace, although many people disagree and make much further commutes. The cost of living is also something that it will take you awhile to get used to. And yes, the people aren't exactly the most warm and welcoming. Partially due to the long hours people spend at work here to be able to afford to live here, and the long amount of hours spent in their cars commuting, and the transient nature of the area where people tend to not settle down and move in and out fairly frequently, means that people generally keep to themselves and don't know their neighbors. This might be something that will take some getting used to.