Moving To Woodbridge (Alexandria, Lake Ridge, Fredericksburg: to rent, house, neighborhood)

[LM in Woodbridge]

I just moved into Woodbridge (Lake Ridge area, 22192) in January and really like it. Someone I work with called it "Hood bridge", which just isn't fair. Maybe some places around Jeff Davis Highway have high crime rates, but I like my neighborhood and don't feel unsafe at all. Neighborhoods are what you make them - friendly, clean, isolating, safe or unsafe, whatever. I say go for it and buy your dream house.

[knopfler]

Lake Ridge and Woodbridge are very, very different places. There are parts of Woodbridge that can be fairly called "Hoodbridge" but you're not in one of them.

Welcome to Prince William County!

[global_dev]

I have a difficult time understanding how people talk about woodbridge. Its just too diverse to relate a zipcode to most of it.

Yes, 22191 has a less than desirable rep than 22192 and again, I only have 1 year here and I can't say I would live here forever (i am too much of a traveler), but I am relatively enjoying my part of 22191. As far as I can tell, in the Port Potomac, Powell's cove and Eagle homes pocket, it is mostly NEW population and development and what doesn't make sense, where you have influx of almost completely new people, what sense of the future that older data presents. again, yes that is considered the "best" information to go on, but is it truly reliable? My background is in math and stats, and you always have to be a bit suspicious of the integrity of collected data for telling the story of a whole county or zipcode. Thats pretty much true everywhere.

I really like about 85% of my neighbors, the next 10% are friendly enough. And the rest are people that don't care about anything, but those people live everywhere. We are starting a neighborhood watch and getting people to walk the neighborhood in the evenings and getting people to leave their porch lights on and introducing people to the concept of timers and photoresistors. Its impressive to see the number of people that don't have a clue about these things and how easy they are to install.

I just had a bday party for my child. 5 hours of party from 11:00 to 4:00. We had 15 kids (ages 2-5) and their parents from a 3 street radius of the neighborhood show up. Most were from kids the same age we have met in the park. it was an inside and outside party at my home at the beginning of memorial day weekend. Almost all the kids were local to this area since my kid is not in daycare or school yet. It was a blast.

At my HOA meeting, we invited PWC Supervisor Principi and a PWC officer, Murphy, who I believe leads the neighborhood "no trespassing" program. It was quite interesting what these gentleman had to say. I wish I had taken notes to share, but the important thing was the number of residents.. standing room only. People seem to care about their properties and their neighborhood. Previous HOA meetings were not that packed, not even close.

The Wegman's near Potomac Club just opened, with a Neiman Marcus offshoot store to come and something like 20 retail offerings in the first year and more in the future, its going to have a lot of appeal (and traffic).

Don't discount BRAC (base realignment and closure), people will move and demographics and attitudes will change.

A friend of mine who recently bought a SFH in this area, after spending the last 3 years in old town alexandria and crystal city, commented on who much he enjoys the VRE for commuting to DC compared to metro. they have 3 kids aged 4 -14 and they love they can ride bikes in the neighborhood and run in the yards. These guys even commented that the air feels cleaner and you can see the stars in the evening, which they couldn't before. You can hear the frogs or toads in the evening (too early for crickets?) and these are from non-americans, non-caucasians who really really have pride for their home country (in FSU) and never miss a chance to tell me how much i need to visit their home country.

I definitley appreciate Nitrovic's comments and others like him and their insight into the communities and zip codes, I wish I had the time to peruse these forums, but it is not a substitute for people who actually live in them. Granted its close... but change is happening and quickly.

The worst part of whats going on for me is that I knew, and convinced my wife, that we should wait until people were defaulting on their mortgages big time. When i first started reading about sob stories in the washpost and looking at all the lock boxes, I thought it was about the ending of the final year of the the 2-3 yr short term arms that people bought into and it was time to start negotiating purchases. I guess I was off by 6-8 months to a tune of almost 25% of cost.

I am not pleading for people to give 22191 a chance (well I guess I am), but I have seen the people who live in parts of 22192. I know them and i work with them. They are the same people who live in my part of 22191. Some I would want for neighbors and friends, others not.

Crime is everywhere. If you don't think the current economy will not have its fingers in your part of the woods, think again. Wasn't it in pricey "I can't believe this is happening here" Bethesda or similar area in MD, that multiple seniors were having home invasions and robberies? In this area, practice neighborhood safety, be somewhat discrete around your neighborhood, become involved, and don't ignore trespassing and potential crime on someone else's property. call the cops if you feel unsafe or something is suspicious. The more cops may show up, the less likely your area may be found as one for desirablity for lurking, loitering, and crime.

[Mike From NIU]

Bravo, global_dev.

I have lived here for only 2 weeks (barely across I95 in 22192), but I do tire of the snobbery some people in 22192 have towards 22191. From what I have seen, 22191 has working class neighborhoods filled with people who may not have a college degree, may or may not commute to DC, but who are honest, sincere, good people.

I wonder if the people who has called Woodbridge "Hoodbridge" have ever been to an actual sketchy neighborhood in their lives.

[nize2beme]

GLobal_dev,
I am looking at purchasing in port potomac and was wondering when they planned to finish the roads. I know Engle is pulling out of the home selling and most of the lots left are complete, just don't want to move in and have to deal with the roads for the next 2 years as the market crawls and the rest of the lots are left empty until it picks back up.

Do you know what they are planning to do with the rest of the unfinished lots in the executive area? I am looking to build back there but right now it's kind of a ghost town and i know engle (who owns most of them) aren't building any more. My builder (ryan) I don't beleive is going to give me a straight answer, afterall they are in this to make money (that's why they are called salespeople). And the fact that now the only model home ryan owns is for sale.

really love the place, just worried about new communities as I have lived in some in the past that tread along until the inhabitors get so pised the roads aren't done they threaten to sue, etc. and I don't want to do that again.

THANK YOU!

[jaywallace]

Good post Global. That area is really turning it around. It's a lot better from when I lived there in the early 90's, that's for sure. Wegmens doesn't put a store in a "ghetto", so that should tell you what they think of the area. South Dumfries and the northern parts of Woodbridge are still a toss up in my opinion, hopefully they can turn it around as well.

[catherine clark]

Have you purchased already? I have a lovely townhome in Forest Park, just two miles north of Quantico surrounded by Prince William Forest for rent. If you are interested in renting while you look around, 3 level ceramic and wood with 31/2 bathroooms and looks into woods. Deck and tiled patio[

[Pavement]

glo - dev

I couldn't agree more - the argument between lake ridge and woodbridge is kind of silly. I own in "woodbridge" (potomac club) and knew folks who lived in "Lake Ridge" growing up - (probably 15 years ago when I was a teenager) - even they made the distinction back then between Lake Ridge and Woodbridge

Well, look at the communities now. While the "Lake Ridge" area has seen less development built over the past 2 years (most homes are 20-30 years old), "Woodbridge" has seen a tick in upscale developments and Wegmans (with more to come)

Now, you still have Marumsco, Featherstone and the rest of the more run down strip malls off Route 1, but developers will come as the market recovers, buy the land cheap and redevelop it with more upscale retail stores. this may take a few years, but it is coming.

the point is this - both Woodbridge and Lake Ridge will benefit from the development that Woodbridge is more likely to see (since the land is cheaper there) - no sense in arguing which zip code is better.

here's to raising property values

[global_dev]

Originally Posted by nize2beme

GLobal_dev,
I am looking at purchasing in port potomac and was wondering when they planned to finish the roads. I know Engle is pulling out of the home selling and most of the lots left are complete, just don't want to move in and have to deal with the roads for the next 2 years as the market crawls and the rest of the lots are left empty until it picks back up.

Do you know what they are planning to do with the rest of the unfinished lots in the executive area? I am looking to build back there but right now it's kind of a ghost town and i know engle (who owns most of them) aren't building any more. My builder (ryan) I don't beleive is going to give me a straight answer, afterall they are in this to make money (that's why they are called salespeople). And the fact that now the only model home ryan owns is for sale.

really love the place, just worried about new communities as I have lived in some in the past that tread along until the inhabitors get so pised the roads aren't done they threaten to sue, etc. and I don't want to do that again.

THANK YOU!

I don't know which lots are considered executive lots, although that is not saying much.

As you have seen, the roads haven't had the "final" paving, but it doesn't seem to be too much of a hassle for me as they seem to be pretty decent. I do know that it has been talked about at the HOA mtgs by the developer.

I have friends living in the way back near wakewater (M/I)and space more (Drees) and the roads seem to be fine. I doubt many of the lots not currently being developed will be developed soon. A lot of lots were sold back to the developer and will be graded/seeded according to a recent discussion since there is some of pooling of water. I will ask the HOA board developer members but they have already implied that their initial timeline are a guesstimate due the change.

There are definitley people buying & still building...

[nize2beme]

Awesome, we actually ended up buying about 2 weeks ago in the back section (it's called estates not executive, sorry for the confusion). It's great to here about the seeding etc. for those lots that were bought back. Our house won't be finished until november it looks like but we can't wait.

Thank you for all of your insight, we had a lot of questions that only people living there and who attend HOA meetings could have answered, such as yourself.