Arlington to Rockville/Bethesda commute.. is it possible ?!??! (Cana, Washington: rental, house)

[Aly McHey]

Hi all,
We are relocating from Washington state and are quite overwhelmed with this city situation. My husband will be working in Arlington, VA and we are deciding on place to live. We've been going around in circles for past 2 months and have considered places as far south as fort hunt, va and as far north as Rockville,md. Exceptional situation, here goes:
-commute time is priority. Husband's hours will be arriving at 6am for work, done with work around 3pm. 2 small kids and family time is a priority for us.
- child with medical needs to be seen monthly at Walter Reed, betheseda.
-schools, our son will also need Braille services and an overall good school district.
- we prefer a back yard or safe front yard and low traffic area for our boys to play.
-rent $2,400 is our goal for a rental property.
Thank you all!

[cwitty]

Originally Posted by Aly McHey

Hi all,
We are relocating from Washington state and are quite overwhelmed with this city situation. My husband will be working in Arlington, VA and we are deciding on place to live. We've been going around in circles for past 2 months and have considered places as far south as fort hunt, va and as far north as Rockville,md. Exceptional situation, here goes:
-commute time is priority. Husband's hours will be arriving at 6am for work, done with work around 3pm. 2 small kids and family time is a priority for us.
- child with medical needs to be seen monthly at Walter Reed, betheseda.
-schools, our son will also need Braille services and an overall good school district.
- we prefer a back yard or safe front yard and low traffic area for our boys to play.
-rent $2,400 is our goal for a rental property.
Thank you all!

Cant speak to all of that other than 6am to arlington can be a problem from Rockville/Bethesda on some days. You are probably looking at 35-60 minutes via GW pkwy barring an accident (Its two lane). If a car is broken down or there is an accident, you are going to sit.

The afternoon commute is the same, but less likely to be trouble some around 2-3 pm. After 3-3:30, its a problem.

Im not sure where fort hunt is but if you are commuting to Arlington, try to stay in Va as much as possible

[spencgr]

Arlington and Bethesda are both big places and specific locations at either end could swing a commuting time upwards of 30 minutes. Can you be more specific?

[Aly McHey]

Arlington national cemetery is work location. And we've recently been considering Rockville near Croydon Park. Thank you

[Aly McHey]

Also, he has to be to work by 6am, so he would be leaving around 5am.

[dkf747]

I used to do a Gaithersburg to Arlington commute (Courthouse and Ballston). At 6 am it is easy as pie. I don't know why others think it isn't. It's after 630 am (more like 7 am) when things start to get heavy. It is the afternoon commute that is rough. My rule was to get across the American Legion bridge before 3 pm, or it would get bad. It seems to get bad a little earlier now. My usual route was 270 to GW Parkway to route 50. I would sometimes use Clara Barton parkway to Canal road to the Whitehurst to I 66. It was a good route. If you're going to a different part of Arlington then there might be other options.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by Aly McHey

Also, he has to be to work by 6am, so he would be leaving around 5am.

That would be an okay commute. I work a 6AM-2:30 day and my commute is pretty easy no matter where I go.

[Aly McHey]

Any significant differences (commute related ) or lifestyle (schools, safety related) in the various towns, and which would be best : Potomac, Rockville, Betheseda. Any areas to completely avoid due to safety ?

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by Aly McHey

Any significant differences (commute related ) or lifestyle (schools, safety related) in the various towns, and which would be best : Potomac, Rockville, Betheseda. Any areas to completely avoid due to safety ?

You should ask that question in the MD suburbs forum.

Commute at those hours should be fine. The cemetary is right off the GW parkway.

[claremarie]

Your husband will be commuting every day. Structure your housing search around the commute. Even if you live more than an hour from Walter Reed, you only need to make that trip once a month. There are more similarities than differences between the close-in suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. Living close to your husband's job will make your lives much less stressful. Your bigger challenge may be finding a house with a yard in your price range.