Relocating to work at Fort Belvoir. (Burke, Franconia: for sale, real estate, apartment) - City-Data Forum

Alpenglow · 03-27-2008, 06:35 PM

Hi, I am relocating to NOVA to work at the Fort Belvoir Engineer Proving Gounds. It is about 1.5miles NW of Fort Belvoir (on the west side of 95). My wife is active duty Air Force and will be at the Pentagon. She will most likely rely on Mass Transit to get to work. I will have to drive to drop the kids off at day care and school. We were originally hoping to live on Belvoir, but are being told that the Officer housing waitlist is 12-18 months. We are looking to rent a 4BR, 2BA house for $2600-$2800/month. I've been looking at the Kingstown, and Springfield areas. Is the area directly around the Engineer Proving Ground bad? (South of Franconia Springfield Road or West of Rolling Road). I've read a lot of good things about West Springfield. How long would the commute be to the Belvoir EPG from there? Any advice on best mass transit for Pentagon (VRE, express bus, or METRO?). Thanks for any help!

irisheyes13 · 03-27-2008, 07:03 PM

You don't mention if you are looking to buy or rent but we live in an area right by the Belvoir Telegraph gate with excellent access to the Franconia Springfield metro (less then 2 miles) which would be about a 20 minute metro ride to the Pentagon for your wife. we have not been here all that long so I am not sure where the area is you are talking about for your job so can't comment on that. You will find there are tons of neighborhoods in the area and it can get a bit confusing. We are in a small neighborhood called Hawthone but it is nestled behind a much bigger one called Island Creek (runs in to Kingstown as well). We do not have kids in school any longer so I can not say anything about the schools but will say that there are tons of military families with kids in school in these areas. Island Creek has community pools and is a very large area. Springfield has many benefits as well but just be sure to see how far you actually are from the metro.

Alpenglow · 03-27-2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irisheyes13

You don't mention if you are looking to buy or rent

We are looking to rent in the $2600-$2800/month range.

irisheyes13 · 03-27-2008, 08:16 PM

When we relocated (retired AF) we found it easier to search by zip codes. You might want to do a bit of your search that way. We are in 22315 in this area as a starting point. Have you looked on militarybyowner.com They have rentals listed there as well as "for sales". I think you will be able to find an good option in your price range although you may have to consider a townhouse versus a single family home. They are very popular in this area and we quickly discovered the advantage of not spending so much time on yard work!

Fern435 · 03-28-2008, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpenglow

Hi, I am relocating to NOVA to work at the Fort Belvoir Engineer Proving Gounds. It is about 1.5miles NW of Fort Belvoir (on the west side of 95). My wife is active duty Air Force and will be at the Pentagon. She will most likely rely on Mass Transit to get to work. I will have to drive to drop the kids off at day care and school. We were originally hoping to live on Belvoir, but are being told that the Officer housing waitlist is 12-18 months. We are looking to rent a 4BR, 2BA house for $2600-$2800/month. I've been looking at the Kingstown, and Springfield areas. Is the area directly around the Engineer Proving Ground bad? (South of Franconia Springfield Road or West of Rolling Road). I've read a lot of good things about West Springfield. How long would the commute be to the Belvoir EPG from there? Any advice on best mass transit for Pentagon (VRE, express bus, or METRO?). Thanks for any help!

Hello Alpenglow--my Air Force husband works at the Pentagon. We rent a home in West Springfield (22152) off Old Keene Mill Road, and he rides the express bus to the Pentagon. It is very convenient. He used to ride the Metro (at our old home we rented), and he does prefer the Metro express bus. Only military or civilians who go straight to the Pentagon are on the bus. We rent a 4 BR, 2BA single family home and enjoy this neighborhood.

I think I know where the Belvoir EPG is located from here, and the commute is not bad in the AM or PM. I had to drive it on school days for 4 weeks last year (after we moved to this area).

The neighbors are comfortable with military renters (there are a lot of retired military and government folks) and they are friendly. Kingstowne is a comfortable, convenient area as well. Good luck with the house search!

Alpenglow · 03-29-2008, 08:25 PM

Are there any more rental informations sites besides (realtor.com, craigslist and militarybyowner.com)? There doesn't seem to be as many homes in the $2500-$2800/month price range in West Springfield and Burke as I thought there would be. I am looking to move into a house with my family 1 Jun. I'll be in a corporate apartment 1 May - 1 Jun.

Mr. Mark · 03-30-2008, 01:55 PM

Alpenglow,
It's my opinion that your best bet may be to find a Realtor to run a search for you in your areas of interest. It's a free service to you. Between working with a Realtor and searching rental sites you should have all your bases covered. That will give you the most options for a successful move. There are lots of great renting and buying opportunities in Real Estate in Northern Virginia.

Have a great day!

slduvall · 04-10-2008, 04:54 PM

We also just moved here...military Husband is AF, but at the Hoffman Building on Eishenhower, and I'll be at Belvoir, but at the Army Corp of Engineers site off of Telegraph. We found plenty of Townhouses in Kingstowne area in your price range.

We were using militarybyowner and ahrn.com which is the official military housing site, but we ended up calling a realtor about a house for sale. They jumped at the chance to rent it. They literally had an agent at the house in about 20 minutes on a saturday.

Back in DC and loving it!