help me read between the lines

[nva79]

assuming you are not looking south of the anacostia river, east of rock creek park, or in southern pg county, stop worrying about safety. fairfax county is the safest county in the nation, and all the others are up there. the "machete weilding gangs" dont bother people that arent in a rival gang. there is no where in nova that isnt safe, and most parts of dc that you would be looking at are safe. maryland isnt as much, but is still fairly safe. btw southern boi , nationals park is in se dc, and i dont know where you got the idea that it is the "hood". just look around at all the high rise condos, restaurants, and shops being built. sure it isnt perfect now, but wait till all the construction is done. it will be great!

[bmwguydc]

I would suggest looking in Vienna, Fairfax, and West Springfield for proximity to downtown and other areas of NoVa, and also they are fairly close to Inova Fairfax Hospital and Inova Fair Oaks Hospital for your wife. You also might find something in Oakton, though it might be a townhouse rental at that price point, or an older single family home. Plus, in these areas, the schools are good and they are largely established communities that are very safe. Places where you can take reasonable precautions regarding safety (as one does everywhere these days) and not have any incidents.

Inova also has a large care center in Springfield, on the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, and as others have mentioned has hospitals throughout the region in Prince William County and Loudoun County.

Springfield, closer to the Metro, is not as nice as West Springfield and the West Springfield/Lake Braddock school districts to tend to score higher than others in Springfield proper.

Renting is a good strategy, since you can get a feel for the area, decide where you will be working long-term, and then set about finding a house. $350k is going to be tight in many of the communities in NoVa that are closer to the Beltway, downtown, and Reston areas, however, but there are townhouse options that might work if you really like the community in which you have a rental.

[Fern435]

Originally Posted by nva79

assuming you are not looking south of the anacostia river, east of rock creek park, or in southern pg county, stop worrying about safety. fairfax county is the safest county in the nation, and all the others are up there. the "machete weilding gangs" dont bother people that arent in a rival gang. there is no where in nova that isnt safe, and most parts of dc that you would be looking at are safe. maryland isnt as much, but is still fairly safe. btw southern boi , nationals park is in se dc, and i dont know where you got the idea that it is the "hood".

Any data to back this claim of "safest county in the nation"? According to the 8/26/08 Fairfax County police mid-year crime report, crime has increased over last year (see their website). While Fairfax County has some safer areas, it is misleading and irresponsible to tell people to "stop worrying about safety." You have no idea what their personal experiences or concerns are.

Even the more expensive sections have had crime. Remember the 14 year-old McLean boy who was viciously beaten last December by a group of young men at a schoolyard?

[bungalowmo]

Before you take the "Front Royal" comments at face value...find your work place. I agree that if it's DC...too far. If it's Manassas or Herndon area (no further) that isn't bad.

I live there & feel obligated to defend my "hood" It's a sweet little town with some amazing history & historical homes to boot!

(no I'm not a "banger", I'm a 50 yo professional woman...)

[chrspadg]

I have lived in Manassas, VA for almost 6 months. It was the biggest mistake. There are parts that are nice and clean and safe but for the most part it is the area that has the worst illegal drop off. I wonder why. I have been told by many residents that it is a lot better than it was a year ago. I think it is hell now. Apparently to live here you must speak spanish. I don't! I am an American born and raised here and I learned English. I am angry about the situation since due to this our schools are over crowded with children who do not speak English. This holds back all of the English speaking children in any such advancement. I go to the local supermarket and feel that I am the outsider. I also don't believe that I need to learn Spanish to blend in. I have nothing against immigration but when you come here please leave what you left behind and learn about America and learn to speak English and come here legally! I also can't stand going to the 7 Eleven's and having a group of men hanging around waiting to be picked up by the local contractors to work off the books only to send the money back to their country. They sould all be prosecuted. So if you want to live in Manassas get used to most not knowing how to speak English, overcrowded schools, neighborhoods that once were nice and now ruined by the illegals such as Iron Gate and Georgetown South which is filled with low lives and gangs!

[canolajetta]

1) If you only want to hear English, you should not live anywhere near DC.
2) Speaking Spanish is not illegal, nor indicative of citizenship, or crime rate.

To the OP,
those saying consider your place of employment are right. There is a huge difference between commuting to MD vs commuting to DC from VA. Why? We have this river (the Potomac) and there are only so many bridges over it. There is NO decent transit between MD and VA. So if you want to work in Suitland, you will be driving. If you work a day job, that means sitting on 495 with thousands of other people just like you. A trip can take 30 min or 2 hours, but you have no choice because there isn't another way over the river.

Most VA towns have some form of rush hour service to DC (even Manassas), and most have multiple forms. As stated above, that will cost you, but the gov't may help pay for that, depending on your position, dept, etc. Ask about that when you are planning your transfer.

Safety: It really doesn't matter. Depending on the age of the child, you might post elsewhere regarding schools, which IMHO don't differ a whole lot till the middle school level. I personally advise renting in a neighborhood you find convenient/attractive for the first year, and then taking your time shopping for the right place. Don't let a realtor talk you into something when it's not likely to be easy to unload it if you and your fam decide 6 mos from now that it's not for you.

Hospitals: INOVA really is rated best by nurses as as far as places to work, but they are not hiring much right now. INOVA Fairfax is an extremely busy L&D (5000k+births/year). Their staff and patients are very ethnically diverse - you meet people from all over the world, all levels of the staff have accents. This is also true, to a lesser extent, of Fair Oaks, which is a smaller, lower volume community hospital. I delivered my son at Fair Oaks based on recs from L&D friends, who said the staff there are "nicer" (I think that was code for less busy, honestly), but that was years ago. INOVA shifts are often 7-7, so traffic is less of an issue, but mass transit is really not an option.

Other possibles: HCA has a hospital in Reston, there are new hospitals in the works in Western NoVa (Stafford?), in DC you have the big university centers: GWU, Georgetown, Howard, Washington Hospital Center -WHC probably has the best employer rep of that set, but I don't know anything about their L&D. GWU and Georgetown have undergone major changes in their staff management a few years ago, their older employees hated it, but I don't know how that all washed out in the end, I'm out of the loop. Holy Cross in MD has a solid L&D unit, good rep.