Relocating for Work in Arlington Within 6 Months- Housing Help, Please!! (Annandale: real estate, 2009)

[eastwesteastagain]

Hi folks-
My husband has an unexpected career opportunity in Arlington and I'm a bit overwhelmed looking for rental housing options in the area. I've been reading through past posts and thank everyone for the wonderful feedback on neighborhoods, etc. I have some specific questions about housing that I hope will not be redundant. Here's our basic information:

When are you moving? Between May and June 2009
Where are you coming from? We're originally from NY, have also lived in Birmingham, AL and currently live in Seattle, WA.
Why are you moving? Both for my husband's career and to be closer to east coast family
Where will you be working? Rosslyn/Arlington (looking for 60 minute commute or less)
Have you been here yet? We haven't been to the area in about 15 years but plan to do a housing scouting trip within the next 2 months.

Will you buy or rent? We plan to rent for 1-2 years before purchasing a home.
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom detached house in the suburbs with a yard. Our budget is between $1300-1800/month.


Are you married or single? Do you have children? We're in our early 30s, married, with a 6-month old
Do you prefer public or private schools? Public schools in good school districts or Catholic schools in less-good school districts. Although our son isn't of school-age yet, we'd prefer to rent near/in towns we're considering purchasing in.
Do you have pets? 2 Australian cattle dogs and 3 indoor-only cats...I know, I know, it's a lot of pets (but we have a great rental history even with them!)
Do you want or need a yard? We need a yard, preferably fenced or with a dog-run.
Are you keeping a car? We have one car
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? We prefer a quiet suburban neighborhood within 30-45 minute driving distance of activity. Safety is a big concern.

What do you want to be closest to? In order of importance, high to low:
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Work
Train or subway stations
Shopping
Nightlife

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? We strongly prefer diversity and would like to be in close proximity to some other families with small children.

I'm uncertain of what state to even begin searching in that will fit our needs and budget. Any and all suggestions for starting points would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much in advance for any input! If I've left anything pertinent out, please feel free to ask.

[kevinm]

That may be rough. Two bedroom apartments are going for around $1600/month.

[VEIK]

Park Adams Apartments in North Arlington.

google em.

[Mike From NIU]

Well, first, congratulations. You certainly demonstrated that you have searched the forums and have done homework as to what questions people will be asking. I also hope this career opportunity for your husband works out.

My only concerns with your criteria would be the size of the house (for a detached house). Since you only have one child, do you really need that fourth bedroom? If you can go down to 3 bedroom (or even 2 with a large den or open study), that will open up your housing possibilities.

With that said, given your budget, you will be pretty limited in markets. I doubt you will find many SFHs in Fairfax for rent in your budget (though search some ZIPs on www.homesdatabase.com to make sure). I know you could find some options here in Woodbridge, in Prince William County, and probably in Manassas, too.

Woodbridge meets most of your requirements. There are a lot of shopping choices, both for necessities like food and mall-style stores. Schools are pretty good, though a step-down from Fairfax County. There is also a solid Catholic school run by Nashville Dominican sisters (and if you are Catholic, a couple of awesome Catholic parishes in town). There are a lot of families with kids in the area. Access to public transit is the biggest drawback, however. There is a pretty good commuter bus (see PRTC - The Ride That's Right For You), and it also has some routes directly to Arlington/Rosslyn. My current assignment is in Arlington, a little west of Rosslyn, and I slug (see transportation thread at the top of the forum for details) into DC in the morning, and then ride the Metro out to Arlington. It takes me ~50-55 minutes in the morning, and about 15 minutes longer in the evening (I leave work too late for the slug lines).

Good luck with your search. Feel free to ask follow-ups either in this thread or through Direct Messages.

Finally, I would advise, once you narrow down an area to look at, to connect with an experienced real estate agent. We actually got our place, sight unseen, through our agent, who investigated at least 25 places for us and emailed/phoned us with her impressions, and we are thrilled.

[VEIK]

Woodbridge is scary, I would not recommend anyone living there.

and with this economy, it going downhill even more.

[saganista]

Yes, for a job in the Rosslyn area, pretty much any of Falls Church, McLean, Vienna, Oakton, and Fairfax, VA would provide all of everything else you are looking for and then some, but the rental market in those areas will start at around $2500/month. There are a couple of nice but not spectacular 4BR places on the market now in that range in Fairfax. A place a little closer in or with a little extra pizazz would likely start at around $3000/month...

[eastwesteastagain]

Thanks everyone for such quick responses! This has been very helpful - please keep them coming!

Ok, so what I'm hearing is that there's nowhere within an hour commute of Arlington to get a 3-4 bed SFH for under $2500.

How far out and increased commute time are we talking to find a nice safe rental SFH for closer to $1800-2100?

Not being familiar with the area, what are the areas we want to avoid completely?

Thanks again!

[VEIK]

You can probably buy a hous for 2500/ month.

Avoid Sterling and parts of Annandale

[eastwesteastagain]

Hmmmm, maybe I'm going about this backwards....what would a reasonable commute radius (60-90 min/each way) include suburb-wise? Could I look in Maryland as well? My understanding is that traffic is a bit of a nightmare, so my attempts to find housing based on mileage from Arlington is probably way too broad. Thanks!

[saganista]

$2500 (P&I only) at 5.25% on a 30-year fixed would carry $450K worth of mortgage. With $115K to put down, you'd be looking for a place at $565. There isn't so much SFH around at $565K.

There's a nice 4/2.5 in Gainesville (Morris Farm area) for $2200/month, but it's a townhouse.

Bad areas are few and far between. There are some sections of Sterling and Annandale that one might not prefer, some in Herndon, and quite a number in Prince William County. At the same time, there are perfectly lovely areas in all those places. You'd have to have really crummy luck to throw a dart at a map of NoVa and actually hit a place to avoid. The necessary budget is going to be a far bigger consideration...