Moving to Fort Belvoir for one year, then Walter Reed. Advise on where to live. (Oakton: 2009, rentals)

[omolara57]

Hello, I am 30y/o married woman with no kids, moving to Fort Belvoir for one year in June 2009, before transitioning to Walter Reed Army Hospital for another four years. I am looking for housing in a safe area with a reasonable commute time in the middle of these two posts. Morning commute would probably not be a concern, because i have to be at work early as a physician, but of course concerned about evening commute. Pls advise on what areas of either MD or Northern Virginia i should be looking into.
Thank you for you anticipated assistance.

[ChristineVA]

I would look in Northern VA but closer to the "top" of the Beltway so that when your Walter Reed tour comes up, you don't have too far to go.

You might try the Vienna/Oakton area. You would have a reverse commute to Ft. Belvoir for a year and that wouldn't be too bad. I think you trip to Walter Reed is going to be tough but I wouldn't know how to make that any better other than to move into Montgomery County, Maryland.

[omolara57]

thanks for your reply, but i was hoping to get an idea for somewhere to live in the middle of the two bases (Fort Belvoir and Walter Reed) so i won't have to move twice.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by omolara57

thanks for your reply, but i was hoping to get an idea for somewhere to live in the middle of the two bases (Fort Belvoir and Walter Reed) so i won't have to move twice.

The Vienna/Oakton area would be the middle.

[LVMYDACH]

You might want to consider living on Ft Belvoir for your first year or renting somewhere close by the base. It's possible you may have priority getting into base housing because you are a physician. That will give you adequate time to get familar with the VA/MD/DC area and decide where would be the best location to move for the four years you will be at Walter Reed. I have traveled the route from Northern VA to Walter Reed Hospital for medical appointments and the traffic is horrible during normal hours of morning and evening rush hours. You will find that the normal hours of rush hours seems like it's most of the day! Traffic in this area is awful. It's possible your duty station could change depending on the need for physicians at Ft Belvoir or Walter Reed. I would be flexible the first year so you could make a move easily depending on your duty station after your year at Ft. Belvoir. Personally, I would not consider buying a house until you know for sure where your second duty station is going to be. If you are going to be at Walter Reed, I think somewhere in Montgomery County MD might be a good location to move to cut down on your commute time. Good luck on your move!

[omolara57]

Thank you so much everyone for your advise,
can you please give suggestions on areas to look for good areas close to the hospital (close to the gate, since there are so many) at Fort Belvoir, where i can look for a townhouse, either a subdivision or street. Appreciate all your help. thank you!!

[adctvmonkey]

Hey omolara, there's actually another discussion going on right now about another person looking to live close to Ft. Belvoir, and there were some good recommendations there. Here's that thread:http://www.city-data.com/forum/north...-buy-home.html.

To offer some immediate help, could you offer a price range of the homes you'd be comfortable looking at? There are many townhouse neighborhoods around Ft. Belvoir, and they include Kingstowne, a very large master-planned community with smaller villages in its boundaries to the immediate north of the base; Island Creek, a smaller master-planned community on the western end of Kingstowne; and Landsdowne, which abuts Island Creek. These are all in the 22315 zip code, but we could offer you more and better suggestions if you narrow the price points.

[adctvmonkey]

Sorry for the double post, but I would like to reconsider my suggestions and offer different advice since I now realize the hospital is south of Route 1. Since you want to remain close to the base, there are also quite a few townhouse developments in Lorton in the 22079 zip code. Some of the larger, newer neighborhoods are Lorton Station, Lorton Valley, and Laurel Hill. Older neighborhoods would include townhouse neighborhoods off of Whernside Drive, Masons Passage, and Sheffield. There are many neighborhoods that offer some very good deals right now, and I must mention that Lorton offers more affordable homes than the 22315 zip code I mentioned earlier.

[omolara57]

What can i say, I am amazed at the level of interest and assistance offered so far.Thank you.
The price range I am looking for a 3bedroom townhouse is maximum $1800, do you think that is reasonable, or too small.
I will check out the subdivision suggested.

[LVMYDACH]

I would certainly add Kingstowne to areas to look for a townhouse rental. It is a very nice (relatively new) area with shopping, a large new movie theater and several places to eat. It is not that far from Ft. Belvoir. The rents vary (just looked at Craigslist.com) to see what current 3-bedroom townhouses are renting for. It looks like they range from $1600-$2200. That is pretty typical for townhouse rentals in the area.