May Be Moving to McLean Area - Help! (Chantilly, Leesburg: townhouse, buy)

[marblmom]

My DH may have a job in McLean. I have no idea where to look for places to live. MOST important thing is the BEST public schools. What are your property taxes there? Can probably pay between $600-700K for a house. Don't really care how long the commute is. Any suggestions on where to live? Thank you!!

[sssb2000]

well, if you live in Mclean, your child will indeed be going to a good school.....either mclean high or langley high...........
with 600-700k, you may be able to afford a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house....older of course.....OR you could buy a nicer townhouse......don't expect anything more though.

Mclean is a nice heighborhood....try zip codes 22102 and 22101.

an alternative is to live in Falls Church (borders with Mclean) and the housing will drop significantly even if it's only one street over! try zip code 22043.

I personally work in Mclean and commute from Sterling, VA. with youre budget, you can get a nice big house there but your commute is a bit longer.....at 630 am, it takes me half an hour to get to work. at 730, it'll take 45 minutes. try zip 20164.

Good luck.

[claremarie]

If the job is in McLean, it's probably actually at Tyson's Corner.
$600-700K will just barely get you into the market for a single-family home in McLean, which is one of the most expensive parts of Fairfax County. Part of the reason for the high costs is the convenient location near DC -- which isn't important for your family. You will get a bit more house for your money in neighboring communities such as Vienna, which is on the other side of Tyson's.
There are a number of threads on this forum regarding "top schools." Check them out. But basically, any school in McLean or Vienna will be excellent.
If you don't like spending $600-700K for a somewhat dated 4 BR split-level or small colonial, you can consider looking outside the Beltway in communities such as Chantilly or Ashburn, but that will require a substantially longer commute to Tyson's. And, trust me, your husband will care very much about how long the commute is....

[oleo]

Check Sterling, Herndon & further out, Ashburn.

Only old money lives (house) in McLean.

[goozer]

Originally Posted by claremarie

If the job is in McLean, it's probably actually at Tyson's Corner.
$600-700K will just barely get you into the market for a single-family home in McLean, which is one of the most expensive parts of Fairfax County. Part of the reason for the high costs is the convenient location near DC -- which isn't important for your family. You will get a bit more house for your money in neighboring communities such as Vienna, which is on the other side of Tyson's.
There are a number of threads on this forum regarding "top schools." Check them out. But basically, any school in McLean or Vienna will be excellent.
If you don't like spending $600-700K for a somewhat dated 4 BR split-level or small colonial, you can consider looking outside the Beltway in communities such as Chantilly or Ashburn, but that will require a substantially longer commute to Tyson's. And, trust me, your husband will care very much about how long the commute is....

This is all very good advice. One other thing to consider: the housing market has not softened up all that much in McLean proper (or the surrounding "desirable" suburbs of DC). Prices may be falling throughout the region, but you will still see a lot of houses come to market with extravagently high prices. That said, there are some major bargains to be had in places like Ashburn and Leesburg. Both towns have awful commutes to DC, but more reasonable commutes to a place like McLean/Tysons Corner.