Hi, College student from NOVA. Nice region, I like it cause despite it being surburbia there still are many enimites and attractions and diversity outside the district, plus you're just a hop and a skip away from the district itself. Specifacally I am from Fairfax County, not far from George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate.
for real estate info;
Homes for Sale and Fairfax County Real Estate Directory, Buyer REBATE.
(beware, Fairco is great but very popular and affluent so some places can be PRICEY especially if they're near the Metro Trains)
Anyways, NoVa is a great suburban region and satelitte/complimentary region to the Capital with two great urban cities in Arlington and Alexandria.
Most else is suburban but still very cosmopoliton, primarily in the popular counties of Fairfax, Prince William and the eastern half of Loundon. Fairfax is the juggernaut both in terms of population and diversity, there is a heavy korean presence there but you will find just about anyone.
It also is arguably the most important county economically for the entire state, what with all the defense contractors, military personell, Freddie Mac, USA Today, PBS, Hilton Hotels, Booze Allen Hamilton there. The Tysons Corner area in the western part of the county has a lot of tech firms such as MCI, and the concentration is only poised to get larger. Most other places get more sparsley populated.
Economy is overall strong and growing, I don't know specifically how it would work for you husband though.
Traffic is well, youre from the ATL so yea it's as bad! But if you want to get to the District or certain other areas close to the beltway without driving you can use the crackerjack metro system, it's clean safe and very efficent with good coverage of the major close in suburbs (best served for getting to major areas in or close to DC in fairfax VA, or Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties in MD, soon will be expanded further west ward in Fairfax Co.)
My Mother is an RN and employed in the INOVA hospital system, these hospitals are probably the best known and largest in the area being a huge empolyer. INOVA Fairfax was recently named one of the best Hospitals in US News and World Report.
Most public schools are well funded and maintained and there are a few good mangnet private schools strewn about too.
more about INOVA;
Welcome to World-Class Healthcare for Northern Virginia and the DC Metro Area | Inova Health System
If the whole northern vs. southern thing gets to you that much, then don't worry you won't get it here. NOVA prolly hasn't been "southern scince the end of the War, and definetly not scince the 80s. It's a neutral mid-atlantic area, due to so many national and international transplants. Really if you wanna combine those three counties and two cities together, we'd be a distinct state in culture and needs much different from the rest of the Old Dominion (to be churlish, the senators in Dixie Va hate us
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Moving to Northern VA
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