leesburg vs springfield (apartment, rent, homes)

[neve1]

I am moving to nova with my family in june. I have no idea about the towns, I do not like strip mall environments and am looking for some character. Rent 2000, need 4 beds?any suggestions

[mlv311]

Where will you be commuting to? Because if you work in DC, you'll have a big difference in commuting times between Springfield and Leesburg.

[ChristineVA]

Wow, it's sort of like comparing apples and oranges.

Springfield is an older, established suburb about 15 miles outside of DC. It's really a commuters dream if you are working in DC or the surrounding areas of DC. Great ride, great commuter options. But, I wouldn't call it an aesthetically pleasing suburb. Much of it is older and sort of run down especially the Springfield Mall area and the parts of Springfield where the "mixing bowl" interchange runs through it. Other areas are perfectly nice, green, nice homes, good mix of people.

As for Leesburg, I don't personally know much about it except that I would NEVER want to commute to work from there. I'm sure it is a wonderful town, pretty, etc., but it is truly a VERY outlying suburb. I'm not even sure if it qualifies as a suburb of DC, although the sprawl is claiming more and more outlying areas as part of "metro DC".

I am honestly perplexed as to how you got things narrowed down to these two areas, they probably couldn't be more different from each other. I think the decision really comes down to where are you working and what kind of commute are you looking for?

[stuntmonkey123]

I agree with the above poster that your decision totally depends on where you'll be working.

Of those two, I'd pick Leesburg just because I think it is prettier and further from the city. But, if you work anywhere near DC, the commute would be pretty unbearable.

Also, in my mind, both Leesburg and Springfield are very suburban and have their fair share of strip malls. You would need to get closer to the city to get away from that type of area.

[athousandlogins]

I swear, sometimes it feels like we get 15 posts a day with people saying they don't like strip malls. The other day we had one asking for no strip malls, but saying they really liked Trader Joe's. Well, I can think of 3 TJ's within 20 minutes of my apartment, but they're ALL in strip malls. So are they good or bad? I don't even know anymore

Hey, I understand the drawbacks of strip malls, of course I do. But NoVA has a lot of strip malls. It just sort of grew that way, for better or for worse. But the area also has a LOT else going for it if you're willing to suck up a strip mall or two.

I guess I'm saying that if the only criteria you really give us is that you don't like strip malls, well, we can't help you a whole lot.

That said, I think ChristineVA's advice is good - Leesburg sounds like it has some of what you want and I think it is in your price range, but if you have a daily commute to worry about than it might be too far "out there."

[Azmordean]

Yeah those two places aren't even in the same corridor. Leesburg is WAY out the Dulles Toll Road corridor, Springfield is south on I-95. I can think of no set of circumstances where, once one knows where he or she is working, both Springfield and Leesburg would be viable options.

[normie]

Tell us where your job is, and we'll be better able to give you suggestions. It's really a good idea to live as close to your job as possible.