Herndon working/living (Reston, Oakton, Remington: apartment complexes, foreclosure, mortgages)

[puffle]

I lived in a lovely apartment right off Fairfax County Parkway and near major freeways in Fairlakes. It is called the Windsor and it is tucked in a cul de sac so very quiet and peaceful with a nice little pond to walk around. It is in your price range. Very close to Herndon and very safe.

[NOVAnative]

Herndon definately has its share of problems and gangs. The downtown area is decent but get's a bad wrap from many Fairfax County residents.
Loudoun County/Ashburn/Cascades/Leesburg wouldn't be a bad commute at all. You are looking at 20 to 30 minutes from eastern Loudoun County into Reston/Herndon. Ashburn is very safe and has beautiful rolling hills and countryside. Leesburg is a quaint town, very family oriented. Overall, Loudoun County is a great choice.

[seldomseen]

Herndon is a very nice area to live, work and raise a family. Gang problems??? I bet most folks think a gang is eight suburban white high school kids congregating! lmao...But in all honesty, Herndon is a very nice, and safe town to live in. The Mcnair Farms, Coppermine, etc areas are all very nice places to live. All the communities located near within the proximty of the Shoppers grocery store are all nice/safe places to live. There's an older section of Herndon off Elden Street that people consider dangerous!! lol They should see some of the areas of Boston that look like in comparison to this! lol NoVa as a whole is an extremely nice, safe, and clean place to live. Hell most of the places there have been developed within the past 10 years!! I would suggest driving through different parts of Herndon yourself during the day, evening and night so you can make your own decision of what parts are "bad".

If Herndon isn't your cup of tea then consider towns like: Reston, Sterling/Dulles, Ashburn, etc...all which just as nice, or nicer than Herndon.

Good Luck!

[5stones]

I bet most folks think a gang is eight suburban white high school kids congregating! lmao..

NO! and I'll say it again Herndon and Sterling do have some bad areas. Latin gangs as in "the latin Kings" and "MS-13" (more previlent) are active. The police here have an established an ANTI-Gang task force.

Fairfax County's gang unit has 15 full-time sworn personnel dedicated to investigating gang activity.

now most crimes are gang on gang violence and street crimes that don't affect 90% of citizens.

AND since they established the task force gang crime is down from 2004.

There are some EXTREMELY nice and VERY wealthy areas in HERNDON, RESTON and STERLING. But there are some areas to avoid. Driving through neighborhoods in the evening is a good indication and best way to see whats going on...If you feel like you need to lock you door and get OUT then don't look to live in that area. If you see kids running around and people walking dogs, washing cars and neighbors talking while watering lawns...hey it's aGood family neighborhood.

and NO it's not anywhere NEAR as bad as ANY big city, but it's not Mayberry either where OTIS the town drunk is the biggest problem! Just be aware of the neighborhood, as you would in the town you live in right now.

[seldomseen]

Originally Posted by 5stones

NO! and I'll say it again Herndon and Sterling do have some bad areas. Latin gangs as in "the latin Kings" and "MS-13" (more previlent) are active. The police here have an established an ANTI-Gang task force.


now most crimes are gang on gang violence and street crimes that don't affect 90% of citizens.

AND since they established the task force gang crime is down from 2004.

There are some EXTREMELY nice and VERY wealthy areas in HERNDON, RESTON and STERLING. But there are some areas to avoid. Driving through neighborhoods in the evening is a good indication and best way to see whats going on...If you feel like you need to lock you door and get OUT then don't look to live in that area. If you see kids running around and people walking dogs, washing cars and neighbors talking while watering lawns...hey it's aGood family neighborhood.

and NO it's not anywhere NEAR as bad as ANY big city, but it's not Mayberry either where OTIS the town drunk is the biggest problem! Just be aware of the neighborhood, as you would in the town you live in right now.

lol I've lived in Herndon for a few years...trust me the gangs there aint nothing to worry about. The size of the so called "gang" is in actuality miniscule. And your typical lawbiding, professional adult will have a very, very, very low likelihood of being victimized by the Herndon/Sterling gangs!! There isn't any section of Herndon that is dangerous to walk, or drive through either!!

[LLD]

Can anyone comment on the several older neighborhoods in Herdon that seem to have many single family homes on the market for less than $400K? I've been looking at real estate all over Northern VA and I was just very surprised to find those houses in Herndon and wondering if that is a bad part of town, or just older and getting revitalized etc. Seems there are several foreclosures there.

I actually think investing in property along the Silver Line Metro route from Falls Church to past the airport is a smart idea at the moment.

[jb124]

My knowledge comes from Sterling but it might also apply to parts of Herndon. According to my friend who was trying to sell her house there, propery values have gone down even more than the general average due to the immigrant issues being faced. She said that most of the houses in her neighborhood were the kind where you had very extended families (if that) of immigrants living in a 3/4 BR house and people with more nuclear families were desperate to sell and move, eating a bigger loss than other neighborhoods in NoVA.

[LLD]

Interesting -- that's not a big issue for me. I like diversity, grew up in Houston and in general many of the larger immigrant families kept things fairly nice, worked their butts off and were nice.

But even if what you are saying is an issue for some... that doesn't explain all the foreclosures. I'm wondering if that is just a product of people buying houses they couldn't really afford and when rates went up and they had those god awful adjustable mortgages, the piper came to collect.

[jb124]

Originally Posted by LLD

Interesting -- that's not a big issue for me. I like diversity, grew up in Houston and in general many of the larger immigrant families kept things fairly nice, worked their butts off and were nice.

Don't get me wrong, I like diversity and it's one of the main reasons I'm proud that I grew up in NoVA, but in the neighborhoods where you have 3-4 cars/vans in the driveway and then 2-3 more on the street in front of the house, it's a sign of overcrowding. It's also a common cause of housing prices to be lower in a neighborhood. When someone drives though a neighborhood looking for a house, they want to see clean driveways, cut/uncluttered lawns, and well-maintained exteriors. In my friend's neighborhood it was clear that the people in many of the houses were either renters or didn't give a darn about property values. Even driving down the street myself I saw about 1/4 of the houses on the market.

But even if what you are saying is an issue for some... that doesn't explain all the foreclosures. I'm wondering if that is just a product of people buying houses they couldn't really afford and when rates went up and they had those god awful adjustable mortgages, the piper came to collect.

I agree there, many people over-extended in the past few years. Even though rates haven't reallly gone up that much (1-2%?), some people were barely sustainable even with their 3.5% 5/1 ARM or whatever. I kinda wish I had gone more conservative myself and kept my little condo in Reston, heh.

[5stones]

I think alot of the "flippers" from 2005 are in foreclosure. We looked in 2006 at quit a few houses in Herdon that were being "flipped". The owner moved in his crew (usually latin immigants) to paint, tile, refrubish etc...the house. But unforuntealy the market didn't keep up and in Aug 2005 the market started to slow. The work was shoddy and they couldn't that 500k for that 3bed split they wanted.
Also there are alot of rentals in hte older neighborhoods of Herdon and this to might account ofrthe foreclosure rate. They bought high and now the prices have dropped and renter can get a better deal elsewhere and the owner can't make the mortage.