Moving to Arlington area? (Alexandria, Vienna: condo, loan, townhouses)

[Wilyfil]

My husband and I have both been offered jobs in the Arlington, VA area and are now going through the process of trying to find an area to live. We have two high-school age sons, a medium sized dog that needs a yard or a good area for walks, and a cat. We are looking to spend as much as $750,00 but would prefer to spend under $600,000. We need 3 or 4 bedrooms and at least 2.5 bath rooms. We don't like cookie cutter houses at all and would prefer to live in more of an artsy with class type neighborhood. Is their any area that would work best for us? Thanks for any help.

[Wilyfil]

Also if there are any areas that $1 million would get exactly what we want you can put those in.

[treebw]

My daughter and I just moved to a neighborhood off of Lee Highway and Harrison (Lee-Harrison, I believe). I love it. It is really close to Westover neighborhood which is also perfect. East Falls Church is also great.
I do not like cookie-cutter either!

[OrangeFish]

I suggest Lyon Village (http://www.lyonvillage.org/node/1 - broken link) in Arlington.

Here's one house but it is a little more than you indicated you want to spend.

[claremarie]

East Falls Church is very nice, and extremely convenient, but many of the houses are EXACTLY the same; at least they were in our neighborhood. When visiting from out of town, my parents regularly drove up to the corresponding house on the next block. Indeed, you will find that situation in many north Arlington neighborhoods in the $500-700K price range. Especially the 3 BR, 1.5 bath "box" brick colonial that was especially popular with builders in the post-war period....

[irvine]

Lyon Village is very popular with families, but it is very expensive, and there would be nothing for 750k, except perhaps a condo.

Check out these neighborhoods:

Westover (Westover Village has cafes, p.o., five and dime variety store, library), Bluemont (close to Westover Village and parks), Dominion Hills (also close to Westover Village and parks), Waverly Hills and Cherrydale (close to the Lee-Heights shops, cafes), Arlington Forest (north of route 50 close to the community's shopping center), Leeway Overlee (the nearby Lee Community Center has a pottery and ceramics studio), and the East Falls Church neighborhood as claremarie mentioned (there are cafes and restaurants on Lee Hwy near the fire station).

Waverly Hills and Cherrydale are generally quite pricey, but there are a few smaller 3 bdrm homes that might meet your budget criteria.

Diverse housing styles and sizes in all these neighborhoods.

[Iaponte]

I would strongly recommend Kingstowne in Alexandria. I have clients relocating from NC. I took them to several cities in Northern Viginia and they found three homes they really liked. They were all located in Kingstowne due to the neighborhood, location, shops and commute.

[pcity]

Kingstowne is nice, but it is the definition of "cookie-cutter" and not the "artsy with class type neighborhood" the OP is looking for.

The only "artsy" place in NovA that I can think of is Old Town Alexandria, but there might be school concerns there. If you take away the "artsy" requirement, then all of irvine's suggestions are good.

[claremarie]

Of course, you don't need to LIVE in Arlington just because you are working there.
Assuming that "Arlington" means the Ballston/Clarendon/Courthouse stretch on Metro's Orange Line, you could consider communities like Vienna or the City of Falls Church. You will get (somewhat) more house for your money, great schools, and more of a community feeling than is available in many other parts of northern Virginia. Also, some charming older homes in both areas. The commute will still be very manageable, especially if you can take Metro.
But, for under $600K, you are probably looking at townhouses or small older homes that need some extensive updating.

[irvine]

As claremarie mentioned, many of the homes in some Arlington neighborhoods, like the 1930s-40s era "colonials" in Dominion Hills and Arlington Forest, are for the most part fairly identical. But because of the craftsmanship and materials used, as well as the planning and design of the homes and streets by architects and other designers, these communities have aged well, not unlike some of the older, attractive rowhouse/SFH communities in DC, like Glover Park, or the up and coming Petworth neighborhood. The "cookie-cutter" homes of today's self-contained suburban developments are not designed by architects, where design and craftsmanship are usually of mediocre quality. Arlington Forest is a National Register Historic District, precisely because of its design.

Here's an excerpt from a Wash Post article on Arlington Forest dated Jan 22, 1994 by Linda Wheeler:

Architect Robert O. Scholz designed a standard house for the community and offered variations on the basic plan. The two-story, 1,144-square-foot brick houses sold for $5,990 in 1939, with a fireplace or garage added on for another $500 each. Monthly payments for a 25-year loan at 4.5 percent interest was $38.82.

At the time, the developer laid power and telephone lines in back yards rather than along the street, as was common at the time. Parallel service roads, a buffer park strip and the small shopping center, all part of the developer's plans, were considered innovations in 1940.