Cheap Country Living in NOVA (Leesburg, Herndon: real estate, apartment, renting)

[prdycool]

Hello everyone! I am a recent UVA grad and have just moved to Falls Church. I love the city and living in an apartment and generally love the area. My parents are currently living in Southern VA (allll the way down, 12 miles north of the NC border) and are seriously considering moving up this way. The factory my dad worked at has shut down and he is now doing consulting back and forth in Venezuela and China and my mom hates her job there- she is a teacher and the kids are incredibly terrible. However, they have a paid off home on 10 acres surrounded by another 300 acres of woods.

The main problems down there are: they don't have anything to do or any friends down there really, they don't have jobs to stay for, they would like to be closer to me, they live out in the sticks and have to drive 20 minutes to town to find...a walmart and an applebees, two hours to get to a mall or anywhere interesting!

Basically, they would like to have the same house/land (not necessarily own that much land, but be situated in an open space and not a neighborhood), but when you drive 20 minutes into town you are in something like Fairfax instead of Walmart and one stop light and a bunch of rednecks. They wouldn't even mind 20 minutes to a small town as long as you could drive 20 minutes more and be in a bigger city vs having to drive 2 hours more. They bought their house for around $150,000 and have put about $50,000 into it. Where would be some good areas to look to live somewhere WITHOUT neighbors for around $200,000-$250,000? Are the teaching salaries around here still low? Could they afford the cost of living here? They are willing to look in MD as well, just within about a 50 mile radius of Falls Church. Is there a good general NOVA realtor to talk to or do you need to go a realtor in each town to see what they have (once they pick a town they will see a realtor there of course, but just for ideas of areas to look at could a realtor help?)

Thanks!

[bornindc]

You're definitely not going to find anything close to what the folks are looking for 20 minutes from Fairfax. But they might want to look around in places like Aldie, Nokesville, Warrenton, or Remington in Virginia. Or they could check out areas in Maryland (south Charles County, south Anne Arundel County and Frederick come to mind) or even West Virginia. Any of those places will put them within striking distance of some good-sized towns with shopping, movies, etc., and a much closer drive to Fairfax than southwest Virginia.

[jaunespinoza]

I saw a 1910 home on a quarter acre in Round Hill (Loudon County) for 85,000. Country setting. Commuting to Leesburg would be possible.

[arielmina]

Originally Posted by jaunespinoza

I saw a 1910 home on a quarter acre in Round Hill (Loudon County) for 85,000. Country setting. Commuting to Leesburg would be possible.

That house is basically across the street from my new house but I am pretty sure it's far from livable at this time and it is most certainly not "out in the country". It's right in the center of Round Hill, with very little land.

[krock1dk]

Purcellville is as close as you will be able to get and "afford" it.

[Teebyrd86]

Its amazeing that the 810 sq ft condo that I am renting in Herndon is valued at more than what your parents home on all that land is worth. Crazyness I say.. Crazy!

[ecko_complex24]

I would suggest southern maryland it is less built up yet close to many shops. There is not as much traffic over there either. I would suggest waldorf area maybe brandywine or indian head or in northern charles county. It is real nice and its close to the river.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by Teebyrd86

Its amazeing that the 810 sq ft condo that I am renting in Herndon is valued at more than what your parents home on all that land is worth. Crazyness I say.. Crazy!

Oh? Are you two hours from anything, including a job?

The three most important things in real estate, location, location, location. People will pay to live in Herndon, very few will pay to live in the middle of nowhere.