Moving to Stafford (Manassas, Woodbridge, Lake Ridge: 2011, for rent, how much)

[ccncsa0805]

My family and I are relocating to Stafford in December. I have found two neighborhoods that I do like (from what I have seen online)....Aquia Harbour and Widewater village. We are looking to rent. Does anyone know anything about these neighborhoods? My first choice would be Widewater Village, but there are only a couple of listing online for rent. Any information you have would be great! Thanks!

[ajzjmsmom]

I have no info about Stafford other than what my husbands co-workers have said. However, if we come back to DC on permanent assignment it is definately an area we are interested in.

You might try looking at militarybyowner.com and using Quantico as the base, it seems to have a decent number of houses in the Stafford area on it. FWIW my husbands co-workers say it has really good schools and is actually affordable, for us that meant actually finding a sfh with garage for rent that wasn't going to cost 50% of our take home pay.

Where are you going to be working? I don't know how much luck you will have getting info about Stafford on here, from my observations the majority of the posters live much closer in.

[Turbogyrl]

Depends on what you are looking for. We looked in both developments, and Widewater is right on Route 1. Aquia has a pseudo gate, and all visitors have to be on the list, etc. I know a few people who live in Aquia (USMC folks) and they say its ok... don't love it. The traffic in the morning getting out can be a nightmare. Snow removal, a problem.

Where are you working? Why Stafford?

[ccncsa0805]

My husband will be stationed at Quantico. We are looking at Stafford because that area has been recommended to us by several people. Great schools, safe, great for families, etc. Neither one of us has ever been to Virginia. I did hear about the traffic with Aquia Harbour =( I heard that the school in Widewater Village is great. We are not too picky on where we will be living.....we are hoping to buy after a year (assuming we love VA). I just want a safe, family friendly neighborhood, and a home with a FENCE. Most of the homes I find online do not have fenced backyards. Is this a VA thing? With young children and a dog a fenced backyard is a must! Okay, not a must but it would make things easier. Are there any other areas or neighborhoods that you would recommend over Stafford?

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by ccncsa0805

My husband will be stationed at Quantico. We are looking at Stafford because that area has been recommended to us by several people. Great schools, safe, great for families, etc. Neither one of us has ever been to Virginia. I did hear about the traffic with Aquia Harbour =( I heard that the school in Widewater Village is great. We are not too picky on where we will be living.....we are hoping to buy after a year (assuming we love VA). I just want a safe, family friendly neighborhood, and a home with a FENCE. Most of the homes I find online do not have fenced backyards. Is this a VA thing? With young children and a dog a fenced backyard is a must! Okay, not a must but it would make things easier. Are there any other areas or neighborhoods that you would recommend over Stafford?

We do not live in the area yet, but are here on temporary assignment and have been exploring where we would like to live if we come back. By far Stafford has been the one place that we like the most. My husband should we come back would be making the commute into DC everyday but Stafford has what we want. His co-workers that live out there say the schools are good, we liked how friendly the people are and the fact that you can find SFH's that aren't 50% of my hubbys pay. There mere fact that you can find affordable SFH's in Stafford with fenced yards and garages is a big plus for us.

[HereinVA]

Originally Posted by ccncsa0805

My husband will be stationed at Quantico. We are looking at Stafford because that area has been recommended to us by several people. Great schools, safe, great for families, etc. Neither one of us has ever been to Virginia. I did hear about the traffic with Aquia Harbour =( I heard that the school in Widewater Village is great. We are not too picky on where we will be living.....we are hoping to buy after a year (assuming we love VA). I just want a safe, family friendly neighborhood, and a home with a FENCE. Most of the homes I find online do not have fenced backyards. Is this a VA thing? With young children and a dog a fenced backyard is a must! Okay, not a must but it would make things easier. Are there any other areas or neighborhoods that you would recommend over Stafford?

My husband is also stationed at Quantico

We looked at Aquia Harbour, but it wasn't for us. Our favorite neighborhood that we looked at was called Ashland, it is north of the base off of route 234.
I've heard excellent things about the public schools it feeds into, it's just minutes to the 95, and it is a beautiful neighborhood.
Unfortunately, at the time we were looking, prices were near peak and we couldn't afford it. But if we could have, we would have loved to live there!

There is another neighborhood right next to it called Montclair which is also very nice, I have a friend who lives there. They have a private lake, and some parts of Montclair also go to the same schools as Ashland. My friend loves living in Montclair!

We live in Bristow, which is a bit further out west, but the commute isn't as bad as you would think. My husband takes route 619 and it takes about 1/2 hour to get from our house to the main gate at Quantico. We love living in Bristow because of the beautiful, family oriented neighborhoods, lots of nice new shopping, etc.

[HereinVA]

No idea what your price range/size needs are...but here are some examples of homes in the neighborhoods I mentioned

Lyceum Lane, VA

Buena Vista Drive, VA

Widwewater Dr., VA

Prestwick Ct, VA

Kittewan Ct, VA

[ccncsa0805]

Thank you! This helps very much!!! "Ashland" ??? Where is this located? What city? We are needing a 4 bedroom and are willing to pay up to $2000 a month.

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by ccncsa0805

Thank you! This helps very much!!! "Ashland" ??? Where is this located? What city? We are needing a 4 bedroom and are willing to pay up to $2000 a month.

We lived in Ashland for about 8 years. The home on Lyceum in the link above is in Ashland. Most of the development has a Manassas address with a zip of 20112, but there is a section behind Forest Park HS with a Woodbridge address.

Here is one:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...112_1112411054

and the community website:
http://216.3.232.164:9131/

[Turbogyrl]

You can look in Triangle, but I don't there there is much on the market here at the moment, and also Montclair is nice. There are some areas in Stafford, such as Park Ridge and a few others off of 610 that are nicer (IMHO) than Aquia and Widewater.

I have lots of friends (military wives) who live in Lake Ridge - their hubbies are at Quantico, Ft. Belvoir & Bolling AFB. Would be a reverse commute for your husband. Great shopping there, close to Potomac Mills... and lots of stay at home wives.

One question... why are you not planning on living on base? There are some pretty nice new homes there now. I've been in them! Pretty nice.