Home Sweet Home... which of these 4 is it? (Burke, Reston: for sale, rental)

[TwinMama2]

[SIZE=3]After spending most of our careers in the San Francisco bay area we moved to west coast Florida to be closer to family. Unfortunately the constant hot humid weather and lack of stimulation is not a good fit for us so we’re leaving Florida after our house closes next month. We explored a variety of cities on the east coast and decided to move to the N. Virginia/Washington DC area based on good schools for kids, a stimulating family oriented environment and a Trader Joe’s close by. Commuting is not an issue because my husband works from home now. We’d like to rent a newer home for a 6 to 12 mos. and if we’re comfortable in the area will look for a home to buy. The areas we’re exploring now are Centreville, Clifton (Little Rocky Run area), Ashburn & Burke based on newer homes and not too close to DC’s high traffic? Can you advise if these are good areas? which developments to target? and how/when to find detached single family houses for rent? …hardly seeing any on-line right now.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Appreciate your input and other contacts who moved from the west coast! [/SIZE]

[Yankeesfan]

All the locations you've mentioned (which are all nice!) are in Fairfax County except for Ashburn, which is in Loudoun County. You can use the boundary locator at FCPS Home Page Redirect Page to see which school(s) your children will go to from each house that you look at.

The sites I'm familiar with are realtor.com, militarybyowner.com, and homesdatabase.com. There may be some houses for sale whose owners would be willing to accept a rental contract but you'd need an agent to help you find those, I assume.

[buildinginva]

You may also want to add Great Falls to the list (although it's a bit pricier, it's beautiful and has great schools).

[Caladium]

If you want to be near Trader Joes, I'd look at homes near Reston or Falls Church. Not sure if you can find newer homes in Falls Church but you can definitely find some newer homes in Reston. Also, the Cascades section of Sterling, which is just 6-7 miles from that Trader Joes.

Here are some photos of one of the Cascades neighborhoods (cascades is a big place, but most of the neighborhoods are similar). Also, some photos of Reston.

Lowes Island (Lowes Island is part of Cascades, which is the northern section of Sterling. Zip code is 20165)
Reston-South Lakes
Reston-Town Center and Lake Anne

[usmcmomx2]

What is Trader Joes?

[Caladium]

Grocery store that sells a lot of specialty items. My second favorite place to buy food after Wegman's. Welcome to Trader Joe's - Your Neighborhood Grocery Store - Aloha!