No VA - where to live?? (Alexandria, Burke: townhome, neighborhoods, to buy)

[outdoormom]

Okay here goes - husband possibly taking job in DC - looking for best place to live, to raise a family and want:

spend approx. $450- 490k on new home (single family, not townhome)
hubby to work in DC
*good* public schools
commute no more than 60 min to DC
lots of recreation for young family (soccer, t-ball, football, swimming, etc)
lots of outdoor activities
good restaurants, stores, etc

thought of Burke, manassas, falls church?? but not sure.....

Are we on right track? Love Alexandria, but I think it's out of our price range (unless we want a townhome)...... are there areas we should STAY away from? Really want info on best places to raise a family and be an active part of community.... thanks!

[mlv311]

The places you are considering meet most of your criteria except for price range for single-family home and commute of less than 60 minutes into DC. Even if your hubby took the VRE into work from Burke or Manassas, his commute is likely to be more than 60 mins. door-to-door.

I'm also assuming that when you say "new home" you are referring to new for you versus a newer home because you won't find new single family homes in that price range close to DC.

[HEATHER72]

Hi
First off you need to define what new means to you. If it is a brand new home from a builder, well in that price range you have to go waaaaaaaaaaaaay out from DC and look in say the Bristow/Gainesville area. And then it's not going to be an hour commute to DC. But then you have the VRE and you don't have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic all day.

[outdoormom]

Okay, after searching some more, I realize I have to look further outside DC to meet my needs.... by new I mean brand new home, either being built or close to being finished..... if looking at Bristow, is that a reasonable commute w/ the VRE? Also, are the schools out that way as good as they appear? We're coming from the West Coast, where housing prices are OUTRAGEOUS and schools mostly marginal.... traffic is also horrible - a 40 mile commute could take my husband over 90 minutes...

thanks for all the help! hope this clarifies.....

[mlv311]

The VRE ride alone may take him one hour (not counting his commute to the VRE station) and possible subway ride from the VRE stop in DC to his workplace. As far as commuting times by car, we are in temporary quarters about 38 miles away from DC (my husband works on Capitol Hill) and it easily takes him 90 minutes to get home. As far as family-friendly and good schools, you'll find them in Bristow. The big issue will be your husband's commute, particularly depending upon his work schedule.

[claremarie]

For a brand-new home under $500, your husband is looking at a commute of 90 minutes into DC, unless he will be working extremely odd hours. And then sometimes it will take longer than 90 minutes, if there is an accident, rain, snow, or road construction.
My husband's job is 17 miles from our house. Most of his commute is on the Beltway and GW Parkway. Without traffic, it's 35 minutes. With ordinary rush-hour traffic, it's 45-50 minutes. With rain, snow, an accident, holiday weekend, it can easily take 90 minutes.
The traffic out to Gainsville and Bristow is brutal. The VRE is great, but it just doesn't work for everyone, especially those whose job demands and hours don't fit within the relatively limited schedule. And, as people keep moving further out (but continuing to work in DC or nearby) in search of new construction, you can be sure that the traffic will only get worse each year.

If your husband really wants to be an active part of the community, you should seriously reconsider the "new construction" part of your wish list. He won't be home in time to make it to soccer practices and flute recitals.

[HEATHER72]

Well maybe I'll tell you the reason why we chose a new home over being a little closer in. Our budget was $500K and wanted the most bang for our buck. We didn't want to buy a $500K 30 year old house in Fairfax and have repair and improvement bills on top of a large mortgage. Then hubby would still have to ride the Metro in. He would rather ride the nice comfy seats on the VRE any day. He's always home around 6 pm. So, I don't think that's too bad. We live in Gainesville btw.

Did anyone read the article in the recent Washington Post Magazine about people and their commmutes? Commutes from Charlottesville and West Virginia! *gasps*

So if your heart is set on a brand new home at that price, it is possible, but you will be living at least 1.5 hr commute away from DC.

[Yankeesfan]

Outdoormom, just my opinion, but I think that getting a newly-built house for that price would place you so far outside DC that it would not be worth your husband's absenteeism from the family. You might want to at least look at some resale neighborhoods in Fairfax County. Also, be sure to test the commute under real conditions before signing a contract on a house, to determine whether it's something your family wants to endure five days a week.

[vankerck]

You can find some relatively new homes closer in. They might be up to 5 years old or so. I know it's not *new*, but it's pretty darn close. Look into Centreville/Chantilly/South Riding. It's a little closer in than Bristow/Gainesville/Manassas. You might also be able to take the bus to the metro stop in Vienna, or just drive to it. No VRE station nearby as far as I know, though.

[onevthoki]

Outdoormom - You might want to look into Leeland Station (Welcome to Leeland Station) in Stafford. The big selling point for them is that the VRE station is right in the development and at least your hubby would not have to get on the main roads to get home. There are still two builders in there that would have homes in your price range. Will the commute still be long, absolutely! And it will probably be worse in the summer; once the temperature gets over 85 degrees, the train has to go slower.

But I can tell you that many families go through this. We live in Spotsylvania and my husband leaves about 4:40am to catch the 5:15am heading north and normally gets home around 6:00pm. Of course if you are in Stafford it wouldn't be quite as bad. You might want to do a search on Leeland Station here in the forum to see what others have to say about it. And if you want to look a little further south, I can recommend others in Spotsylvania.

Good luck and keep us posted!