Affordable, semi-rural setting within 90 minutes of DC to relocate to......suggestions?

[emsman]

Northerner,

To add to the confusion check out the West Virginia posts for the Martinsburg area and the panhandle area of WV. It is in the '90 Minute' window and housing is realitivley cheap for the size so i'm told. That area gets forgotten often, don't know why.

Good luck on you decisions, your right is not easy to move, let alone a long distance move.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by emsman

Northerner,

To add to the confusion check out the West Virginia posts for the Martinsburg area and the panhandle area of WV. It is in the '90 Minute' window and housing is realitivley cheap for the size so i'm told. That area gets forgotten often, don't know why.

Good luck on you decisions, your right is not easy to move, let alone a long distance move.

Oooooo, my wife LOVES West Virginia. She'd be all about that.

Yeah, this is an important crossroads we're coming to. I'm in my early 40's, so if I'm gonna get another job it needs to be fairly soon before age becomes a factor........and if we do move I want to do it while my kids are still little (8, 7, and newborn) and able to adapt easily. Once they get toward those teenage years a move can be an overwhelmingly negative experience. I know, because we moved to Texas from Michigan when I was 12 and I never really got over it.

[MustHaveCoffee]

Ha ha! Finding a 4BR house for $200k within a half hour of DC isn't just a pipe dream, it's a crack pipe dream!

[Flamingo13]

Make sure you have your coffee before posting - 90 Mins. isn't a half hour

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by MustHaveCoffee

Ha ha! Finding a 4BR house for $200k within a half hour of DC isn't just a pipe dream, it's a crack pipe dream!

Doesn't Marion Barry live in one of those? Sorry....couldn't resist.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

Make sure you have your coffee before posting - 90 Mins. isn't a half hour

I was stating that I would live 30 mins from DC if I could afford it.....which I can't.......thus being the reason I am researching places further out.

[lem3u]

The Winchester area is a great place to live. We have a 4yr old three story townhouse, 4BR and 4 baths(2,200 sq ft) in the Stephens City area(just a few miles south of Winchester) and we only pay $850 a year in real estate tax. Like someone mentioned before, during non rush hour you can be in DC in not much over an hour or so. We usually drive I-66 to Vienna, hop on the metro and are in DC in no time. Good luck with the search.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by MustHaveCoffee

In regard to the OP, is scenery more important to you or is just being in the "90 minute" window? I rented a house in Round Hill (western Loudoun County) for a year and it was a huge mistake. Sure it's pretty and semi-rural out there, but the lifestyle was just as fast-paced as Fairfax and Arlington. Just to give you an example, the nearby town of Purcellville bulldozed a historic farmhouse and barn just to build an upscale grocery store. People move out to the "country" and then demand a Harris Teeter. This is where Loudoun County is headed. I got tired of the farce and moved back into DC the next year and while I pay more in rent, I save a ton of money on travel expense and have a 30 minute commute time.

In my experience, the outer fringes of the Washington Metro "feel" reaches to the ridge of the Blue Ridge on the Loudoun/ Clarke County line, anywhere between Washington and Richmond on I-95, and to the town of Warrenton on Rt 29. I would recommend looking beyond that point if you don't want to find yourself in a bedroom community full of stressed out commuters.

Not completely accurate -- the farmhouse was incorporated into the design of the shopping center. It will be an IJ Canns Restaurant (an independent restaurant that has their first location in Winchester.) The barn was accidently damaged when it was being relocated and it being rebuilt along with the original silo. The farmhouse and barn had been empty for quite a few years and the barn was infested with all kinds of "critters" and needed extensive renovation and repair of the damage.