South Riding, VA?? (Alexandria, Reston, Centreville: for sale, real estate market, apartments)

[giovanni]

I am a Software Engineer with a Secret Clearance looking for the best place to relocate my family from Annapolis to Northern Virginia... I hear all kinds of bad things about traffic over at the NOVA area, but what about if you do not have to travel to DC to work and you are just staying local?

I have done some research over a community called South Riding in Chantilly Va... anybody has any comments about this place? It looks relatively new and outside of busy towns like Reston or Vienna, which is good in my mind. Is it a good place to move a young familiy and start a new life in Virginia?

[ch_opera_lover]

I sold my house in South Riding last year after living there for 8 years. It's a good place for families to live but traffic to and from Fairfax County (where the jobs, shopping, doctors, and entertainment places are) is terrible and will only get worse (no new east-west roads planned or under construction). Also, home prices are declining throughout Loudoun County (10-month inventory) and to a lesser extent in Fairfax County.

The smart move is to rent a small house (cottage or townhouse) in Fairfax County that is either very close to where you will work or walking distance to a bus route or subway station. You can rent for about 60% of the cost of owning. In a year or two you will know the area and be able to make an intelligent purchase decision. Also, based on the last downturn in Northern Virginia house prices, and the extent of the past price increases, houses in 2008 should be priced about 20% below peak (which occurred in June, 2005).

[finalmove]

Originally Posted by giovanni

I am a Software Engineer with a Secret Clearance looking for the best place to relocate my family from Annapolis to Northern Virginia... I hear all kinds of bad things about traffic over at the NOVA area, but what about if you do not have to travel to DC to work and you are just staying local?

I have done some research over a community called South Riding in Chantilly Va... anybody has any comments about this place? It looks relatively new and outside of busy towns like Reston or Vienna, which is good in my mind. Is it a good place to move a young familiy and start a new life in Virginia?

Start a new life? You sound like you're in the witness protection program! South riding is a great place to live if you also work there. It's way out along one of the most hopelessly congested roads(rt 50) in the region. Rush hour to Reston is an hour. It all hinges on what housing you can afford. Prices are the same as Annapolis. From expensive to very expensive! I'd take the new job and commute from where you are while continuing your search for a new place.

[sum1]

While South Riding is a ways out, alot of companies and construction projects are underway. We just bought a luxury house by Toll brothers off rt 50 and besides the price and distance from fairfax and dc its not bad at all. Also South Riding has Verizon Fiber Optics which we didn't even have in McLean which is wealthier. If you will be working from home it may be a great deal for you. But you utimately have to decide what is important to you, I enjoy having more space and less congestion in my neighborhood but with longer drives.

[dullnboring]

I'm going to have to second (or third) the notion that South Riding isn't too desirable at the moment due to it's location. At the moment, it feels extremely isolated due to the limited roadways connecting it to other parts of the DC area and these roads are all congested and worn-out and there are no plans to build any more roads out towards the area to accomodate all of the growth for whatever reason. The community itself is nice enough. It used to be more of a bargain than it is today. Nowadays, I think it's pretty much just a smidge cheaper than more convenient locations closer in like Chantilly, Centreville and Herndon. There is very little out there actually in South Riding though, and for a wide selection of retail, jobs, entertainment, and restaurants and such, you pretty much have to commute over into Fairfax County. While developers are gobbling up land a mile a minute in South Riding and areas west of Dulles Airport, from my understanding, most of the development is residential, not commercial. South Riding takes on this character. There are lots of single family homes, townhouses, and some condos and apartments, but other than that, not much else. There is to my knowledge only one shopping center with the usual suburban amenities (grocery store, a few fast food restaurants, an ethnic restaurant or two, a few banks, barber shop, Starbucks, Blockbuster, real estate office, dentist's office, Tae Kwon Do studio, dry cleaner's, etc.), and there is at least one golf course in the town. It's a nice enough place; very Wisteria Lane as a matter of fact, but I would never live there until it was better served by roads or public transportation. Maybe in 10-15 years. At the moment, it's just in far too inconvenient of a location.

[Sylvie]

Hello! I live near south riding, its called Virginia Run, about 3 miles south. I have been looking at South Riding for a townhouse for my mother. The area is definetely nice, very new and Louden County has great schools. The location on the Hwy 50 is good. The only concern I would possibly have is that it is directly south of the Dulles airport and Dulles is planning on opening up a 4th runway which will increase airport traffic and the runway will come down directly Pleasant Valley Rd, Hwy 609 I think. This means that airplane traffic over South Riding will increase. The planes actually come in pretty low right now also. Anyway, hope this helps a little.

Virginia Run is an excellent area for families, down Pleasant Valley Rd toward Hwy 29 in Centreville. Centerville has a Metro Park and Ride which takes you to Vienna Metro in about 15 minutes, costs $1.00. Sylvia

[bemn]

I agree with Sylvie for the most part.....I'm suprised that alot of the posts say that South Riding is isolated in a sense....they are building shopping areas. In fact there is a new Harris Teeter down the road. I'd predict that this area will continue to build up.....as far as traffic...yes, it can stink....it really depends on where you're commuting to....alot of people who have the credentials you refer to work in the immediate area near Westfields or Chantilly. Also around here getting around has alot to do with knowing back roads if traffic is horrible.....they are there, it's a matter of figuring them out......and yes, sometimes they are congested as well. South Riding is definately a family atmosphere and everyone I know who moves there LOVES it!!! I'd suggest driving out to look at the area....it's not that far from Annapolis.....we love driving to Annapolis for day trips!!!

As Sylvie points out, Virginia Run is right down the road and is VERY nice as well and established with easy access to I-66, and Rt. 50 and Rt. 28. I also live in Va. Run and was unaware of the new airport runway. However, I used to live right down the road in Sully Station when my husband and I first moved to Centreville from Old Town Alexandria and the planes flew directly above our house, ...we adjusted to this with no real problems. Happy house hunting!!!

[DavidS827]

South Riding is a very nice community. It is well established and has very nice homes. Whether or not it is too far out depends solely on your perspective. Some people have a 5 minute tolerence for commuting, others have substantially more. I personally have no need to be close to the city, so living a little further out was a great option for my family and I (also a young family). I also think the people out here are nicer. I know almost everyone on my street and quite a few more in my neighborhood, which is something very few people inside the beltway can say. As a matter of fact, most of us grew up or lived inside the beltway and moved west to get away from it all. Something else you may want to check out is what your company's plans are for the coming years. There are many gov't agencies, defense contractors, bio chem and research intstitions that are moving to Prince William and, to a lesser extent, Loudoun counties. So it's definitely worth checking in to.
Good luck with the move!

[jmarkd]

I looked hard at South Riding for several months. The prices were a little high for me so I bought a place west of Leesburg and are moving there in January.
I think South Riding would be perfect for a young family. There are 3 elementary schools and walking/biking trails throughout. If you don't have to commute from there I think it would be your best option in this area. If you would have to commute, believe what everyone else has said about 50. I test drove from the intersection of 50 and Loudoun County Parkway/608 to Herndon and the 10 mile trip around the back of Dulles airport took half an hour.
Consider renting there. Craigslist and the realtors have townhomes in South Riding for rent going from $1500 a month and up. You could buy a place and pay $1000 more a month versus renting the same place. That's what we would have done if we hadn't bought our house.
There are a TON of townhomes for sale there- 100 this summer and about 80 now. The newer ones charge condo fees of $175/mo; the older ones you just pay the standard HOA of $66. Prices range from $360K to $420K, depending on how unrealistic the owner is, for a standard three-level 1600SF 3BR + Den townhome. Additionally, Toll is still building two different styles of townhome, 1 condo (Amberlea) and one not (Greens). They are having a heck of a hard time selling them and thus offering free decks, rec rooms, extra garage spaces, etc, although the prices are firmly $370-420K.
A few SFHs can be found for under $500K, but they won't have a garage and won't be much bigger than the THs.
A final word on the real estate market: most of these schmoes paid $200-250K in 2003 and 2004 for their townhomes. Come springtime, those that have to sell will probably consider a lowball offer if they can still make some profit. I believe a lot of the Amberleas near Hutchinson elementary are owned by "investors," and this is dragging down prices and rents as they try to break even or get some rental cash coming in.
Airport traffic: I currently live on the corner of Centreville Rd. and 50, right under one landing flight path. We NEVER hear planes, and it is fun to sit on the balcony at night and watch them come in. I don't think planes would be a problem.
Good luck to you! I myself am looking forward to getting the heck out of western Fairfax (Chantilly, Centreville, Herndon)- the people are among the meanest and most apathetic I have ever been around. It's the traffic that does it.

[KatOne]

I'm still up in the air about South Riding. My husband works in Reston and I fear his commute time would be horrendous. BUT there are days he can work from home, so maybe buying in South Riding would be worth it.

Such a tough decision. I stay home with a baby and a toddler and I would love to be around other families.

We have a cousin who lives in South Riding and she seems familiar with the backroads (she actually uses a DIRT road for part of her commute!) and she swears her commute isn't too bad. In the meantime I keep looking...