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If you have a nice life where you are, why move? Austin seems to be a big enough town that if you lost a job you'd be able to find a new one in the area.
Maybe Richmond or Baltimore might work out better than a (relatively) far-flung suburb of Washington DC.
I was just saying I know what kind of house 300k will get you in Austin, and that will cost probably at least 600k here in the Chantilly area (more likely closer to 700k), but I threw 500k in because the farther out you go, the more your money goes. As someone who has been torn on an almost daily basis the last 7 years about living so far from my family, I'm realizing I have to love where I live and I'm fine just having visits with them. But I'm just slowly starting to accept that and everyone has to make that decision based on their own needs, tradeoffs, etc. Good luck to you in Austin!
"I said "some homeowners," not all. Awhile back, a few posters joined and poured on the praise of their neighborhoods and school pyramids and slammed other areas/schools. Later on <surprise surprise > they say that they've sold their home in that glorious neighborhood. It's hard to get objective information from some posters who are wanting to pump up the reputation of their area."
thats true. Talking down an area where one is planning on buying is a plausible strategy as well
Lesson - dont beleive everything you read on the interwebs! Do look for citations and links! See if claims made are greeted by a consensus.
Its 2010 though, I assume we all know that by now.
Anyway, I think what folks have been saying about degrees and socializing here is exactly correct. It really does not come up very much in ordinary circles at least the ones I travel in. This area is so big, there are many different social circles, so you may have had a different experience.
Flat out accusing people of lying because their claim does not jive with your experience is rude though. And yes, even here in big bad NoVa its considered rude.
We moved from TX (Dallas area) exactly one year ago and while we like it here, it's just not home. We're trying very hard to get back to TX - Austin, to be exact. Due to my hubby's job as a Gov't contractor, it's not likely we'll be leaving here anytime soon, however, we're even considering transitioning into career outside of the Gov't to open up more job opportunities in TX. That's not to say/mean it's "bad" here - it's definitely not. But it's just not home, either. We miss Texas dearly and have every intention of getting back there ASAP.
Now for the flip side... if you must make the move to NoVA, you will be fine. There are many, many great things about living here. We've found the people to be quite friendly and we're very happy w/our DS's school (Loudon County). There is so much to see & do and frankly, just taking a chance to experience another part of the country is a good opportunity, even if for a few years, like our situation.
It's beautiful out here, especially this time of year when the leaves are turning, and we're eagerly awaiting the first snowfall of the season after purchasing a new snow shovel & sled at Costco yesterday, lol.
Whatever your decision, make the most of it. If you relocate, don't look back! Or try not to, I should say. Find a seasoned realtor to guide you into the right neighborhood. Del Ray, in some ways, reminds me of Austin. Good luck with your decision. Not an easy one, albeit.
Congratulations on your one-year anniversary here, but I'm also saddened to hear that you're just as homesick for Texas as I am for Pennsylvania. After nearly a year-and-a-half in Fairfax County I've finally grown to "tolerate" living here, but that's the extent of it. As you said it just doesn't quite feel like home. I graduated college at the height of the recession and was terrified I would be unable to find a career opportunity in an area I preferred, so I bit the bullet and moved here, hoping from the get-go to make lemonade out of lemons. Unfortunately the one thing I miss most about my native area of Pennsylvania are the quaint little walkable towns (called "boroughs" back in PA) with that whole Bedford Falls/Mayberry atmosphere. We just don't really have those here due to the horrible urban planning, and the ones that do exist are so expensive they're generally reserved for the affluent, and then they lose their charm when they grow pretentious and "doushey" (censoring self via intentional typo) as a result (i.e. Georgetown). People on this sub-forum who are enamored by Del Ray, Vienna, or Falls Church, as examples, haven't really ever before been to the communities I grew up near in Pennsylvania---places like Honesdale, Tunkhannock, Towanda, Wellsboro, Lewisburg, Jim Thorpe, New Hope, etc.---so they either love them for what they are or, like me, just "tolerate" that they can't measure up in terms of scope and atmosphere.
I can't live in an apartment on a cul-de-sac where most of my neighbors don't even speak English and think "I'm home." I still feel like I'm just sort of on an extended vacation. I'm immensely disappointed that an area like Northern Virginia, with millions of residents, still doesn't have areas like the ones I used to love back in Pennsylvania. It's a shame most of this area was designed around the automobile, and that's why I'm still so depressed living here and why I'm moving to Arlington (at any and all costs) in Spring 2011.
But I get what you're saying, and I would say that yes, in general, people on the East Coast and in DC dress up a bit more, although I would say that most of that is confined to DC itself. If you're going to be working out in Chantilly I would think it would be even more casual.
Based on my own personal experiences (in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and West), I'm going to have to disagree. (Mind you, my experience with the South is fairly limited, so I'm going to leave it out of the discussion, for now.) I've found that (very generally speaking, of course) people in Midwestern (e.g., Chicago, Minneapolis, KC) and Western (e.g., Reno-Tahoe, Phoenix) cities' suburbs tend to be a bit closer to the 'absolutely fashion-conscious' end of the continuum than their NoVA counterparts (of similar socioeconomic levels). A place like Centreville/Chantilly will not strike you as particularly 'well-dressed,' believe you me. I suppose we're all thinking of slightly different things when we say 'dressed-up' or 'fashion-conscious,' though. The only people in NoVA who seem to be at all interested in their clothing (in a tasteful/interesting way, not a tacky one) are some of the East Asians.
An anecdote: I work at a Federal 'cultural' agency that I (prior to moving here) imagined would be filled with academics in posh tweed suits.. HA. My rude (or pleasant, depending upon your point of view.. I've slipped much more into a 'comfy' aesthetic since moving here ) awakening was my supervisor-to-be arriving at my interview in stained sweats.
Oh, and if you like Austin, I don't think you'll like NoVA.. or 75% of it, anyway.
Last edited by Alicia Bradley; 09-23-2010 at 01:03 PM..
if your work is in chantilly, I would consider Loudon, for a lifestyle less big cityish, and more reasonable housing, and maybe a good but less pressured school system (and you STILL get access to TJ). I dont know how bad traffic is from Loudon to Chantilly.
I still think there are bargains to be had in FFX county houses, but then I dont know what 300k buys in Austin, and my tastes are adjusted to what middle class folks can afford here. Which is still way more than middle class folks could afford in the NYC of my youth. Its all relative.
I do know lots of people (In general, not in this area in particular) who buy big houses, and dont even really use all the rooms. There are more things in life than a big house. If closeness to family matters that much you can make it here. Your kids wont have to share a room, or live in a walk up apartment, or whatever.
if your work is in chantilly, I would consider Loudon, for a lifestyle less big cityish, and more reasonable housing, and maybe a good but less pressured school system (and you STILL get access to TJ). I dont know how bad traffic is from Loudon to Chantilly.
I definitely agree that Loudoun is less city-ish and prices are more reasonable. FWIW, most of the schools in Loudoun are top notch. They may not have the same degree of pressure as some of the Fairfax schools, but the education at most of the schools is very highly rated. Traffic to Chantilly will vary depending on where you are in Loudoun. My dh sometimes has meetings at a northrop grumman facility on Willard. On those morning he has to go to Chantilly, it takes him about 20 minutes to drive to the area.
I am a software developer, 10+ years, working on a DoD contract. As for dress, that's going to differ according to whom you work for. If you work as a contractor on site with your customer, your company will probably require you to wear at least business casual. I can not dress as I did when I worked for a dot-com start up, where we rolled in at 10 in the morning wearing cut-offs and flip flops. Khaki is king in the IT contracting world here (at least, it is for men). Flair, funky, hip, individualist style is not what I encounter in the work world at all.
Whenever I've been to Reston, the IT people there are often dressed better than I. Men in ties for example. If not that, then the khaki pants/knit Polo shirt combo.
Outside of work, you can dress however you like and it will be fine. The area isn't so stuffy that you have to dress a certain way or be seen as an outcast or weirdo.
As for degrees, I know many, myself included, who do not have advanced degrees. Many of us in IT have non-CS, non-engineering degrees. I see many job listings where a Master's is required or preferred, but on the job I have never encountered anyone discussing their degrees or asking about mine, or any social stigma due to which school I attended. I work right alongside someone with a CS degree from a well-respected CS program from one of the "new Ivies", and he and I do the same work. Of course, my lesser education could hinder me in finding work, but on the job, it's never been an issue. In professions outside of IT, I'm sure it could be, where people use such things for social/career ranking.
It sounds like you are happy and thriving in Austin. I would stay in Austin rather than move here to NoVA, if I had the choice. The concerns you have about moving to NoVA (especially the social ones/fitting in) are real issues here, despite what some homeowners wishing to boost sales might say on this forum. This is a competitive, stressful area. Uprooting your family to live closer to relatives may not be the best fit in the long run. In some cases, distance between family members is a good thing.
Did your mother-in-law make that remark about your work attire in order to give you a sense of how people dress here, or was it intended to be a personal slam on your style?
Good advice, Fern435, but why assume that the homeowners on C-D are trying to boost sales? If you own a home, like the area, and have put down a lot of roots, don't you want your taxes to go down, not up? Is the assumption that everyone is trying to sell their house or take out a second mortgage?
I like the area, but I also really regret the fact that my kids weren't really free to bike everywhere the way I did as a kid because of all the traffic on the local roads now. [There are probably some great places to bike in Austin, though.] If there are fewer people in the area in 5-10 years and my tax assessment goes down, it's A-OK with me! As they say, you can't take it with you.
if your work is in chantilly, I would consider Loudon, for a lifestyle less big cityish, and more reasonable housing, and maybe a good but less pressured school system (and you STILL get access to TJ). I dont know how bad traffic is from Loudon to Chantilly.
I still think there are bargains to be had in FFX county houses, but then I dont know what 300k buys in Austin, and my tastes are adjusted to what middle class folks can afford here. Which is still way more than middle class folks could afford in the NYC of my youth. Its all relative.
I do know lots of people (In general, not in this area in particular) who buy big houses, and dont even really use all the rooms. There are more things in life than a big house. If closeness to family matters that much you can make it here. Your kids wont have to share a room, or live in a walk up apartment, or whatever.
I suppose the issue with Fairfax County's housing prices for people like me as a young professional is that I tire of people saying, more or less, "at least housing prices in Fairfax County are cheaper than they are in New York City." You're comparing a bland and generally poorly-planned suburban wasteland of McMansions, parking lots, strip malls, chain restaurants, big-box stores, traffic congestion, construction, etc. like Fairfax County with a city that has so much to offer to someone like me. I've had extensive experience with both DC and NYC myself. NYC offers far much more to justify its exorbitant housing prices than DC, let alone Fairfax County. People give the housing prices in DC a pass by saying "we have a good job market." Well, that's all fine and dandy, but you're spending "X" dollars higher on housing here than in many other cities based upon job security for positions that don't necessarily pay "X" dollars higher, leaving you paying more for less in the long-run. I can tolerate that to live in NYC. In Fairfax County? Why? What is in Fairfax County besides the "supply of jobs" to make young urban professionals love the place? Nothing. The hyped public schools have pushed housing prices for everyone, including childless singles such as myself, to astronomical levels, leaving those of us who want MORE from an area than "good jobs" and "good schools" feeling as if we're not getting a good "bang-for-your-buck" factor. I really resent paying 50% of my net income on a 1-BR apartment because dually-employed couples with children have over twice the buying power as I do and receive benefits for that while I get nothing in return other than shelter.
My quality-of-life was better in a smaller city earning a slightly lower salary than it was moving here and having my additional salary more than absorbed by the cost-of-living. You're not supposed to typically purchase a property that is more than thrice your gross annual household income if you don't want to be overextended, assuming a typical down payment scenario. On a $50,000 salary I can afford up to a $150,000 property (once I save for a down payment). What can $150,000 get me in a decent walkable area here? It can get me, if I'm lucky, a studio in the suburbs or in the 'hood parts of the District or Prince George's County. DC is not NYC. People need to stop hyping it up as such.
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> they say that they've sold their home in that glorious neighborhood. It's hard to get objective information from some posters who are wanting to pump up the reputation of their area."
) awakening was my supervisor-to-be arriving at my interview in stained sweats. 
