Neighborhood advice (Fairfax) - houses NO MORE than $450K, good schools, FULL-day K (Reston: renting, buy)

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by GCPA

Don't know if you have considered Cascades area of Sterling...

Listing Details

Right off of Algonkian/Fairfax County Pkwy, elementary school within walking distance, grocery store/some dining within 1 mile. Not sure where Lorton is but Ashburn would be an easy drive and Reston is only 10 mins away. Not sure about schools.........don't have kids. Algonkian Park around the corner. Loudoun County commuter bus stop (to West Falls Church metro) also around the corner. Nice area with alot of walking paths.

Wow! That looks like a great buy for a family!

[car54]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Sorry! Forgive me, but I've never known anyone who bought a dog house for a dog who lived inside.

Apparently you haven't known many dogowners.

Our dogs go in and out of the house as they please via the doggie-door. When they are outside, they seem to enjoy lounging inside or on the porch of their doghouse that I built them.

Dogs seem to like the security of knowing that nothing can sneak up behind them....even notice how they often lay down in corners?


OP: You absolutely can find a nice SFH in NOVA within your budget.

[hilsmom]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Well of course, who wouldn't prefer to get the taxpayers to pay for those expenses? We can all understand not wanting to pay those expenses. So that my taxes in LC don't have to increase, I suggest that you stay in FC and let them pay for your children's expenses.

Seriously, if you can find a house in Loudoun that saves you enough money, you might find it's cheaper to pay those expenses yourself, with the money you save by moving to Loudoun. Do the math and see if it works for you.

I'm not feeling like engaging in the "full-day K is just daycare" argument. You can believe whatever you want. Yes, for my budget and schedule, I would prefer not to be in a half-day district. If you're lucky enough to not have to worry about an extra few hundred dollars a month in childcare expenses, good on you. Fairfax was supposed to have implemented full-day K in all their schools by now - the economy stalled it.

But half-day K isn't my ONLY reason for not necessarily wanting to be in Loudoun - Reston is about as far west as I want to go from the city as it is. My current situation would allow for that commute, but who knows what the future holds. I prefer Fairfax for closer proximity to the city and better access to transportation, too.

We all have our reasons for what we want out of a house and a neighborhood. I already gave my requirements - you had yours when you went out househunting. I am looking for neighborhoods fitting my requirements - your suggestions are just argumentative.

[Caladium]

Wow! Why are we picking on Hilsmon? She's told us what she's seeking so that we can help her find it, not to be jumped on.

The full time kindergarten seems to be the challenge. I'm sad to hear Herndon doesn't offer it anymore. Since not all the Fairfax schools have it, is there a list somewhere that says which ones do? Maybe we should start from there and then we can see which of those schools have neighborhoods that could work for you.

BTW dogs like to have a dog house. Many dogs like to sleep in a house when they're outside--that doesn't mean they live outside.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

But half-day K isn't my ONLY reason for not necessarily wanting to be in Loudoun - Reston is about as far west as I want to go from the city as it is. My current situation would allow for that commute, but who knows what the future holds. I prefer Fairfax for closer proximity to the city and better access to transportation, too.

That's good enough for me! We all have reasons we like different parts of town and you are entitled to like whatever part of town you wish, for any reason you wish.

[hilsmom]

Caladium - since there is a group that is pushing the Fairfax School Board to get back to their implementation schedule now that money is starting to be less tight, I was able to borrow a list from one of the articles that has just the half-day districts. There are 37 of them out of 138 schools total. 6 of the 8 schools in Reston are full-day. About half of the Herndon schools are, too. Oddly, a few of the relatively affordable neighborhoods are in half-day districts, like Fox Mill Estates and Franklin Farm.

But, since you asked, here is the half-day list:
School
Location
Armstrong ES
Reston
Canterbury Woods ES
Annandale/Fairfax
Cherry Run ES
Burke
Chesterbrook ES
McLean
Churchill Road ES

McLean
Clifton ES
Clifton
Colvin Run ES
Great Falls
Crossfield ES
Oak Hill
Fairview ES
Fairfax Station
Flint Hill ES
Vienna
Floris ES
Herndon
Forestville ES
Great Falls
Fox Mill ES
Herndon/Reston
Franklin Sherman ES
McLean
Great Falls ES
Great Falls
Greenbriar West ES
Fairfax/Chantilly
Haycock ES
McLean
Hunt Valley ES
Springfield
Kent Gardens ES
McLean
Louise Archer ES
Vienna
Navy ES
Fairfax/Oak Hill
Oak Hill ES
Oak Hill
Oak View ES
Burke
Orange Hunt ES
West Springfield
Ravensworth ES
North Springfield
Sangster ES
West Springfield
Silverbrook ES
Fairfax Station
Spring Hill ES
McLean
Stratford Landing ES
Alexandria
Sunrise Valley ES
Reston
Union Mill ES
Clifton
Vienna ES
Vienna
Virginia Run ES
Centreville
Wakefield Forest ES
Annandale/Fairfax
Waples Mill ES
Oakton
Willow Springs ES
Fairfax


Wolftrap ES
Vienna

[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[hilsmom]

I MAY have some flexibility on more affordable Reston/Herndon neighborhoods IF my daughter gets into either of the 2 Reston schools with lottery programs (Hunters Woods is an Arts and Science magnet and Lake Anne has a Spanish immersion program starting in K). But that is luck of the draw and I won't know for a couple more months since acceptances don't come until April at the earliest.

[slduvall]

[quote=hilsmom;17641807]Caladium - since there is a group that is pushing the Fairfax School Board to get back to their implementation schedule now that money is starting to be less tight, I was able to borrow a list from one of the articles that has just the half-day districts. There are 37 of them out of 138 schools total. 6 of the 8 schools in Reston are full-day. About half of the Herndon schools are, too. Oddly, a few of the relatively affordable neighborhoods are in half-day districts, like Fox Mill Estates and Franklin Farm.

Great List Hilsmom! Not to go off topic but in your defense I wanted to weigh in on the full vs half day KG. Most kids these days are in daycare starting pretty early. They are used to being active and engaged all day. MOST Prek programs offer that. Then we ship them off to KG, and they are engaged for half a day, and then taken to a before/aftercare facility, where the empahsis is now play time. Some places spend some quality time with the kids, my daughter is in a good one, but I know that if she was in 1/2 day KG it would have been a play fest like it is in the after care. The 1/2 day KG is really outdated for todays modern family. But we can save that debate for another thread...

I selected my neighborhood based on full day KG. And on the move up to a SFH. We just found out that our landlord wants to sell, we are moving and not back into another TH, we found a SFH, and we aren't buying or staying here forever, but there was no way I was going back to a TH. And we are in a very large one.

You know the best choice for your family! and your dog! Good luck!

[hilsmom]

thanks slduvall. were you on dcurbanmom about a week ago when this whole issue erupted into a knock-down, drag-out fight? THAT was fun.

I knew I wasn't the only person out there that this issue affects. We are hoping to add another child in the next year or so and we're already trying to figure that cost into our monthly budget calculation. If we don't have to pay aftercare, we should be OK without major budget cuts (like retirement and/or any other savings). With my parents coming up here, we may be able to avoid aftercare all together, although we are NOT going to ask my parents to do all daily daycare for our child(ren?). Now, if we just have the one child, we could manage private tuition, but we also would MUCH rather put that money into savings. If that is selfish of me, so be it.

[Bigfoot424]

$450.000? I can remember thinking $60,000 was a killer when I bought my first house. When we moved to upgrade I then thought $92 thou was way too much.

I'm in Prince William Co so can't help you in your search. Except to say if you come out to PW you can find a very nice home for what you are looking to pay.