Neighborhood advice (Fairfax) - houses NO MORE than $450K, good schools, FULL-day K (Reston: for sale, real estate)

[mlv311]

I have seen a few SFHs in our area go for that price range. The schools have all-day K (Bonnie Brae and Laurel Ridge). The latter has a partial immersion Spanish program. Check out listings in Fairfax (Middleridge, Fairfax Club Estates, Kings Park West, etc.) that feed into those schools. You'll have easy access to shopping and the parkway. GL

[hilsmom]

Bigfoot424 - I know, it is insane when THAT budget is so "low-rent" We make more than $100K combined, for crying out loud - finding a decent house shouldn't be this hard. There were so many reasons why I was hoping to get to Austin by this summer, but oh, well!

We were THIS.CLOSE to moving to PWC a couple years ago when my husband was commuting to Stafford. Then he got the job in Ashburn. Again, a lot of moving targets here, but I do prefer Fairfax just for the possibility that I may go back to working in the city at SOME point. We have several months, though - we shall see. PWC is all full-day K, correct?

[Caladium]

The SAHMs and the realtors seem to frequent this forum more often during the weekdays. IMO, they'd be the ones most likely to have good suggestions for you. I'm crossing my fingers for you.

If you really can't find anything, another thought could be to stay where you're living right now for one more year until your child is done with kindergarten. Then you can be free to look at lots of neighborhoods that might work better for your budget. (Of course, that's assuming you only have the one child right now and would have at least five more years before this becomes an issue again. If so, it's worth considering because by the time your next child is 5 more Nova schools may have returned to full K or you might be living in Austin.)

[smagid]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

Bigfoot424 - I know, it is insane when THAT budget is so "low-rent" We make more than $100K combined, for crying out loud - finding a decent house shouldn't be this hard. There were so many reasons why I was hoping to get to Austin by this summer, but oh, well!

We were THIS.CLOSE to moving to PWC a couple years ago when my husband was commuting to Stafford. Then he got the job in Ashburn. Again, a lot of moving targets here, but I do prefer Fairfax just for the possibility that I may go back to working in the city at SOME point. We have several months, though - we shall see. PWC is all full-day K, correct?

Yes PWC schools are all full-day. And you can get a much larger home on more property in the area.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

We were THIS.CLOSE to moving to PWC a couple years ago when my husband was commuting to Stafford. Then he got the job in Ashburn. Again, a lot of moving targets here, but I do prefer Fairfax just for the possibility that I may go back to working in the city at SOME point. We have several months, though - we shall see. PWC is all full-day K, correct?

One other thing to consider: It sounds like both you and your DH are in jobs that move frequently. If you buy a house you might have a real headache ahead if either of your jobs move again. I can see why you like Fairfax as a sort of central location, but in your situation renting might be the answer.

Hang in there--whatever the solution turns out to be, you'll find one.

[hilsmom]

Caladium - my daughter is turning 5 in 2 weeks, so K is imminent. We're hoping to add another child DURING her K year, but no luck as of yet. EDIT - I just reread, and now I get what you were saying. Unfortunately, the tiny TH we are currently in is in a half-day K district. We are planning to consider renting as well - it is really a question of taxes more than anything else.

At THIS point, our jobs are rather secure. I work part-time for a friend who runs her own business out of her home in Lorton - she was willing to let me take the job with me to Austin and have me work from home. I can work my schedule around some school hours, but I likely need to show up at her house at least twice a week. My husband worked for the same company for 5 years, and has been at his current one for 2 years now. His boss has pretty much told him if we stay here, he has a job for as long as he wants. The current office is in Ashburn, but there is some talk about trying to move a little closer in. Since my husband is the ONLY other person in that office besides the boss, our move may actually sway the boss to one area or another. My husband will NEVER do the commute to Stafford again - it was a year of sheer misery (he was working at the client site).

[choff5]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

thanks for posting about this - I had actually seen several very cute homes in my preliminary search of Fairfax on the web in this neighborhood. I will definitely keep an eye on boundary changes - honestly, we aren't ready to move for a couple more months (we have a TH to sell in Reston, too). We should have time to figure this out by that point, right?

The school board's vote on this will be February 24. If you want to see the details, here's the link, FCPS - Department of Facilities and Transportation Services - Facilities Planning Services-Southwestern Boundary Study Look at the appendix pdf link that's part of the school board's agenda for the real details. The power point is just the "fluff" show of it. There is a small section in the southwest corner of Greenbriar that is slated to move from East to West. Greenbriar East is also slated to get eight new classrooms in the next couple of years. They are hoping to add full day kindergarten to some of these schools that are now receiving students from schools that had full day and won't with the boundary change, but I don't think that's happening for next school year, so if you do look in this area, be sure of which school. Both of them are good schools, just different programs for some reason. Good luck!!!

[hilsmom]

choff - I looked this up earlier today. We won't be house hunting until after these decisions get made, so I think we'll be OK. Thanks for updating, though!

[NYmama2dallas]

hi hilsmom,
there are a few neighborhoods I've seen online that are older/less expensive with full day K in western fairfax (generally feeding into westfield HS eventually if you are familiar with that area). Greenbriar, Country Club Estates, Sully Station are some that come to mind. Also, the Kings Park and Kings Park West neighborhoods closer to fairfax city/burke have older, more affordable homes. I don't know how the commute would be though.

also, i like the franklymls website b/c you can search by elementary school. You type (e.g.) es=Lake Anne into the search engine, and it will pull up all the listings in that particular area.

[NYmama2dallas]

eta-also there are some affordable, but still nice, neighborhoods in Herndon. I know I've seen some less expensive houses online around Dranesville ES but there are probably others also.