Relocation/Have Done a Lot of Reading of Previous Posts (Arlington: how much, houses)

[InterestedinVA]

First, thank you for taking the time to read this post. My wife and I (along with our 7 month old) will be moving to Northern VA in the next two months. We are moving from NY and we are looking to lay down roots. My wife will be taking a year or two off of work to stay at home with our little guy and I am hoping to have some parks and other family friendly ammenities available for them. I need to go into DC about 4-5 times a month (not necessarily during rush hour) and fly pretty significantly. We are looking to buy and some of the important components are solid performing schools/decent places to eat/nice grocery stores and a sense of community. We are actually pretty open in regards to area and at some point my wife will return to work (her field is finance). I realize it is a pretty broad post but we are a bit overwhelmed by how much information is out there. Our price range is around $650,000 and hoping to find something that would work. Would perfer a newer home rather than a fixer-uper. The areas that have been suggested so far are Chantilly/Ashburn/Manassas (not a lot of positive comments regarding the schools from what I have read)/Falls Church & Vienna. Thank you again and look forward to the responses.

[Caladium]

In that price range you can find several nice newer homes near IAD (Dulles Airport).

My guess is you might like Chantilly. Westfield High School in Chantilly has a very good reputation. If you can tell us a little more about what sort of community you want, I might have other suggestions as well.

The one drawback is that going into DC from Chantilly might be a pain. The good news is you have 66, but it's still a long distance. If you want to be near the metro (for going into DC) as well as near IAD, I'd look at the communities near the future Silver Line. That would be Reston, Herndon, and parts of Ashburn. The Silver Line won't be running for several years, however.

[brooklynborndad]

are you mainly flying domestically esp short distance (ie out of National OR Dulles) or long distance including international (which means Dulles)

If the latter you should be near Dulles. Where depends if you prefer planned communities, semi rural, more traditional suburbs, or neo trad higher dense small townish.

If you have the choice, you have all those options PLUS the closer in quainter ones, including Arlington and Old Town Alexandria (depending on whether or not a TH is okay for you)

[arielmina]

I vote the Leesburg area. You don't say what part of NY you're from, but Chantilly, Ashburn etc can be culture shock if you're from the more mature (I mean age of the town, not the people ) communities of the northeast. I love Leesburg because while they have alot of new build communities, it's an old historic town with a beautiful town center and alot of local shopping/restaurant opportunities. getting to DC off hours won't be hard, and the commute to Dulles, would be 15-20 mins depending on where you are in town (it's a big spread out area). For $650K you should be able to afford a very nice house in a great neighborhood there.

[JD984]

You might want to look in the 20171 zip code in Herndon (sometimes referred to as Oak Hill). I think you'd find good schools there, and houses in your price range, and that you'd be close to Dulles and not too far for the occasional trips to DC.

Just one more area to consider that you hadn't flagged.

[InterestedinVA]

@Caladium-As the little guy gets bigger soccer leagues/children's programming. (I'm also a golfer so that may complicate things a little)
@Brooklynborndad-I fly around 100k a year all domestic but a lot of West Coast trips. We are totally open to suggestions at the moment
@Arielmina-Coming from Westchester NY, had not considered Leesburg (will have to look it up on the map) but open.
@Jeb77-As long as we are not over the flight path of Dulles I would consider it!

[saganista]

I'd consider an area like Mosby Woods (roughly south of 66, north of 29, east of 123, and west of Blake Lane. It's closer in, within the budget, has very good schools, and is within easy reach of DC or National via Metro with Dulles being about a 15-mile/30-minute drive away. Quick drive to downtown Fairfax, Oakton, or Vienna. Fair Oaks Mall and Tysons Corner would both be on the radar. Very good to excellent restaurants are all over. Nearby grocery stores run the gamut from H-Mart, Safeway, and Giant to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Fresh Market.

[arielmina]

OP, I recently moved here from Fairfield County CT, so I'm familiar with Westchester. I know I could not imagine living in one of the newer "communities" like Ashburn, Chantilly, Reston etc. No charm whatsoever. I am west of Leesburg and absolutely LOVE it, but then I don't have to commute into DC at all, though I do go to Bethesda a few times per month. Husband works in Reston, fine with the 40 min commute in order to live more out in the country (think North Salem type countryside). Leesburg is the county seat, has countryside but all the amenities of a big town. Very family oriented area, tons to do etc. Loudoun county has top schools, although apparently not quite as good as Fairfax county, both are on par with Westchester schools.

Just a suggestion but of course it all depends on your tastes.

[shamrock847]

If you want to be close to Dulles and are interested in new planned communities some places to look are Brambleton, Broadlands, South Riding, Stone Ridge, and Kirkpatrick Farms. Ashburn also has a number of slightly older planned communities which are also very nice. You'll be able to get a 3000+ sqft home, neighborhood parks and pools, lots of young families, and close proximity to golf in these neighborhoods. You'll be 15 - 30 min from Dulles. Off peak you are looking at 45min plus to DC, and over an hour during rush hour.

Also close to Dulles, with older/slightly smaller homes but also slightly closer to DC, there are a number of smaller neighborhoods within your price range in Chantilly, Herndon, and Reston.

Typically as you go further east in to Oakton, Fairfax, Vienna, Falls Church, etc you will get less sqft and older housing stock but will have easier access to DC as well as the other area hubs of Tysons Corner and Arlington and all the activities they offer.

If you want something more rural arielmina has some good suggestions, and I would also recommend Middleburg, although the trip from there to DC would be atrocious.

It's all about what "style" of community to like and the tradeoffs you are willing to make between proximity to DC, price, and newness/size of home.

[Carlingtonian]

Welcome to DC.

You can definitely get a nice 3BR/2BA house in N. Arlington for that price--some of the best schools in the DC area and the best commute to downtown DC/Capitol Hill by far (quicker than from even most of DC itself). Many of the homes are from the 1930s, but most have been renovated. A lot of us find the prewar homes more charming and unique than the postwar homes.

Arlington has a lot of parks and bike paths, and you'd be almost equidistant between both airports. (I live in 22205 and can get to DCA in 13 minutes, IAD in about 20-25.)

Falls Church is also nice.

Chantilly/Ashburn/Manasses require a lengthy drive to DCA if you fly from there. Chantilly is right next to IAD, so it will be noisy. And driving into DC from there will be utter hell. Also, there is less variety among the homes in the communities outside the Beltway, as well as fewer trees.

Good luck.