Moving from Dallas, TX to McLean area (Arlington, Reston: for rent, townhouse)

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by HereinVA

Since you mentioned in an earlier post that you're thinking of starting a family soon...Childcare is very expensive here. You might want to look into costs of that or the effect on your budget if one of you stayed home to watch the child(ren) and consider that in your housing budget.

Good point! I have a friend who spends 2400 a month on child care. At the end of the day she is making only 1500 a month after transportation costs. That comes out to 18 bucks an hour, hell she could run a day care in her house for that billing rate.

[CapJoe]

Yes, child care is a bit more pricey than here in Dallas.

How bad is a commute from Ashburn to Tyson's Corner?

Thanks a bunch for the info, we really appreciate it!

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by CapJoe

How bad is a commute from Ashburn to Tyson's Corner?

Way, waaaaaay outside your 15-20 minute goal. Even if you were the only car on the road, I don't think you could do it in under 30 minutes. And you won't be the only car on the road (Plus, don't forget the tolls! I believe it's around $12/day now to take 267 and the greenway)

People do it all the time, but it's not a commute I envy.

[slowlane3]

If the mailing address of your jobsite is "McLean", then it is PROBABLY actually at Tysons Corner, a very busy area where 100,000 people work in office buildings, hotels, and 2 gigantic shopping malls, many of them commuting from considerable distance away. See Tysons Corner, Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

Also be advised that metropolitan D.C. overall has the nation's second-worst traffic congestion, according to Amer.Auto.Assoc. annual studies for the past several years. Also, Fairfax and neighboring Loudoun Counties statistifically have THE two highest average household incomes of any counties in the entire USA, and this is reflected in the overall high cost of living.

[tysonsengineer]

For your budget, I'd put you in Vienna which is a quick 5 minutes to your office (if its in Tysons) and for that rental rate you can get really nice townhouses or houses (depending on where in Vienna you want to live). Personally I would rather live in a Townhouse right near the main drag than a house a bit outside of it, but overall Vienna is very pedestrian and bike friendly so access to those parts won't be an issue.

You dont have to worry about schools in this area (Fairfax or Loudoun), they are all good, all have advanced courses for elementary all the way through highschool. The classes are semi-packed but the diversity of courses and the general safety of the region keeps it a hub of education.

Welcome to the area possible neighbor, I hope you enjoy it.

Also, holy carp I just saw where yer from... so conflicted because you are from Dallas... you aren't going to be driving around my neighborhood in a car with a cowboys helmet sticker on it are you?

[CapJoe]

Haha, no Cowboy sticks on the Prius, so no worries there

What about taking the 7 to Tyson's Corner from Ashburn? Is that any better/worse than 267?

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by CapJoe

Haha, no Cowboy sticks on the Prius, so no worries there

What about taking the 7 to Tyson's Corner from Ashburn? Is that any better/worse than 267?

Better.... if you like becoming homicidally angry on your commute. No don't take route 7 from Ashburn, as bad as 267 can be its nothing like the absolute gridlock of Route 7. Ashburn's biggest issue is Waxpool Dr. it takes 15 minutes from central/residential ashburn just to get down it. You can skip waxpool and jump on the greenway but that costs an extra 3 bucks+ (ontop of the regular toll of 2.50 each way).

[CapJoe]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

Better.... if you like becoming homicidally angry on your commute. No don't take route 7 from Ashburn, as bad as 267 can be its nothing like the absolute gridlock of Route 7. Ashburn's biggest issue is Waxpool Dr. it takes 15 minutes from central/residential ashburn just to get down it. You can skip waxpool and jump on the greenway but that costs an extra 3 bucks+ (ontop of the regular toll of 2.50 each way).

Hm, not much of a trade off, eh?

What about metro lines? Is it reasonable to take a train from Ashburn/Herndon/Reston to Tyson's?

[tysonsengineer]

No train today, and possibly no train ever depending on what the crazy board of supervisors in Loudoun chooses. Originally they were going to provide a new metro station in Ashburn as part of the silver line (which by the way would have kept me from fully hating Ashburn). Now that they are arguing that they "dont want a metro access" which is the dumbest thing I have ever heard btw, its unclear whether anything will be built past Dulles Airport.

Again, you could take the toll road to the new metro (coming end of 2013) but from central Ashburn to Wiehle will take 25-35 minutes anyways depending on whether you take the greenway or waxpool.

For the price difference (especially since you are well above the typical budget for FFX anyways) I would suggest you live closer if you plan on being around for a while. Fairfax is a big county with plenty of country style family style regions also which will cut down your commute.

Most people who want to be close to work but want a nice larger lot live near West Ox between Herndon and Reston, Fairfax Station, etc.

[stax]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Way, waaaaaay outside your 15-20 minute goal. Even if you were the only car on the road, I don't think you could do it in under 30 minutes. And you won't be the only car on the road (Plus, don't forget the tolls! I believe it's around $12/day now to take 267 and the greenway)

People do it all the time, but it's not a commute I envy.

To be honest, you can get to Tysons from Ashburn in under 30 minutes, but that will require taking 28 and then 267 (you don't have to take the Greenway). The catch is that you'll need to be leaving Ashburn before 7:15 am, though, because you need to be gone before people drop their kids off for school. It'll cost you about 4.50 (for now) if you take it round trip. And unlike the Tollway in Dallas, there's no adjoining service lane to take for free, which is what we used to do when I lived down there. The roads in the areas outside the Beltway tend be a setup where there isn't a parallel option, or if there is, it's not worth it, so you'll find that there are very few workarounds if something goes wrong.

If you're going working in Tysons, and be outside of the Beltway, then you need to be in the corridor with the most direct route, so that you can avoid taking the Beltway itself. I'd look at the towns along the 267 corridor, mostly because of the Metro coming online in a couple of years. That would be pretty much: Reston, Herndon, Sterling (close enough), and Ashburn, and that's in descending order of price and proximity to Tysons Corner itself. If the commute time is your concern, I would avoid moving out to anything in Prince William County, South Riding, or Leesburg, unless you want to get a bigger house for cheaper than what you'd get on the 267 corridor.