PCS to Fort Belvoir (Woodbridge, Mount Vernon: 2015, rentals, neighborhoods)

[angiesulit]

Hoping to live in Kingstowne area, but noticing a lot of decent rentals in Woodbridge. I have been warned about the Woodbridge traffic by friends who use to live in the area. We usually fly down to find a place to rent but I noticed on Military by owner places are already showing up for June/July availability. We are looking at July 1 move in. We don't plan on going down to look for place until first week in June.

I am now wondering should we rent online when we see a decent place now? Or do we wait until June when we are there in person? I worry that maybe places get snatched up rather quickly and that we run the risk of finding places that have August move ins if we wait until June. Not sure what to do. We have two small kids and have a BAH of $3200. Does anyone know how the rental market is in June? Will there still be a lot to choose from for July move in?

[Bigfoot424]

I wouldn't rent anything without checking out the neighborhood first but maybe that's just me. Even if it's just a matter of asking on here about certain neighborhoods on forums like this. You will have some traffic (heavy) coming from Woodbridge but it certainly is cheaper than Kingstowne. There are parts of Woodbridge I wouldn't live in and there are some places that are nice.

[newvadad]

Move quickly. Places go fast and prices will go up in the summer. That website you mentioned is excellent.
Check around this board for other similar questions because there is a lot of good advice.

We considered Woodbridge but the traffic was a deal breaker.

[CAVA1990]

if you have $3,200 you have a lot of options. You can certainly get something close to the base for that. I am curious when people post about working at Belvoir which part of the base they're talking about. Are most of the workplaces closer to Kingstowne than Mount Vernon? You could certainly rent a nice place here by the Potomac for that amount. Just me but that seems more appealing than Kingstowne. Most of my military neighbors work at the Pentagon so don't know much about working on the base and living over here.

[roninsedge]

Living in the Mount Vernon area and working on Ft. Belvoir is a breeze. You take the GW parkway and enter in the side gate (I can't remember the name) and make your way to wherever you want to go. If you are working on the side closer to I-95, there are still plenty of ways to get there without dealing with the high traffic entrances to Ft. Belvoir.

[djplourd]

The biggest variables are where on Belvoir you'll be working and what time you'll be commuting. If you lived in Kingstowne I'd assume you'll probably be coming in the Telegraph rd gate. I'm not as familiar with the traffic patterns on that side but I can't imagine they're worse than anything coming off of Rt 1. If you live in Woodbridge or anywhere else south of post unless you're commuting roughly 7-3 your traffic will be worse than Kingstowne. And if its a holiday/long weekend, traffic will be much worse. Also consider that in the next year or so they're supposed to start working on the Rt 1 expansion (from four lanes to six) from I think Woodlawn rd to Telegraph Rd. I think it'll be 2015 or 2016 before that's finished. Hopefully when it's completed traffic will improve but I think a bad traffic situation is just going to get that much worse while construction is ongoing.

[angiesulit]

Thank you all for your responses. Some really good options to consider like Mt. Vernon. I am worried that if we don't act fast we will lose out on some nice places that are on the market now for July. I hate seeing a place without checking it out in person too but worry waiting until June might work against us. Did not even realize prices could up in summer. That is something that did not occur to us. He'll be working for an agency on Kingman Road in Fort Belvoir. Not sure where that is in relation to the post so a map would be useful. Will have to get one.

[slduvall]

That facility is located on the part of Belvoir near Kingstowne, but is actually sort of off post. sort of hard to explain without being here. Kingstowne and surrounding areas would be a breeze. Mt Vernon would be doable, though Rt 1 would be bad, but nothing like trying to come up from Woodbridge. You can get a single family in Kingstowne or Island Creek for your BHA.

I would never rent sight unseen from Woodbridge, but would and I actually did for Kingstowne. No one street area is any better or worse than any other.

[angiesulit]

Thanks for that last response about Kingstowne being close to his location. Very helpful and renting in Kingstowne unseen may be what we do. We had a friend who lived in Kingstowne and loved it, my sister use to shop there when she was attending Georgetown and said that area was nice. Thanks everyone!

[nylea]

As an E-5 with two kids which is the safest and most modern village on post (fort Belvoir)

Thank you.