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Old 11-17-2012, 01:10 PM
 
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My husband just got a job offer in Gainesville area of Virginia. We are a family of 3 with my son being 2 years old. We would like to move to a family friendly safe area where the shops and activities are relatively close and of course a place with good schools(I think anything is better than the school system in Florida, lol).
His job starts in January so he will likely go up first while we sell our house and find a new one up there.
My question is where are good places to start looking.
We would like to keep the new home/townhome at or below $600,000 and will need at least 3 bedrooms. Where would you suggest starting and why?
Thanks!
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Old 11-17-2012, 01:14 PM
 
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I actually would encourage you to look in Gainesville. It is a nice area and the schools are good. You cannot BEAT living and working within miles of each other in this area.

If, however, you are fixated on Fairfax County Public Schools, which are some of the best in the nation, you could look in the Centreville, Chantilly, Dulles areas and reverse commute into Gainesville. You will pay quite a bit more for housing, get a little less, and travel more but you will be in the coveted Fairfax County Public School system.
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Old 11-17-2012, 01:29 PM
 
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Thanks, this is very helpful
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:01 PM
 
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Might want to check out Dominion Valley or Piedmont in Haymarket. Both are gated communities and are aligned with good schools. I don't live in either, but live right next to them. We really like the area. The biggest downside is the schools are very crowded in PWC. My daughter has 28 kids in her 1st grade class. However, they are mostly well behaved kids.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:19 PM
 
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Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, Husband is willing to commute up to an hour from work in Gainesville to our home.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:28 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingMommy22 View Post
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, Husband is willing to commute up to an hour from work in Gainesville to our home.

But you do know that this is not necessary, correct? Gainesville is not the epicenter of industry! It is a suburb that most people commute from. I guess the only reason you might want to live that far from Gainesville and commute an hours is if you wanted a lot of land or BIG house out in the sticks?

You could reverse commute in from Fairfax. You can definitely get a house for $600,000 in some of the well-ranked school pyramids but they will be just regular homes, nothing special.

I guess I'm wondering what you want in that regard.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:36 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingMommy22 View Post
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, Husband is willing to commute up to an hour from work in Gainesville to our home.
There are lots of people on here always saying don't commute, pick something near your work. I'm not one of those people, as I live in Haymarket and work in Alexandria. However, in your case, I'd say don't commute, pick something close. Between $400-600 would buy you a newer, big house in a nice development with good schools in the Gainesville/Haymarket area.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:41 PM
 
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I will have to check out the Gainesville/Haymarket area.
When I mention commute it would only be to live closer to the metro or possibly in fairfax county. I'm just concerned with the prices I have seen in some of theses areas. With our budget would we even find a decent 3 bedroom in the fairfax area. The school system in Fairfax as well as the proximity to the metro is very appealing.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:47 PM
 
12,905 posts, read 15,650,359 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingMommy22 View Post
I will have to check out the Gainesville/Haymarket area.
When I mention commute it would only be to live closer to the metro or possibly in fairfax county. I'm just concerned with the prices I have seen in some of theses areas. With our budget would we even find a decent 3 bedroom in the fairfax area. The school system in Fairfax as well as the proximity to the metro is very appealing.

Yes, at $600,000 you should be able to find a fine 4-BDRM home in Fairfax County.

I'm not sure what the appeal is to living near the Metro, especially since you won't be needing it for work. To be honest, I find the Metro a real drag to use if I want to sight see in town. But, I am a native Washingtonian and would rather take 20 minutes to drive into DC and hit a paid lot, rather than get to the Metro, pay for fares my 4 of my family members, take 40 minutes to get into town (with possibly a transfer) and do that on the way back. But that's just me. I just wouldn't use "the Metro" as a factor when deciding where tol live unless I was using it for a commute. Of course, living near a Metro is always good for resale value.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:48 PM
 
2,612 posts, read 5,583,639 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingMommy22 View Post
My husband just got a job offer in Gainesville area of Virginia. We are a family of 3 with my son being 2 years old. We would like to move to a family friendly safe area where the shops and activities are relatively close and of course a place with good schools(I think anything is better than the school system in Florida, lol).
His job starts in January so he will likely go up first while we sell our house and find a new one up there.
My question is where are good places to start looking.
We would like to keep the new home/townhome at or below $600,000 and will need at least 3 bedrooms. Where would you suggest starting and why?
Thanks!
You should be able to find something very nice - a single family home - in Gainesville or nearby Haymarket. Gainesville is all new and very suburban (disadvantage - no charm at all), and Haymarket is a small town that hasn't quite lost all of its small-town charm, although lots of newer development is mixing in with the older buildings. I don't know much about the schools, but there aren't any "bad" areas around there so the schools are probably pretty good. I can't see any reason for living elsewhere with a job in Gainesville. So start with Gainesville and if you don't find anything there look west and north.
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