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So I arrived last Wednesday in Baltimore and spent Thursday seeing the sites in D.C. Man was it hot! Friday and Saturday we spent the entire day riding around with a realtor looking at housing. On Friday we spent our time further out from Fairfax (where DH would work) looking at homes built within the last few years in newer developments. Some of the areas, like I mentioned in my other thread, were Bristow, South Ridings, Dominion Valley and Piedmont. On Saturday we looked at homes closer to Fairfax but they were much older, built in the 80's. So, my conclusions are...
Live further out, longer commute, for between $550-$650 in a newer house that won't need a ton of work/updating.
Live closer in, shorter commute, for between $550-$600 in a house much smaller/older and would need a ton of TLC.
There is no way we could find a house closer in lower than $500 and get the specs we want. And for me it doesn't make sense to live further out in a less expensive home, because not only would we be downgrading our standard of living DH would have longer commute times. It just didn't seem like there were a ton of SFH in good areas that we less than $500.
Last but not least, there was an area we went to on our last day with the realtor that I fell in love with, Ashburn. Anyone live or have anything to say about Ashburn, good or bad? It reminds me of the area we live in now. Sort of out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the city, but not so far that I feel isolated. There was a Halloween Fest going on with TONS of kids and I could just see our family fitting in nicely there. DH would have to travel about 28 miles from Ashburn to Fairfax (Pan Am Plaza). His hours aren't always traditional so he would sometimes have flexibility with not traveling during rush hour. The drive on Saturday afternoon back to Fairfax was only about 15 minutes, not sure what route we took. A couple of people that he would be working with mentioned that he would want to give himself at least two hours commute time on the days he would travel during rush hour. Is this accurate? Currently we live about 31 miles from were we work and the commute can vary and has sometimes taken up to an hour, so that we are used to. We don't want anything that will generally take more than an hour. With that tell me about Ashburn and if an hour with traffic would get him to and from work.
Thanks everyone for all of your help so far. I loved the area and all the things to do as well as looking out the window and seeing mountains. Hopefully we will know within the next couple of weeks what our future holds.
Ashburn is very nice. It's a big planned community with amenities and tons of families. Not much character as a "town" though. It's a bit "stepfordville" and some people like that. The oldest houses are about 20 years old since it was created in the 1980's. Right next to IAD airport so you will get air traffic. If you are a stay at home Mom you have everything you need right there... strip malls, groceries, McDonalds, and activites for the kids. Schools are excellent.
Commute...I would say an hour on a very good day. more likely 90minutes. I am not sure where exactly the job in fairfax is.
Congestion...that area can get very congested and they are only building more houses out that way.
Loudoun county real estate is SLOW... so if you find a house put in a low offer. Ashburn hasn't been hit as bad as Leesburg but I would be VERY agressive and have 2-3 houses you like and be prepared to walk away. SERIOUSLY I would put my first offer in at 30-50k below list.
"A couple of people that he would be working with mentioned that he would want to give himself at least two hours commute time on the days he would travel during rush hour. Is this accurate?"
Traffic will be heavier during the weekday if you live in the outer suburbs. You'll have to share the road with the traffic from the bedroom communiuties in the Shenandoah Valley and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
Fairfax is a very large town. Depending on which part of Fairfax is your destination, your commute will vary widely.
Commute will probably approximate 1 1/2 hour more often than not. It took me about 45 minutes recently from Dulles/Sterling to get to Fairfax Circle (couple blocks from PanAm shopping center) by way of routes 28, 50, and 29. I'd be inclined to take one of the first two routes to get from Ashburn to work.
1. East on Dulles Toll Rd ---> South on Rt 28 ---> East on Rte 50 ---> Left on Germantown Rd/Nutley St
2. East on Dulles Toll Rd ---> South on Fairfax County Pkwy ---> East on Rte 50 ---> Left on Germantown Rd/Nutley St
3. East on Dulles Toll Rd ---> South on Beltway ---> West on I-66 ---> Exit at Nutley St, Vienna
Have you thought about looking at townhomes in the Fairfax/Falls Church. There are plenty of them in your price range that are very nice and are as big as single family homes, but they have better floorplans than the older 70s/80s SFH. I remember seeing a new development in the Fairfax area that looked like the row homes in DC with great architectural characteristics, definitely stood out in a good way and I think they were around 500-600k. As a previous poster noted real estate in Loudoun County is not doing well and I can't see how it can improve anytime soon. There is way too much for sale there and way too much buildable land; just look at Google maps and you can see how much room there is to build.
Anyone live or have anything to say about Ashburn, good or bad? A couple of people that he would be working with mentioned that he would want to give himself at least two hours commute time on the days he would travel during rush hour. Is this accurate?
Ashburn is definitely newer, nice and safe, and we would have moved there had it not been for trying out the commute from Herndon/Sterling (which is closer in than Ashburn) for 4 months while living in temporary quarters. My friends who have lived there love it. It is very family-friendly and great for kids.
My husband had a 30 mile commute while we lived in temporary quarters and it would take him an hour to get into work in the mornings (by leaving after 8:30 am) and 1.5 hrs in the evening during rush hour (even if he left after 6:00 pm). Keep in mind this commute was during good weather. It can be even worse during the winter months. Another drawback is that there are no public transportation options out there so during inclement weather, you just have to drive in.
I used to live in Ashburn, and while it is indeed a perfectly nice community, that commute will very rarely fall under an hour during rush hour. During the summer when traffic is lighter it may be doable, but for the other nine months of the year, traffic is horrific. Ashburn works best for those people who work in the Dulles Corridor in places like Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Dulles and Chantilly. The roads have not been built to accomodate the extraordinary growth in the area so therefore, commuting much further than that further inside the Beltway (and PanAm Plaza falls just short of that) is just too much in my mind. I think two hours is a bit of an exaggeration though. I would think 90minutes would be more like it, still horrific though. Otherwise, it would be a great fit in terms of having the right housing and the sort of family-friendly environment you're searching for. I think two places that are sort of Ashburn-like (in parts) but closer in, are Centreville and Burke, both of which may be worth a look. Housing in general is older (not as much as Fairfax) and more expensive but there may be some affordable gems there.
Zack:
We really wanted to find SFH instead of TH. It seemed and maybe because we weren't really looking, that all of the TH had big stairways to the front and not much yard area. We have a 4yr old and will soon have an infant so going up and down the stairs seemed like a lot of trouble. Maybe there are some TH that aren't built that way but the newer ones that we could see while out there were like this. You mentioned that the real estate in Loudoun County isn't doing well can you explain?
mlv311:
Good points about the commute in winter although we currently live in the snow belt in the suburbs of Cleveland so we are pretty used to driving in 3ft. of snow with white out/blizzard conditions LOL. The drive here during winter weather has been known to take 2 to 3 hours to get home. The realtor that we met with mentioned that they were in the process of putting in and widening some of the roads to make access to main routes more accessible. Maybe that would help with the commute?
dullnboring:
Like I mentioned above the realtor mentioned that they were putting in and widening some of the roads to make the main routes more accessible. How long ago did you live out that way, and could the roads have gotten better after you left? We looked at a few places in Centerville and Burke and though they were much closer the properties we looked at needed work and were still in the $500-$600 range. When be purchased our first home back in 1998 we totally renovated the entire house. Bathrooms, carpet, tile, paint, roof, and siding you name it. We are just not in a place were we would want to pay that much for a house and either A.) Put more money into it with renovating/updating or B.) Have to just deal with it. I guess at this point we just aren't ready to have to downgrade that much to be closer in. Are there any new developments in these areas that would be in our range or would we then be talking upwards of $800-$900 for a nice house in this area?
Hi - based on what I have read that you are looking for, plus the fact that your husband doesn't always has to drive during the actual rush hour, I think you would be really happy in the outer suburbs that you are looking at, including Ashburn and other communities in eastern Loudoun. I do live in one of those neighborhoods in eastern loudoun right now and have young children. It is a terrific place to raise a family. I wouldn't even consider moving closer in to Fairfax after having lived a bit further out for the past 5 years, other than Reston or Herndon.
I've lived in NOVA for 18 years and have lived in many different communities - from close in to eastern Prince William County, to eastern Loudoun. I also seriously considered building in the Bristow area about 10 years ago.
Feel free to PM me if you would like more specifics. Thanks!
DC area in winter is unlike ANY other area in this country (at least that I have visited). Many, many people are from other places. Therefore you get many, many inexperienced snow drivers on the road.
Also, because everyone knows that traffic is horrible, the snowplows have a difficult time plowing during that horrible traffic. DC snow can be dry or wet and all that slush turns into ice every single night and makes life worse than the day before. I have had 3 hour commutes - which normally took 45 min - many times due to snowy weather.
on snow and drving here... It doesn't matter that you know how to drive in snow, if it snows...stay home!
I have lived in Pittsburg and Colorado and NEVER saw the accidents I did when this area gets 1-2" of snow. SERIOUSLY. I took 3 hours to get home from Alexandria (normally 45min) and I passed 27 accidents. many 4X4 that were flipped over.
There ae many people here who think they can drive 55-60 because they have an suv.
Then you have the ones that slam on brakes when they slide a wee bit..thus end up doing 360's next to you.
It is crazy...they cancel school on threat of snow. (which my kids love) and it's good thing if you have ever been on the roads here during snow.
Anyway...I digress.
Look in Centerville.
Also chantilly and possibly south riding (ashburns twin) not a great commute but better than Ashburn. Another area is Belmont/Brambleton it's closer to rt50 than Ashburn and maybe 15min closer. But you still have to take 50 in and that is a nightmare.
(you do know like rt7 50 has tons of traffic lights?)
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