relocating from NJ for job in Vienna (Reston, Merrifield: rentals, violent crime)

[four32i]

Thanks in advanced for everyone's help.

Background:
30 yr old male with wife and two daughters (4 yr and 2 month old)
Starting a new role in Vienna.

Looked at places in Reston , Sterling , and Falls Church.

So far, really liked the place in Sterling the most, but understand its furthest. Also did a search and saw some mixed feelings around Sterling Park. I come from Jersey City which has its share of bad areas and lived there pretty much my whole life so my definition of rough areas are more tolerable than most.

All in all it comes down to commuting time. How bad would this commute be daily. I only have to do it 3x per week. I would prefer not to go over $1800 in rent for a 3BR.

There's some in Reston that fit the criteria, but I much prefer the unit I saw in Sterling.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[four32i]

To add, my old job in nj before this new one was a 45 min drive in moderate traffic

[tysonsengineer]

As you said it comes down to commute. The additional distance between Reston/Sterling might not look like much, but it does add a solid 15 minutes on a normal day. That being said, if you are an early riser type, you will be fine. Use the toll road, it will be about 30 if you leave around 6:30, 45 if you leave just after 7.

I have a friend who does this commute also. Its not hellish so long as the toll road behaves.

[four32i]

Thanks. So if I leave a little after 7am, would you say 8am start time is doable?

[tysonsengineer]

On a standard day yes, on a bad toll road day no. Such is the life of the limited access highway.

The 45 minute would be the average. In the summer you prolly get closer to 30-35, but winter, accident at Hunter Mill or somethin, and you are talking about 60-80 minutes.

So long as that won't be a problem at your job I'd say, yea you can leave at 7ish and still get in at 8ish (also depends where in Vienna).

In this area, most businesses understand that, bad traffic days = late employees. Only a problem if its a big meeting, to which I would say, don't risk it, leave at 6:30 and grab some coffee at Caffe Amouri

[jillybean720]

I live in Sterling and worked in Merrifield; I only took 7, never the Toll Road, so my drive was further than yours would be to Vienna. I had to leave at about 8:30am, and it would take me about an hour to get to my office, so about 45 minutes for you going a shorter distance and leaving earlier sounds like a reasonable expectation.

When we were house hunting in Sterling, we were warned against Sterling Park area specifically. It's the worst area of Sterling, but not necessarily terrible compared to other places. However, the school ratings are pretty low for that area, which may or may not be a concern for you with the 4 year old.

[four32i]

Thanks JillyBean.

School is for sure a concern for me, as next year my four year old will start kindergarten.

I appreciate everyone's help. I'll take these all into consideration, as I plan to make a final decision in 48 hours

[dmv101010]

Live in sterling for sure commute wont be bad at all!

[JfromReston]

I would recommend Reston - it will be half the commute time of Sterling. Here are a few options for you to consider.

2211 COPPERSMITH SQ, RESTON, VA 20191 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
11739 LEDURA CT #108, RESTON, VA 20191 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
1556 BENNINGTON WOODS CT, RESTON, VA 20194 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com
11248 CHESTNUT GROVE SQ #249, RESTON, VA 20190 | Listing Information | MRIShomes.com

[mptesta]

Originally Posted by four32i

Also did a search and saw some mixed feelings around Sterling Park. I come from Jersey City which has its share of bad areas and lived there pretty much my whole life so my definition of rough areas are more tolerable than most.

All in all it comes down to commuting time. How bad would this commute be daily. I only have to do it 3x per week. I would prefer not to go over $1800 in rent for a 3BR.

There's some in Reston that fit the criteria, but I much prefer the unit I saw in Sterling.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I use to live in northern NJ (near Paterson) for over 20 years. I moved out of there back in 1999. I would equate Sterling Park to kind of like Clifton (at least back when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's). It's a working class neighborhood. I live in Sterling Park now, in a decent townhouse community(Providence Village). The only crime I have heard and read about is mostly people having stuff stolen out of their car because they left their doors unlocked.....or graffitti....or someone shoplifting or stealing from a commercial business. I think there was a murder in one of the stores a few years back, but that was due to a domestic dispute if I recall correctly. When I lived in NJ, there were a couple of murder suicides in my neighborhood. Big deal. If you come from Jersey City and the surrounding north Jersy suburbs, you will find Sterling Park to be a lot less shady.

There is, or at least was, some gang activity of MS13 hanging around in the area but I have not heard of anything of more recent within the last few years. Most of the violent crime I have read about is hispanic on hispanic, some (not all) of which involves illegals. I won't be politically correct on this posting: if you are of an ethnic background other than a newly arrived "working class" hispanic, illegal or legal, you won't find much in the way of crime specifically targeted against you. From what I have seen in the noVA area, the hispanics tend to stick to their own ethnic group and won't bother other people of other ethnicities by specifically targeting them for criminal purposes. Like in any town, just secure your stuff (e.g. lock your car doors or lock your house up when going out).


If you want to read the local Sterling crime reports, go to Loudoun County Crime and Public Safety News -- Loudoun Times-Mirror

and you can read through the past crime reporting. As I said before, it's not on the scale of Jersey City or some of the other "rough" neighborhoods in northern NJ.

As for schools, I don't have kids so I don't have first hand experience but I heard the schools are kind of crummy in Sterling Park.