Housing suggestions for commuting to Ft. Belvoir (Arlington, Woodbridge: how much, home)

[zxbane]

Hey all,

I recently have gotten a very interesting job offer at Ft. Belvoir and I am looking for housing options with reasonable commute times to Ft. Belvoir, likely in PWC. I am looking to not go over 300-350k max if possible. Are there reasonable options for a house, not TH within commuting distance of Ft Belvoir where you could actually have a yard and a little space or would you need to commute from quite a ways out?

[kww]

Woodbridge is not a bad commute to Belvoir imo

[HokieFan]

How much yard/space? What is a reasonable commute for you?

[Carlingtonian]

North of the base but south of Old Town. I used to work there and commute from N. Arlington in 35-40 minutes. Look for something west of Fort Hunt (out of your budget), closer to Route 1 (but not too close).

[zxbane]

I've heard mixed things about Woodbridge but overall it doesn't seem so bad. I have a friend who lives there and said it takes him about 30 min in the morning and 45 to get home although I don't know exactly where in Woodbridge he stays.

Thanks for the feedback so far. As far as ideal commute I would prefer to keep it 45 min or under if possible..

I currently live in La Plata and I know commuting from here to Ft. belvoir would be intense and run me 1.5 hour each way easily... That's why I'm looking to commute to the northern VA area

[HokieFan]

Woodbridge is a mixed bag. I live in the Lake Ridge section of Woodbridge, and love it. This would also put you within your commuting range. Zip cide is 22192.

But there won't be many choices for a SFH for less than $350k. And the lot sizes are your typical neighborhood lots, I don't know if that will meet your definition of space. Sure you can look further out but that's just going to increase the amount of time of your commute.

[NOVA_guy]

Woodbridge wouldn't be too bad of a commute and there's a lot of nice neighborhoods in Woodbridge, I would just steer clear of the neighborhoods off of Route 1.

Don't think you'll be able to find a SFH for $300-$350k though.

[zxbane]

Are there any alternatives to Woodbridge that would be a reasonable commute and decent family neighborhood that would offer a SFH in the 300-350 range or is the idea unrealistic entirely? As I said I would be willing to dry 45 mins if it helped at all

[NOVA_guy]

You could try Stafford Co. You could probably get a SFH for $350k. Your commute won't be the best but without traffic Stafford to Fort Belvoir is about 30-40 minutes but again that's without traffic.

[zxbane]

Thanks for the suggestion and it is something I will look into, Stafford county seems to be more rural as well, which is something I am not opposed to now that I have a family.

Just for the sake of knowing, how ridiculous would the commute be from La Plata to Ft Belvoir in case I had to commute prior to re-locating? Google says 54 minutes but I know that isn't counting traffic. If you were to work early, and be on the road prior to 6-7AM would it be possible to keep it close to the hour?