First time home buyer in NOVA area

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by kww

No more messy than if a married couple decided to divorce and one party wasn't playing nice with selling the house etc

I guess, but I don't know all the legal ramifications. Overall I don't think it would be good advice to give people that buying a home together is okay if they aren't married

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by jt65

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

I have talked it over with my fiancee and since she will be leaving around 6am to get to work and leaving by 2:30 we think her commute won't be to much of an issue. We both commute over 45-60 now so anything less would be an improvement. We both feel that it makes more sense to get more house for our money than to worry about the perception of the area as long as it is safe. We plan on driving through the area in the morning/night and on weekends to get a feel of exactly what the area is like before we make our final decision.

Now we just need any help on areas we should look in and areas we should avoid between Manassas / Woodbridge/ Lake Ridge and Dale City.

Again thank you for taking the time to help us out it is greatly appreciated.

Manassas - As others have said, shouldn't be on your radar

Woodbridge - Look at Lake Ridge which is the area off of Old Bridge Road. Plenty of townhomes under $300k. Commute isn't too bad. This is honestly your best option. I work at Fort Belvoir and get there on average about 30 minutes, but it really depends on when you leave. If she leaves at 6 then it will be a smooth commute. Avoid anything off of Route 1. There are some nice town homes at the Potomac Club off of Opitz Blvd but there have high HOA fees and they are urban style town homes with no yards.

Dale City - Avoid anything East of Queensdale Drive. As was said before you can get a house in your price range or a really nice town home.

[kww]

Originally Posted by justtitans

Manassas - As others have said, shouldn't be on your radar

Woodbridge - Look at Lake Ridge which is the area off of Old Bridge Road. Plenty of townhomes under $300k. Commute isn't too bad. This is honestly your best option. I work at Fort Belvoir and get there on average about 30 minutes, but it really depends on when you leave. If she leaves at 6 then it will be a smooth commute. Avoid anything off of Route 1. There are some nice town homes at the Potomac Club off of Opitz Blvd but there have high HOA fees and they are urban style town homes with no yards.

Dale City - Avoid anything East of Queensdale Drive. As was said before you can get a house in your price range or a really nice town home.

Potomac Club is nice, but is split between those two level stacked condos and your traditional three level townhome, but still condo ownership. The upper level stacked condos are nice (and large), but lots of stairs since you are walking up above your lower neighbor just to get to your "first" floor.

great little neighborhood, but as you stated those condo fees are

There are also a couple year old three level garage townhomes right across the rte 1/dale intersection (across from where they are building that big church). Location wise, you can get into the neighborhood from Dale, avoiding rte 1 if need be. plus, VRE right there if useable.. Prices are below $300,000.. not a bad setup, being only 3-4 yrs old, and fairly well upgraded from the builder when they were put together.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by GMUAlum08

I guess, but I don't know all the legal ramifications. Overall I don't think it would be good advice to give people that buying a home together is okay if they aren't married

You're going so off topic. The OP wasn't asking for advice on whether he should get married first or not. It really doesn't matter from a title perspective. They can both be on the title whether married or not. Clearly they're planning on getting married(they're engaged), so there's a serious level of commitment, which is the important thing when you're entering into a home purchase agreement with someone. It won't make a difference if they buy a house before or after they tie the knot.

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by FCNova

You're going so off topic. The OP wasn't asking for advice on whether he should get married first or not. It really doesn't matter from a title perspective. They can both be on the title whether married or not. Clearly they're planning on getting married(they're engaged), so there's a serious level of commitment, which is the important thing when you're entering into a home purchase agreement with someone. It won't make a difference if they buy a house before or after they tie the knot.

It was off topic but I thought it was important enough to make note of. I've never heard of anyone's relationship falling apart once they were engaged

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by GMUAlum08

It was off topic but I thought it was important enough to make note of. I've never heard of anyone's relationship falling apart once they were engaged

Could just as easily happen after they're married. The point is, it doesn't matter if they buy the house before or after.