which is better to live VA or MD? (Arlington, Alexandria: real estate, 2014)

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by slduvall

Can we have have a sticky post that is titled - never put a bridge between your work and your home!

Gotta disagree, compadre of indeterminate internet gender! The wife commutes across the TR Bridge to DC from Arlington--piece of cake. I used to commute over the American Legion Bridge to Rockville, and it was not that bad, especially in the mornings. Evenings could be hit or miss, but if 495 was backed up, I'd cut through DC--and across the Chain Bridge.

[JfromReston]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Wow, I totally always felt JfromReston was female! Would have been shocked to hear male.

My suggestion is that we have a sticky post of all of the regular posters...a brief bio of each for a little context...


"spencgr" - FEMALE, Gen-X, married, no kids, many dogs, professional, lives in Middleburg, works in DC. Often argumentative, tries to be humerous, and stands by the belief that the long commute is not a life killer for the right people. Watch out, as she tends to hijack threads......

LOL - you are right!

JfromReston - FEMALE, Baby Boomer, married, empty nester, loves living in RESTON and promoting Reston's lifestyle, commutes to DC, risk assessment specialist for EPA, cellist, whitewater canoeist and long distance swimmer.

[Jenny1772]

Thank you so much for all the valuable comments. MD is out of my list now.
I will look into Reston for townhomes or other areas (Ashburn, Cascades, Purcellville) for single family.

[Panu16]

Originally Posted by Jenny1772

Thank you so much for all the valuable comments. MD is out of my list now.
I will look into Reston for townhomes or other areas (Ashburn, Cascades, Purcellville) for single family.

Be aware that your husband will most likely need to use the Dulles Greenway to commute to Herndon from Purcellville. That will be about $7 each way. He can try to use non-toll route but it will take forever. From Ashburn, he can tough it out on Waxpool to get to 28.

[Panu16]

Where exactly in Herndon is your husband's job? If it is on the 28 side (like on Frying Pan) then Chantilly should also work.

[Jenny1772]

Originally Posted by Panu16

Where exactly in Herndon is your husband's job? If it is on the 28 side (like on Frying Pan) then Chantilly should also work.

He said his office is at just east of Dulles airport. Very close to Herndon Elementary School (630 Dranesville Rd Herndon, VA 20170)

[Jenny1772]

We narrowed it down to Reston, Ashburn or Chantilly/Centreville. Thanks so much for all the tips.

[slduvall]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Gotta disagree, compadre of indeterminate internet gender! The wife commutes across the TR Bridge to DC from Arlington--piece of cake. I used to commute over the American Legion Bridge to Rockville, and it was not that bad, especially in the mornings. Evenings could be hit or miss, but if 495 was backed up, I'd cut through DC--and across the Chain Bridge.

Ha! That is one of the only bridges (and location to get to the bridge) that I would take. And I do agree the ALB up to Maryland isn't that bad, the other way, no way would I recommend that to anyone. I am amazed at the mass of humanity that makes that migration every day from Tysons area to Maryland. And I admit I don't even think of 395 (14th st) as a bridge, just a parking lot on the way to the city. So the sticky can say - if you live in MD, don't work in NOVA.

(Female, married, 1 kid, made the break and got of DC, building my dream home in paradise and now always early for every meeting since it takes 5 minutes to get from one end of town to the other. And yet somehow can't break my addiction to CD.)

[gomason]

Originally Posted by FlightAttendant

Seriously, you would be absolutely miserable if you moved to MD.

VA is the place to be.

Taxes in MD are hideous, the commute would be horrible, the schools in NOVA are surperior. Do yourself a favor and don't even consider MD.

Having lived in both states....nothing, and i mean NOTHING would get me back to the Communist state of MD. awful taxes, terrible politicians and high costs.

Except that MD K-12 schools are pretty much always ranked higher than VA and usually in the top 3 in the nation.

Thanks to the communist state of Maryland, tuition in MD increased at the slowest rate in the nation (~2%) compared to like a 23% increase in Virginia during the recession.

[Vectorhead]

Originally Posted by gomason

Except that MD K-12 schools are pretty much always ranked higher than VA and usually in the top 3 in the nation.

If you're talking about state aggregate rankings, that's a pretty useless statistic. Who cares what the average is for a state? Someone who wants to live in this area is looking for the best schools in this area. There's no perfect formula for ranking school districts, but most attempts at doing so put Fairfax County schools slightly ahead of Montgomery County schools. Loudoun and Arlington are excellent as well.

That's not to say that FCPS is clearly the better choice than Montgomery County. But it's more relevant information for the OP than saying that MD schools are better than VA schools.