Blake Lane townhome communities (Oakton, Fairfax: apartment, condos, student loans)

[leighland]

Can anyone speak to / advice on the various Townhome communities (such as but not limited to cyrandall valley) in Oakton along Blake Lane? Safety, amenities, parking, bus to vienna orange line, schools, cultural diversity (or lack thereof). etc. Thanks.

[gomason]

It would be less than a 5 minute bus ride on either the 2B: http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/va/02.pdf or the Fairfax Connector 466: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connect...hedule/466.pdf. Both buses stop at the same stops.

Schools are some of the best in FCPS, very safe, and relatively undiverse compared to most of NOVA (although a big Asian population).

[JD984]

Originally Posted by gomason

It would be less than a 5 minute bus ride on either the 2B: http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/va/02.pdf or the Fairfax Connector 466: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connect...hedule/466.pdf. Both buses stop at the same stops.

Schools are some of the best in FCPS, very safe, and relatively undiverse compared to most of NOVA (although a big Asian population).

A lot of that area feeds into Mosby Woods ES/Jackson MS/Oakton ES. I'd say that Mosby Woods and Jackson are both pretty diverse by NoVa (FCPS) standards, although Oakton is not.

[acgood]

I owned a condo in the area and seriously considered some of the TH communities in the area. It would certainly be convenient to Vienna by bus or walk, and somewhat more affordable than the similar TH communities right along the north side of the Vienna station. Most of the communities date to the 80s (some older and newer too...), which means hard to find a garage but there are some pretty spacious 3+den and 4 BR houses.

I have not seen a Cyrandall Valley house but have seen many others: Arrowood, Barden Oaks, Concord Village, Flint Hill Manor, Oakborough Square, Oakton Village / Treebrooke / Flint Hill (depending on whether you are looking at signs or tax records). All are zoned for Oakton/Jackson/Oakton schools.

What is your budget and desires in terms of the house features?

[leighland]

Originally Posted by acgood

What is your budget and desires in terms of the house features?

No budget.We are not looking but maybe in a couple of years. The Blake lane area looks pleasing, convenient and I like the architecture. Hoping they feature communal workout space/pool and community party room.

We moved to DC from San Diego for employment and we've been living in an apartment for 8 years.
I'm disabled and my monthly health costs are high. We also send our child to private school (partial scholarshiped due to our income) as the pyramid elementary school, Pine Spring elementary, is very stressed and would be a bad fit for my son (I like the pyramid-just not the elementary school) A minimum 6 figure salary seems needed to enter home ownership here. My dh just paid off his student loans so maybe we'll qualify since we have no debt. We checked a couple of years ago and we qualified for 160k mortgage.

.

[acgood]

Unfortunately I don't believe any of the communities along Blake Ln have any more community amenities/facilities than a pool and tennis court. As an FYI the price range would roughly be $450-550k, last I knew.

[Ffxdata]

These town homes along Blake have both Oakton and Vienna addresses. They run from 400 in Cyrrandel Valley to the 550s for some of the all brick ones off Borge St. Arrowood is very nice as is Flint Hill. The ones off Sweet Mint have not aged very well, and some are slated for demo if the current 66 plan goes through.

None of the townhouse communities have amenities. The dues reflect that though at around $80 a month. The condos do have some amenities like tennis courts. There is a popular area park at Borge St.

I would say that the town homes and condos are more diverse than Oakton at large. Our block has probably 50% white with the other 50% black, Asian, middle eastern, and Hispanic.