New Job at Department of State new to area (Arlington: rentals, townhouses) - Northern Virginia - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

macl212 · 04-10-2015, 07:28 AM

Hello,
My wife will start working for the State Department in the next few weeks at the Truman building downtown DC. The rest of our family will follow when the school year ends the last week of May. Looking to spend around 2000-2500 per month on rent for a single family home close to a public trans hub. (Bus/train) How far out is too far? Fredericksburg to far out? Wife stated she is planning on 1 1/2 travel time each way to work, any areas closer that are family friendly? Looked at MD side, schools are not looking up to par, plan on keep sending kids to catholic schools. Any and all info would be great.

ffx rez · 04-10-2015, 07:38 AM

Send your kids to public school and put the money towards upping your rent. Nobody should have to spend 3 hours of their day commuting

TheWatchmen · 04-10-2015, 07:43 AM

Fredericksburg is way too far. Look closer in.

DistrictSonic · 04-10-2015, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffx rez

Send your kids to public school and put the money towards upping your rent. Nobody should have to spend 3 hours of their day commuting

THIS. THIS. THIS.

You are going to get a far better public school than catholic whether it be in Maryland or Virginia, if you just basically throw the money into your housing. You will also end up with a far better location in terms of commuting times. The suburbs have some of the best public schools in the country whether they are in western montgomery county or in Northern Virginia. You keep picking these very far out places and wanting a catholic school, when you should be increasing your housing cost, and picking the areas with the best public school. You are not that far off from having Rockville or Fairfax County in your budget with far better commuting times.

spencgr · 04-10-2015, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DistrictSonic

THIS. THIS. THIS.

You are going to get a far better public school than catholic whether it be in Maryland or Virginia, if you just basically throw the money into your housing. You will also end up with a far better location in terms of commuting times. The suburbs have some of the best public schools in the country whether they are in western montgomery county or in Northern Virginia. You keep picking these very far out places and wanting a catholic school, when you should be increasing your housing cost, and picking the areas with the best public school. You are not that far off from having Rockville or Fairfax County in your budget with far better commuting times.

The vast majority of people who are sending their children to Catholic schools are doing it for the daily Catholic education. You aren't getting this in public schools or CCD. No size of house or length of commute can offset that.

Vectorhead · 04-10-2015, 08:14 AM

Fredericksburg is a really really long commute, which can become much longer if there are any kind of traffic issues. It's a great town but I wouldn't live there if I worked in DC.

Your price range would get you a pretty decent townhouse in West Springfield or Kingstown, and you could probably find a house if you looked hard. That would open up a lot of commuting options and drastically reduce commute time. Public schools are excellent and there are numerous Catholic schools as well.

When we moved here 10 years ago, our realtor put it very clearly. She said we could look in Fredericksburg or Stafford and get a house that was a little bigger and definitely newer, or we could get an older, slightly smaller house in Fairfax county. We made the decision to live in Fairfax (West Springfield) and have not regretted it EVER. For us, the decreased commute time made an immense difference in the quality of our lives and we're very glad we made that choice.

gomason · 04-10-2015, 08:46 AM

I see you are from South Carolina. Northern Virginia has excellent schools almost without exception and blow South Carolina's out of the water. I'm familiar with SC schools because my family was stationed at Shaw AFB in SC and they had to send my sister to catholic school. Save the money and spend more on housing.

If you were looking in Prince Georges County, MD, then catholic schools might be a good idea.

Ashley Tauzier · 04-10-2015, 08:46 AM

In the Northern VA area the school systems are great, but private schools are wonderful for smaller classrooms and Christian education. In this area you do need to make the decision on what is most important, commute time or more house for your money. I would try to avoid commuting on 95, because it is normally a nightmare with traffic. If you would like more house for your money though, Fredericksburg or Stafford are good options. Also Western Prince William county has lots of newer homes with nice private school options.

Carlingtonian · 04-10-2015, 11:02 AM

My wife works for State as well. Most people working there live inside the Beltway, given that State (unlike some other agencies) doesn't really do flexible hours; it's pretty much 9-5:30 or thereabouts. So living in Prince William or Loudoun will mean a very long commute both ways.

I would suggest Arlington, Falls Church, or Alexandria (especially near the river). South Arlington and (in Alex) areas south of Old Town will be less expensive, because the schools are less desirable (which won't affect you if you plan on sending your kids to Catholic school).

You could also do Annandale, but she would have to take a bus to the Metro.

Also keep in mind that parking is very tight at Main State. Pretty hard to get for a non-SESer unless you're in a carpool. Even then, some of the parking is in the Red Cross building.

What about you? Will you have a commute that needs to be considered in the decision?

JfromReston · 04-10-2015, 11:02 AM