Relo for jobs in Reston & Leesburg -- is Round Hill ok? (Lynchburg: townhouse, schools)

[natyloo]

Relocating & would like to as nice a house as we can on at least 1/2 acre (maybe more?) -- don't want to spend more than 550k. Is Round Hill a good area? How does it compare to Purcellville?? Commutes would be to Reston and Leesburg. Looked at Centreville too, but not sure about the schools in these areas. Greaatschools rates them about a 7 out of 10, but hard to gauge what that actually means for my kids ...

[LynchburgLover]

Round Hill is a very nice area. It is a small town without real commerce except a gas station, post office and a few very small stores. Purcellville has all the shopping -- grocery, dry cleaners, restaurants etc. but Round Hill is only a couple miles from Purcellville.

I'm not sure about 1/2 acre or larger lot. Most in that price range are 1/4 tract developments.

My children are grown but generally the Western Loudoun schools are considered very good with minimal problems.

The commute to Leesburg wouldn't be too bad -- 20 minutes? -- on Route 7 am and pm. Reston will be longer obviously and quicker (30-40 minutes??). but more expensive if you use the toll road. RH to Reston on Route 7 would be a pain through Sterling. Traffic gets very congested.

Best of luck.

[HomesForAllVA]

You may also want to consider Lovettsville. You can get a young, sizable home on a half acre lot or larger within your price range. It's a developing part of VA and has a lot to offer however not too sure about schools there. But you would be close to wine country! ;-)

[spencgr]

Lovettsville would be a nightmare commute to Purcellville. I would not recommend that.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Lovettsville would be a nightmare commute to Purcellville. I would not recommend that.

Agree. The jobs are in Reston and Leesburg so it's even worse because he would be contending with Route 9 and then onto Route 7. The bottleneck at Route 9 and 7 junction has been helped a lot in the afternoon but the morning commute is still difficult because a third Lane was not added. The circles really bog down from what we've experienced. At least from RH it's a straight shot on Route 7 if you stay in the left lane until passing the Route 9 merge.

There are also less commercial areas in Lovettsville so he'd spend at least 15 minutes to get to a large grocery (there's a Harris Teeter, Giant and Food Lion) and other errands in Purcellville or Leesburg. Lovettsville has a small grocery (IGA, I think), pizza place, deli, library and I think that's about it.

[HomesForAllVA]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Lovettsville would be a nightmare commute to Purcellville. I would not recommend that.

My apologies to the original poster - I meant to say Lucketts (not Lovettsville). Ashburn could also be another good option for you.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by HomesForAllVA

My apologies to the original poster - I meant to say Lucketts (not Lovettsville). Ashburn could also be another good option for you.

Lucketts wouldn't be much better. Route 15 into Leesburg to pick up Route 7 or toll road is notorious for accidents and backups with very, very few alternate/detour routes which take you miles and miles to go around. Also not many 1/2 acre houses because of well/septic systems. I'm pretty sure public water ends at Leesburg.

Ashburn would certainly work geographically but finding a sfh on 1/2 acre at under $550? Going to be quite a fixer-upper. OP might find a townhouse in that range but he specifically said 1/2 acre or larger

[BrassTacksGal]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Lovettsville would be a nightmare commute to Purcellville. I would not recommend that.

It's 9 miles to Purcellville from Lovettsville, a little over 15 minutes. How is that a nightmare. Leesburg is 30 minutes from Lovettsville.

[BrassTacksGal]

Originally Posted by LynchburgLover

Agree. The jobs are in Reston and Leesburg so it's even worse because he would be contending with Route 9 and then onto Route 7. The bottleneck at Route 9 and 7 junction has been helped a lot in the afternoon but the morning commute is still difficult because a third Lane was not added. The circles really bog down from what we've experienced. At least from RH it's a straight shot on Route 7 if you stay in the left lane until passing the Route 9 merge.

There are also less commercial areas in Lovettsville so he'd spend at least 15 minutes to get to a large grocery (there's a Harris Teeter, Giant and Food Lion) and other errands in Purcellville or Leesburg. Lovettsville has a small grocery (IGA, I think), pizza place, deli, library and I think that's about it.

No grocery store in Lovettsville but there is a very small local farm store. It has good produce, some fish and some beef but it's VERY small.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by BrassTacksGal

It's 9 miles to Purcellville from Lovettsville, a little over 15 minutes. How is that a nightmare. Leesburg is 30 minutes from Lovettsville.

The road from Lovettsville to Purcellville is two-lane Route 287. There are a lot of people from WV who use that road to connect to Route 9 -- also two-lane -- to get to Route 7 into Leesburg/Ashburn etc. The traffic load on those roads is extreme in the mornings particularly. If there is an accident, there are very few alternate routes and those road go miles out of the way.

During the day to get to Purcellville, you're right -- probably 15-20 minutes but not during commute time. Add the fact that all of Western Loudoun students are bussed and you have that extra congestion.

Traffic in Western Loudoun gets overlooked by the news reports but it is very bad. At least from Round Hill, OP would be on Route 7 -- two lanes.