Falls Church Communities (Arlington, Fairfax, Idylwood: rentals, crime, new home)

[lak29]

Can you recommend nice communities in Falls Church which are a short drive from the metro? We are looking for a newer single family house between $850,000 to $950,000.

Falls Church city seems to have older housing stock and we are not handy and really wanted a house that already has an open floor plan and is in move-in condition. Based on our preliminary searches, the greater Falls Church area may be a good option but I would love to hear people's opinions about particular neighborhoods. We plan to send our children to private schools so schools are not a huge consideration but we would still want the schools to be decent for resale reasons.

Thanks!

[claremarie]

What do you mean by "newer"? And a "short drive" from the Metro? Most of the homes within a 10 minute drive of either of the Falls Church Metro stations were built before 1975 or so, and few of them will have open floor plans, which is a relatively recent trend. There are some enclaves of homes built more recently, but they aren't really separate neighborhoods, so can sometimes be difficult to find. Try a realtor web site for zip code 22043 in your price range -- I found two homes in Linden Tree Estates that might meet your needs.

[musincy]

Homes in the actual city of Falls Church are usually older or rentals. You really don't need to worry about schools in this area... all of the public school districts surrounding Falls Church (Falls Church City Schools, Fairfax County, or Arlington County) have very high reputations.

[lak29]

Thanks claremarie. By newer I meant built in the 10 years or so. I have looked at the homes in Linden Tree Estates and they seemed to meet our needs but I am still researching the area because I am unfamiliar with it. Is this area considered Seven Corners? I've heard negative comments about the crime and gang problem in Seven Corners and would be reluctant to buy there if this was the case.

[claremarie]

Linden Tree Estates is not part of the Seven Corners area, so no worries there. The area is a nice, mostly older, residential one. It's off Shreve Road, right near the W&OD bike path and Poplar Heights, a community swim club. Not sure which schools serve this neighborhood -- it's probably part of the Marshall HS pyramid, which is not one of the most sought-after schools, but perfectly acceptable and has an IB program, which is a plus.

There is another new neighborhood off Gallows Road near the Merrifield area, but I'm not sure how far along they are in construction.
If you are considering an imminent move, and you have school-age children, you might want to have the private school admissions locked in before you choose the house, unless you are comfortable with the public school.

[DavidS827]

You might check out Ellison Heights, Buffalo Park, Whitehaven, GW Frazier and Virginia Forest. Those areas have homes that are a few years old or less that took the place of the "knock downs" that used to be there. Those are some really nice homes...overpriced to live in Falls Church in my opinion, but really nice nonetheless.

[saganista]

Most of the area in and around Falls Church had reached 90% developed by about 1970. At least 30-year old homes will dominate the offerings in those areas. I'd agree with <ClareMarie> et al that the whole area along Shreve Road between Falls Church and Lee Highway is very nice and at least reasonably convenient to Metro. But not much if anything in there will be ten years old or less.

The two areas along Gallows Road that I know anything about would be a large group of executive homes planned by Brookfield at Gallows and Cottage Street, but that is still grassland and likely will continue to be until the market turns around. They apparently don't want to tie up cash in houses they can't sell. Too bad, as those would be in walking distance of the Dunn Loring Metro station. There's also a mixed-use project right in the center of Merrifield that will replace just about everything but the theater I think, and work has started on that, but there's a long way to go yet in there.

There might be some units still available along Idyllwood Road just outside the Beltway. There is also a large development of new homes going in at Woodford Road and Electric Avenue. I think the Goat Farm homes at Gallows and Idylwood are all gone. The redo of Midgetville off Cedar Lane was supposed to be done by now, but after all their approval problems, I think they're in the same boat now as Brookfield...waiting for the market to bounce back before investing anything...