High Schools in NoVa (Annandale, McLean: to rent, condo, buying a house)

[GravelAdgitator]

Hello all,
We're looking at possibly relocating to NoVa for a job offer summer of 2018. Before we even consider taking it, my wife and I are researching high schools in the area for our son. We've lived overseas his entire life as expats, except for coming back to the States on vacation and visiting family on the west coast.

We've narrowed down our possible list for schools but since neither my wife nor I have ever lived in the area we're going off what we've read and some information given to us by people that did/do live in the area. What are your thoughts on our schools listed? Should we add, take off? We'll be buying a house if possible in or near the school, instead of buying a house and then worrying about the school.

George Mason
Madison
McLean
Oakton
Woodson

and these are not ranked by preference. If I had to pick one today though it would be George Mason and only based off of what I've read.

Price range for a house is 250-300G and looking for a condo or townhome. We'll not be staying for more than 5 to 6 years,..............I say that now

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom

[acgood]

The schools are great, the budget will be a problem. Might work for a 2 BR condo in a couple of those districts.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by GravelAdgitator

Hello all,
We're looking at possibly relocating to NoVa for a job offer summer of 2018. Before we even consider taking it, my wife and I are researching high schools in the area for our son. We've lived overseas his entire life as expats, except for coming back to the States on vacation and visiting family on the west coast.

We've narrowed down our possible list for schools but since neither my wife nor I have ever lived in the area we're going off what we've read and some information given to us by people that did/do live in the area. What are your thoughts on our schools listed? Should we add, take off? We'll be buying a house if possible in or near the school, instead of buying a house and then worrying about the school.

George Mason
Madison
McLean
Oakton
Woodson

and these are not ranked by preference. If I had to pick one today though it would be George Mason and only based off of what I've read.

Price range for a house is 250-300G and looking for a condo or townhome. We'll not be staying for more than 5 to 6 years,..............I say that now

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom

Price is too low for George Mason and McLean High districts, so you should cross them off your list or consider renting instead. Madison would be tough as well.

Your best bet if you wanted to buy a 2-BR condo at that price range would be in the Oakton and Woodson High districts.

[FCNova]

By and large almost all the schools in Northern Virginia are good, but you listed some of the more highly touted ones. There is no reason to have concerns about any of them. The only thing I will note is that George Mason is located in the City of Falls Church, and not part of Fairfax County, like the other schools listed. Because of this it's a smaller high school(some people like that), and other schools in it's district can be located very far away. I've heard people complain about having to drive very far for sporting events because of this. Maybe you know this from your research but thought I'd mention it because it is a major difference from the others listed.

Your budget is a big problem though. If your plans are to only stay in the area 5-6 years max why not try to rent?

[Middlin]

Where is the job? School boundaries are pretty strict here and it doesn't make sense to live in Annandale in the Woodson school district if it takes 2 hrs to get to your job. Traffic here is horrendous and miles don't mean much.

[Vectorhead]

I'm assuming you made your selections based on rankings of high schools in the area? If that's the case, then keep in mind that, by most standards, Fairfax schools are excellent and you can add a lot of them to your list and still be in a top-performing high school. I would encourage you to add, at a minimum, Robinson, Lake Braddock and West Springfield to your list. And that doesn't mean I'm knocking the other high schools -- those are just the ones that I have the most personal knowledge of.

[GravelAdgitator]

Thank you all, we've thought about renting but hate seeing 20 to 30Gs going away each year and nothing to show for it. I'm finding out that yes my budget is in need of revamping, most of what I'm seeing as far as what we like is min of 500G,....sigh.

We did not look at the three schools you listed Vectorhead but will do so this week, and thanks. Yes, our selections were based on rankings from online sources and opinions listed on other forums.

Middlin its downtown DC, with a small chance that I could be in Roslyn. Looking at the map made it seem things were not that far apart but reading about the traffic,...............wow! I guess if I could be close to a metro and walk that would be ok as well. Did that for a number of years in Europe and we got fine on having one car.

[dkf747]

Look in Loudoun County. Good schools. New Metro stops being built, but still almost 3 years away. There are express buses, and a bus to Metro silver line. Driving would be a little long, but survivable. Maybe the costs would be slightly less than Fairfax County. Just a thought.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Look in Loudoun County. Good schools. New Metro stops being built, but still almost 3 years away. There are express buses, and a bus to Metro silver line. Driving would be a little long, but survivable. Maybe the costs would be slightly less than Fairfax County. Just a thought.

It's still going to be very difficult to find housing in the $250-300 range and a lot of the savings would be gobbled up by commuting costs.

[Middlin]

Originally Posted by GravelAdgitator

Thank you all, we've thought about renting but hate seeing 20 to 30Gs going away each year and nothing to show for it. I'm finding out that yes my budget is in need of revamping, most of what I'm seeing as far as what we like is min of 500G,....sigh.

We did not look at the three schools you listed Vectorhead but will do so this week, and thanks. Yes, our selections were based on rankings from online sources and opinions listed on other forums.

Middlin its downtown DC, with a small chance that I could be in Roslyn. Looking at the map made it seem things were not that far apart but reading about the traffic,...............wow! I guess if I could be close to a metro and walk that would be ok as well. Did that for a number of years in Europe and we got fine on having one car.

As you can see living in the areas with the highest ranked schools comes with a housing premium. Well, public transportation does as well. To be within walking distance to the metro comes with a MAJOR premium. What are the cross streets of your work location? here is a link to the metro website
https://www.wmata.com/schedules/maps...s-rail-wrapper