NoVA or NJ? (Winchester, Fairfax: property taxes, living in, housing)

[Nancy in Nokomis]

Both area have large Indian populations but -Most of NJ has less traffic and crowds and lower housing prices but property taxes are double and auto insurance is very high .
NOVA has more jobs and better schools

[tamitrail]

I have to disagree about traffic in NJ..that is totally false. NJ has very bad traffic in most areas and I would say that there are less areas that have little traffic. If you live in an area in NJ that has good jobs, you have traffic. If you want to commute you will hit big traffic. Garden State Parkway can be a parking lot. NJT is murder in the summer going South. Rte's 9 and 1 are horrendous. 287 gets jammed up during rush hour. It's all bad.

[seldomseen]

The majority of people that relocate to NoVa complain primarily about the expensive inventory of housing--which ultimately gives a lot of people the motivation to leave the area. All the other issuess: traffic, weather, et cetera...are minor, liveable issues for most. However, the current economic climate and the deflation of the real estate boom will begin to neutralize the real estate market in NoVa, causing more "affordable" housing options.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

tamitrail - you are VERY wrong about NJ - I lived there my entire life (over 30 years) and just left 2 years ago - I lived in S. Plainfield and then in Ewing - there was hardly any traffic - I drove during rush hour and the traffic is NOTHING compared to NOVA - I never had to worry about traffic to run errands while driving around town, etc.
There were tons of good jobs where I lived and I rode Rte. 1 every day from Ewing to S. Brunswick and the traffic was not bad.
The parkway was only crowded but not like the roads here. Also - I mostly stayed away from Rte 9 -
There are beautiful rolling hills mostly traffic free in NJ - only a small part up North had bad traffic.

[tamitrail]

Originally Posted by Fairfax Mom

tamitrail - you are VERY wrong about NJ - I lived there my entire life (over 30 years) and just left 2 years ago - I lived in S. Plainfield and then in Ewing - there was hardly any traffic - I drove during rush hour and the traffic is NOTHING compared to NOVA - I never had to worry about traffic to run errands while driving around town, etc.
There were tons of good jobs where I lived and I rode Rte. 1 every day from Ewing to S. Brunswick and the traffic was not bad.
The parkway was only crowded but not like the roads here. Also - I mostly stayed away from Rte 9 -
There are beautiful rolling hills mostly traffic free in NJ - only a small part up North had bad traffic.

I'm NOT wrong at all. I lived in NJ for YEARS and my husband and his family were born and raised there. I worked in NJ for years...all the people I worked with complained about traffic. All the people I worked with who lived in South Jersey, commuting from Edison, BEGGED to leave early on Fridays because everyone was commuting to the shore for the weekend during the summer. Not only that NJ drivers are horrendously rude and obnoxious. It takes us sometimes 8 hours without stopping to get from Winchester to Brick, NJ...and that's because of problems in NJ, not VA. When our relatives from NJ come here to visit, they make fun of us when we say anything about how bad the traffic is.

Take a ride on a Friday afternoon from work in the summer say from Middlesex County down to Toms River and see how long it takes and tell me you want to live in Southern NJ because of low housing.

[athensvaasi]

Thanks everybody for your responses. Atleast NoVa looks like an area where you are generally happy with your hometown.

I will look up the Dulles corridor that you are referring to. And I saw your governor in an ad inviting businesses to Virginia!

Originally Posted by seldomseen

However, the cost of housing is extremely high in NoVa too do to the real estate boom. But prices are declining and now it's possible to buy a pretty nice single family home in the $300k price segment, whereas you previously had to spend on average $500k.

What cities should I look for 325K (and definitely under 500K) houses?

Is there a site that would let you search by schol district?

NJ forum is full of talk about 15K property taxes on basic property! What would I be looking at in NoVa on a 350K house / a 450K house.

Thanks again everyone!

[car54]

The real esate tax rate in Fairfax County is (currently) 89 cents per hundred (dollars of valuation).

So, the tax on a 350K house would be $3115 per year....$4005 on 450K.

Mind you, the County is in a budget squeeze, so the rate may be raised. I've heard a 3 cent hike is under consideration.

Never would it get anyhere near Joisey.

[TheseGoTo11]

Originally Posted by athensvaasi

What cities should I look for 325K (and definitely under 500K) houses?

Is there a site that would let you search by schol district?

I would look at Herndon - large Indian community, near tech jobs, maybe Chantilly, or Centreville. 500's a little tight, but with housing prices here down about 25% since 2005, you should be able to find something from the 70s or 80s with 3-4 bedrooms.

If you go to the Fairfax County website, they have a map of the school district boundaries. Only thing to keep in mind is that districts have shifted as they add new schools.

Also, if you look on realtor.com, the listings for most houses include elem/middle/high school districts. You can then get the school's test scores off the county website.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

Tamitrail - I agree that there are areas of NJ that have bad traffic - but you are WRONG in saying that all of NJ has bad traffic. I know it is bad to get to S. Jersey to N. Jersey but not everyone does that - I used to and it still was not worse than getting to Fredericksburg from D.C. on a Friday night.
Have you ever lived in Mercer or Somerset County? There are tons of jobs in those areas - and traffic is light - I know I lived there. Like I said I was born and raised in NJ - just not crazy enough to take a job in N. Jersey if I lived in S. Jersey

[tamitrail]

Originally Posted by Fairfax Mom

Tamitrail - I agree that there are areas of NJ that have bad traffic - but you are WRONG in saying that all of NJ has bad traffic. I know it is bad to get to S. Jersey to N. Jersey but not everyone does that - I used to and it still was not worse than getting to Fredericksburg from D.C. on a Friday night.
Have you ever lived in Mercer or Somerset County? There are tons of jobs in those areas - and traffic is light - I know I lived there. Like I said I was born and raised in NJ - just not crazy enough to take a job in N. Jersey if I lived in S. Jersey

We obviously have different views on this...but I am not "WRONG." It's OK to disagree and fine to say so, but you have repeatedly told me I'm wrong...I'm not. I don't agree at all with what you are saying but it's all OK. What are the taxes like in Mercer and Somerset????

I asked DH last night if he would rather battle the traffic from Frederick County to Loudoun County or move back to NJ and deal with the garbage over there...and his answer was absolutely without a doubt to stay here.

For the record, I do not dispute that we have bad traffic here. We have been trying to find a way to move closer to Loudoun county, but with the housing market, that's not going to happen anytime soon.