Ideal (or close) location/s.... (Arlington, Alexandria: for sale, apartment, renting)

[londonette]

...for a family with a 5 year-old in NoVa. We are renting a Ballston condo at the moment but want to buy within the next few months. For me, ideally the following would check a lot of the boxes :

a) townhouse - or a condo in a "gated community", don't know if that's what it's called in the U.S.-is this what Fairlington/Shirlington Villages are? Basically a place where there are green areas to play/relax in if we don't have our own garden.

b) elementary school within walking distance. From what I've read it seems that that the vast majority of Arlington elementary schools are excellent so I'm not too concerned about my daughter's elementary education. However, are there major discrepancies between the middle schools (eg Swanson/Gunston?/any others?) and high schools (eg Washington-Lee/Yorktown/others?). Ideally would like to hit the best elem/MS/HS "triumvirate"

c) decent metrobus access/commute-an hour to hour and a half. An hour and a half would be OK.

d) family friendly neighbourhood/community. Activities fro children (eg library, art classes etc) that are not too far off (although I'm not v. familiar with the school system in the States and how far these extra curricular activities are offered at school).

e) walkable neighbourhood-or at the very least a very short easy drive to the supermarket/shopping centre. I'm from London England so I can't really drive I'd like to be able to walk out my door and be at a coffee shop within 10 minutes...and also not be the only person walking.

So....wishful thinking on my part??

From what I've seen on the net, I like the layout of Shirlington Village-local library, theatre, restaurants-but haven't seen many THs for sale, only condos and not sure about the schools? Also, some people have said the Crystal City area is good for walkability but when we visited I found it to be a bit too built up with condo towers.

Regarding price-the prices I've seen for a variety of THs in Arlington seem to be do-able-so I'm more interested in location.

Really want to be sure about our choice as I'm a creature of habit and can see myself staying in the home we buy for the next 10-15 years. A 3 bedroom home would be absolutely fine, a compact home is not a problem but would like to be close-ish to D.C. so that we can enjoy the wonderful art/culture it has to offer.

thanks

[SmerkyGrl]

You left out the most important aspect: your budget.

[londonette]

450-550K. Really not looking for anything over 3 bedrooms, a TH would be good. I've seen THs on realtor sites going for between 490-510, maybe 520. If our budget is too low, then we would possibly wait, keep renting, save more and buy later regardless of what the market is doing.

Alexandria could be an option too-any thoughts about neighbourhoods that fit my criteria?

[claremarie]

The Westover area of Arlington would work, but not sure about the budget.
Because you are willing to endure a longer commute, you should probably look further out -- maybe Vienna?
Also consider the City of Falls Church, where there are some modestly priced townhomes in the Winter Hill community, though there may be income restrictions there.
The problem, as you probably guessed, is that most of the items on your wish list tend to drive up the prices.

[kevbros]

Here's a couple of tidbits for you.

Gated community = a fenced in community with access usually controlled by a security checkpoint. There may be some of these around, but I expect they will be really pricey.

There is a thing called a Townhome Community or Homeowner's Association (HOA), which you may be referring to. These communities have community facilities like small pools and small parks, but usually require you to pay a monthly fee for maintenance of the common areas and your individual trash collection. In addition they have community rules (like when you can put your trash out and where you can park) that some people hate and others love. In the older areas in Virginia (Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church parts of close-in Fairfax) there are no associations. The city or county handles the services - they come out of taxes.

What you call "garden," most people here call a "yard." Gardens are for growing things, yards are for playing in.

Unlike most European schools, US schools have lots of extra-curricular activities built into the school day and even more after school. Most schools will have your kids in Art, Music, Physical Education, Computer, and Library as part of the school day --even in Elementary School. After-school activities tend to vary from school to school. As the kids get older, the after school activities expand. And most schools around here have an impressive variety of clubs and teams.

As for exactly where to look, I second ClareMarie's post. Good luck!

[akorosdc]

Originally Posted by londonette

Alexandria could be an option too-any thoughts about neighbourhoods that fit my criteria?

For Alexandria, I'd say get as close to (or in) Old Town or DelRay as you can (zip codes 22314 and 22301). The downside is that those two areas are both pricey, but they've got the shops, parks, and walkability.

Personally, I'd skip Crystal City. It's nice for an inexpensive (relatively) option that's directly on a metro and very close to DC, that's about it. The area is mostly hotels and office buildings, so there's not much in terms of character. However, you could look in areas of Arlington like Aurora Hills or Addison Heights (zip code 22202). Those are both right between Pentagon City and Crystal City (quick metro access, stores) and have more of the small houses/condos instead of highrise apartment buildings.

[londonette]

clairemarie and juniperbleu-thank you for the tips about particular areas to look for. clairemarie-I'm not quite sure what "income restrictions" means?

kevbros-you're right HOA is what I meant. Confusingly here in London housing complexes with HOAs are referred to as gated communities. But there's no security checkpoint. BTW, I have the "garden/yard" dispute with my American husband quite often, along with the "bin/trashcan", "cookie/biscuit" and "holiday/vacation" ones as well . It's going to be fun living in America!

[smaug20000]

I like Haycock Elementary School in Falls Church, there are townhouses close by at Mclean Gardens off of Great Falls Street that are small, but they are in the $450k range. There are also TH maybe 1/2 mile away from Mclean Gardens that are nicer and in the $550k range. That is the area I am looking to stay in at any rate. SFH are usually more in that area - at least $550k. That area is very close to the West Falls Church/East Falls Church metro stations and close to shopping.