Fairfax questions (Arlington, McLean, Oakton: apartments, rental, condo)

[eurocali]

I am relocating from LA, and was considering the Vienna area (my office will be in Tysons Corner). However, I was taking a closer look at Fairfax today, and it looks like housing might be a little more affordable over there (we are looking to rent at least the first year). As previously stated, I have a son who will need to go to preschool.

How is traffic from Fairfax to Tysons Corner? I'd like to keep my commute at 30 minutes max. (one way). Also, is Fairfax a family-friendly area?

[flrnova]

Originally Posted by eurocali

I am relocating from LA, and was considering the Vienna area (my office will be in Tysons Corner). However, I was taking a closer look at Fairfax today, and it looks like housing might be a little more affordable over there (we are looking to rent at least the first year). As previously stated, I have a son who will need to go to preschool.

How is traffic from Fairfax to Tysons Corner? I'd like to keep my commute at 30 minutes max. (one way). Also, is Fairfax a family-friendly area?

Fairfax is many things. It could be Fairfax City or it could be Fairfax zip codes. Traffic around Fairfax City always seems to be quite bad, getting in our out. If you are in a Fairfax zip near Merrifield then maybe it's not too bad. You would have to get through Merrifield, although you can bypass that and then there is Gallows Rd. I drove there a few times in the opposite direction around rush hour and noticed a snake of slow moving cars heading towards Tysons, but am not an expert. And then it depends on what part of Tysons you are heading toward.

McLean is a nice place (where I live) but the new construction for the HOT lanes (and possibly for the metro?) has created a bottleneck on 123. You can go the back way, however, especially if you are going to "back side" of Tysons.

But McLean is probably more expensive than Vienna on average (maybe not?), although housing is a mixed bag around here. The quality, standards, and aesthetics of housing around here are shocklingly poor on average.

Tysons is going to be pretty ugly for the upcoming years due to construction. Maybe rent a townhouse smack in the middle of Tysons? There are also some crappy condo and rental communities. They opened a supermarket in Tysons so it is not a complete office wastleand anymore.....

[michgc]

Fairfax is pretty large, but I think you would likely be able to get to Tysons within 30-35 minutes from the marjority of it. It would mostly be local driving, so a lot of stop and go and traffic lights. Some parts of Fairfax are right over the Vienna line on Nutley Street, which would be fairly close - closer than other parts near George Mason University, for example. I guess if you find a place, let us know where it is, and we might be able to give you a better guess on the commute.

I think parts of Fairfax is family friendly, especially the Mantua neighborhood (which I believe is Fairfax City), part is university oriented, part is business oriented. I think it depends on the neighborhood.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by flrnova

Fairfax is many things. It could be Fairfax City or it could be Fairfax zip codes. Traffic around Fairfax City always seems to be quite bad, getting in our out. If you are in a Fairfax zip near Merrifield then maybe it's not too bad. You would have to get through Merrifield, although you can bypass that and then there is Gallows Rd. I drove there a few times in the opposite direction around rush hour and noticed a snake of slow moving cars heading towards Tysons, but am not an expert. And then it depends on what part of Tysons you are heading toward.

McLean is a nice place (where I live) but the new construction for the HOT lanes (and possibly for the metro?) has created a bottleneck on 123. You can go the back way, however, especially if you are going to "back side" of Tysons.

But McLean is probably more expensive than Vienna on average (maybe not?), although housing is a mixed bag around here. The quality, standards, and aesthetics of housing around here are shocklingly poor on average.

Tysons is going to be pretty ugly for the upcoming years due to construction. Maybe rent a townhouse smack in the middle of Tysons? There are also some crappy condo and rental communities. They opened a supermarket in Tysons so it is not a complete office wastleand anymore.....

You could be in zip codes 22030, 22031 or 22032 and be in either the city of Fairfax or portions of the county with Fairfax mailing addresses. It's hard to generalize as to whether it's a "family friendly" area - you really need to look at specific neighborhoods. Plenty of Fairfax neighborhoods are typical NoVa suburbs, which most posters would consider "family friendly."

McLean is definitely more expensive than Vienna - on average. There are neighborhoods in Vienna that are more expensive than some neighborhoods in McLean, and where the housing is of substantially better quality, but on average the housing prices in the McLean zip codes (22101 and 22102) are going to be higher than in Vienna.

No doubt Tysons will have a LOT of construction for several years to come. There may be some "crappy condo and rental communities" there now, but there are also quite a few newer townhouse complexes in the area where $800K townhouses continue to sell fairly briskly.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by michgc

Fairfax is pretty large, but I think you would likely be able to get to Tysons within 30-35 minutes from the marjority of it. It would mostly be local driving, so a lot of stop and go and traffic lights. Some parts of Fairfax are right over the Vienna line on Nutley Street, which would be fairly close - closer than other parts near George Mason University, for example. I guess if you find a place, let us know where it is, and we might be able to give you a better guess on the commute.

I think parts of Fairfax is family friendly, especially the Mantua neighborhood (which I believe is Fairfax City), part is university oriented, part is business oriented. I think it depends on the neighborhood.

Most of what people consider Mantua is immediately to the east of the city of Fairfax, in the 22031 zip code. Mantua students attend Woodson High, rather than Fairfax High (the school to which all City of Fairfax students are assigned).

[Denton56]

You are correct, Mantua is not in the city of Fairfax. I love that neighborhood and the schools are excellent.

[terrence81]

Fairfax is cool. Like someone else said it is a lot of things. It covers a huge area. There are parts of Fairfax that are extremely wealthy with huge houses and there are a couple of small gated communities. There are parts of Fairfax that have run down apartments too. It is about as middle class and middle of the road as one can get. The lack of exclusivity is probably part of why prices are lower. At the end of the day all of the Fairfax county schools are better than most areas of the country.

The traffic? God help you. I live off a major route to Tysons and the traffic is terrible at best. Being from LA I'm sure you're used to it but don't think because you're leaving LA you're escaping traffic.

If traffic is a concern I'd get a place in Vienna. Yes Fairfax is a little cheaper but your commute will be longer. I really like where I'm at in Oakton which is between Vienna and Fairfax. So yeah consider Oakton it would allow you that 30 minute commute too. All of VA is family friendly but I would say that Vienna is way more family oriented. Fairfax has more singles because of the college there.

[eurocali]

Thank you. I did read a lot of bad things about traffic around Tysons Corner, and it sounds like Vienna might be more family-oriented, so I'll start my research over there.

[leew]

Fairfax is very family friendly, but I am more familiar with the section around George Mason/Robinson Secondary school. The thing that bothers me most about Fairfax county is the ticket writing. If you are bothered by too much Police ticket writing activity, think twice about anywhere in Fairfax County. They are constantly setting radar sites and looking for expired stickers. They will stand at the on/exit ramps pulling commuters over for sticker violations and even troll through parking lots. They have too many different law enforcement agencies all writing tickets as fast as they can. George Mason U. now has ticket writing capability and work the streets around GSM. I have not gotten a ticket in many years, but they pull my kids over for just about anything.

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by leew

Fairfax is very family friendly, but I am more familiar with the section around George Mason/Robinson Secondary school. The thing that bothers me most about Fairfax county is the ticket writing. If you are bothered by too much Police ticket writing activity, think twice about anywhere in Fairfax County. They are constantly setting radar sites and looking for expired stickers. They will stand at the on/exit ramps pulling commuters over for sticker violations and even troll through parking lots. They have too many different law enforcement agencies all writing tickets as fast as they can. George Mason U. now has ticket writing capability and work the streets around GSM. I have not gotten a ticket in many years, but they pull my kids over for just about anything.

I've been fairly good about avoiding tickets but I will say that yes the police in Fairfax County and Arlington are the most overzealous cops I've ever seen. I will say that they are more polite than the cops in Georgia though.