Any Advice on the new neighborhoods off of Rt 1 like Port Potomac? (Burke: foreclosure)

[jimbo4345]

Any Advice on the new neighborhoods off of Rt 1 like Port Potomac? Hello,

This is my first time posting on here, but I just read all 12 pages on this thread and thank you all for some great insightful information!

All of that being said, my wife and I are looking at possibly moving to one of the newer neighborhoods off of Rt 1. We are particularly intrigued by Port Potomac, but are looking at Powell's Landing and Eagles Point, and might checkout a few others in the area.

We are considering Woodbridge because we can afford to live there and it seems nicer than a lot of the other places in the same price range. It is much closer to work (Suitland) than where I currently live (King George) and has much more to offer in terms of commerce and things to do for the family. We are a couple in our upper 20's lower 30's with 2 young boys (5 and 2) and prefer a newer neighborhood. I work rotating shifts, days one week, nights the next. What is most important to us is safety and that our kids get a good education.

Will my family be safe in one of these neighborhoods while I'm working 12 hour shifts 30 miles away? Will our children receive a fair enough education from the schools in that area? I realize that Fairfax County and Loudan County have some of the top schools in the nation, but we just cannot afford to move there yet, and I feel this will actually be an easier drive. Thank you to any of you who can give me some information.

Jim

[ChristineVA]

Jim,

I live fairly close to both of these neighborhoods and know of few people in them. I drive past them everyday to pick up my son from his private school that is back beyond the Wal-Mart.

I think the neighborhood themselves are fairly nice and certainly eye catching. In general, though, that corridor of Rt. 1 as I drive down everyday is very seedy, especially through the older townhome section. There always seems to be people hanging or walking on the side of the road (heck there isn't even much of a shoulder there) and just roaming around. It just seems that there is a lot of "trouble" in that area. Maybe one of our Woodbridge police officers that post here will chime in on that aspect.

The schools in that particular area are just so-so. My son just started the new private hgh school there and there have been many kids just starting there that have been pulled out of the public school system in that particular area due to there being so many problems. One of two of them have already been expelled because they couldn't conform with the "rules" that were in the school and have gone back to the chaos that were trying to escape (namely it was Potomac High School).

I realize the draw of "new" is wonderful. That's how I felt when I bought my new house in Woodbridge 15 years ago. Really, I should have concentrated on better neighborhoods and better schools.

By the way, my mom lives in Lakeridge and commutes to Suitland as well as another one of her coworkers. Advice is to go very early or pick up slugs, drop them off at L'Enfant Metro and head up the Suitland parkway. Works very well!

[jimbo4345]

Thanks for the info Christine! Are there any public schools that you would say are pretty good schools in Woodbridge? This morning I drove by Terrapin Lakes and Ewells something or other off of Spriggs road. They didn't seem too bad, and I didn't see some of that riff raff like I do over off of Rt. 1. I did see the townhome community just south of Port Potomac, and totally get what you are talking about. It didn't look like there was much good going on over there. We are going to go check out Lake Ridge and Montclair on Tuesday, and do some comparisons. I'm hoping that retired officer will chime in on the Rt. 1 communities we are considering too. He seemed very knowledgeable of the area.

Basically we are looking at Prince William, or else heading back up into MD. We really like Northern Virginia a lot better than some of the areas we would be looking at in MD (Waldorf, La Plata, Bowie, Upper Marlboro maybe), just because there seems to be a lot of riff raff over there as well, and we just like what NOVA has to offer a lot more than what Charles and Prince Georges county MD have to offer.

Thanks for the info on the commute. Does your mom work at the Federal Center here in Suitland? The government sure knows how to locate their offices! I am intrigued by the slug lines and will do some research on them. Right now I leave the house at 4:30 to make sure that I am at work by 7, so I am used to leaving early. Usually that gets me there by a little after 6, but with working 12 hours shifts, the hour and a half+ each way average gives me a 15-17 day, which doesn't leave me with much time for the family. No matter where we go, it is going to be an upgrade to my current commute. I currently average an hour and a half each way, over 57 miles. I have been testing it and I am averaging about 45 minutes to those communities on Rt. 1, and that is with the typical times I would be driving to and from work. I did it in 30 minutes this morning with no traffic. I realize there will always be good days and bad days, but we are talking about cutting my mileage and my time on the road in half, so whatever move we make is going to be a bonus in that regard!

[ChristineVA]

Jim,

I'm glad you are checking out other areas.

Yes, my mom works at Suitland Fed Center (she also spends 2-3 days in her Silver Spring office). The Suitland Federal Center is a GREAT location if you live in PG County. We both used to live over there and moved here for all the reasons you have described. Much of family still lives in Waldorf and points south and they really dislike it but are unable to move at this point.

As long as you are prepared to leave early, your commute will be fine. I leave at 5:20 a.m. to get to the Navy Yard by 6:00 a.m. My mom leaves around 5:30-5:40 to get to Suitland and/or Silver Spring by 6:30.

Now, on to the schools: PWC schools, overall, are pretty good. They don't really do anything different as far as teaching/curriculum/strength of good teachers, etc, that Fairfax or Loudon counties do. The difference here is really student population. Prince William County does not have that affluency of Fairfax or the affluency that Loudoun is getting. PWC is much more economically diverse. With that diversity you get kids who struggle. This will play out in the test scores that are reported. You will also see many more kids in very troubled situations. This becomes much more apparent as the school level you are in gets bigger.

The majority of people in PWC are very happy with their elementary schools. The only ones that I knew that some were unhappy with (and this was years ago) was Elizabeth Vaughan and Minnieville ES. I know a woman who is a guidance counselor at Minnieville ES and there are many kids there that have horrendous issues. Other than that, you will probably love any elementary school. The key when looking for a home is which middle school/high school are you zoned for. I made that mistake when I bought. I was zoned for one of the nicest elementary schools in the eastern part of PWC. That's all I cared about at that moment as I had a 3 year old and one on the way. Well middle school rolled around before you know it and it was HORRIBLE. We are zoned for, IMO, the worst middle school and high school in the county (which is exactly where the Port Potomac kids go). Both my kids have been in private school ever since. I really should have moved.

So, as far as the other neighborhoods you are looking at, in relation to schools, I think you are on the right track. Montclair is a VERY nice community and feeds into pretty decent schools. The Lake Terrapin/Ewells Landing are nice areas but I'm not overly sure of the schools--they may be the same as Montclair. Take a look over in Westridge. I know some people there who are pretty happy with the neighborhood and schools. They aren't new homes but very nice, established neighborhoods.

[athousandlogins]

ChristineVA, if you had it to do over again, where would you have moved instead?

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by athousandlogins

ChristineVA, if you had it to do over again, where would you have moved instead?

I would have definitely moved into Montclair. I regretted that choice about 3 years after I moved where I am.

If money were no factor, I would have moved to the West Springfield or Burke area. I was looking at one new home and one older home in those areas and they were JUST out of my price range. It would have been a real stretch. At the time, I just couldn't fathom that I was going to make much more money to get comfy in those homes, but I did and, well hindsight is 20/20 and commute-wise, school system-wise, etc. that would have been the better choice. But I am quite financially conservative and I wouldn't take the risk.

Within Prince William County, definitely Montclair. Even 15 years later from when I first noticed it, it is still a great community, very family oriented, lots of kids who actually get to play and walk outside through the neighboorhood, good schools. I was so hung up on getting a "new" home with gas heat, I wouldn't even entertain an older home in Montclair. My kids went to elementary school in Montclair and I got to know a lot of families there and we so regretted not buying there.

[jimbo4345]

Well we drove through Montclaire yesterday and hit a bunch of the newer neighborhoods up off of Spriggs and Hoadley. We went out to dinner last night at that Original Steakhouse and the vibe of the area was just a vibe that we really haven't felt except in Loudan and Fairfax couties. We were very impressed. I think we are slowly weeding ourselves more off of Rt. 1 the nice new communities off of Rt. 1. We do see all of the riff raff and don't want to regret moving somewhere in a couple of years.

We are going to head up and drive through Lake Ridge today and probably talk to a realtor and see what we can find on foreclosure deals in the area and maybe see if we can find any foreclosure deals up in Fairfax county (probably a stretch but worth checking into). We are really trying to keep our price right around $400,000, and not much over, so if we don't find something up here, we may just wait a bit, or check out some areas in Laurel or northern Calvert county. Thanks a lot for your insight and keep it coming!

Are the schools at least decent around Lake Ridge and Montclaire? You can only tell so much off of greatschools.net, and they don't many schools in Woodbridge very good.

On another note, your mom must work with NOAA if she is going up to Silver Spring. I work for them on the ops floor. She probably doesn't know me, I work on the Ops Floor, and only know a few of the people who go up to Silver Spring, but it is good to know that there is already other people who make that commute!

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by jimbo4345

Are the schools at least decent around Lake Ridge and Montclaire? You can only tell so much off of greatschools.net, and they don't many schools in Woodbridge very good.

On another note, your mom must work with NOAA if she is going up to Silver Spring. I work for them on the ops floor. She probably doesn't know me, I work on the Ops Floor, and only know a few of the people who go up to Silver Spring, but it is good to know that there is already other people who make that commute!

Yes, the schools in Montclair and Lakeridge are pretty good. Especially the elementary. I can vouch for Henderson Elementary in Montclair. I've heard Montclair Elementary is also good. Westridge Elementary and Springwoods Elementary are also good schools. Montclair generally feeds into Saunders Middle which is one of the better ones and the Lake Ridge neighborhoods generally feed into Lake Ridge Middle. These are two of the better middle schools in the eastern portion of the county.

Yep, my mom works for NOAA. I used to work for them as well WAYYYY back and I knew of few of the ops people then, although most of them are probably retired (I was 20 years old when I was there and they were well into their 30s then).