Fairfax County.. Should I or Not? (Burke, Springfield: rent, new house, neighborhood) - Northern Virginia - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

mielcre · 10-10-2008, 01:56 PM

Hello all,

We bought our new house in Northern Stafford about three months ago. My husband is in the Marine Corps. Well, today something incredible happened! I am offered my dream job at the GSA. I have only been there for my interview and it was not during the rush hour, so the traffic seemed fine. How is it in the morning?

Should we consider buying another place up there and rent this one out? If so, where should we target? The only nice place i know is Springfield around that area. ( I am not familiar with the area yet). I will really appreciate if you can share your thoughts. Thanks alot.

Yankeesfan · 10-10-2008, 04:15 PM

If you had the job first and then asked about moving to Stafford, then I would have said no, don't move that far out. But since this is your dream job, why don't you accept it and give it a try? You could try out the different commuting options and THEN decide whether you need to move, since moving just three months after you bought would be rash. Good luck!

FindingZen · 10-10-2008, 05:09 PM

Congrats on the dream job!

Would I be correct to assume that the GSA is in the District? If so, I'd recommend looking into commuting with the VRE train. Otherwise, you'll face a long crawl up and down I-95. If you otherwise like where you live, I say stay there and take a nap on the train.

mielcre · 10-10-2008, 06:29 PM

GSA's address is 10304 EATON PLACE Fairfax , VA.

The zip code is 22030. VFR is a good idea but i just found out that there is no VFR station in Fairfax.

gymgirl · 10-14-2008, 12:45 PM

I would try different commuting options and give it some time to see how the commute/job is. If the commute sucks but you're doing fabulous with the new job, then move somewhere closer and rent out the other house. I would suggest Loudon County if you want to be close to Fairfax but not have to pay Fairfax prices.

mielcre · 10-14-2008, 05:59 PM

Thank you for your response. I think I should wait and see how it goes..

ACWhite · 10-14-2008, 07:21 PM

Some agencies are much more open to telecommuting than others - any chance that you could work from home a day per week or more?

mielcre · 10-14-2008, 08:49 PM

If i work from 8 am to 6 pm, i will get fridays off twice a month. It sounds good. But i am not used to commuting and driving that far.. This is all new to me.

mielcre · 10-20-2008, 08:46 AM

Well, I tried to give it a try this morning and my commute took forever!. I just cant imagine myself doing this twice a day, every single day.. Therefore, my husband and I thought about renting a place and until the housing prices hit bottom and maybe buy a place in the future.

I would like to know what you suggest for us. If we decide to do it, should we look for a place around the zip code 22030 (my work) , or go to West Springfield, Burke?

Thank you very much for your help. I desperately need it.

redsox331 · 01-20-2010, 01:57 PM

Unless you dont have kids, have a very high income, and do not mind have nothing to do all day, do NOT move there. my mother constantly gets laid off of work and my father makes okay money, and we live ina a smalll house in annandale, that we put basically everything into so we can afford it. meaning that we never leave, never go on vacation, and if we do just me and my brother leave and my parents stay at home. people are so unbelievably lazy, i am one of the only people in my whole neighborhood who leaves there house during the day to do something. if you have kids, i am going to tell you rightnow, the schools are overrated. school ratings are based pretty much on test scores and graduation rate, which are determined by the effort of the student, NOT the teachers, most of the people i went to school with lived in very stable homes, with both parents, with one of them making 100,000 a year or more. before this i went to dcps, with kids who most came from single parent homes, and many who were on welfare, i had some good teachers, some bad, but compared to kids in fcps, these kids did worse. thus the schooling in fcps is not truly better, just the situations most kids come from, if your kids work hard in school they will succeed regardless. my suggestion is live in arlington or alexandria, youre kids will always have something to do, if not in either of those cities, dc is just a minute a way. trust me, you dont want your kids to resent you because you gave them a boring life, and you dont want to have to worry about paying for a house whose property value is hundreds of thousands of dollars more than it should be.