What’s the allure of Fairfax County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great Falls and Mclean are very nice and have excellent public schools.

I work at a FAANG (office is in NoVA) and my wife is a 100% remote GS15 so proximity to DC proper isn't as important as just being in a metro with amenities.

McLean is cookie cutter with a terrible “downtown” and Great Falls may be pretty but it’s boring, snobby and a little Trumpy. Nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools. I live in Old Town Alexandria. Come walk around my 'hood. It's lovely. But, the schools. We're trying to move to Fairfax County.

That’s on you. You could make Alexandria schools work. Thousands manage to.

How many of those thousands have other options? Most bail by middle school if they can afford to

Only the silly pearl clutching types. There are plenty of opportunities for high achievers to get a good education at Alexandria City High School.

[Anonymous]

It's the happy medium tradeoff. More space than we could get in the city for our budget, but not a crazy drive to get anywhere we need to go. The location is convenient, amenities are all close by, schools are good, friendly neighborhood, parks and community pool within walking distance, big backyard, etc etc etc. It's not Barbie's Malibu Dream House, but it's everything we need on a budget that we can handle easily.

We have family another hour west of us. It's gorgeous and I LOVE going to visit, but it would not work for our jobs. Maybe when we retire. Have friends in the city - fun, and I get the energy and excitement of living there, but the space is relatively small and frankly I get tired of the energy 24/7, I prefer something a little quieter with more personal space. So Fairfax County is our "just right", neither extreme option.

[Anonymous]

You walked around while having your car worked on? Generally, no matter where you are, the places around auto garages and dealerships are not exactly the nice residential or shopping parts of an area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Large swathes of Fairfax County are not immediately adjacent to major highway walls, or look like what you describe. There are many well established neighborhoods, well regarded schools and location. location. location...

And if you truly lived in North Arlington before, noting your need to call out that it was North Arlington (not Arlington), I think you should have a pretty good idea of why people may choose to live in Fairfax County.

This. Perhaps OP should have walked a couple of blocks into a neighborhood

I did, as I said - and hit 66. When we lived in Arlington we were nowhere near 66. And I’m sorry, but no - Lee Hwy (now Langston Blvd) is ugly and trafficy everywhere, including Arlington, but it’s much worse in Fairfax than Arlington and at least in Arlington it has friggin’ sidewalks.

Look at a map sometime. You can get much further from main arteries in Fairfax (or Loudon, or MoCo, or PG or just about any other county) than Arlington

[Anonymous]

I really hope this is a troll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is huge. Inside the beltway is of course very crowded for the most part. But there is also Burke, Clifton, GMU, Fairfax Station, and Old Town Herndon etc. You just can't paint the whole place with one wide brush.

This. What a stupid post.

Troll nonsense... walked into a leafy hood!... friggin' sidewalks. walked into a wall for I66... What empty nester talks like that? And if OP really lived in North Arlington and now lives in DC (though they are getting their car worked on in Merrifield?), they would have to be utterly clueless to not understand why Fairfax County would appeal to many, for a variety of reasons. I call shenanigans!

[Anonymous]

It's okay if you can't afford to live in Bethesda I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really hope this is a troll

Not a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's okay if you can't afford to live in Bethesda I guess.

North Arlington is as expensive as Bethesda. Nice try though.

[Anonymous]

Yet another troll.

[Anonymous]

How dense can you be? Not all of us are empty nesters who bought houses when they cost $250k for a nice SFH. We would love to live in Arlington but we can't afford it. How many people do you think live somewhere because they love it vs. because it's close to their job and it's what they can afford?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's okay if you can't afford to live in Bethesda I guess.

North Arlington is as expensive as Bethesda. Nice try though.

The average Bethesda home value is $1,120,054, down 0.8% over the past year and goes to pending in around 7 days.
The average McLean home value is $1,246,367, down 0.2% over the past year and goes to pending in around 8 days.
The average 22207 home value is $1,228,708, down 0.4% over the past year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yet another troll.

I’m really not. I just don’t “get” Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's okay if you can't afford to live in Bethesda I guess.

North Arlington is as expensive as Bethesda. Nice try though.

The average Bethesda home value is $1,120,054, down 0.8% over the past year and goes to pending in around 7 days.
The average McLean home value is $1,246,367, down 0.2% over the past year and goes to pending in around 8 days.
The average 22207 home value is $1,228,708, down 0.4% over the past year.

So yea they’re all the same.