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Any neighborhoods under $400,000 homes that I'm not thinking of?
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Anonymous
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short sale arlington heights
http://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/3410-Arlington-Blvd-22204/home/11262052 |
Anonymous
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Bush Hill/Brookland solid houses at reasonable prices
http://www.weichert.com/37992600/?zip=22310&pg=7 not upscale....yet |
Anonymous
This can be true - if you are willing to leave at 6:30am or earlier. Once 7am hits, traffic starts to amp up. From the nicer West Springfield neighborhoods, on Old Keene Mill, down to 395 is a 10 -15 minute drive w/o any traffic and hitting mostly green lights. With traffice, you can double that time. If it rains, go ahead and triple it. |
Anonymous
South Arlington - the schools are so- so and some are downright bad. I wouldn't recommend anyone move there with elementary age kids. Fairlington - the condo fee is actually reasonable for condos in closer in areas. They are small units though - with many being 1000 sq ft and some up to 1500 but this often includes a finished basement leaving one large bedroom upstairs and a very tiny bedroom (9 ' x 10' if that) upstairs. Having more than one kid is difficult and that area has a lot of families with very young kids but very few elementary school age kids. |
Anonymous
OP here - thanks for all of the ideas. Most of those we've considered but some deserve a second look for sure. We aren't super concerned about the commute since my husband's job has flex hours plus he can work from home 1-2 days a week (this is probably why we can only afford about $400,000  ). We will look towards Kingstowne/Bush Hill, etc., but we were concerned that Edison was quite a step down from the Lake Braddock or West Springfield pyramids. I'd love to hear differently from anyone who has kids in attendance there. We were interested in Silver Spring, but it seems like you have to spend more like $450,000-500,000 to get into the nicer neighborhoods there and that's out of our price range. We also think that Burke is prettier with all the parks and trees.
Our main priority is a family-oriented, safe neighborhood with good schools. Thanks for all the replies! |
Anonymous
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Know someone at Edison w/ a sib at TJ. The Edison brother is also an excellent student and likes it there. There is an IB program at Edison. And a planetarium. Tiny campus, school just redone inside and out.
Wish I knew more than that, but I will eventually because my DC will go there. |
Anonymous
| Edison does not compare with Lake Braddock but is smaller. Lake Braddock is a secondary school (7th-12th) and that makes for a MUCH larger school. |
Anonymous
I agree with this. Great commute with a good elementary school (MacArthur). GW middle school is nothing to brag about, though. |
Anonymous
I don't...this is a less than 900 sq ft home with the 3rd bedroom so tiny that its difficult to even get a twin bed in there.... |
Anonymous
Some folks want to live close in. This is one of the sacrifices they make. |
Anonymous
| What about Takoma Park, MD? |
Anonymous
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NP here, that lives in Fairfax/Burke (22032). I work in DC and want to comment on the commute. There are two VRE stations in Burke and the train goes into Union Station. The actual train ride is about 40-45 minutes from those Burke stations (Burke Centre, Rolling Road) to Union Station. Check out VRE's website for the train schedule. I think you can be in DC as early as 6:30 am and leave DC ad late as 6:50 pm.
I like the area. I think most neighborhood are really family friendly. A 3 bedroom for under $400,000 seems very doable. Good luck! |
Anonymous
Ugh! but its this kind of thing that drives me nuts! Yes, the train ride itself is 45 minutes to Union Station but that is assuming you are actually getting off at Union Station and do not have to take the metro or a bus or walk to your office! Also its assumes, you get to the station, get a parking space right away (that Rolling Road lot is tiny!!! and the Burke Centere station is at least 15 minutes away from the Rolling Road lot (and Burke Station has a huge parking deck and you could spend 10 minutes walking from the deck to the platform) meaning the actual trip from there to Union Station is likely an hour), get on the train right away, etc. so yes, the train ride from Rolling Road could be only 45 minutes but add in every other part of the commute and its close to 2 hours each way! Yes, really. Taking public transit from the Springfield and Burke area is a very long overly involved process not to mention very costly. Its why so many choose to drive in and pay parking. You might as well take the money you throw down the drain to commute and put it towards the mortgage to live closer in. The only other alternative in the Springfield/Burke area is to do the HOV lanes and be a slug. This works most the time but there plenty of days when I sped by the HOV lanes on my way up 395 in the morning because the HOV was backed up for miles. And once the BRAC thing happens, forget it! The commute up and down 395 will be even closer to hell! They only received a one year reprieve, the aren't making any parking spaces available but then again there is not public transportation that will leave people getting off an exit early or an exit late so they can clog up the side streets and shopping center parking lots nearby because they need parking! |
Anonymous
OP, if you love Capitol Hill I would definitely look into this. There are more than a dozen SFHs listed right now in TP for less than $400K. They will definitely have some drawbacks at that price but the charm and character of the homes and the community is hard to beat, if the schools and Metro's red line work for you. |
Anonymous
| We had a direct bus to the Pentagon near our house in Burke and it was still faster for my H to drive. Before we moved it was taking an hour to get to my office off the Glebe Rd exit in Arlington AFTER dropping my kids off at school near our house. I liked Burke (and we moved from the Dc area entirely) but going to Capitol Hill would not be quick. And this is before the Mark Center BRAC building arrives. |