Burke: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly?

[Anonymous]

OP back again. Appreciate all the new replies, and chuckling to myself about the person who goes "bonkers" about the commute.

I currently live in a much-maligned part of the county where it is not uncommon to run into panhandlers at the shopping center, where a sign of "revitalization" is the opening of a new chain restaurant, and where it takes 10 minutes to drive a mile because of all the lights and traffic. My primary goal in this move is to escape this kind of atmosphere. I actually am looking for a neighborhood with a "Truman Show" feel. You all are confirming my general perception of Burke as safe, down to earth, and a good choice for families.

I work from home and my husband will be working in Alexandria, so proximity to DC is not an important factor. Burke offers most of what I am looking for--nice houses we can afford, safety, good schools, plenty of shopping--and is closer to my husband's office than other neighborhoods I'm interested in.

A couple of concerns: for those who live relatively close to the railroad tracks, do you hear much (any?) train noise? Also, for those who live in BC, do you know of any plans to add infill development to the neighborhood? Would the conservancy even allow that?

Thanks again, all.

[Anonymous]

I can hear the trains a little bit in the winter when the trees are bare.

Burke has wonderful walking trails, common areas, and what they call tot lots. Lots of little playgrounds sprinkled throughout. Every home has one they can walk to. Kids really do play outside. We live on a "pipestem" and right now it is filled with kids riding their bikes and pushing baby doll carriages. No cars.

The land you are most likely seeing is owned by the community and cannot be built on. It's a great place to live.

[Anonymous]

I live a bit over half a mile from the train tracks. Like the PP, I hear them in the winter when the leaves are off the trees and maybe, if I happen to be awake, in the early morning hours when the neighborhood is very quiet. I hear a distant rumbling and sometimes a muffled train whistle. I actually like it and find it a bit romantic.
I hear airplanes overhead, too, even though we are nowhere near the airport and I find that airplane noise is louder than train noise.
Love Burke, it's very family oriented, with every neighborhood having their own swimming pool. The pool is a great way to meet other families and your kids can learn to swim so close by. Also, great way to get to know families with teenagers who might make good babysitters!

Traffic is not too bad within Burke itself. You can run out to the store just before dinner time and you won't be caught up in creeping along traffic.

[Anonymous]

We just moved to Burke from Boise ID. We like it a lot, but we do find that the shopping and restaurants are much more limited here than in Boise. I guess it's the high value of property. I LOVE the Target, but the Walmart is the worst I've ever seen. The neighborhoods seem safe. With so many older homes with no garages, people leave their bikes and other stuff out in their carports, and I guess its not a problem. It would very much be a problem in Boise. I have two bus stops within .1 mile of our house. I transfer to metro at the pentagon. My commute is about 1.25 hours, but it really is not stressful.

[Anonymous]

Adding to the chorus here, but we just moved to BC this summer. Same price range as you - purchased 1978 SFH. DH takes VRE in - loves his commute. I commute to Springfield, and find it fairly easy to navigate around most traffic. Traffic in Burke itself is not bad - but you don't want to get caught further afield when rush hour comes around...or you will regret it.

Otherwise, we love the neighborhood. People are very friendly, the amenities are nice (pools, bike paths), and we actually like having a stricter HOA. But some might not...that seems to be a personal preference. When we moved, we assumed based on past experience that there would be some post-purchase regrets...but none so far.

[Anonymous]

We looked in Burke when we moved to the area but decided to pass. It is really, really far out. At a certain point you wonder why you are living in the WMA when you never go anywhere near the District and deal with horrendous commutes. We talked to a few people who said the commute wasn't that bad, but then when you asked more questions it sounded like they spent ~3 hrs or more commuting each day.

[Anonymous]

I've only been to Burke a couple of times. It had a nice, neighborhoody, suburban feel and nice parks. The family I was visiting, however, were conservative, genteelly racist, and regarded the city as a den of iniquity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We looked in Burke when we moved to the area but decided to pass. It is really, really far out. At a certain point you wonder why you are living in the WMA when you never go anywhere near the District and deal with horrendous commutes. We talked to a few people who said the commute wasn't that bad, but then when you asked more questions it sounded like they spent ~3 hrs or more commuting each day.

It's popular with people working at the Pentagon and Ft. Belvoir. Some people don't particularly like going to DC if they don't have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My commute is about 1.25 hours, but it really is not stressful.

This sums it up nicely. It's all about how much you are willing to tolerate for a commute (living in Burke or living anywhere). For some people, 1.25 hours a day commuting (assuming the PP's commute was round trip) isn't that bad. For others, it's unacceptable.

My commute is 20 minutes one way, and that's the maximum commute I can tolerate. I have school-age kids and getting kids to activities, participating in those activities as a club mom, being around do help with homework after-school, etc., all require a shorter commute for me. My advice to the OP would be to determine what your maximum commute (or in your case, dad's maximum commute) would be, then drop that down a little (as all commutes will surely get worse and not better), and then look at neighborhoods from there. Once kids are in school and you have one parent with one kid at activity a and the other parent with another kid at activity b, that short commute becomes precious indeed.

[Anonymous]

My commute is 30 mins.
I live in the far flung suburbs and work at one of the 'minor' towns outside of DC
I do not need to go to dc ever. But do so occationally on weekends. I would not want to live in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just moved to Burke from Boise ID. We like it a lot, but we do find that the shopping and restaurants are much more limited here than in Boise. I guess it's the high value of property. I LOVE the Target, but the Walmart is the worst I've ever seen. The neighborhoods seem safe. With so many older homes with no garages, people leave their bikes and other stuff out in their carports, and I guess its not a problem. It would very much be a problem in Boise. I have two bus stops within .1 mile of our house. I transfer to metro at the pentagon. My commute is about 1.25 hours, but it really is not stressful.

Hi PP from Boise -- I also live in Burke and grew up in the far reaches of the Boise area (i.e. our mall and airport were 2 hours away in Boise). I'm glad to hear you're adjusting well. I know what you mean about the lack of retail but Boise has simply exploded in the last decade so everything there is so new and nice. Burke was developed in the late 70's and the stores (and some homes) are starting to look their age.
OP, my commute to the DC area (don't want to give away too many identifiers!) is 35 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My commute is about 1.25 hours, but it really is not stressful.

This sums it up nicely. It's all about how much you are willing to tolerate for a commute (living in Burke or living anywhere). For some people, 1.25 hours a day commuting (assuming the PP's commute was round trip) isn't that bad. For others, it's unacceptable.

My commute is 20 minutes one way, and that's the maximum commute I can tolerate. I have school-age kids and getting kids to activities, participating in those activities as a club mom, being around do help with homework after-school, etc., all require a shorter commute for me. My advice to the OP would be to determine what your maximum commute (or in your case, dad's maximum commute) would be, then drop that down a little (as all commutes will surely get worse and not better), and then look at neighborhoods from there. Once kids are in school and you have one parent with one kid at activity a and the other parent with another kid at activity b, that short commute becomes precious indeed.

No, my commute is 1.25 hours one way. My husband teleworks, so that makes thing easier. Plus I'm just going back to work after staying home with the kids for 5 years, so I'm not a "burned out" employee. But the commute seems much shorter than it really is. The part that adds the most time is that I have to walk a half mile from the metro to my office. But I count that as my daily exercise, so it doesn't bother me. I need the exercise, and it's a convenient way to get it done than taking time out of the rest of my day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just moved to Burke from Boise ID. We like it a lot, but we do find that the shopping and restaurants are much more limited here than in Boise. I guess it's the high value of property. I LOVE the Target, but the Walmart is the worst I've ever seen. The neighborhoods seem safe. With so many older homes with no garages, people leave their bikes and other stuff out in their carports, and I guess its not a problem. It would very much be a problem in Boise. I have two bus stops within .1 mile of our house. I transfer to metro at the pentagon. My commute is about 1.25 hours, but it really is not stressful.

Hi PP from Boise -- I also live in Burke and grew up in the far reaches of the Boise area (i.e. our mall and airport were 2 hours away in Boise). I'm glad to hear you're adjusting well. I know what you mean about the lack of retail but Boise has simply exploded in the last decade so everything there is so new and nice. Burke was developed in the late 70's and the stores (and some homes) are starting to look their age.
OP, my commute to the DC area (don't want to give away too many identifiers!) is 35 minutes.

So do you leave early in the morning. Do you drive? How do you get to work so quickly?

[Anonymous]

I live about 4 mins from Burke, in Fairfax. My commute to Crystal City ranges from 30 mins to 45 mins, and on bad days (once every few weeks) it'll take me an hour or more--rare!