SFH in Arlington with good schools for 600K - does it exist?

[Anonymous]

Check out the Glen Carlin neighborhood. It's south of Rt. 50, so technically South Arlington. But many of the houses feed into Washington-Lee instead of Wakefield. At the elementary level, many houses are in-boundary for Claremont, which is Spanish immersion -- which also means you have a guaranteed transfer to one of the other schools in the group if you don't want to do immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out the Glen Carlin neighborhood. It's south of Rt. 50, so technically South Arlington. But many of the houses feed into Washington-Lee instead of Wakefield. At the elementary level, many houses are in-boundary for Claremont, which is Spanish immersion -- which also means you have a guaranteed transfer to one of the other schools in the group if you don't want to do immersion.

Carlin Springs ES? Kenmore MS? You'll get "Spanish immersion" one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out the Glen Carlin neighborhood. It's south of Rt. 50, so technically South Arlington. But many of the houses feed into Washington-Lee instead of Wakefield. At the elementary level, many houses are in-boundary for Claremont, which is Spanish immersion -- which also means you have a guaranteed transfer to one of the other schools in the group if you don't want to do immersion.

Carlin Springs ES? Kenmore MS? You'll get "Spanish immersion" one way or the other.

The funny part is that some richy parents have been conned into "Spanish immersion" for their schools where they could live in the the cheaper parts of Fairfax County and get Spanish immersion for free.

[Anonymous]

we bought a SFH just under 600 in N. Arlington 18 mos ago. 3 bdrms, central a/c, 3 1/2 ba's. We do not have much of a yard.
When we were looking we actually saw several within this price range. We didn't need the most updated kitchen or baths-- wanted a nice neighborhood. I think you will be able to find something in the spring.

[Anonymous]

OP Ignore the snobs. Anything in zip code 22202 is okay because it feeds into Oakridge Elementary School. The parents have worked very hard on this school and they have a great new assistant principal who came from Swanson Middle School, the most sought-after middle school in Arlington. If anyone wants to be frightened about schools, they should read the article on girl bullying in the current issue of "Arlington" magazine. The middle school and high school the girls attended are "sought after" because of the wealth of parents. But I'd rather have my child be with normal children than the privileged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Ignore the snobs. Anything in zip code 22202 is okay because it feeds into Oakridge Elementary School. The parents have worked very hard on this school and they have a great new assistant principal who came from Swanson Middle School, the most sought-after middle school in Arlington. If anyone wants to be frightened about schools, they should read the article on girl bullying in the current issue of "Arlington" magazine. The middle school and high school the girls attended are "sought after" because of the wealth of parents. But I'd rather have my child be with normal children than the privileged.

You'll have a great choice of laundromats in Arlandria, that's for sure!

[Anonymous]

PP Arlandria is not in Arlington, it is in Alexandria. There is a larger laundromat next to Mom's Organic Market and another one across the street from the Birchmere. Are there others you use in Arlandria that I've missed?

[Anonymous]

There are sOme cute areas between rt 50
And
Columbia pike-barcrOft neighborhood is nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP Arlandria is not in Arlington, it is in Alexandria. There is a larger laundromat next to Mom's Organic Market and another one across the street from the Birchmere. Are there others you use in Arlandria that I've missed?

Same general area. That's why it's called Arlandria. If you want to live next door to Chirilagua, have fun.

[Anonymous]

We actively looked for about a year in Arlington for a house in the $560-600K range in the good schools and were unsuccessful. It was really depressing-most of the houses in that price range were either very small or needed a lot of work. There were nice houses in S. Arlington for that price but we didn't want to be in Wakefield High School. Finally, we decided to look in Vienna because the schools are wonderful in Vienna, and found a beautiful home in our price range in about two weeks. We're very, very happy here, and felt so relieved to have given up on Arlington. If you don't commute to D.C., and other parts of Fairfax County are close to where you work, I highly recommend looking in Vienna. However, if you commute to D.C., then it would be a much longer commute than Arlington. If you both commute together and can do HOV, Vienna to D.C. wouldn't be too bad. I had a seminar in D.C. for a week, and was driving alone so I couldn't do HOV-it took me about 1 hour 10 minutes at rush hour, coming home took longer on a couple of days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are sOme cute areas between rt 50
And
Columbia pike-barcrOft neighborhood is nice.

I agree, there are some nice areas and houses there but the schools are not good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, prices have come down alot from the housing bubble. They are also down due to all the extreme development happening in nearby tyson's making tyson's as or more desirable because of the similar city feel and proximity to more potential jobs.

Tyson's may be developing and located close to potential jobs, but it does NOT have a city feel. You cannot walk anywhere in Tyson's. You may be able to, in time, but right now, you can't. I should know - I live there.

[Anonymous]

00:06 PP here - the Ohio St. house is this listing http://franklymls.com/AR7710074 which is unfortunately also near 66, though they've got some nice work on the baths and kitchen. I'd probably take down the front fence and do some nice shutters to improve the exterior.

This one looks awesome, and the neighborhood's not bad - I live about 1/2 mile North of this house. http://franklymls.com/AR7713881 It's going for below the purchase price, so it may be a short sale.
This is a really good price for a house in Yorktown boundary, and it's a great neighborhood: http://franklymls.com/AR7684477

This one would be good at a slightly lower price: http://franklymls.com/AR7682088
This one needs some updates, but isn't too bad: http://franklymls.com/AR7696607

In South Arlington, I considered homes in Penrose, Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights/Barcroft. Of those three, Penrose feeds into the most truly diverse school, Patrick Henry. (I don't consider 80%+ hispanic to be any more diverse than an 80% white school.) I've also heard good things about Oakridge - it might be worth looking in Addison Heights and Aurora Hills, though things very rarely come up in those neighborhoods under $600K due to the proximity to Crystal City/Pentagon City metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:00:06 PP here - the Ohio St. house is this listing http://franklymls.com/AR7710074 which is unfortunately also near 66, though they've got some nice work on the baths and kitchen. I'd probably take down the front fence and do some nice shutters to improve the exterior.

This one looks awesome, and the neighborhood's not bad - I live about 1/2 mile North of this house. http://franklymls.com/AR7713881 It's going for below the purchase price, so it may be a short sale.
This is a really good price for a house in Yorktown boundary, and it's a great neighborhood: http://franklymls.com/AR7684477

This one would be good at a slightly lower price: http://franklymls.com/AR7682088
This one needs some updates, but isn't too bad: http://franklymls.com/AR7696607

In South Arlington, I considered homes in Penrose, Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights/Barcroft. Of those three, Penrose feeds into the most truly diverse school, Patrick Henry. (I don't consider 80%+ hispanic to be any more diverse than an 80% white school.) I've also heard good things about Oakridge - it might be worth looking in Addison Heights and Aurora Hills, though things very rarely come up in those neighborhoods under $600K due to the proximity to Crystal City/Pentagon City metro.

I wonder why the house on 20th Street isn't in the middle of the lot. Looks very strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:00:06 PP here - the Ohio St. house is this listing http://franklymls.com/AR7710074 which is unfortunately also near 66, though they've got some nice work on the baths and kitchen. I'd probably take down the front fence and do some nice shutters to improve the exterior.
This one looks awesome, and the neighborhood's not bad - I live about 1/2 mile North of this house. http://franklymls.com/AR7713881 It's going for below the purchase price, so it may be a short sale.
This is a really good price for a house in Yorktown boundary, and it's a great neighborhood: http://franklymls.com/AR7684477

This one would be good at a slightly lower price: http://franklymls.com/AR7682088
This one needs some updates, but isn't too bad: http://franklymls.com/AR7696607

In South Arlington, I considered homes in Penrose, Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights/Barcroft. Of those three, Penrose feeds into the most truly diverse school, Patrick Henry. (I don't consider 80%+ hispanic to be any more diverse than an 80% white school.) I've also heard good things about Oakridge - it might be worth looking in Addison Heights and Aurora Hills, though things very rarely come up in those neighborhoods under $600K due to the proximity to Crystal City/Pentagon City metro.

I live extremely close to this house. It's not close enough to 66 that you would hear or even notice it. The neighborhood is wonderful. It has more originial (smaller) houses than in most of the rest of North Arlington, with a few of the big renovated Craftsmans mixed in. It is just a couple of blocks from the Westover shops, which is great, and walkable to the EFC metro. You've also got the bike path right there and probably 5 playgrounds within a 15-minute walking radius. It's zoned for McKinley/Swanson/Yorktown, which is very desirable. Everyone in the neighborhood is friendly and down to earth, and there are tons of little kids. The only drawback I can see is that Ohio St. may be a bit busier than you would hope for, but it's certainly not a main thoroughfare, and usually few cars come through after 8 p.m. Unfortunately this is the case with many streets in Arlington--there aren't as many quiet cul-de-sacs and side streets.