Buying first house .. Fort Hunt area?
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Anonymous
| Thanks for all of the posts! We definitely have a lot to think about before buying a house. Focusing on all of "Northern VA" seems overwhelming. I think we need to narrow it down to some good communities and just house stalk until we find something we like. I hoping this will be a fun process not something that makes me want to pull my hair out but we shall see. Our lease on our apartment is up in Sept so I would love to try and get something locked in around August if possible! |
Anonymous
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The McLean house on Zillow
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6318-Old-Chesterbrook-Rd-Mc-Lean-VA-22101/51757574_zpid/ |
Anonymous
| 22152 and 22015 would probably be under the OP's budget. If OP is looking for $600K and up, those zip codes will not generally do it (yet, but it's coming soon). That said, the investment would be sound. With such limited inventory, you should be looking now and ready to move if you see something you like. Subletting or working out a lease break would be better than missing the spring/summer market. Inventory is only going to shrink more starting in August. |
Anonymous
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OP here - yes I agree with what everybody is saying. I think DH would like for mortgage to be under $700 if possible. We are trying to have a baby as well as move so we are a bit concerned with the budget. Adding a mortgage that is a little bit higher than our rent now plus daycare at some point will be a lot. Doable but tough for a little while.
I am just not seeing much in McLean/North Arlington that is under $700,000. |
Anonymous
True, but you will save substantial amount in gas if in McLean/NoArl so you probably could leverage to slightly higher mortgage. |
Anonymous
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You all who are saying how horrible the commute into downtown from FH must have never done it. I drive every day into downtown from 22306 and it never takes me more than 45 minutes getting there or back. I leave my house at 7:40am, am usually at work by 820am, and leave work at 5-515pm and always am home by 6.
Rt. 1 through OT in the AM and GW Parkway in the PM is the best route. GW Parkway in the AM gets backed up around the 395 interchange and I take the Arlington Memorial bridge so I avoid all that by taking Rt. 1 instead. Frankly, I am very happy with my commute. It could be worse - you could live in Springfield and deal with the 95/395 mess or west of 495 and deal with the 66 mess. I avoid all of those. |
Anonymous
If you get on at the mixing bowl, there is no mess. |
Anonymous
Been there, done that my friend. And I finally had the blinders lifted from my eyes, and saw the light, the day we moved to McLean and started to commute from there. |
Anonymous
| Did anyone notice that the mclean house last sold for 10k *more* in 2007 than it is for sale now? Did they way overpay or what? |
Anonymous
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PP - do you have kids? If so where do they go to school? We drove around with an agent this past weekend and really loved the sense of community down in Fort Hunt. It will definitely be a huge change for us since we have been living in DC for the past decade but we really want something a little quieter and more community centric and houses with yards.
Our only concern really is 1) the commute for DH and 2) the public schools in that area especially once you get into middle school and high school We love the idea of being down by the Potomac as well. I grew up on the water and would love to have access to boats, etc in the summertime. |
Anonymous
Their mistake is your benefit. |
Anonymous
PP here. OP, on a very quick search, I found quite a few beautiful houses with nice yards under $700k. With some more information on specifically what you are looking for, I could narrow these down. http://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/7551-Lindberg-Dr-22306/home/9841986 http://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/7809-Evening-Ln-22306/home/9816805 http://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/7625-Midday-Ln-22306/home/9817114 http://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/2227-Candlewood-Dr-22308/home/9817170 http://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/1227-Morningside-Ln-22308/home/9796261 http://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/8417-Riverside-Rd-22308/home/9818984 - I kind of hate the island in the kitchen and the carpet, but you can change all that! |
Anonymous
| So we have been focusing on Stratford Landing and Waynewood Elementary schools right now but are planning on expanding our search into Hollin Meadows Elementary as well. We would prefer not to go further south than Fort Hunt though. |
Anonymous
| We love the one on Riverside drive ... do agree with the island in the kitchen but its workable! Its right across the street from Stratford Landing school which is good and bad. Good you can walk your kids to school - Bad the traffic every day around pick up and drop off is horrible! |
Anonymous
OP I am the PP who provided all those links above. I don't have kids so I am very unfamiliar with the schools and their boundaries. However, I know that you can search on Redfin by just typing in the name of the school in the search, capping the price at $700k, and go from there. Good luck. I love the area and proximity to Old Town! I can make it there in less than 10 minutes on a weekend morning with light traffic. |