Hollin Hills pros and cons

[Anonymous]

This thread is cheering me up. I live on the other side of Belvoir on Mason Neck, and my commute to downtown is the exact same as those of you in the Mt. Vernon area. This makes me feel better because I sometimes wish we had bought in Hollin Hills/Waynewood. I loved the homes in Hollin Hills but the windows would have creeped me out at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The commute is easily an hour on any given day. The 30 -45 minute commute is rare. Do the commute yourself at the time you are going to commute before school ends to find out for yourself. If you do any drop offs, pick ups do those as well on your trial run. I gave a friend who commutes from NW @ 18th St and leaves at 5:30 - does one pickup on her way home and isn't home until almost 7:30.

The middle school and high school are the problems. Same issue as Alexandria City schools,

Lots more SAHMs down the parkway

Factor into your monthly costs a lawn service/ landscape service. Covers leaf removal and lawn mowing.

Move to N Arl. Better commute, better schools long term, less yard work

Yeah, but then you're stuck with N. Arl. people. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Waynewood and used to live in Arlington. It actually takes me about the same amount of time to get to work downtown in the morning. I leave at 715 and arrive between 8 and 815. I came in 395 over the 14th st. Bridge (total nightmare) before. Even though Waynewood is farther distance-wise, the GW pkwy doesn't back up until you get to Old Town. The other part of the pkwy is only local traffic and not a major thru way.

Hollin Hills is a great neighborhood!

Yeah but at least in Arlington you get good schools from elementary on up to High school.

Only in Yorktown pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Waynewood and used to live in Arlington. It actually takes me about the same amount of time to get to work downtown in the morning. I leave at 715 and arrive between 8 and 815. I came in 395 over the 14th st. Bridge (total nightmare) before. Even though Waynewood is farther distance-wise, the GW pkwy doesn't back up until you get to Old Town. The other part of the pkwy is only local traffic and not a major thru way.

Hollin Hills is a great neighborhood!

Yeah but at least in Arlington you get good schools from elementary on up to High school.

Only in Yorktown pyramid.

Lol, no. Some of you Stepfords on this site are really weird.

[Anonymous]

I'm 00:42, the dark window person. Another item to check very carefully if you start through the process of a purchase is to check the sealant on those windows very carefully. Some we visited had broken seals in the old double paned glass. You could tell on a humid day because the windows steams up at the corners. Those windows are very expensive to replace. So just be sure to have a GOOD inspector make sure all the windows are intact, solid, and properly sealed.

[Anonymous]

If you like Hollin Hills you should also look at Carderock Springs. Better commute downtown, better schools, cool mid-century houses on wooded lots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you like Hollin Hills you should also look at Carderock Springs. Better commute downtown, better schools, cool mid-century houses on wooded lots.

"Better schools" = mostly Jewish kids with only a handful of black and Hispanic kids. Thanks for the wonderful lesson in education and civil rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you like Hollin Hills you should also look at Carderock Springs. Better commute downtown, better schools, cool mid-century houses on wooded lots.

"Better schools" = mostly Jewish kids with only a handful of black and Hispanic kids. Thanks for the wonderful lesson in education and civil rights.

Why deny reality?

[Anonymous]

New question about Hollin Hills-- where are the community events? Are they at each neighborhood pool, which you have to be a member of? Or is there a downtown like Mount Vernon Ave in Del Ray? Or do most families go to Old Town for community events, farmers market?

[Anonymous]

HH has a community association that puts on various events in the parks and around the neighborhood. There are two pools -- Hollin Hills and Hollin Meadows -- and each has their own vibe so you'd have to visit them or just live so close to one or the other that it's a no-brainer to choose. The library is close and the farmer's market is there in the parking lot on Wednesdays in season. We've had kids in Hollin Meadows and Stratford (AAP program) and think that HM in early grades (all that we experienced) was good. There are a fair number of school events that are well-attended: Earth Day, Bingo Nights, etc. The middle school, Carl Sandburg, had me scared but our son really liked it. It's huge, though, so when it came time for our second to go, we decided to send her to a small private school instead.

The parks are great -- no weirdos that I've seen -- and it can feel like living in a tree house, which I love. Most homes have a lot of soft & recessed lighting that offsets that black window syndrome someone else mentioned. It feels close to a lot of amenities but also like you have space and light and a yard. Not having to mow grass is awesome.

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking of moving to HH and what I have noticed as I live near Old Town is that there are no gyms in the area nor a lot of convinces. How is the commute to Crystal City and Hyattsville MD? Also, is there a problem with getting some type of fencing for dogs. I am wondering as we have three of them.
Thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking of moving to HH and what I have noticed as I live near Old Town is that there are no gyms in the area nor a lot of conveniences. How is the commute to Crystal City and Hyattsville MD? Also, is there a problem with getting some type of fencing for dogs. I am wondering as we have three of them.
Thank you

[Anonymous]

All the big box stores are along Rt. 1. There is pretty much everything you can think of.

In the Hollin Hall shopping center, there’s Safeway, Rite Aid, a general store that also sells toys, a bakery, a higher end restaurant, a bank, hardware store and many other places. The Belle View plaza also has stores and restaurants.

For gyms-there’s a results Fitness on Rt. 1, 2 smaller gyms in the Belle View Plaza, Curves in Hollin Hall and the Mount Vernon Athletic Club near Costco.

[Anonymous]

Do you "have" to take your leaves? Because I've talked to a few arborists and entemologists and all of them advised me to never rake our leaves, just leave em for the critters and the soil.

But in HH, is there an HOA that requires you to rake and bag leaves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you "have" to take your leaves? Because I've talked to a few arborists and entemologists and all of them advised me to never rake our leaves, just leave em for the critters and the soil.

But in HH, is there an HOA that requires you to rake and bag leaves?

Unless you have a lawn you want to protect, never rake your leaves. And especially don’t bag them. Leave them as natural mulch in the beds!