Tell me about Fairfax

[Anonymous]

DH and I have been house-hunting in Alexandria, but we're starting to look to Fairfax. It seems we'd get more bang for our buck, and I've heard the public school system is good. I'm curious about how it is to live there in general. I'm currently in Del Ray - close to the shops, close to old town, very "neighborhood-y" feel. Are there similar neighborhoods in Fairfax? What do you like/dislike about living there? TIA!

[Anonymous]

Fairfax is a county with a million plus people, what areas are you thinking of Fairfax??

If you like Del Ray, you might want to look around:
1. downtown Vienna
2. downtown Herndon
3. downtown Fairfax City
4. Reston
5. Falls Church City and nearby areas.

Fairfax Corners (around the Wegmans) has some of the charm of Reston but not sure if there's any SFHs where you don't have to cross a six lane highway to get to the shopping/dining.

Much of the rest is some variety of suburbia, ranging from cul-de-sacs off of 50 that are walkable to absolutely nothing, to areas where you can walk to some shopping/parks/entertainment/etc.

The areas south of Falls Church City (not immediately south, but like down towards Route 50 and further south) and around Route 1 south of Alexandria are full of older garden condos -- you can do better, I think, as the relatively little crime in Fairfax does seem to be concentrated in those areas. Of course there are exceptions, since no one would call Fort Hunt/Waynewood or Lake Barcroft "bad."

[Anonymous]

I don't think you're going to get a cheaper home in Fairfax (than Alexandria) unless you're looking farther out or sacrificing school quality. I feel like most of Alexandria (excluding Del Ray, Old Town, Cameron Station and maybe Belle View) is actually cheaper than the Northern parts of Fairfax, frankly. (I was living in close-in Northern Fairfax till recently.)

Where will you and the spouse be commuting? that's a big factor in the answers people give you. What are you hoping to spend, and on how much house? Is this your "forever" house or your "trade-up" house?

[Anonymous]

OP here... we're looking to spend around $650K. Doesn't get you much house in Del Ray/OT - where we've been looking. DH commutes to DC. I work off Seminary Road in Alexandria. If we get a nice house for that money, it'll be our forever house. That's why I was driven to Fairfax Co. in the first place... their public schools are great, right?

[Anonymous]

Schools in Fairfax are good. Obviously there are exceptions, but the schools are good.

You need to narrow your focus vs. saying Fairfax -- Fairfax is huge!

[Anonymous]

Well you might look around the Fort Hunt and Belle Haven areas, the area south of the Beltway and east of Route 1. But then you'd need to be okay with going to Sandburg/West Potomac and not everyone is.

If you're ok with TC Williams then you'd be fine with anything in Fairfax.

If you insist on a top-rated school from K to 12, you'll need to look around Burke (Robinson), West Springfield, or East Fairfax (Woodson). Vienna/McLean are nice too and I'd consider there if your job is not a forever kind of job.

What are your 'must haves'? Then, apply your 'must haves' to the rest of your life -- is a garage worth an extra 10-15 minutes on your commute for example?

[Anonymous]

Fairfax schools are some of the best in the country. No matter which one your kids end up in, they'll likely get a better education than most of the kids in the country. But there are some Fairfax schools in which the test scores are better than the virginia and national averages and there are some schools that - mostly due to demographics - have lower test scores than the virginia and national averages. Homes in Fairfax county tend to be cheaper in those school districts than in the schools with higher test scores. And Fairfax county is huge - extending out to chantilly, reston, herndon. Some of those parts of Fairfax might have reasonable housing and good schools, but you get a longer commute.

If you're commuting to Seminary, I'd focus on neighborhoods near 495 and wouldn't go too far West. You could find something off of Braddock road that feeds into Woodson HS. You could easily find a nice SFH under $650K in that area. You might also check in Mantua, which is near 495 at route 50. (my perspective: I just moved out of a neighborhood between Mantua and City o' Fairfax, and am currently staying in Landmark and take Seminary to work, so I'm pretty familiar with both areas now.)

Here's a few:
http://franklymls.com/FX7614103
http://franklymls.com/FX7584593
http://franklymls.com/FX7588597
http://franklymls.com/FX7420478
http://franklymls.com/FX7600425

You could also look in Arlington, though your money won't go as far there. Still, if you found something near George Mason, you could take that South to Seminary every day. There are several homes in Arlington Forest (North) for sale right now not too far from GM. http://franklymls.com/AR7628147 And here's one in my new 'hood: http://franklymls.com/AR7642737 I've driven past it a couple times and it's nice, and it's walking distance to the best HS in Arlington. And another one: http://franklymls.com/AR7645004

[Anonymous]

Check out Mt Vernon, east of Rt 1 near the estate.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how Fairfax Corner area has the charm of Reston unless Reston is defined by the Town Center alone. We have a nmber of walkable neighborhOods here in Reston and construction on the Wiehle Ave metro is underway.

We have two farmer's markets, three non profit child care centers, and an amazing history. Reston is definitely unique and worth looking into. We even have our own strain of Ebola!

[Anonymous]

Reston to Seminary Rd would suck as a commute, though. I briefly commuted to Reston from Merrifield and that was actually not great, and I was quite a few beltway exits closer. If you're working in Alexandria and are likely to be there awhile, I'd stay away from the western parts of Fairfax. an earlier PP mentioned springfield - that would be a good commute, though school quality varies. Burke might be worth looking into, also - Braddock to Seminary is a pretty good commute, and my friends in Burke really like it and are happy with the Lake Braddock pyramid. (which is technically not much of a pyramid since the middle/high school are in the same facility.)