Better Place to Live, Leesburg or Reston

[Anonymous]

I am trying to decide between a move to Leesburg or Reston. DH has a new job in Ashburn at Janelia Farm and I work in the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown DC. We have a 8 month old and a dog. My hours at the DC job are very static and would not include very many late hours. I know that Reston is more expensive than Leesburg but I am not convinced that the commute into DC for me would be that much shorter than from Leesburg. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Let me assure you that the commute would be much shorter from Reston than from Leesburg. If you work downtown, do not move to Leesburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me assure you that the commute would be much shorter from Reston than from Leesburg. If you work downtown, do not move to Leesburg.

+1 from someone who lives in Herndon whose husband commutes downtown everyday. Do NOT move to Leesburg. Just don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Goodness, the commute from Leesburg would be around 2 hours each way!!

[Anonymous]

Even the commute from Reston is going to be unpleasant. But my god, do not move to Leesburg.

[Anonymous]

If your husband's job is in Ashburn, why move even further out when you have to commute downtown?

[Anonymous]

This is the author. Would the concern about the commute be mitigated if I took a commuter bus from Leesburg or still just as bad? I obviously do not want to do leesburg versus Reston if the commute is significant. I will never be driving in, however, I would take bus/metro from Reston or a commuter bus from Leesburg. While Leesburg is further than DH's job in Ashburn, we do like the smaller town feel and the house prices are lower than Reston. That is really why we are even possible considering Leesburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the author. Would the concern about the commute be mitigated if I took a commuter bus from Leesburg or still just as bad? I obviously do not want to do leesburg versus Reston if the commute is significant. I will never be driving in, however, I would take bus/metro from Reston or a commuter bus from Leesburg. While Leesburg is further than DH's job in Ashburn, we do like the smaller town feel and the house prices are lower than Reston. That is really why we are even possible considering Leesburg.

No, it would still be horrific. I am the Herndon poster. My DH takes a commuter bus from the Herndon-Monroe bus stop to West Falls Church; then he takes Metro to MacPherson Square. Between first driving to the bus stop, then taking the bus, then the MEtro, then walking to his office -- it is a horrendous "planes, trains, and autombiles" type of commute which can take up to 2 hours each way, sometimes. Please, you said you have a young child and a dog? Do not do this to your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the author. Would the concern about the commute be mitigated if I took a commuter bus from Leesburg or still just as bad? I obviously do not want to do leesburg versus Reston if the commute is significant. I will never be driving in, however, I would take bus/metro from Reston or a commuter bus from Leesburg. While Leesburg is further than DH's job in Ashburn, we do like the smaller town feel and the house prices are lower than Reston. That is really why we are even possible considering Leesburg.

No, it would still be horrific. I am the Herndon poster. My DH takes a commuter bus from the Herndon-Monroe bus stop to West Falls Church; then he takes Metro to MacPherson Square. Between first driving to the bus stop, then taking the bus, then the MEtro, then walking to his office -- it is a horrendous "planes, trains, and autombiles" type of commute which can take up to 2 hours each way, sometimes. Please, you said you have a young child and a dog? Do not do this to your family.

How long is his total commute? We live in North Bethesda right now and my door to door commute is 45 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the author. Would the concern about the commute be mitigated if I took a commuter bus from Leesburg or still just as bad? I obviously do not want to do leesburg versus Reston if the commute is significant. I will never be driving in, however, I would take bus/metro from Reston or a commuter bus from Leesburg. While Leesburg is further than DH's job in Ashburn, we do like the smaller town feel and the house prices are lower than Reston. That is really why we are even possible considering Leesburg.

No, it would still be horrific. I am the Herndon poster. My DH takes a commuter bus from the Herndon-Monroe bus stop to West Falls Church; then he takes Metro to MacPherson Square. Between first driving to the bus stop, then taking the bus, then the MEtro, then walking to his office -- it is a horrendous "planes, trains, and autombiles" type of commute which can take up to 2 hours each way, sometimes. Please, you said you have a young child and a dog? Do not do this to your family.

How long is his total commute? We live in North Bethesda right now and my door to door commute is 45 minutes.

He says that his total commute can range from 1.5 hours-2 hours typically.

On the occasional snowmageddon-type-emergency days where the traffic goes insane everywhere in the city? he usually will spend the night at the office b/c he has found a few ,imes that once he gets to WFC, the wait for buses can stretch interminably for hours, so he has had to go back to the office on these occasions, so now he has learned to just stay there if need be and try again int he early morning hours.

[Anonymous]

Things will change a bit when you no longer have to do park and ride with a bus to west falls church metro from reston/herndon area. I think that is going to shave 10-15 minutes off the downtown commute. I used to do that commute (well, I commuted to Ballston, so about 10 minutes shy of downtown), and it wasn't horrific. In fact, I actually preferred it to driving.

I'd have no qualms about Reston area. But do NOT move to Leesburg if you have to commute downtown. Just don't.

My husband was working in Ashburn when we most recently were househunting. We could have moved out that diresction, but I was concerned about possibly going back to work downtown at some point. Thank goodness we did not decide to move to Loudoun, as my husband then changed jobs and his commute to his new place of employment would have been absolutely dreadful.

[Anonymous]

Rent a home in Leesburg for a year and then decide if you can seriously live with that commute for the long haul. A bigger house and small town look good on paper until you are never there and too exhausted every weekend to enjoy any of it and see your kids for 30 min a day during the week. Even if you aren't physically driving every day it is still a freakin' long commute and a lot of time away from your family. My commute is 30 min in the morning and up to an hour at night and it really takes a toll on me. I feel like I have no time with my kids during the week and really worry about how I will deal when they are older and have activates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to decide between a move to Leesburg or Reston. DH has a new job in Ashburn at Janelia Farm and I work in the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown DC. We have a 8 month old and a dog. My hours at the DC job are very static and would not include very many late hours. I know that Reston is more expensive than Leesburg but I am not convinced that the commute into DC for me would be that much shorter than from Leesburg. Any thoughts?

I'm the Leesburg booster you often see on here.

Unless (1) those static hours are 630am-230pm and (2) there's jobs in your field closer to Leesburg, please don't. Leesburg-Tysons is doable. But Leesburg-DC is preferable to being unemployed.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP - I live in Leesburg and love it - but a commute to DC....um no

[Anonymous]

Appreciate all of this advice. Does anyone actually take the commuter bus from Leesburg to downtown dc? Based on the posts, it seems like the time estimates used by the Loudoun County Commuter Website do not accurately reflect how long it would really take to get to downtown dc. Some of the time schedules suggest that it takes a little over an hour from the Leesburg park and ride to some locations in downtown DC.