$1.1M in NoVA - where should we buy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t you live in Chantilly or Oak Hill you crazy person?

Because I'm not an illegal immigrant in a group house with 560 cars on the street?

OP here just popping in to clarify that the poster above is NOT me.

Whatever, OP, we know you're the Falls Church City troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t you live in Chantilly or Oak Hill you crazy person?

Because I'm not an illegal immigrant in a group house with 560 cars on the street?

OP here just popping in to clarify that the poster above is NOT me.

Whatever, OP, we know you're the Falls Church City troll.

I'm the OP and don't know what the Falls Church troll is. I also said literally nothing about Falls Church in my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t you live in Chantilly or Oak Hill you crazy person?

Tell me more about walkability in Chantilly and Oak Hill

OP's spouse could walk to work ...

I don't understand the logic of prioritizing "walkability" for a WFH spouse while sticking the other spouse with a lengthy driving commute. Who in this scenario is walking anywhere?

[Anonymous]

West Springfield

[Anonymous]

Reston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One spouse works in Chantilly, the other from home. Looking to move from Alexandria to somewhere with good schools. Would love to stay inside the beltway or right outside of it - have always lived close to the city and like walkability (we know we could get more for our money and a better commute outside the beltway). We're open to a townhouse, but need 4 bedrooms or 3 plus some type of office space. Where would you look? TIA!

You have school age kids and are not rich (1.1M budget).

You need to talk walkable out behind the wood shed and bury it. That’s for rich people, like Bentleys and yachts. Making your kids be the “townhouse” kids so you can walk to a coffee shop or bar is the height of Millenial myopia.

Townhouse suck for families. People hate coming over because parking is always a nightmare. There is no yard for the kids to play in, and little interior privacy for when kids are older (you hear everything). It’s boring for the kids when you host, so play dates and friends drop away. And when you get a 3rd car because your teen is learning to drive, you F’d good because of parking.

SFH in a good school in Loudoun would be my recommendation, you would even be kinda close to metro. Easy commute down 28 to Chantilly. Or some place in Fairfax but I know the schools in that region are more variable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One spouse works in Chantilly, the other from home. Looking to move from Alexandria to somewhere with good schools. Would love to stay inside the beltway or right outside of it - have always lived close to the city and like walkability (we know we could get more for our money and a better commute outside the beltway). We're open to a townhouse, but need 4 bedrooms or 3 plus some type of office space. Where would you look? TIA!

You have school age kids and are not rich (1.1M budget).

You need to talk walkable out behind the wood shed and bury it. That’s for rich people, like Bentleys and yachts. Making your kids be the “townhouse” kids so you can walk to a coffee shop or bar is the height of Millenial myopia.

Townhouse suck for families. People hate coming over because parking is always a nightmare. There is no yard for the kids to play in, and little interior privacy for when kids are older (you hear everything). It’s boring for the kids when you host, so play dates and friends drop away. And when you get a 3rd car because your teen is learning to drive, you F’d good because of parking.

SFH in a good school in Loudoun would be my recommendation, you would even be kinda close to metro. Easy commute down 28 to Chantilly. Or some place in Fairfax but I know the schools in that region are more variable.

God forbid being a “townhouse kid”! How horrid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vienna. Big townhouses and walkability.

I’m so confused about Vienna being walkable. I’ve never seen this walkable part. I’ve been to Maple ave but it doesn’t seem very pedestrian inviting although certainly there are sidewalks. When I think of walkable I think of Old Town or Del Rey. Where is the walkable area in Vienna?

[Anonymous]

Chantilly. I have the same budget and would really like to move out there, but have to commute into the city 3x/week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chantilly. I have the same budget and would really like to move out there, but have to commute into the city 3x/week.

PP again. Just wanted to add, we're in Old Town now and have fantastic walkability, but poor schools. I'm willing to take the hit on walkability for better schools.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard for me to picture OP pushing one of those wheeled shoppers down the sidewalk to her walkable 1.1 mil house.

OP please define what is walkable to you.

I live in an 850k house in Oak Hill. It is a “walkable” neighborhood in the sense that there are safe sidewalks, little car traffic, and the neighborhood is pleasant to walk around in with friendly neighbors also walking around. But I don’t really do any walks besides dog walking. However, the pool and tennis club and shopping center with many amenities are a short bike or car ride away without having to use any major roads. My kids ride their bikes plenty of places and take the bus to school. So while we have a car, we are not in it that much. But I don’t go out to drink at bars or get coffee. We do that stuff at home. Maybe that’s what OP wants or thinks she wants.

If I had 1.1 mil, I’d look at Franklin Farm and enjoy walking in that neighborhood.

Vienna might have a lot of shops and restaurants crammed in, but I’d hardly call Maple Ave a place I’d want to walk around.

I have no idea what the illegal immigrant poster is on about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard for me to picture OP pushing one of those wheeled shoppers down the sidewalk to her walkable 1.1 mil house.

OP please define what is walkable to you.

I live in an 850k house in Oak Hill. It is a “walkable” neighborhood in the sense that there are safe sidewalks, little car traffic, and the neighborhood is pleasant to walk around in with friendly neighbors also walking around. But I don’t really do any walks besides dog walking. However, the pool and tennis club and shopping center with many amenities are a short bike or car ride away without having to use any major roads. My kids ride their bikes plenty of places and take the bus to school. So while we have a car, we are not in it that much. But I don’t go out to drink at bars or get coffee. We do that stuff at home. Maybe that’s what OP wants or thinks she wants.

If I had 1.1 mil, I’d look at Franklin Farm and enjoy walking in that neighborhood.

Vienna might have a lot of shops and restaurants crammed in, but I’d hardly call Maple Ave a place I’d want to walk around.

I have no idea what the illegal immigrant poster is on about.

I'm the OP. We currently are within <15 min walk to a Trader Joe's, a CVS, a park with a playground, and a bunch of restaurants. I would consider that very walkable. Having access to the park only would not be walkable IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard for me to picture OP pushing one of those wheeled shoppers down the sidewalk to her walkable 1.1 mil house.

OP please define what is walkable to you.

I live in an 850k house in Oak Hill. It is a “walkable” neighborhood in the sense that there are safe sidewalks, little car traffic, and the neighborhood is pleasant to walk around in with friendly neighbors also walking around. But I don’t really do any walks besides dog walking. However, the pool and tennis club and shopping center with many amenities are a short bike or car ride away without having to use any major roads. My kids ride their bikes plenty of places and take the bus to school. So while we have a car, we are not in it that much. But I don’t go out to drink at bars or get coffee. We do that stuff at home. Maybe that’s what OP wants or thinks she wants.

If I had 1.1 mil, I’d look at Franklin Farm and enjoy walking in that neighborhood.

Vienna might have a lot of shops and restaurants crammed in, but I’d hardly call Maple Ave a place I’d want to walk around.

I have no idea what the illegal immigrant poster is on about.

I'm the OP. We currently are within <15 min walk to a Trader Joe's, a CVS, a park with a playground, and a bunch of restaurants. I would consider that very walkable. Having access to the park only would not be walkable IMO.

OP, look for a suburban shopping center with a store/restaurant mix you like, and then look at the housing adjacent to it. Frankin Farms is a very well done example because it has nice paths and common green space, but there are TH and SFH built behind every grocery-anchored shopping center in the suburbs.

To take the Vienna example PP asked about, if you drive down Maple you see a series of shopping centers. Immediately behind them on both sides are residential neighborhoods. People in those neighborhoods walk on quiet streets (not on Maple) to the shops that front Maple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard for me to picture OP pushing one of those wheeled shoppers down the sidewalk to her walkable 1.1 mil house.

OP please define what is walkable to you.

I live in an 850k house in Oak Hill. It is a “walkable” neighborhood in the sense that there are safe sidewalks, little car traffic, and the neighborhood is pleasant to walk around in with friendly neighbors also walking around. But I don’t really do any walks besides dog walking. However, the pool and tennis club and shopping center with many amenities are a short bike or car ride away without having to use any major roads. My kids ride their bikes plenty of places and take the bus to school. So while we have a car, we are not in it that much. But I don’t go out to drink at bars or get coffee. We do that stuff at home. Maybe that’s what OP wants or thinks she wants.

If I had 1.1 mil, I’d look at Franklin Farm and enjoy walking in that neighborhood.

Vienna might have a lot of shops and restaurants crammed in, but I’d hardly call Maple Ave a place I’d want to walk around.

I have no idea what the illegal immigrant poster is on about.

I'm the OP. We currently are within <15 min walk to a Trader Joe's, a CVS, a park with a playground, and a bunch of restaurants. I would consider that very walkable. Having access to the park only would not be walkable IMO.

So move to Franklin Farm. You could buy on the shopping center side of Fairfax County Parkway, which means you can easily walk to the shopping center and one of the neighborhood pools, plus parks and plenty of walking trails. The shopping center has a grocery store, multiple restaurants (fast casual and regular, chains and independent), Starbucks, gas station, dentist, orthodontist, hair stylist, trampoline park, etc. I just use the dry cleaner there, so I don't even know all of the shops, but it definitely covers your bases.

It doesn't make any sense to be inside the beltway when your DH is commuting to Chantilly and the schools are typically better. Like another PP mentioned, pretty much any shopping center in Northern Virginia is going to have a neighborhood behind it that's very walkable.

[Anonymous]

Ashburn/brambleton/south riding