Home for $500k in Nova, small yard, near metro--possible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/5033-12th-St-S-22204/home/11265460

Very cute house, good price. Not such a good neighborhood.

I agree, we rented in this neighborhood and did not like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church, the Fairfax County part (Falls Church City is great but you won't find anything for $500K there). You can find what you are looking for there; the downside is that the schools are in the lower range of Fairfax County schools.

We live in FCC and there are 2 houses on our street for sale around 500K...

[Anonymous]

Yes, you can- but you are going to need to COMPROMISE big time on other things- size, condition, amount of work needed, etc. But it will be well worth it-- you can change everything about a house, even tear down and rebuild, but the location is forever.

I may be a bit biased since I'ved lived in North Arlington and love it. If you insist on more space or something more updated, you could try Falls Church.

***This house is about a mile from Ballston Metro, for just $435K:
http://washingtonpost.trulia.com/for_sale/22207_zip/400000-550000_price/SINGLE-FAMILY_HOME_type/#for_sale/22207_zip/SINGLE-FAMILY_HOME_type/400000-550000_price/price;a_sort/

***These two are a bit above $500k:
Both of these are maybe about a mile from EFC Metro:
http://washingtonpost.trulia.com/property/1086108203-2648-N-Sycamore-St-Arlington-VA-22207

http://washingtonpost.trulia.com/property/3053555540-6061-25th-Rd-N-Arlington-VA-22207

[Anonymous]

FYI on the 19:55 PP's houses - I saw the second and third houses (in person) and considered looking at the first. The first is in a very questionable neighborhood - many houses in that area are in very, very poor condition (particularly around Cameron and Culpeper) and when my coworker lived there, his car got broken into 2 times in a short period of time. The house is in decent schools and it's close-in, though.

The 2nd house is on a very wide street that is pretty busy. It is a very, very outdated house - the bathroom and kitchen are old and tired, and one bedroom has wood paneling. The hardwood floors and fireplace are nice, but the house is small - no basement, no family room, and the lot is not really that big, so I'm not sure you could build on. that one has sat on the market for awhile for a reason.

the 3rd house is very cute and showed well and is on a nice street in a nice neighborhood but it is TINY. 2 br, 1 bath, no basement, no attic, no nothing. Very, very, very small, and I don't think the lot is big enough for an addition, though it's worth researching. You could pop the top but that gets very expensive. I think the kitchen was older too, as was the bathroom.

I ended up buying in North Arlington and managed to buy a great house (that needs a bit of work) in a great neighborhood for $560K. But I literally had to look at 63 houses to do it, and only a few were even worth considering.

You could look at this one in Falls Church: http://franklymls.com/FA7607757

And if you're ok with South Arlington, we saw this one and it was actually really nice: http://franklymls.com/AR7613188 And this one has amazing pressed tin ceilings, hardwood floors and a lot of square footage. (and a very nice owner.) http://franklymls.com/AR7619689