Pimmit Hills

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were searching in a similar price range when we bought two years and ended up finding a foreclosure in a neighborhood we love for the high $300's. The house needed lots of updating but in the long run, I think it was a good decision for us. We're in the Falls Church part of Fairfax County, just south of Lee Highway. Because the area feeds into Falls Church HS, the housing prices are lower but the elementary school here gets great ratings and DD is still an infant, so we aren't too concerned about HS anyway. Our neighborhood is mostly middle-class professionals with young children.

For what it's worth, we looked pretty closely at Pimmit Hills as well, but in the end we just didn't care for the overall feel and we really didn't want a tiny rambler with no basement. I personally prefer the Falls Church area to Annandale because the Metro is so much closer and we're much more convenient to Tysons.

Good luck!

I live in the same area and agree with the PP. The Falls Church County areas feeding into Stuart and Falls Church HS can be a good alternative for a starter home and conatin a fair amount of good elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

I just moved from the part of Fairfax that the other PP's are talking about. Lived there for 12 years, and while I didn't like the commute to DC after the daycare dropoff/pickup were figured in, we loved living there. Metro was close (lived between Dunn Loring and Vienna) and it was easy access to route 29, route 50, route 66 and 495 so you could commute almost anywhere. There were parks and trails nearby, and it was a quick hop to Tysons, Fairfax Corner and Arlington for shopping and restaurants. also several county rec centers nearby and they offer a ton of classes for kids and adults.

[Anonymous]

Don't know where you live, but I have a good friend who lives in a very nice house zoned for Westlawn, and she is adamant that they'll move before their daughter starts K. She has a larger housing budget (around $700K) and is looking now in Dunn Loring and Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't know where you live, but I have a good friend who lives in a very nice house zoned for Westlawn, and she is adamant that they'll move before their daughter starts K. She has a larger housing budget (around $700K) and is looking now in Dunn Loring and Vienna.

The Westlawn District is south of Arlington Blvd. Better neighborhoods are further north (for the best pricing, try south of Lee but north of 50). Greenway Downs is a very nice area, and it isn't at all unreasonable to find homes in the low 400's. The ES is Timber Lane, which is well-regarded.

[Anonymous]

I live nearby in Falls Church and my mom owns a house in Pimmit Hills so I know the area well. IMO the schools in Pimmit Hills are far superior to the other ones mentioned (Falls Church HS pyramid), and the location is fantastic. Many of the ramblers have been added on to, and there is a small section of Pimmit Hills immediately behind the Tysons-Pimmit library (actually listed as separate subdivision, Orchard Crest) where the homes are just a tad larger and have basements. I think it is a totally safe place to live for a family even if it doesn't always look like more posh parts of Falls Church and McLean.

[Anonymous]

I live in Pimmit Hills now. FWIW, it's a fairly "gerrymandered" looking area, and the part I live in, (northern part near Kirby Rd) people always think I live in either Mclean or Arlington. We are technically pimmit hills neighborhood and zip code (22043) but we go to Haycock Elementary. GREAT school, falls church in Fairfax county, and we love the location for getting everywhere in the Tysons area and still inside the Beltway/close to DC.

I think the Pimmit Hills parts closer to Rt. 123 have even smaller/more affordable homes, and that's what people think of when they think of pimmit hills. Still great, affordable houses, great location and wonderful schools, all of them, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would not buy there. It's a fairly undesirable neighborhood. Can you stay in S. Arlington?

In what universe is Pimmit Hills better than 90% of the SFH areas of South Arlington? (the areas around Arlington Ridge/23rd Street excepted and even those areas still end up going to Gunston/TJ in MS and Wakefield for HS.)

OP, why not some areas in/around Rockville? Red Line would provide at least an okay commute for your hubby, the the Rockville/WJ clusters are good (better than anything in Silver Spring, which does seem to have a lot of >50% FARMS schools*). The tradeoff there is that you'd end up doing much of the daycare pickup/dropoff and random errands during the day.

(*) Yeah, I know poverty doesn't automagically mean bad schools. But come on, why is going to a 50%+ FARMS school preferable in and of itself over going to a lower-poverty school?

[Anonymous]

9:50 again, I'd also add that any area of South Arlington with SFH's for under $400 is likely not going to feed to the nicer South Arlington ES schools (the ones that get a 2-3 on GS instead of a 4-5.)

It is also likely not going to be a nice part of South Arlington, either (more than likely Nauck, Ft. Barnard Heights, whatever they call the duplex areas between Gunston and Glebe Road, etc.)

Either that or it'll be a "handyman special."

[Anonymous]

9:50 again, meant to say in what universe is Pimmit Hills worse than 90% of the SFH areas ...

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Pimmit Hills has such a dinge-y vibe. I'm sure the people are nice, etc etc., but there are tons of renters and it shows (i.e. the landlords not bothering to invest in property maintenance or upgrades-not saying anything about the renters).

I would not buy into a neighborhood like that.

[Anonymous]

Pimmit Hills was the wrong side of the tracks when I grew up in Vienna & went to public school there. Think Pony Boy Curtis from the Outsiders.

It was in the late 80s yes, but it continues to be not a great neighborhood in an area which is growing and on an upward trajectory.

Maybe in time it will get there, but for now, not a standout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pimmit Hills was the wrong side of the tracks when I grew up in Vienna & went to public school there. Think Pony Boy Curtis from the Outsiders.

It was in the late 80s yes, but it continues to be not a great neighborhood in an area which is growing and on an upward trajectory.

Maybe in time it will get there, but for now, not a standout.

Whereupon the question becomes: live in Pimmit Hills or a "meh" neighborhood out in Centreville? Plus, is Pimmit Hills really any worse than the SFH nabes of south Falls Church/Annandale?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pimmit Hills was the wrong side of the tracks when I grew up in Vienna & went to public school there. Think Pony Boy Curtis from the Outsiders.

It was in the late 80s yes, but it continues to be not a great neighborhood in an area which is growing and on an upward trajectory.

Maybe in time it will get there, but for now, not a standout.

The Pony Boy Curtis isn't totally off-the-mark, though it only describes some Pimmit Hills residents. Can you imagine living near someone who actually knows how to cut hair, fix a car or build a house? It's scary.

Anyway, I wonder what neighborhood that's relatively close to DC and has homes for sale in the lower $400s is not going to have a working class vibe. South Arlington does, and so do the similarly priced areas in Silver Spring/Wheaton.

Nor is the south side of Vienna that much different. Some of those folks have a hard time dealing with the fact that much of what used to be "the wrong side of the tracks" near Dunn Loring is now more expensive than the Town of Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pimmit Hills was the wrong side of the tracks when I grew up in Vienna & went to public school there. Think Pony Boy Curtis from the Outsiders.

It was in the late 80s yes, but it continues to be not a great neighborhood in an area which is growing and on an upward trajectory.

Maybe in time it will get there, but for now, not a standout.

I think judging a neighborhood based on your experience 31 years ago is kind of unfair. I think you still have some prejudiced based on what you experienced in 1980. A lot has changed since then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Whereupon the question becomes: live in Pimmit Hills or a "meh" neighborhood out in Centreville? Plus, is Pimmit Hills really any worse than the SFH nabes of south Falls Church/Annandale?

The idea of commuting to DC and Rockville every day from Centreville is pretty painful.

To answer your second question, the homes in Pimmit Hills are older and smaller than most of the SFHs in south Falls Church/Annandale. The latter areas are further from Tysons and, for the most part, have lower-ranked schools.

If I had to choose between Pimmit Hills and, say, Sleepy Hollow Woods in Annandale, I'd pick the latter and accept the Lacey/Glasgow/Stuart school assignments in exchange for the bigger house. But, again, commuting to Rockville from Tysons is easier than trying to get there from Annandale or Bailey's Crossroads. But I'd still look for something in Maryland first.