[VA] Walkable Nova communities with "good schools" and single family homes?

[Anonymous]

Walkable, diverse, good schools: you get to pick two in northern Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Under 1.8m? MCLEAN. School is basically #1 or 2 in state if you exclude the TJ magnet. Their downtown is really nice, has everything, and lots of homes are walkable to all the shops. It's very close to DC, next to Tysons.

There is no real downtown in McLean, and it's certainly not "nice".

of course there is a downtown to McLean. It does need a make over, but it does have enough shops.

[Anonymous]

Town of Vienna for sure

[Anonymous]

Sorry but people who are saying Vienna are excluding the "diverse" part. It really matters what you care about more, the education or diversity and sense of community. I think Reston and Del Ray, parts of Alexandria has much more of what you're looking for than Vienna/McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice! South Arlington neighborhoods seem nice, although it does feel silly to potentially pay all that extra $-per-square-foot to be near DC if we aren't commuting. Vienna seems to have less of a downtown than I had hoped - I see a lot of parking lot strip malls etc on google maps. Fairfax City seems to have a sense of community. Thanks for the advice all!

If you won't be commuting, why are you moving to Northern VA? I mean, I like it here, but I came here for a job and stayed because of the job market. There are other places to look if you can work from anywhere.

We want to be closer to my wife's family who are in Reston VA. We would be willing to live anywhere within an hour drive of Reston.

It depends on whether or not you put diversity in your list to virtue signal or if you actually mean it and how you define it.

I guess I'd be looking for ethnic diversity? We currently live in a relatively diverse community and I think it is good for the kids to be exposed to other cultures, languages, etc.

Why not Reston itself then?

I'm not sure where you are moving from, but I think walkability in NoVA is measured more in terms of possible vs. something a lot of people are going to do. Which doesn't mean you can't find it/do it, it's just that not everyone in your neighborhood may be doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/1468-Buena-Vista-Ave-22101/home/9838745

This street is perfect. Less than 2 blocks to all shops.

PP here - I dig McLean, but this is what I meant by walkability in NoVA meaning you can walk to it versus do you want to? Sure, you can walk to the strip mall and go to Giant and CVS, the restaurants there plus the ones nearby, but it's utilitarian, walking through parking lots, and not some casual stroll down the street. We lived in the Staybridge over there for several weeks and walked to all those places. It was fine, but when we moved into our house I never once thought to myself, I wish I could just pop out to Giant on foot.

[Anonymous]

Falls Church City - 22046.

Town of Vienna

Both have a main street, are on the WO&D trail, and have good schools.

You would love Alexandria the most if the schools were great.

Arlington is walkable in many places. It can be very urban though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/1468-Buena-Vista-Ave-22101/home/9838745

This street is perfect. Less than 2 blocks to all shops.

PP here - I dig McLean, but this is what I meant by walkability in NoVA meaning you can walk to it versus do you want to? Sure, you can walk to the strip mall and go to Giant and CVS, the restaurants there plus the ones nearby, but it's utilitarian, walking through parking lots, and not some casual stroll down the street. We lived in the Staybridge over there for several weeks and walked to all those places. It was fine, but when we moved into our house I never once thought to myself, I wish I could just pop out to Giant on foot.

+1. The ability to go on a pleasant walk, on sidewalks or trails, is the "walkability" I want. I live in walking distance of a shopping center but don't walk there because it's a noisy walk on a busy street. I walk in the other direction, to the park, and then drive to the shopping center.

That said, Reston does have a lot of homes within walking distance of shopping, and their trail network is cool.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the advice! South Arlington neighborhoods seem nice, although it does feel silly to potentially pay all that extra $-per-square-foot to be near DC if we aren't commuting. Vienna seems to have less of a downtown than I had hoped - I see a lot of parking lot strip malls etc on google maps. Fairfax City seems to have a sense of community. Thanks for the advice all!

This is true about Vienna, but I think you'd be surprised at how many people are out and about on Church Street on the weekends. Yeah, there are strip malls and some of the whole area around what is considered downtown is an odd mix of businesses, but it is a community and there are a lot of neighborhoods that aren't in Town of Vienna that are close to the WO&D trail so you can easily get on your bike.

The Town hosts a bunch of different events through the year - you can absolutely find community if you want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Park, Lyon Village, Cherrydale, Virginia Square, Bluemont near Ballston - these all have the walkability you are looking for.

Also Ashton Heights--next door to Lyon Park.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda. Way more walkable than Northern Virginia, top schools, and an hour from Reston.

[Anonymous]

Arlington - but pick your priorities.
You can buy better schools - but may sacrifice walkability.
$1.8M and diversity don’t go together- unless you buy a new build in S. Arlington surrounded by small older homes, but I’m not sure how welcomed into the neighborhood you will be.
A $1.8M house in Arlington is not nearly as nice as other areas a bit further out - most people choose Arlington for commute reasons.

[Anonymous]

Here’s an option that I think works well for OP, and probably an unpopular option on DCUM: Ashburn.

Definitely diverse, good schools, easily can get a SFH within your price point, also you can get walkabilty and a “downtown” area if you live in the Brambleton or One Loudoun areas. And, you are probably 15-20 minutes away from your in-laws.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax City

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Under 1.8m? MCLEAN. School is basically #1 or 2 in state if you exclude the TJ magnet. Their downtown is really nice, has everything, and lots of homes are walkable to all the shops. It's very close to DC, next to Tysons.

There is no real downtown in McLean, and it's certainly not "nice".

Thank you for saying this. I was really scratching my head over this because all i can think of is a few jumble f*** intersections and a bunch of outdated strip malls generally all in the same area that might be considered a downtown if you really stretched your imagination and had liw standards.