Experience w/Virginia Run

[Anonymous]

We are looking at houses in the western part of Fairfax County, and have become very interested in a few properties in Virginia Run. Does anyone have any knowledge of this area? It seems very family-oriented, which we really like. The houses are great also. Any input would be wonderful!

[Anonymous]

We live here! The pool and amenities (playground, walking trails, HOA parties) are great and we have been very pleased with the schools (we have one at Virginia Run and one at Bull Run). The main negative is the distance to shopping (pretty much 20 minutes or so to Target, etc). Groceries are closer. I would say our street is about half older retirees and half younger families. There are a lot of big families on our street (3, 4, 5 kids).

My husband and I work in Fair Lakes and the Dulles area so we have short commutes but I wouldn't live here if you had to commute into DC regularly. Our neighbor takes the VRE 3 x a week but it is a long commute. Other neighbors all work out here too.

[Anonymous]

Lots of illegals in the area outside of the neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live here! The pool and amenities (playground, walking trails, HOA parties) are great and we have been very pleased with the schools (we have one at Virginia Run and one at Bull Run). The main negative is the distance to shopping (pretty much 20 minutes or so to Target, etc). Groceries are closer. I would say our street is about half older retirees and half younger families. There are a lot of big families on our street (3, 4, 5 kids).

My husband and I work in Fair Lakes and the Dulles area so we have short commutes but I wouldn't live here if you had to commute into DC regularly. Our neighbor takes the VRE 3 x a week but it is a long commute. Other neighbors all work out here too.

Thank you for the info. The distance from shopping is one of my concerns about the neighborhood, but we are also looking at Little Rocky Run which has the same problem...we are currently a mile or less from several shopping centers so I am spoiled! Is Stone Rd the closest for you re Giant, Starbucks, etc?

What is the traffic like on Pleasant Valley? One house we are looking at is right at the corner of Pleasant Valley and Eagle Tavern. One person told us that they wouldn't recommend living there bc people regularly drive 50-55 down Pleasant Valley, but I would love another opinion.

[Anonymous]

OP again, one more question...when we were driving through Va Run on Sunday after a few open houses, there were two people riding horses in the middle of one of the roads near Wetherburn...I didn't see any barns nearby and was so intrigued! Are there hidden horses somewhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again, one more question...when we were driving through Va Run on Sunday after a few open houses, there were two people riding horses in the middle of one of the roads near Wetherburn...I didn't see any barns nearby and was so intrigued! Are there hidden horses somewhere?

Amish?

[Anonymous]

OP, there is still some open space out that way that isn't all built up, so yes, there are horses on some farms near by.

[Anonymous]

14:42 here-our neighbors have horses but they keep them in Haymarket, I think. I have seen people riding their horses on the trails (or down the street on Christmas, decorated with jingle bells).

The closest grocery store is the Stone Rd Giant, there is another Giant at that big shopping center at 28/29. We usually go to Trader Joes**, which is also right at 28/29. The Centreville library is convenient and we go to Lifetime Fitness right across from the library, which is kind of a ridiculously big gym. (It has an indoor pool with a waterslide and a really nice kid playgym).

**DH prefers Wegmans. We are about 20-25 minutes from 3 different Wegmans, but I don't like to drive that far just to get groceries. That is about the distance to "good" shopping (Fair Lakes/Fair Oaks area, Dulles Town Center, or the big complex in Gainesville right past the Battlefield.) There is a nice and almost always empty Target/Costco about 15 min away at Chantilly Crossing.

We also did a lot of farm stand vegetables from Cox Farm this summer.

I would not buy a house that backs right up to Pleasant Valley--there are plans floating around to put a roundabout in front of Cox Farms and that might increase traffic. We have never had problems getting out of the neighborhood or sitting in traffic on pleasant valley--but the sound of the traffic would annoy me, since you are paying for and having to mow a big lot you want to be able to enjoy your backyard! I would also hold out for a house with a sidewalk in front-it is so much easier with little kids for biking. (Sidewalks only on one side of the street).

My kids like to go play at the Bull Run regional park. We had season passes a few summers ago-there is a nice pool there and there are walking paths, playgrounds. We went to the neighborhood pool a lot this summer after work and pretty much had it to ourselves the month of August, which was wonderful.

We looked at a few houses in Little Rocky Run when we were house hunting-the main difference seemed to be the size of the lots. The houses seemed a little closer together in that neighborhood, but it was a little closer to Fair Lakes, etc. and it had nice playgrounds, pools, etc. TI liked that the high school was so close to the neighborhood, too but for us this location was better commute-wise.

HTH!