trying to find an affordable under 325k in fairfax county for son with asd

[Anonymous]

it has proven impossible what do I do

[Anonymous]

Rent

[Anonymous]

PP: or look farther out....

[Anonymous]

op here thanks considering looking further out as far as centreville but my husband works in DC and is worried about the commute

[Anonymous]

Condo townhouse with 2 or 3 levels - try Kingstowne in Alexandria

[Anonymous]

Try a condo or small townhouse in the wegmans/fair lakes area. Awesome schools.

[Anonymous]

We live in the Franconia/Rose Hill/Cleremont area. There are a LOT of ranch houses in this area that were built in the 1950s/60s. They're not big but typically have large lots with big trees. We'd love to have a bigger house but on our income, we had to choose between a large house and a reasonable commute. We chose commute - that was 16 years ago before we had kids. After we had kids, it was clear that reasonable commute was the right choice for us. After our kids were diagnosed with SNs, it was even more clear. Of course, these are neighborhoods and houses that many people turn their noses up at. But, we're really happy with it. After the journey we've been on, I don't care what people think about my choices, my neighborhood, my house, my kids' school. As a PP noted, if you don't like the little ranch houses, there are also a lot of townhouses available in your price range.

We've also been happy with the schools. The challenges we've had with IEPs/services are common throughout FCPS. Some years getting the appropriate IEP is easy, some years it's not. We've been very happy with the quality of teachers. The reports we've heard about special ed/SN environment Mark Twain MS have uniformly been positive. We've not heard much about special ed/SN environment at Edison HS but our neighbors are really happy with Edison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in the Franconia/Rose Hill/Cleremont area. There are a LOT of ranch houses in this area that were built in the 1950s/60s. They're not big but typically have large lots with big trees. We'd love to have a bigger house but on our income, we had to choose between a large house and a reasonable commute. We chose commute - that was 16 years ago before we had kids. After we had kids, it was clear that reasonable commute was the right choice for us. After our kids were diagnosed with SNs, it was even more clear. Of course, these are neighborhoods and houses that many people turn their noses up at. But, we're really happy with it. After the journey we've been on, I don't care what people think about my choices, my neighborhood, my house, my kids' school. As a PP noted, if you don't like the little ranch houses, there are also a lot of townhouses available in your price range.

We've also been happy with the schools. The challenges we've had with IEPs/services are common throughout FCPS. Some years getting the appropriate IEP is easy, some years it's not. We've been very happy with the quality of teachers. The reports we've heard about special ed/SN environment Mark Twain MS have uniformly been positive. We've not heard much about special ed/SN environment at Edison HS but our neighbors are really happy with Edison.

op here wow thanks for the detailed response. we are not looking for anything big just something convenient . Quick question should I be worried about the lead in older homes built before 1978 is it something that I have to check? I would love a cute ranch home I noticed a lot of them only have ONE bath is this the norm?

[Anonymous]

Yes, 1 bathroom is common in older homes. You will have to do a lead inspection before buying. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

8:44 here. With your budget, it's unlikely that you would be getting a home built before 1978 unless you buy in the ex-urbs. We didn't even test for it because we assumed it was present. For us, it wasn't an issue because we kept the paint in good repair. Our pediatrician also tested our kids for lead when they were @2. The results were negative. But, you should study up on it and make your own decision.

About the one bathroom thing - this is something you'd need to discuss with your realtor. Some of the ranches are a single level with 1 to 1.5 bathrooms. Others have a basement with 2 to 2.5 bathrooms. If it's important to you to have 1+ bathrooms, you can find it within your budget - but it might be a trade off with location/condition of the house. Your realtor can help you with that. It's also possible to add an additional bathroom. A good number of homes have converted their carports to living space and added bathrooms/laundry rooms to that space. With the large lots, you can do a lot.

[Anonymous]

Ok. Not to be rude. But why is real estate being discussed on this forum?

I fully get why school districts are relevant. But helping someone buy or rent a home?

[Anonymous]

NP here. Because she wants advice from SN parents.

[Anonymous]

Yes, shouldn't this be in Real Estate. Maybe list the schools which are acceptable.

[Anonymous]

op here sorry about that looking to get advice from other special needs parents that is why I posted it on here

[Anonymous]

8:44 again. One of the things I've liked about our area (zip code 22310) is that we're conveniently located to most all our service providers - whether they're in-network or out. We see some specialists in Fairfax/McLean/Bethesda but when we're looking for OT/PT/ST, etc we can do Springfield/Alexandria/Arlington. We still have to consider traffic when we get appointments but being where we are has given us (I believe) more options in who we select. For us, we have more appointments with OT/PT/ST than we do specialists so it's been good to have more choice. As far as the Fairfax/Bethesda specialists go, I've been LOVING the EZ-Pass lanes. With the promise of using the tablet, I can get at least 2 kids to accompany me to those appointments which means I don't have to pay to use the lanes.