I'm moving to the suburbs

[Anonymous]

OP didn’t express an interest in APS, but OP’s wishlist otherwise aligns with North Arlington. Rock Spring is just a suggestion for OP. Chesterbrook Woods over the McLean border is another good fit, but OP is going to struggle to find many options at OP’s price point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on how many kids OP would need to be paying private school for. With 2 or more kids, I can see how someone could afford quite a lot of house but not be able to throw $100K+ in after-tax money at tuition.

I was thinking the list sounded like City of Falls Church.

Exactly. OP here -- I have three kids, our budget is up to 1.5M I am ok with a fixer upper -- but simply cannot throw 100k a year at private, I'd rather stretch a little on my monthly mortgage

In Virginia, look at Falls Church Greenway Downs neighborhood - most of those houses are zoned to McLean ES.
Also look at Marshall High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on how many kids OP would need to be paying private school for. With 2 or more kids, I can see how someone could afford quite a lot of house but not be able to throw $100K+ in after-tax money at tuition.

I was thinking the list sounded like City of Falls Church.

Exactly. OP here -- I have three kids, our budget is up to 1.5M I am ok with a fixer upper -- but simply cannot throw 100k a year at private, I'd rather stretch a little on my monthly mortgage

In Virginia, look at Falls Church Greenway Downs neighborhood - most of those houses are zoned to McLean ES.
Also look at Marshall High School

Sorry, Mclean High, not ES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rock Spring in Arlington. Easy commute to Georgetown. Great neighborhood with trees and mix of housing stock.

I missed the part where OP expressed an interest in APS-zoned schools.

OP said he was looking for the following things and that he had no idea where to start but here are some top schools he read about. He then proceeded to list criteria that matched almost perfectly with Arlington. So folks are letting him know that, since he was looking for some places to start. There are a lot of great places to live in this area. Arlington is only one of them, it happens to meet ops criteria. There is so much animosity about people liking Arlington on this board which is really unfortunate.

OP is female. Obviously.

[Anonymous]

I live outside the DMV now but if I had to move there again I would to VA over MD. This is based on what I know about MCPS (didn’t like it when we were there and complaints seem to be increasing). Also, many more VA public college options. We didn’t think about that at the time we moved to the DMV but should have. It became a moot point since we left the area but had we stayed, we likely would have moved to VA and college would have been one of the reasons. Others gave you neighborhoods. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

MoCo. You will hate Nova

[Anonymous]

In Virginia, Falls Church CITY (not Falls Church in Fairfax) and North Arlington fit these criteria.

The high school in Falls Church City is called Meridian High School. There is another HS in Fairfax called Falls Church--it's not the same.

The North Arlington high schools are Washington-Liberty and Yorktown.

These are great schools, but I would encourage you to tour the schools. Meridian has a brand-new building and is a smaller school than most of the area schools.

(For the record, I live in Falls Church Fairfax and love it and our schools, but it would not meet some of your criteria.)

Arlington and Falls Church have cute neighborhoods, are high-density, and are walkable. I lived in Arlington for 15 years and loved it, but if I didn't live where I am now, I would move to Falls Church City. It just seems like a friendly and fun community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Virginia, Falls Church CITY (not Falls Church in Fairfax) and North Arlington fit these criteria.

The high school in Falls Church City is called Meridian High School. There is another HS in Fairfax called Falls Church--it's not the same.

The North Arlington high schools are Washington-Liberty and Yorktown.

These are great schools, but I would encourage you to tour the schools. Meridian has a brand-new building and is a smaller school than most of the area schools.

(For the record, I live in Falls Church Fairfax and love it and our schools, but it would not meet some of your criteria.)

Arlington and Falls Church have cute neighborhoods, are high-density, and are walkable. I lived in Arlington for 15 years and loved it, but if I didn't live where I am now, I would move to Falls Church City. It just seems like a friendly and fun community.

Oops. In the last sentence I meant to say, "Arlington and Falls Church CITY have cute neighborhoods, are high-density, and are walkable."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on how many kids OP would need to be paying private school for. With 2 or more kids, I can see how someone could afford quite a lot of house but not be able to throw $100K+ in after-tax money at tuition.

I was thinking the list sounded like City of Falls Church.

Exactly. OP here -- I have three kids, our budget is up to 1.5M I am ok with a fixer upper -- but simply cannot throw 100k a year at private, I'd rather stretch a little on my monthly mortgage

In Virginia, look at Falls Church Greenway Downs neighborhood - most of those houses are zoned to McLean ES.
Also look at Marshall High School

Sorry, Mclean High, not ES

Greenway Downs feeds into Falls Church HS, not McLean HS. There are some other neighborhoods nearby on the other side of Route 29 such as Donna Lee Gardens that feed into McLean HS.

[Anonymous]

Several neighborhoods in McLean near Great Falls Road meet most of those criteria. They have some of the older homes, and we always love people who are willing to fix those up rather than tear them down for a McMansion. We aren't walkable to McLean center but meet your other criteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who can afford to buy a SFH in those districts has “private school money,” they just prefer to have a bigger mortgage and more house.

No. I live in Whitman and we cannot afford private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who can afford to buy a SFH in those districts has “private school money,” they just prefer to have a bigger mortgage and more house.

No. I live in Whitman and we cannot afford private.

Do you live in a single family home in a neighborhood like OP describes that you could afford to buy today?

[Anonymous]

what is considered commuting distance to georgetown? under 1 hr?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who can afford to buy a SFH in those districts has “private school money,” they just prefer to have a bigger mortgage and more house.

No. I live in Whitman and we cannot afford private.

Do you live in a single family home in a neighborhood like OP describes that you could afford to buy today?

Do you people realize how expensive private school is? For three kids, even with a little financial aid, you are looking at 10k a month. It is entirely possible OP could have 10k a month to throw at a house (could pull this off with a HHI of 400-500k) and not have an additional 10k a month on top of it to throw at school (would need a HHI of 1M+). If you have to prioritize a house with good public schools or private school... I'd personally choose the house too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Virginia, Falls Church CITY (not Falls Church in Fairfax) and North Arlington fit these criteria.

The high school in Falls Church City is called Meridian High School. There is another HS in Fairfax called Falls Church--it's not the same.

The North Arlington high schools are Washington-Liberty and Yorktown.

These are great schools, but I would encourage you to tour the schools. Meridian has a brand-new building and is a smaller school than most of the area schools.

(For the record, I live in Falls Church Fairfax and love it and our schools, but it would not meet some of your criteria.)

Arlington and Falls Church have cute neighborhoods, are high-density, and are walkable. I lived in Arlington for 15 years and loved it, but if I didn't live where I am now, I would move to Falls Church City. It just seems like a friendly and fun community.

OP won't find anything in her budget in those areas.