How horrible is the commute from Ashburn to DC

[Anonymous]

I can't believe I'm about to give up my 29 minute bike commute thru Central Park to mid-town Bryant Park by moving to NoVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be going into the office 3 days a week

3 kids

Looking to cash in on appreciation of our McLean home that we bought 6 years ago

Wife works from home

why do you need the cash?

OP here

I'm in one of those careers where you can make a lot of money and die at age 50 having never seen your kids or hop out at age 40, move to government, and make 5-10% of your prior salary as a GS-15. I'm opting for the latter

So...biglaw partner to DOJ trial attorney?

NP DOJ trial attorneys do not have sedate work lives. If you are looking for work/life balance, that ain’t it.

And they're not looking to hire 50 year old partners looking for retirement gigs.

They have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe I'm about to give up my 29 minute bike commute thru Central Park to mid-town Bryant Park by moving to NoVA.

Move to DC if you will work in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:P.S. For all the hate it gets on here, I actually think the Ashburn/Broadlands/Brambleton area is lovely. It is a little generic, but everything is clean and new, and the schools are good.

Nope. SIL and her family live out there. It’s like a million of the same boring cookie cutter houses. Brambleton is a little shopping center with a movie theater that’s all and restaurants there are mediocre at best.

Schools are also mediocre at best.

OP, McLean is a thousand times better.

[Anonymous]

Since you are moving and kids are switching schools anyway, I’d move to Potomac or Rockville and take the metro downtown each day. Still a long commute but not nearly as bad as Ashburn and you could still buy a nice house with good schools well under the $2m people upthread said all McLean houses go for.

I live in “close-in” Bethesda and my car commute downtown can be an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be going into the office 3 days a week

3 kids

Looking to cash in on appreciation of our McLean home that we bought 6 years ago

Wife works from home

why do you need the cash?

OP here

I'm in one of those careers where you can make a lot of money and die at age 50 having never seen your kids or hop out at age 40, move to government, and make 5-10% of your prior salary as a GS-15. I'm opting for the latter

You're not going to see your kids with that commute.

This is objectively not true. The commute snowflakes on this thread are crazy.

NP. I did a similar commute before COVID. In the evenings I was always tired and irritable from the commute and did not enjoy the time with kids in the least, was basically phoning it in. I am so so much more happy now with my hybrid job with 20-min commute. I have the energy to take them to the playground etc. after I get home. Do not underestimate the mental impact of a terrible commute

[Anonymous]

Just take one of the many buses offered into DC and if you’re a fed get your agency to pay for it. That’s what everyone I know who works in DC does. It’s about an hour each way, including commute to the bus. People read, sleep or socialize on the buses. Don’t listen to any of the people on this five page thread who don’t seem to actually know anything about Ashburn and have never made the commute into DC from there.

[Anonymous]

Nope. SIL and her family live out there. It’s like a million of the same boring cookie cutter houses. Brambleton is a little shopping center with a movie theater that’s all and restaurants there are mediocre at best.

Schools are also mediocre at best.

OP, McLean is a thousand times better.

Compared to my run down area in Fairfax County with weeds in every median and homeless people in the grocery store parking lot, the soulless generic exurbs look lovely. But I don’t live in McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be going into the office 3 days a week

3 kids

Looking to cash in on appreciation of our McLean home that we bought 6 years ago

Wife works from home

why do you need the cash?

OP here

I'm in one of those careers where you can make a lot of money and die at age 50 having never seen your kids or hop out at age 40, move to government, and make 5-10% of your prior salary as a GS-15. I'm opting for the latter

You’re not going to see your kids much if you are commuting to and from ashburn

I would choose the 1.5 million for
Another couple years so you can stay closer in

[Anonymous]

Why have you not considered the Oakton area instead? It is more similar to McLane physically with better schools. I don’t think you’d like the look of ashburn long term

[Anonymous]

The only way I would do this is to move to Middleburg or downtown Leesburg and get also get a studio apartment near the office to spend two nights a week.

But why wouldn’t you just downsize to a closer area? Everything is less expensive than McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would be going into the office 3 days a week

3 kids

Looking to cash in on appreciation of our McLean home that we bought 6 years ago

Wife works from home

WAZE or google during the commute time and get your true answer. Do a week or two to get an average.
Why haven't you thought of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be going into the office 3 days a week

3 kids

Looking to cash in on appreciation of our McLean home that we bought 6 years ago

Wife works from home

why do you need the cash?

OP here

I'm in one of those careers where you can make a lot of money and die at age 50 having never seen your kids or hop out at age 40, move to government, and make 5-10% of your prior salary as a GS-15. I'm opting for the latter

You're not going to see your kids with that commute.

This is objectively not true. The commute snowflakes on this thread are crazy.

NP. I did a similar commute before COVID. In the evenings I was always tired and irritable from the commute and did not enjoy the time with kids in the least, was basically phoning it in. I am so so much more happy now with my hybrid job with 20-min commute. I have the energy to take them to the playground etc. after I get home. Do not underestimate the mental impact of a terrible commute

I’m one of the people with a commute you would consider terrible, and I don’t mind it at all. Being on metro with the crazy ranting homeless, the people that reeked of pot, and the teens looking to rob someone was much worse. When I drove the 11 miles, that was better, but it was all through the heart of the city so it was a lot of stop and go and people cutting in lanes, etc., and it still sometimes took an hour.

[Anonymous]

I think Ashburn housing market is way overpriced. Don’t do it because you think you’ll get more bang for your buck. You can get the same type of single family home closer in for the same price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be going into the office 3 days a week

3 kids

Looking to cash in on appreciation of our McLean home that we bought 6 years ago

Wife works from home

why do you need the cash?

OP here

I'm in one of those careers where you can make a lot of money and die at age 50 having never seen your kids or hop out at age 40, move to government, and make 5-10% of your prior salary as a GS-15. I'm opting for the latter

You're not going to see your kids with that commute.

This is objectively not true. The commute snowflakes on this thread are crazy.

NP. I did a similar commute before COVID. In the evenings I was always tired and irritable from the commute and did not enjoy the time with kids in the least, was basically phoning it in. I am so so much more happy now with my hybrid job with 20-min commute. I have the energy to take them to the playground etc. after I get home. Do not underestimate the mental impact of a terrible commute

I’m one of the people with a commute you would consider terrible, and I don’t mind it at all. Being on metro with the crazy ranting homeless, the people that reeked of pot, and the teens looking to rob someone was much worse. When I drove the 11 miles, that was better, but it was all through the heart of the city so it was a lot of stop and go and people cutting in lanes, etc., and it still sometimes took an hour.

The answer to this whole thread is to move to a place near VRE or MARC. Much better experience than driving or Metro. Look for my Burke in VA or any of the suburbs along the Brunswick Line of the MARC: Rockville, Poolesville, Garrett Park.