Where to move in Virginia, walkable to metro, with good public schools, budget 1.3M

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, there aren't many neighborhoods in South Arlington walkable to the Metro stations that were designed with shopping malls, workers and travelers (Pentagon, Pentagon City, Crystal City, and Reagan National) in mind.

A few are, but they are zoned for Wakefield HS, which has some of the lowest test scores in NoVa and is not what most people have in mind when they ask about "good schools."

So you’re just gonna discount everything written about parents with experience at Wakefield above? Cool cool cool. Shopping and transit that is walkable is typically desirable. But do go on...

You mean the handful of boosters exaggerating the walkability of their S.Arl neighborhoods to Metro and the quality of their low-performing high school...Wakefield isn't considered a good school. The SAT scores are lousy, it's only a "4" on Great Schools, and it's omitted from the area schools recognized by the state education department:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/news/news_releases/2018/06-jun27-gov.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vienna

Thanks, but Vienna is like 10 miles away from dc. Is there anything closer with good schools. looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom house. I mean like is there anything like this in Clarendon?

North Arlington is hellish. If you are walkable to the Vienna metro station, commute to McPherson Square is only about 40 minutes. Similar to being not-walkable to an Arlington metro station. But without the hellishness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vienna

Thanks, but Vienna is like 10 miles away from dc. Is there anything closer with good schools. looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom house. I mean like is there anything like this in Clarendon?

North Arlington is hellish. If you are walkable to the Vienna metro station, commute to McPherson Square is only about 40 minutes. Similar to being not-walkable to an Arlington metro station. But without the hellishness.

Apparently, what makes North Arlington "hellish" is exactly what OP wants. Nothing is really walkable to the Vienna metro station other than some townhouses adjacent to the station. Also not sure what part of Vienna isn't more than 10 miles from DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, there aren't many neighborhoods in South Arlington walkable to the Metro stations that were designed with shopping malls, workers and travelers (Pentagon, Pentagon City, Crystal City, and Reagan National) in mind.

A few are, but they are zoned for Wakefield HS, which has some of the lowest test scores in NoVa and is not what most people have in mind when they ask about "good schools."

So you’re just gonna discount everything written about parents with experience at Wakefield above? Cool cool cool. Shopping and transit that is walkable is typically desirable. But do go on...

You mean the handful of boosters exaggerating the walkability of their S.Arl neighborhoods to Metro and the quality of their low-performing high school...Wakefield isn't considered a good school. The SAT scores are lousy, it's only a "4" on Great Schools, and it's omitted from the area schools recognized by the state education department:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/news/news_releases/2018/06-jun27-gov.shtml

Why don’t you respond to the poster with actual experience in the area?

[Anonymous]

I would look along Westmoreland Street in N. Arlington/Falls Church and McLean. There is a bus line (24T) that connects directly to the EFC metro. Schools would be Haycock or Kent Gardens for Elementary/Longfellow/McLean.

I think that's easily less than an hour commute.

I think you're priced out of Clarendon, unfortunately.

[dblasz]

Disagree that you are priced out of Clarendon, there is inventory in that price range. Ashton Heights is a great option too, walkable to Virginia Square metro. I dont think anything in West Falls Church or Vienna has the same feel as North Arlington, and South Arlington is less walkable. Feel free to message me privately if you have specific neighborhood questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vienna

Thanks, but Vienna is like 10 miles away from dc. Is there anything closer with good schools. looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom house. I mean like is there anything like this in Clarendon?

North Arlington is hellish. If you are walkable to the Vienna metro station, commute to McPherson Square is only about 40 minutes. Similar to being not-walkable to an Arlington metro station. But without the hellishness.

Apparently, what makes North Arlington "hellish" is exactly what OP wants. Nothing is really walkable to the Vienna metro station other than some townhouses adjacent to the station. Also not sure what part of Vienna isn't more than 10 miles from DC.

I live in Vienna in a SFH that is "walkable" to the Vienna Metro, but what makes North Arlington "hellish"? I mean, assuming you have garage parking and can walk to stores, restaurants. (I can't do this.)

[Anonymous]

Is this house behind another house?

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Falls-Church/6942-Birch-St-22046/home/9482170

[Anonymous]

dblasz wrote:Disagree that you are priced out of Clarendon, there is inventory in that price range. Ashton Heights is a great option too, walkable to Virginia Square metro. I dont think anything in West Falls Church or Vienna has the same feel as North Arlington, and South Arlington is less walkable. Feel free to message me privately if you have specific neighborhood questions.

+1. Arlington boosters overstate the price of a home. There are plenty in OP’s price range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia didn’t do as good of a job as Maryland in planning and building around Metro stops. They were mostly planned like a regular train station.

Wut? https://www.smartergrowth.net/virginia/arlington/

Winner of the first EPA Smart Growth Award and the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s Capital Region Visionary Award, Arlington County is a national leader in transit-oriented development, affordable housing, transit, and street design.

Arlington’s journey began when it decided to construct Metro’s Orange Line under the Rosslyn-Ballston (R-B) corridor, rather than aboveground in the middle of I-66, and created their “bullseye” plan for the Metro stations.

Today, Arlington boasts 50 million square feet of transit-oriented development in the R-B corridor alone and has done so without increasing traffic. The land in their two Metro corridors (their other one is Pentagon City/Crystal City) occupies just 11 percent of the county, but provides 50 percent of the tax base. 39 percent of trips in the R-B corridor are made by transit, walking, and bicycling.

What’s the point in this? You don’t point out one or a few well designed station and say Virginia planned the metro stations well. That literally doesn’t mean that. Unless you think Arlington is Northern Virginia and all the rest of the stations are Central VA. Maryland has done a better job developing around the Metro. That’s a fact. Virginia is trying to improve.

Then why can’t all the Maryland people who drive to Virginia for jobs commute by Metro?

Because Virginia is an exurban nightmare with all the jobs in office parks far from Metro.

[Anonymous]

Check out this new cool modern house just minutes to DC: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/111164205_zpid/38.887358,-77.074564,38.864338,-77.104347_rect/14_zm/?view=public

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out this new cool modern house just minutes to DC: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/111164205_zpid/38.887358,-77.074564,38.864338,-77.104347_rect/14_zm/?view=public

Looks like every second or third townhouse, but at a higher price with average schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out this new cool modern house just minutes to DC: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/111164205_zpid/38.887358,-77.074564,38.864338,-77.104347_rect/14_zm/?view=public

Rad! So edgy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out this new cool modern house just minutes to DC: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/111164205_zpid/38.887358,-77.074564,38.864338,-77.104347_rect/14_zm/?view=public

Looks like every second or third townhouse, but at a higher price with average schools.

Such a tiny lot, with so-so schools, for $1.4M? Are the 3 bedrooms even on the same floor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out this new cool modern house just minutes to DC: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/111164205_zpid/38.887358,-77.074564,38.864338,-77.104347_rect/14_zm/?view=public

Looks like every second or third townhouse, but at a higher price with average schools.

Such a tiny lot, with so-so schools, for $1.4M? Are the 3 bedrooms even on the same floor?

Ugly, run-down street. No thanks!