Moving to VA - how long does it really take to get a spot in daycare - panicking a bit...

[marion3332911]

Hi,
We are relocating from Florida to Virginia in August with our daughter who will be 18 months by then.
We would like to find a house around the Arlington area (I’ll be working in DC and my husband in the Ashburn/Sterling area).
I just started ringing daycare centers today and was shocked when they announced wait lists of 6 months to 2 years and tuition of around $2500 a month.
Our current daycare charges $1200 for infants and $990 for toddlers and no waiting list so that is quite a shock.
We are quite reluctant to commit on a place before being able to see it and especially before knowing where we are going to live.
Do you think it is realistically possible to find our daughter a spot in daycare within 2-4 weeks, after arriving in Virginia around August 20th ?
We are open to daycare centers, home daycare and don’t know much about nanny shares but could consider it. And if possible at a rate lower than $2500...
Would welcome any thoughts and comments as we are getting quite worried...
Thanks in advance.
Marion

[Anonymous]

Home daycares often have openings with 1 to 2 months notice, but there's no telling when that opening will crop up. I would recommend getting on waitlists now for well-reviewed centers, and then moving your child somewhere else (if you want to) once you're settled in.

Yes, daycare here is expensive. I'm not familiar with Arlington options, but we're in Fairfax and the Kindercare we originally used (until someplace better opened up) was $450 a week several years ago.

[Anonymous]

Daycare costs here is super pricey. I would definitely put your name down on as many waiting lists as you can. You will also find that for some daycare centers, they charge a fee to do that. We are in Rockville, and we pay $100 a day for a center.

[Anonymous]

I live in the Ashburn/Sterling area and nearly all of the daycares around me have openings. They were all in the $350 a week range and inhomes were $250 a week.

[Anonymous]

OP, you should wait and figure out where you are likely to be located. Arlington in general is very expensive for everything (housing and daycare). You will likely find a spot at an in home place, at a rate lower than $2500. Most in homes have openings in August/Sept as the older kids age out.

And rates are closer to $350-$400/week for in homes in Arlington, and go down as you move out towards Sterling.

[Anonymous]

Wait lists usually aren’t as long for older children, and there will be openings as options open up for older kids (a lot of non-daycare programs open up at 3). There is always shuffle in August/September as the oldest kids move on.

Anecdotally, I’ve had to switch daycares twice, and never had a problem on short notice. Once was with a five month old from a home daycare to a center (toured center on Thursday, started on Monday), and the other time was with a 4 yo from one center to another (toured center on Friday, started two weeks later).

Once you have decided where you want to be, tour/get on the lists at the local daycares, and then follow up regularly. The squeaky wheel gets oiled.

[Anonymous]

We are in Gaithersburg and pay $2100/month for a center. That's for the infant room -- it goes down to around $1700/month for preschool. We got off the waitlist after about 4 months.

If you put yourself on as many waitlists as possible, you'll get off one relatively quickly, especially if your child is slightly older. As the classes get larger, it becomes significantly easier to get a spot. The true bottleneck happens in the baby room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in the Ashburn/Sterling area and nearly all of the daycares around me have openings. They were all in the $350 a week range and inhomes were $250 a week.

I'm in the same area. I concur with the pricing quoted above for infants. Seems most of the major centers in Ashburn do have some availability right now. That wasn't the case when we started looking 2 years ago.

[Anonymous]

The market in Ashburn has gotten oversaturated with several new places opening over the last several years. I would say most centers have openings for all ages. For that age, I'd expect to pay at least 1500 a month, probably not more than 2k. That's Ashburn, Arlington may be different.

We recently looked for a new center for our 2 and 4 year olds. No one we talked to in Ashburn mentioned waitlists.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

There is a Facebook group called The Real Housewives of Loudoun County. They will be extremely helpful and responsive.

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for all the responses, I am now officially out of panic mode .
I did ring up a few places around Sterling and indeed no mention of waitlists, most places reckon they were likely to have availability around then and prices quoted between $1200 and $1700 a month, priciest being for a Montessori center. So now we are not going to bother about going on waiting lists, at 150$ a pop we feel it's daylight robbery... Also not knowing the place we might end up securing a place somewhere we don't like or very impractictal locationwise.
So we'll investigate once we have found where we want to live and if we don't find anything right around where we live, we can put her somewhere around Sterling, where my husband will work, until we get something closer.
Nearly making me wish we could live in Sterling as everything seems a lot more affordable, but I'll be working in DC and I think it'd be a nightmare of a commute. Although I hope the Arlington - Sterling/Ashburn commute won't be too dreadful for my husband, I've looked online a bit, but it's hard to find an accurate estimate. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears .
Thanks again for the very useful advice !!
Marion

[Anonymous]

If I were you, I would look to live in Reston and take metro into DC. From Reston, your commute will be a pain- but your DH will have a very easy commute - and easy access to more affordable housing an daycare.

Your commute will be via metro - so theory you can catchup on podcasts / books / the news during your commute.

[Anonymous]

Agree, Reston or Herndon near the silver line-there should be plenty of townhouse/condo rentals.

[Anonymous]

There are some good daycares in Reston too. We were able to get our 18 month old into one with no wait earlier this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks a lot for all the responses, I am now officially out of panic mode .
I did ring up a few places around Sterling and indeed no mention of waitlists, most places reckon they were likely to have availability around then and prices quoted between $1200 and $1700 a month, priciest being for a Montessori center. So now we are not going to bother about going on waiting lists, at 150$ a pop we feel it's daylight robbery... Also not knowing the place we might end up securing a place somewhere we don't like or very impractictal locationwise.
So we'll investigate once we have found where we want to live and if we don't find anything right around where we live, we can put her somewhere around Sterling, where my husband will work, until we get something closer.
Nearly making me wish we could live in Sterling as everything seems a lot more affordable, but I'll be working in DC and I think it'd be a nightmare of a commute. Although I hope the Arlington - Sterling/Ashburn commute won't be too dreadful for my husband, I've looked online a bit, but it's hard to find an accurate estimate. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears .
Thanks again for the very useful advice !!
Marion

I work in Sterling. Several coworkes live in/near Arlington. They typically spend 45 min - 1 hour getting to work, and sometimes longer getting home. The reverse commute can be deceptive. A lot will depend on time of day, weather, time of year, etc. Add on whatever time your DH will need for daycare dropoff/pickup, plus dealing with an infant in the car for a longer commute. Not sure I'd want to do that myself.
I agree with PPs who suggest you look in Reston for housing and plan on taking Metro to your place of employment.