Why does anyone want to live in Arlington?

[Anonymous]

I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

This is true. Each time we have family visit us from anywhere, they're like, "Whoa. Not just one, but EVERY playground is so cool."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

This is true. Each time we have family visit us from anywhere, they're like, "Whoa. Not just one, but EVERY playground is so cool."

+1 on the parks. But where do you think that money comes from. I would rather have less parks and live in an area where you don't need to have over $200k per household to be able to manage things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact a family has to figure out how to manage and make things work when they bring in $200k or just less, is why Arlington is the worst.

Outside of some variations in housing costs (i.e. can get more house for your money) aren’t things similar in all of NOVA when it comes to fees, waitlists etc?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I think waitlists for stuff is common across the US. The amount of fees is different and the time of waitlists is different though and you still can get more house and land in those other areas. Everyone just has to pick what they want to deal with or not deal with because there's good and bad about everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

If only we could get that same investment in the schools. Priorities are a bit off IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

If only we could get that same investment in the schools. Priorities are a bit off IMO.

Agreed! APS is not investing in ALL students given the amount of money in their budget. Parks are great, but I would rather have GREAT schools.

[Anonymous]

One thing I love about Arlington is the size. You’re never more than 20 minutes away from anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact a family has to figure out how to manage and make things work when they bring in $200k or just less, is why Arlington is the worst.

It's not like we're sitting down and writing a to-the-penny budget every month. We just don't live extravagantly and probably wouldn't even with higher income. There are times that big expenses hit at once and it does take delving into savings. But that's what savings is for. My point was that I disagree with the poster saying living in Arlington is tough at $350K. If that's the case, you've probably over-extended yourself on something....likely a big house or a place specifically in the most expensive neighborhoods because anything less is unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

This is true. Each time we have family visit us from anywhere, they're like, "Whoa. Not just one, but EVERY playground is so cool."

+1 on the parks. But where do you think that money comes from. I would rather have less parks and live in an area where you don't need to have over $200k per household to be able to manage things.

A lot of people manage just fine with less than $200K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing I love about Arlington is the size. You’re never more than 20 minutes away from anything.

Try telling that to all the people complaining when their kids might have to go to a school that isn't the closest to their neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I love about Arlington is the size. You’re never more than 20 minutes away from anything.

Try telling that to all the people complaining when their kids might have to go to a school that isn't the closest to their neighborhood.

What’s the point of living someplace where the main appeal is that it is walkable if you have to drive everywhere? Might as well live in Loudon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact a family has to figure out how to manage and make things work when they bring in $200k or just less, is why Arlington is the worst.

It's not like we're sitting down and writing a to-the-penny budget every month. We just don't live extravagantly and probably wouldn't even with higher income. There are times that big expenses hit at once and it does take delving into savings. But that's what savings is for. My point was that I disagree with the poster saying living in Arlington is tough at $350K. If that's the case, you've probably over-extended yourself on something....likely a big house or a place specifically in the most expensive neighborhoods because anything less is unacceptable.

Every neighborhood is expensive these days, the only difference is what you get for your money. At current interest rates, I don’t see how you afford a SFH (average price $1.3m) on less than $350k unless you have family money or a huge amount of equity built up from a previous purchase. Your other options are pretty much limited to condos if you can’t snag one of the relatively few older townhomes or duplexes out there.

I guess you could rent a tear down or cram 2 kids into a 2 bedroom condo, but that’s not exactly what most people think of when they think of “upper middle class lifestyle.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

If only we could get that same investment in the schools. Priorities are a bit off IMO.

Agreed! APS is not investing in ALL students given the amount of money in their budget. Parks are great, but I would rather have GREAT schools.

You are not going to have great schools when 1/3 the kids are FARMS. It just won't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

If only we could get that same investment in the schools. Priorities are a bit off IMO.

Agreed! APS is not investing in ALL students given the amount of money in their budget. Parks are great, but I would rather have GREAT schools.

You are not going to have great schools when 1/3 the kids are FARMS. It just won't happen.

+1

way too many kids in APS are FARMS. It's never going to be the district it once was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed at how much Arlington spends/invests in its parks, trails, and even dog parks. It's a great place to live.

This is true. Each time we have family visit us from anywhere, they're like, "Whoa. Not just one, but EVERY playground is so cool."

+1 on the parks. But where do you think that money comes from. I would rather have less parks and live in an area where you don't need to have over $200k per household to be able to manage things.

A lot of people manage just fine with less than $200K.

Would love to see who these people are that "manage just fine" with less than $200k. I think your head might be in the sand on this one.