Help husband and I settle a huge argument over where to move!

[Anonymous]

OP, make sure you factor the cost of the Toll Road and the Greenway into your costs. I hear from our friends in Ashburn that 28 and the roads from Ashburn leading to 28 are hell in the mornings because everyone is trying to cut costs using the Greenway. If you use the Greenway you are talking about an extra $8/9 a day. If you don't, you still have an extra few $ a day for the toll road plus the commute will be substantially worse. Then you ahve the additional gas cost and wear and tear on your car of a 50 mile a day commute vs. a 5 mile a day commute. You are talking 250 miles a week on your car vs. 25 which starts adding up fast towards new tires, brakes and general wear and tear! If you go back to work at some point, then you will double that. If you buy a $700k house in either place, I suspect your actual cost would be higher in Ashburn. If you could add that extra few hundred a month to your house payment, perhaps you could get a nicer house closer in. Conversly, if you can't maybe you can't really afford $700k in either location. JMHO

[Anonymous]

Anybody mention how much TIME fixing things up takes? Not to mention $$$. OP you are better off buying a smaller place that is already nice enough for you than something in need of repair or so big that the maintenance is a pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just to play the other side of this argument, some people are really happy in Ashburn. The communities there have a lot of ammenities (pools, tennis, etc) that are enticing. We live in ffx county but I can see why people move there...especially if you work in Reston or the Dulles Corridor.

I agree with this... I think it really depends on your line of work, too. My husband and several of our friends live out here in western FFX Co (and know several of friends in South Riding, Loudon, etc)... and everyone is very happy. BUT, we all work in Reston, Herndon, Dulles, etc. No one in our circle of friends works downtown, in MD, Crystal City, etc. With husbands in the IT field, jobs are aplenty out this way... I think if we were in another line of work, it might be different.

[Anonymous]

Good point -- there's plenty of jobs in western FFX and eastern Loudoun. If you work there and can easily switch jobs around outside the Beltway, then living in eastern Loudoun makes sense.

OP has some connections in Bethesda, OP's hubby has some connections in Ashburn (will these friends be of any help to OP or just drinking buddies for the hubby?), and the job is in Tyson's.

McLean or Vienna would work best for the OP. If OP's hubby wants to move to Ashburn, he could focus his efforts on finding a new job in Loudoun/western Fairfax. (Unless there is a damned good reason to stick with his current job.)

FWIW, my family ties are out in Front Royal, which is actually somewhat doable for points west of Fair Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP,



Also, traffic in NOVA is really, really bad.

Not that Fairfax is any less soulless than Ashburn....

I have lived in NOVA for the past 15 years. Traffic is a pain sometimes but, I find it manageable. I flex my hours. I use HOV. I really don't find traffic to be that bad. I live in FFX city and commute to DC every day. Takes me about 40 minutes each way, which I don't find overly burdensome.

Also, I don't know where you live, but FFX city, where I live, is definitely not "soulless". We have a wonderful, small town style community.

[Anonymous]

I

'm going to hazard a guess that what the PP meant was there are a lot of Hispanics here. There are. There are a lot of apartments that are not that expensive to rent, making this area attractive to folks with a lower income than your standard DCUM. Schools aren't as highly rated, no doubt due to the higher prevalence of poorer/immigrant children. But keep in mind that the latest break-in homicide (apparently) in the news happened in nice, white Bethesda.

A ton of low-rent apartments, that are cheaply built, rented by low-income recent immigrants who, as a group, have the lowest educational attainment in the nation. Awesome.

re: Bethesda murder, does anyone imagine that this heinous crime was committed by a suburban, well-educated white kid looking to rob someone? No, no we do not think that. The criminals commute from elsewhere and go where the merchandise is when they burglarize. Every law enforcement person will tell you that.

[Anonymous]

Well, I'm new to NOVA after living in Mont. Co and DC. I think the traffic in NOVA the worse of the three jurisdictions. I know everyone has a different experience, I'm just sharing mine. I was shocked to see how backed up FFX Cty Pkwy gets..and all the alternate routes aren't any better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I

'm going to hazard a guess that what the PP meant was there are a lot of Hispanics here. There are. There are a lot of apartments that are not that expensive to rent, making this area attractive to folks with a lower income than your standard DCUM. Schools aren't as highly rated, no doubt due to the higher prevalence of poorer/immigrant children. But keep in mind that the latest break-in homicide (apparently) in the news happened in nice, white Bethesda.

A ton of low-rent apartments, that are cheaply built, rented by low-income recent immigrants who, as a group, have the lowest educational attainment in the nation. Awesome.

re: Bethesda murder, does anyone imagine that this heinous crime was committed by a suburban, well-educated white kid looking to rob someone? No, no we do not think that. The criminals commute from elsewhere and go where the merchandise is when they burglarize. Every law enforcement person will tell you that.

wow, you are offensive. stay away from the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Palisades/Kent. CLose to Tysons and close to Bethesda. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lived in NOVA for the past 15 years. Traffic is a pain sometimes but, I find it manageable. I flex my hours. I use HOV. I really don't find traffic to be that bad. I live in FFX city and commute to DC every day. Takes me about 40 minutes each way, which I don't find overly burdensome.

Also, I don't know where you live, but FFX city, where I live, is definitely not "soulless". We have a wonderful, small town style community.

Well, many of us cannot flex their hours or get in a carpool to use HOV. The majority of people are going to experience the bad traffic. If I drive from my house in Fairfax to DC during rush hour, it takes me at least 1 1/2 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lived in NOVA for the past 15 years. Traffic is a pain sometimes but, I find it manageable. I flex my hours. I use HOV. I really don't find traffic to be that bad. I live in FFX city and commute to DC every day. Takes me about 40 minutes each way, which I don't find overly burdensome.

Also, I don't know where you live, but FFX city, where I live, is definitely not "soulless". We have a wonderful, small town style community.

Well, many of us cannot flex their hours or get in a carpool to use HOV. The majority of people are going to experience the bad traffic. If I drive from my house in Fairfax to DC during rush hour, it takes me at least 1 1/2 hours.

Anyone can get in a carpool if they so choose. It takes me 45 minutes to get from my house in Springfield to my job in DC. I used to think the same way as you until I discovered slugging, express buses etc. Now I know better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Places like Ashburn, Gaithersburg etc are in the outlying suburbs, or exurbs. The geographical fringe of the region. If you look at European development patterns, you will see that after a while, the desirable locations are closer in. The credit debacle taught us that the housing market, particularly for the new, pressboard housing developments in the outlying areas was mostly a bubble. Look at Prince William and Frederick Counties as two examples were there are high percentages of foreclosure sales.

I think that is what the previous posters are referring to. In time, you will see dramatic shifts in economic diversity in the outer suburbs.

It was only a matter of time before an "expert" showed up. I love DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashburn/Sterling does have Wegmans, which is one big advantage over close-in suburbs.

But I much prefer being closer in. We live in Arlington so my husband's commute is short. Totally worth the trade-off in house and yard size to have him home for dinner!

There is Wegman's in Fairfax and one about to open in Landover MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Places like Ashburn, Gaithersburg etc are in the outlying suburbs, or exurbs. The geographical fringe of the region. If you look at European development patterns, you will see that after a while, the desirable locations are closer in. The credit debacle taught us that the housing market, particularly for the new, pressboard housing developments in the outlying areas was mostly a bubble. Look at Prince William and Frederick Counties as two examples were there are high percentages of foreclosure sales.

I think that is what the previous posters are referring to. In time, you will see dramatic shifts in economic diversity in the outer suburbs.

Not to be snarky, but hasn't this always been the case? I thought it was always desirable to be closer to the city, no one likes a bad commute. I mean, I realize that decades ago traffic wasn't as bad of a problem, so some of the outer burbs did not seem that unappealing, but it seems like it's always been the case that rich people live in the cities (look at Georgetown, near AU, Chevy Chase DC, and so on) and then pay for private schools and can pay to park their car, etc. and also of course there are poor parts of the city and everything in between. But I don't think anyone would be shocked that Gaithersburg is not the up-and-coming place to be. Not knocking Gaithersburg but I've always thought of it as an affordable, reasonable place to live and not the place where the rich flock to.

I guess I'm saying I think this trend started way, way before the housing market crashed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Places like Ashburn, Gaithersburg etc are in the outlying suburbs, or exurbs. The geographical fringe of the region. If you look at European development patterns, you will see that after a while, the desirable locations are closer in. The credit debacle taught us that the housing market, particularly for the new, pressboard housing developments in the outlying areas was mostly a bubble. Look at Prince William and Frederick Counties as two examples were there are high percentages of foreclosure sales.

I think that is what the previous posters are referring to. In time, you will see dramatic shifts in economic diversity in the outer suburbs.

Not to be snarky, but hasn't this always been the case? I thought it was always desirable to be closer to the city, no one likes a bad commute. I mean, I realize that decades ago traffic wasn't as bad of a problem, so some of the outer burbs did not seem that unappealing, but it seems like it's always been the case that rich people live in the cities (look at Georgetown, near AU, Chevy Chase DC, and so on) and then pay for private schools and can pay to park their car, etc. and also of course there are poor parts of the city and everything in between. But I don't think anyone would be shocked that Gaithersburg is not the up-and-coming place to be. Not knocking Gaithersburg but I've always thought of it as an affordable, reasonable place to live and not the place where the rich flock to.

I guess I'm saying I think this trend started way, way before the housing market crashed.

Wow do you really never venture outside of upper Northwest? There is an entire city here full of working-class and poor people. Many areas are gentrifying now, but the "rich" people you refer to still make up a small fraction of the population. The truth is that the city/suburbs thing is cyclical. Have you ever heard the term "white flight"? That was 30 years ago, now all of a sudden it's fashionable again to be in the city. (This is by no means a comment on race and socioeconomic status so don't freak out, I'm just mentioning a well-known term for a certain kind of demographic shift.)

The only other big city I've lived in is New York so I can't speak for all of them, but the thing that's different about DC is that there are significant clusters of jobs outside of the city (Crystal City, Tysons, Dulles corridor, even Howard County). A lot of people have commutes that take them all around the region rather than just into and out of DC, so it's not quite as simple as to say that it's more desirable to be closer to the city. I actually do a "reverse commute" (DC to Tysons) but it's ridiculous to even call it that because I sit in traffic every day with thousands of others doing the same thing.