Reply to Would you move to Arlington or Mclean for SFH living?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Lots of info to process, thank you all for informative input! I didn't realize it would be controversial and certainly was a bit surprised it turned into a political discussion.  I do find some things said about Arlington to be a turn off, but I think there are other pragmatic issues to decide upon as well.

We drove around different areas last year, there is a part where Arlington meets Mclean and these parts are very similar and indistinguishable to me looking at them from the car, very similar homes and yards and walkability, which seems non-existent.  We aren't looking into these areas because we need some walkability, we will have our foreign family living with us 6 months out of the year and they don't drive, don't want them to feel trapped without being able to walk to coffee shop or at least a couple of restaurants.  We also want our older kids to be able to walk to some places without driving, so areas where teens are seeing walking around to coffee/ice cream/fast food/each other's homes are preferred.

[b]It appears that both Mclean and Arlington have areas with some walkability while being SFH suburban communities[/b].  Mclean has downtown area with SFH communities around it and Arlington areas we would look into are around Highway 29, so it would be walking to strip mall type of places in both locations.   Comparing areas walkable to DT Mclean and Arlington areas walkable to businesses along its busier streets, Arlington still seems a bit more urban by character and what I would personally prefer, plus closer to DC.  I  also like descriptions some poster shared of their Arlington neighborhoods, and it's what we are looking for, especially if considering that there are enough kids of MS/HS age, we aren't interested in toddler/ES kid age only type of areas.  Proximity to Metro is better in N.Arlington, but it's still not walkable in my eyes for commute, maybe as a backup option very occasionally?   We are coming from a very dense urban area, lived in apartments and a rowhouse, N.Arlington and Dt.Mclean still are very suburban areas for us and we will be relying on a car, which is ok, but want to also have an option to walk somewhere.

Schools might be something I would want to discuss further, as I didn't feel Arlington schools would be a good fit, as they were described as laid back.  We are not looking for laid back environment, we actually had to switch our kids from a more laid back good school to another more academically intense school.  Kids are happier in more rigorous academic setting after having tried both. If schools are considered more rigorous and academically advanced in Mclean, this is what might be a deciding factor for us as we cannot afford private schools.

Ideally if we had a lot of money we would live in a very urban area and go to private schools, but we also need more space (5 bedrooms) and our budget won't allow living in places like Clarendon/Ballston or parts of DC.  This would be a compromise.  [b]So, I am wondering if there are any people who can chime in from Mclean who live in more walkable parts of it closer to downtown strips and whether anyone is walking there[/b].  Arlington posters say that people generally do walk in their suburban neighborhoods. I like that.

Basically we would prefer somewhat walkable suburban community with academically rigorous public schools, with decent commute to DC/Tysons/Amazon campus where we can get a 5-bedr house for under 1.2m (older home and small yard are ok) and a short drive into the city on weekends (10-20min max). If there are any other areas that meet the needs I haven't considered, please chime in.  [/quote]

We live in McLean behind Total Wine etc. We can walk to Giant, Total Wine, Cava, AutoZone, Starbucks, 3 7/11s, 6 banks, Balducci's, Salons/Spas/Barbers/Dry Cleaning/Music and Arts, 2-3 good restaurants and to Lewinsville Park. My house has a walk score of 84, which I think is pretty decent for a suburb. In McLean you have to focus on neighborhoods around Franklin Sherman ES close to Old Dominion and/or Chain Bridge Rd, you will find a lot walkability in this area. This area can be expensive, TH's go for 950k+ and SFH start at 1.2mil, just to give you an idea. Good luck with your search![/quote]

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