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[quote=Anonymous]I’ve lived in Arlington and western Fairfax County. There are pros and cons to both, but they are night and day. I think they really attract people who care about different things.

In Chantilly/Centreville there is a lot more generic 1980s-early 2000s housing. Many neighborhoods are more of your traditional subdivision off a main road nestled between large shopping centers. The houses were bigger/cheaper, but not necessarily that nice (very dated finishes) from what I remember of house hunting. But they are nicer than some of the un-updated older houses in Arlington if that is your price bracket of comparison. Life is based around driving. You need a car to do almost everything unless you’re lucky to have a Starbucks or park right near your neighborhood. Restaurants tend to be large chains or hole in the walls unless you want to drive to Clifton for Trummers or something like that. A pro was that it was more diverse out there than Arlington, but it also felt very transient to me and people kept more to themselves. Some of the strip malls are really worn down and ugly, nothing is quite as nicely planned as Loudoun is (if planned suburbia is your thing). I also never really felt like Centreville or Chantilly have much of an identity to them the way Reston or Town of Vienna do. They feel sort of like unincorporated suburbia, which is maybe why you can’t get a good feel for what they’re like.

That said, you’re near major commuter roads and if you don’t mind driving to shopping centers, then you have everything you need as far as doctors, kids play places, etc. or driving to trails and parks. For a lot of people, this is all they need. They might make a few good friends through their kids’ schools and their dollar goes farther so it is worth it.

It will be very different from Arlington though. In Arlington, there are constantly people biking, jogging, walking dogs, etc. in a way I just didn’t see in my old neighborhood where houses were more spaced out and there wasn’t really anything to walk to. [/quote]

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