City of Fairfax has excellent municipal services, including trash pick up that includes basically anything you leave curbside. Nice people and a sense of community. We moved out of the City to Fairfax County and I regret it for many reasons, but the trash pickup and the friendliness of the people are the starkest difference.

And honestly, the "better" school pyramid we moved into really is not.

It does have old town charm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The medium household income is 128,000. Friendly small town vibe. Expensive. Hidden gem.

The median household income in the county is $145,000, so Fairfax City is a bit less upscale than the surrounding areas.

It's further out from DC than Falls Church City, but close enough that it's been overtaken by the NoVa sprawl. Places like Alexandria and Leesburg retain some of their old charm, but Fairfax City? Not so much, probably because there wasn't that much worth saving there to begin with.

I thought historic Old Town Fairfax exudes charm. The original 200 year old courthouse is there. Old commercial buildings from a bygone era with cafes and boutiques. Etc. Brick sidewalks. Gas lanterns. It’s just not as big as Alexandria, Winchester, Culpepper, etc. It’s more of a historic village.

They should have built that out over time but they haven’t leveraged the Old Town and the Grid to build a critical mass downtown area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The medium household income is 128,000. Friendly small town vibe. Expensive. Hidden gem.

The median household income in the county is $145,000, so Fairfax City is a bit less upscale than the surrounding areas.

It's further out from DC than Falls Church City, but close enough that it's been overtaken by the NoVa sprawl. Places like Alexandria and Leesburg retain some of their old charm, but Fairfax City? Not so much, probably because there wasn't that much worth saving there to begin with.

I thought historic Old Town Fairfax exudes charm. The original 200 year old courthouse is there. Old commercial buildings from a bygone era with cafes and boutiques. Etc. Brick sidewalks. Gas lanterns. It’s just not as big as Alexandria, Winchester, Culpepper, etc. It’s more of a historic village.

Thin beer, amigo. Very few people seek out “historic Old Town Fairfax” for its purported charm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The medium household income is 128,000. Friendly small town vibe. Expensive. Hidden gem.

The median household income in the county is $145,000, so Fairfax City is a bit less upscale than the surrounding areas.

It's further out from DC than Falls Church City, but close enough that it's been overtaken by the NoVa sprawl. Places like Alexandria and Leesburg retain some of their old charm, but Fairfax City? Not so much, probably because there wasn't that much worth saving there to begin with.

I thought historic Old Town Fairfax exudes charm. The original 200 year old courthouse is there. Old commercial buildings from a bygone era with cafes and boutiques. Etc. Brick sidewalks. Gas lanterns. It’s just not as big as Alexandria, Winchester, Culpepper, etc. It’s more of a historic village.

Anonymous wrote:The medium household income is 128,000. Friendly small town vibe. Expensive. Hidden gem.

The median household income in the county is $145,000, so Fairfax City is a bit less upscale than the surrounding areas.

It's further out from DC than Falls Church City, but close enough that it's been overtaken by the NoVa sprawl. Places like Alexandria and Leesburg retain some of their old charm, but Fairfax City? Not so much, probably because there wasn't that much worth saving there to begin with.

The medium household income is 128,000. Friendly small town vibe. Expensive. Hidden gem.

Boring expensive town

“Further out”. It’s not ‘further out’. It’s just another part of Nova and a commuter thoroughfare with strip malls, car stealerships, and fast food chains.

“As others have noted it’s a very different situation than Falls Church City”. A single person is not plural.

Now that we got that out of the way.

The downtown city itself is idyllic and there are several events each year that give it a small community vibe.

It’s good for buying not investing unless you are a flipper or need to park your money somewhere. This will change when the city’s long term plan takes hold and small lots will allow much higher density dwellings, the exact thing that was just ruled illegal in Arlington.

There are some great neighborhoods such as Mosby Woods, Cobbdale, and Farrcroft. There are also some less architecturally appealing ones, like Fairchester Woods or Westmore, which are getting close to tear down territory. Country Club Hills and Daniel’s Run are good. There is a good sense of community in each neighborhood if that’s what you desire.

Developers and flippers have descended en masse.

On the new build side, it’s now million-dollar townhouse central and soon to be condo and apartment heaven. Northfax, Paul the Sixth, Breezeway, Willowood at Eaton Place, Overlook at Fairfax Boulevard, etc.

City services are good. Schools seem to be as well, but our child is only in the fourth grade so cant speak for the entire spectrum. Schools, at least the elementary level in our experience, are very diverse because of the broad spectrum of housing and financials.

For a SFH in Nova - Dollar for dollar I don’t think there is a better location that is convenient to 66, 123, metro, Tyson’s, Reston, Chantilly, etc.

Traffic is much worse than pre-Covid even with ‘improvements’, such as intersections along 123 near 66. This will get progressively worse across the ‘city’ as there is no plan to fix the poorly laid out commuter roads and with the increase in townhomes and apartments no matter what the developers or politicians try to sell. It’s just logical.

It’s woke liberal and the city council is a joke and has been for many years. One Mayor was arrested in a sex for meth scheme. I don’t recall a project they didn’t approve. Current consensus among neighbors is there are only two intelligible council members.

I can provide links to council meetings where several, if not almost a hundred people spoke against a resolution that the council still voted for. In the latter (George Snyder Trail tree demolition), I believe only three spoke for the resolution and two were city employees or contractors.

The city renamed everything, but the power of the citizens was telling when the city renamed the streets yet Mosby Woods citizens overwhelmingly rejected renaming its neighborhood.

I would not recommend investing there. If it is close to one's work and one considers the schools good enough, then consider living there. As others have noted, it has a very different situation from Falls Church City.

If you want to use VRE then look into Burke or Fairfax, close to VRE stations.

We moved close to this area of NoVa for the VRE (Virginia Railway Express), for the commute to DC.

I live have lived in the city for three years. I would say it’s generally well run, and it is nice to have a smaller governance than the large surrounding county. This year’s election there is a strong push to return to non party endorsed candidates and keep the local elections independent, which I support. There has been a recent increase in homeless individuals and crime that has gotten a lot of attention and concern since we moved here. There is definitely a small town, local vibe and it seems like a community that is relatively easy to get involved with if you want to. We appreciate the downtown area with several good restaurants and the robust local festivals. Overall it is a pretty good location- not a terrible commute to Tysons or even Arlington, and also convenient to 66 to get out on the weekends. Not to mention, parking at the metro is easy and available for taking the metro into DC. All in all, we really like it, and for the affordability of the house, including a nice yard and accessibility to many things, we got feel like it is a bit of a hidden gem.

It doesn’t get that much attention because it’s further out and it contracts with the county to operate its schools. It’s also somewhat lower-income than the surrounding areas in the county, whereas Falls Church City is more expensive than most of the areas in the county with Falls Church addresses.

Please share your insights. Is city of Ffx a good place to live or invest? What do prospective buyers need to know? Any one have opinions on city council or governance governance? Thoughts on prospects for investment growth in Fairfax city.

Seeing a few houses listed and wondering the good, the bad, and what else I should know. Seems a little like arlington or Falls Church city, but cheaper. Hardly any comments here on this site. - is it a lesser known gem or any issues to be aware of if looking to buy a house?