I'm from a small town in New England and I also was looking for "small town feel". We bought in Falls Church City (mostly 22046) and we also looked in East Falls Church/Westover/Dominion Hills areas (22213, 22205).

10:17 - I don't know if I agree. I think there's a lot of really attractive housing stock in Arlington. I just don't think the attractive housing is all that affordable. I run in the neighborhoods a lot and am often impressed by the houses I run past. I just can't afford 90% of them!

but yes, the strip malls contribute to a not-so-picturesque landscape.

I don't really find much of mclean or vienna attractive - tons of teeny ramblers, some of which look like trailers, and they're almost as expensive as Arlington.

You might get more of a small town feeling in Vienna.

W-L is also a very good school. That opens up neighborhoods like Tara Leeway Heights, Maywood, Cherrydale, Ashton Heights, and some options in Lyon Park. Lovely neighborhoods in the northern parts of 22207 are not going to be metro friendly, although you could easily take an ART bus down to the nearest metro station.

There are lots of very family friendly neighborhoods in Arlington and in Falls Church City as well. That being said, and I say this as a 20yr Arlington resident, while it has cute pockets Arlington is generally not a beautiful and picturesque county.

Keep in mind also that it is an urban or at least semi-urban county. High income neighborhoods back up to strip malls or middle and even lower income neighborhoods especially the closer you are to main roads like Lee Hwy, Glebe Rd, Wilson Blvd and so on. If you want a more suburban feel you likely want to look a bit further out into Vienna or McLean, but then you won't be on the metro most likely.

Consider Bethesda or Chevy Chase, MD. You can do better than either of these houses and still be close to the Red Line metro stops. There's Friendship Heights, Bethesda, and even Grosvenor. $1.2 will get you a nice home in the Walter Johnson High School cluster.

For $1.2M, I don't think you're being unrealistic. I think the problem is that inventory is at historic lows right now, so you're just not seeing anything. I think you'll have more options after the holidays, leading up to spring.

I agree with a PP - your best bet is the neighborhoods close to East Falls church metro - Garden Commons, Berkshire Overlee, etc. We have friends with houses on Tuckahoe and Pocomoke in your price range. (the one has a smaller yard, though, but both houses are renovated and awesome.) You could also look a bit closer to Ballston, but as you approach Ballston, more of the homes will feed into Washington-Lee. Maybe something off of Sycamore? the closer in you are, the less likely you are to get a yard that's more than 0.25 acres, I think. Westover/Larchmont might work - it's around 1.5 miles from Ballston.

Also, it's great to be near Lee Hwy, just not TOO near. We live about 4-5 blocks from Lee and it's incredibly convenient. We're in Country Club, where your money could buy quite a bit, though you'd be a bit farther from Metro. We drive to Ballston and park at the mall when we want to metro in, or we can take a bus if I don't want to have my car. There are several buslines that go to Ballston/Clarendon/Rosslyn.

this doesn't have a huge lot but it fits the bill otherwise: http://franklymls.com/AR7828838
this one has real potential (great neighborhood) and the updates wouldn't cost a ton: http://franklymls.com/AR7925642
this is nice: http://franklymls.com/AR7961761

Anonymous wrote:Country Club Hills except for the part about being walking distance to the metro. I think that will be tough in Yorktown.

Not much in CC Hills for 1.2

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Houses in the Yorktown district near Metro tend to be very close to 66. There are a lot of new houses on small lots with very prominent garages. NoVa has strip malls all over, including in Arlington. This isn't New England.

If you want more options in neighborhoods near Metro, look in the W-L district in Arlington or in West Falls Church. Or consider whether you'd prefer a DC neighborhood like Cleveland Park to anything in the suburbs.

OP here. Is W-L a good high school? We would love to live in DC but we can't afford private schools.

Anonymous wrote:your best bet would be near east falls church metro. http://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/6614-19th-Rd-N-22205/home/40298064

This is across the street from a power station.

Anonymous wrote:It seemed like we drove through lots of strip mall areas to get there, but our navigation might have sent us a weird way. We were going to see more but we ended up having to cut our trip short (kid issues).

I am from a small town in New England and I was hoping to find the same kind of small town feeling (kids can play outside with neighbor kids) in Arlington, with access to the city by metro. Both DH and I work in the city - he works in Georgetown and I work near Union Station. Plus great schools.

Am I being unrealistic?

Yes. Houses in the Yorktown district near Metro tend to be very close to 66. There are a lot of new houses on small lots with very prominent garages. NoVa has strip malls all over, including in Arlington. This isn't New England.

If you want more options in neighborhoods near Metro, look in the W-L district in Arlington or in West Falls Church. Or consider whether you'd prefer a DC neighborhood like Cleveland Park to anything in the suburbs.

OP here. We saw these houses:

http://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/1910-N-Tuckahoe-St-22205/home/11239527

The neighborhood was basically on top of the metro (TOO CLOSE) and there was a power station in the front yard. There were very busy streets nearby.

http://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/2321-N-Powhatan-St-22205/home/11238917

This house was wrong in many ways, but we wanted to see what 700k would get you in Arlington. It was off a very busy street that seemed like it would be a nightmare to pull out of on a work day.

It seemed like we drove through lots of strip mall areas to get there, but our navigation might have sent us a weird way. We were going to see more but we ended up having to cut our trip short (kid issues).

I am from a small town in New England and I was hoping to find the same kind of small town feeling (kids can play outside with neighbor kids) in Arlington, with access to the city by metro. Both DH and I work in the city - he works in Georgetown and I work near Union Station. Plus great schools.

Am I being unrealistic?

With that budget you have a lot of options. Lots of new builds in that price range, but as a result very small or non-existent yards. Older homes in the $900 and up range exist as well. What neighborhoods did you see and what didn't you like about them as that might help narrow down.

Country Club Hills except for the part about being walking distance to the metro. I think that will be tough in Yorktown.

your best bet would be near east falls church metro. http://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/6614-19th-Rd-N-22205/home/40298064

New to the area. Looking to buy in N. Arlingon. Budget $1.2 million. We would like to be in the Yorktown school district and walking distance to a metro (1.5 miles tops). We would like a nice sized yard and a quiet neighborhood with other kids. Any recommendations? We went to open houses over the weekend and I was not happy with the neighborhoods.