it's all about commute. We have just over and acre in northern Loudoun, a large home, and great schools. We've been in the home for almost 4 years, but comparable homes in the area are going for roughly $750k now. (3200sq ft, 5 br, 5 ba). DH works from home and I work in Herndon. So for us it's great, but if you had to commute to DC, well then FUHGHETTTABOOUUTTTIT!

Anonymous wrote:You can buy a real house in loudoun for the price of teardown closer in.

And you can think of it fondly while you're commuting, because unless you also work in Loudoun, you'll spend very little time in it.

You can buy a real house in loudon for the price of teardown closer in.

Anonymous wrote:We moved there becuase we had so much trouble finding good day care closer in (we lived in old town) and in Loudoun we had many more high-quality options. You can get a lot for you money in terms of homes and there are a lot of amenities close-by. But, it is such a total suburb. You can't walk to anything, all big box stores and chain restaurants. Tons of minivans. It doesn't have the character that a lot of the more expensive, closer-in neighborhoods have.

I agree with this. I live in Ashburn and it's great for what it is- a suburb/bedroom community with lots of families, low crime, good schools. But it's got little to no character. Neighborhoods all look alike, lots of chain stores and restaurants. If someone just plopped you in ashburn and said "guess where you are" you would have literally no idea.

You definitely get MUCH more house for your $. We would have a mansion for what we paid for a tiny rowhouse in the city. Prices may be comparitively the same, but house size and lot size are much greater. Less $ per square foot out there.

schools are over crowded there as well much like outer areas in MD. builders build houses a lot faster than schools get built. Playing catch up

The property taxes in Loudoun are higher, but you get more house for your money. I did look at the Loudoun property tax history and felt it was rather volatile with home assessments going up and down significantly, I'm talking a townhome going up or down over 100k. The ranges were much more broad than home assessment ranges in Fairfax. I also didn't like the idea that the property taxes fluctuated from .90 - 1.20, and this was from 2000-2005. It seemed like in Fairfax County, I would pay more for the mortgage and less in taxes, vs Loudoun being the other way around.

When we were looking at homes, we checked out parts of Loudoun, weren't willing to go as far as Leesburg, but checked Cascades, Great Falls & Ashburn, didn't find anything we really liked. A lot of the townhome communities in our price range didn't have much in the way of green space or large trees as everything had been leveled before they were built. We love where we are, have lots of green space, a large tree covered island in the middle of our court, and plenty of kids for our children to play with.

Regardless, if I worked in DC and lived in Loudoun, I would die a slow death. That commute will kill you. I would happily take a smaller house with a better quality of life vs the larger house. There are some pretty well established communities with SFH in the 500s and decent size townhomes in the 330-450 range, depending how old, location, etc. DH and I work in Herndon so the commute is good for us.

If you want to put it in context, a house that goes for around $825K in Ashburn would probably be around $900 in Fairfax, $975K in Vienna and $1.2 million in McLean or West Falls Church. You pay higher taxes, and might or might not entail a longer commute, but you get good schools and you don't need as much for a down payment.

We moved there becuase we had so much trouble finding good day care closer in (we lived in old town) and in Loudoun we had many more high-quality options. You can get a lot for you money in terms of homes and there are a lot of amenities close-by. But, it is such a total suburb. You can't walk to anything, all big box stores and chain restaurants. Tons of minivans. It doesn't have the character that a lot of the more expensive, closer-in neighborhoods have.

I also think it depends on where you are buying. Housing compared from McLean to Sterling is going to be cheaper. But I wouldn't call places like Ashburn, Brambleton, Lansdowne, etc "affordable".

What makes Loudoun wealthier than Fairfax is Loudoun doesn't have the same wealth disparity as Fairfax does of ultra rich and ultra poor. There are several areas in Fairfax county that one probably wouldn't consider living in. Other than maybe 1 or 2 pockets (like Sterling Park), there aren't those kinds of areas in Loudoun.

Anonymous wrote:I keep seeing posts of families wanting to move out to Loudoun County because of a lower cost of living. But isn't it the county with the highest median income in the country? I don't understand how it could be cheaper...

We'd love to move out there, and sure it seems a little less expensive for housing, but what about everything else?

Thanks!

You may get a bigger house for the same money. But you will pay a lot more in transportation (unless you will live near your work). So the total cost will not be less, and might be more.

Well, yes, it is somewhat cheaper for housing if you're comparing it to the closer-in FFX suburbs and of course anything within the beltway. If you work in Loudoun or even Reston it may be a decent choice for a bit more space and good schools. BUT - there is a lot of traffic and it seems to get worse every year. If you work anywhere East of Reston, plan to sit in traffic on the major arteries: 7, 28, 606, 50, and the toll road. The Greenway seems like a quick fix until you realize you're spending $10+ a day on tolls, even though it can save a significant amount of time. Depending on where in Loudoun you live and where you work, commuting costs can very much negate any housing costs.

I've never lived IN DC so I have no idea if it's cheaper but it's not cheap. We pay $2300 a month in rent for a nice townhouse near good schools. Property taxes are high- we don't own here so we don't pay taxes on a home, but for our two vehicles we pay about $850/year in property taxes for our car decals. Gas is right now about $3.35/gallon out here (or was last time I filled up a couple days ago).

If you still have to work in DC, I honestly imagine most of your expenses would stay about the same out here and anything you saved would probably be eaten by your commute. It's probably not in reality much cheaper, it's just that you might get a little more for your money... e.g., a 4 bedroom townhouse for $2300/month vs. a 1 bedroom apartment for the same.

Well, what else are you talking about? You have to take into account commuting if your job isn't out that way. And I believe personal property tax is more than in Fairfax.

I keep seeing posts of families wanting to move out to Loudoun County because of a lower cost of living. But isn't it the county with the highest median income in the country? I don't understand how it could be cheaper...

We'd love to move out there, and sure it seems a little less expensive for housing, but what about everything else?

Thanks!