I didn't say Chantilly wasn't all chains, but my post is about the price difference and do you really get more for your money by living in Vienna. People seem to think Vienna is a great town, and while it may be one of the better ones in the area (and certainly not the best) it certainly doesn't compare with some other towns found around the country.

Umm, Chantilly is all chains too. More so than Vienna. and the houses are so close together.

OP here,

While Vienna is cool in many ways, it is rather small, has a large number of chains, and traffic. These things take away from the town feel in my opinion.

To the poster living in Greenbriar, can you comment about traffic on Poplar Tree Rd and Stringfellow (near the schools)? What is the speed limit, Are the roads used as cut-throughs for commuters, or just those living in the neighborhood?

Anonymous wrote:thanks for the input. Glad to hear good things about Chantilly. I'm sorry to say it, but I wonder if Vienna is overrated?

Not really sure what that means. It has certain attributes that Chantilly does not have. If they matter to you, you'll pay for them; if they don't matter, Chantilly is a better value for the money.

Anonymous wrote:thanks for the input. Glad to hear good things about Chantilly. I'm sorry to say it, but I wonder if Vienna is overrated?

Even though I live in Chantilly, I wouldn't say that. I think Vienna is good if you need access to metro and/or work downtown. I do like the small town feel of it - something you don't get a lot of in this area. But, I also adored Reston and lots of people think it is a wasteland - what do I know?

Again, I think only you know what will make you happy. To us, finding a nice neighborhood with good schools and walkable amenities that didn't give one or the other of us a hellish commute was what led us to our decision. There were other areas where we might have found a house in our price range in better regarded HS pyramids, but they were in areas that made NO sense commute wise. Why do that to ourselves for a house that may or may not stay districted to the higher rated HS (because the current student body has 50-100 pt higher average SAT scores), anyway? Does Chantilly put us pretty far from "the action"? Yes, but it made sense for our lives. Why make your daily lives miserable just for the priviledge of saying you live in a "better" zip code or HS area?

thanks for the input. Glad to hear good things about Chantilly. I'm sorry to say it, but I wonder if Vienna is overrated?

Anonymous wrote:Look in Oakton. Rural feel yet in the suburbs in some areas. Can get big homes on large lots in some areas.

Chantilly is just... ugly. Sorry. If you like driving up and down 50 all the time. No flavor to the community, if you can even call it one.

Poster who lives in Greenbriar here. Yes, Chantilly itself is not pretty. I much preferred the aesthetic of my surrounding areas in Reston. However, we find that we are in our neighborhood a good bit of the time and only venture out when we need to shop or go to an activity that isn't school based. I've been figuring out the shortcuts to avoid the major roads, mostly because all of the surrounding major arteries are under construction currently (50, 7100 and Stringfellow).

That said, Poplar Tree Estates area is close to us and the neighborhood is nice. There are several county parks closeby. The elementary school is very good and not quite a packed as the nearby schools (example - my daughter's K class at GBW has 30 kids in it, Poplar Tree only has 19). There is a lot of stuff right around the corner - Fair Lakes and Greenbriar shopping centers for all your shopping needs, the schools and the library. Fairfax Town Center with the movie theaters and many popular chain restaurants and Fair Oaks mall are not far, either. It is rare to have to venture more than a couple miles to anything. I've actually run into a couple families through my daughter's activities who live in Poplar Tree and had the exact same discussion as we are having right here - Vienna/Oakton vs. Chantilly. They are all pretty happy with their decision.

I don't know many parts of NoVA that don't have nasty traffic, so I think that is just a silly argument for one area over another. I think being as close to your work as possible is the best option for everyone, so if the work is in Chantilly or West, why move East? We picked a location as close to midway between our jobs as possible (he in Ashburn, me in Lorton).

Good luck to the poster in your move, and I hope you are happy with whatever you decide.

Vienna (where I live) is nice because it has the community center, little league, festivals, fireworks, a farmers market, the bike path. Its a community. If I was going to live further out, I'd personally go to Reston over Chantilly. But Chantilly is ok, its just very suburban. If I wanted to be that suburban, I might look at Ashburn or South Riding which are even less expensive and have nice community amenities.

Look in Oakton. Rural feel yet in the suburbs in some areas. Can get big homes on large lots in some areas.

Chantilly is just... ugly. Sorry. If you like driving up and down 50 all the time. No flavor to the community, if you can even call it one.

Anonymous wrote:One other thing to consider about Vienna is the traffic on 123. It is BAD. There are a ton of lights and at rush hour it takes a while to get from one end of vienna to the other. And, because of the WO & D trail, you cannot cut through the neighborhoods very much to avoid it. I live in Fairfax City and my husband works in Vienna and his commute is about 45 minutes because he has to take 123. Food for thought.

Unfortunately, Chantilly is just as bad, or at least Route 28 can be. Many people in Vienna are able to avoid the traffic on Maple/123 by taking alternative routes. Someone living in Barristers Place could do that if they worked west of the neighborhood. If they worked in Tysons or DC, though, I do think they probably would have to deal with 123.

Thanks.

One other thing to consider about Vienna is the traffic on 123. It is BAD. There are a ton of lights and at rush hour it takes a while to get from one end of vienna to the other. And, because of the WO & D trail, you cannot cut through the neighborhoods very much to avoid it. I live in Fairfax City and my husband works in Vienna and his commute is about 45 minutes because he has to take 123. Food for thought.

OP here,

We don't have jobs yet, we will be moving back to the area shortly, though. Jobs are not an issue as we will be transfers, although we don't know an exact location.

In Chantilly, I'm looking at Poplar Tree Estates. In Vienna, I'm looking in Barristers Place.

We pretty much decided Oakton is not of interest. The reason to move to Chantilly is it costs less for a house, if I'm going to spend $700,000 for a house, I'd pick Vienna over Oakton, so I could enjoy the amenities with more ease. In Chantilly, we would spend $550,000-$600,000.

It's really had to know if we will use the amenities Vienna has to offer. Part of me really wants to be in Vienna, but part of me wants to spend less money. We have two kids and intend to pay for college, take nice vacations, participate in sports, etc.

As I said, I'm not local to the area, and visiting is not an option right now. I am unfamiliar with Chantilly, much more familiar with Vienna and have visited multiple times, although without kids. I suspect having kids will cut down on my use of the amenities Vienna has to offer.

Thanks for all the responses so far. It helps to hear the opinions of random strangers, especially if they offer incite I didn't previously have, with many of you have done.

OP it sounds like you've made your decision. Everyone's priorities are different.

I also suggest looking in Oakton as well.