Anonymous wrote: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?

I'm afraid you are being unrealistic. There are no towns here, no places with the real-place sense that a New England town gives its community.

I am from New England too and cannot tell you how much I miss living in a town.

Unfortunately most of prettiest neighborhoods in Arlington (and in the Yorktown district) are not near Metro. I love Tara-Leeway and Bellevue Forest (and other neighborhoods off of Military Rd.) but if walking distance to Metro is a deal breaker then you will probably end up either a) in W-L district (which is also a very good school), or b) in a busier/more trafficked/less small town feel neighborhood.

The reality of Arlington is that almost every road is a commuter route or cut through so it is very difficult to find anything near civilization that is in trafficked and has good yard space.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with this. Especially if you only ever drive along the main streets in Arlington - Lee Highway from Rosslyn to East Falls Church has lots of ugly houses built in the 60s and 70s, and Wilson Blvd. and George Mason Drive are similarly ugly. If you get off those main streets, though, into Maywood, Cherrydale, Lyon Village, Lyon Park, Ashton Heights etc. there are really nice neighborhoods with lots of trees and older, more charming houses (Sears bungalows, etc).

I agree with the 2nd part, too. Friends are selling a 3 bedroom 3 bath home in Arlington for "only" $850,000. It is in really good shape and wonderfully renovated, but it is not huge by any means and is a typical 1940s colonial.

Lee Highway and Wilson Boulevard are mostly commercial. The neighborhoods on the side streets are hit or miss. They could be nice like Cherrydale or Lyon Park, or they could be mostly ugly houses, like the neighborhood near Arlington Hospital, or squat boxes like you find in Arlington Forest. That's part of the reason people agonize so much about housing in Arlington. They like the idea of the short commute, good schools and proximity to Metro, but they are stuck with the fact that the number of houses on the market at any one time that they actually like may turn out to be quite small. It's not just the cost.

When people look further out, they lose some of the things they like about Arlington, but they also have more to choose from. Currently, there are almost twice as many $1M+ properties on the market in McLean and Vienna than in Arlington, and over three times as many under contract. So, if the OP does want to focus just on Arlington, I think she'd be well-advised not to limit herself to homes in the Yorktown district.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not saying that Arlington doesn't have teeny ramblers. It does. (and yeah, lots of added-on colonials, some of them lovely, some of them not so much.) You find them in every jurisdiction in this area, though. I just think that people who categorize *all* arlington houses as ugly and tiny might have a different view of the housing stock than people who actually live there and see all the nice houses on side streets that the casual observer will never see. And yes, some blocks have ugly, older houses. The owners likely can't afford to move anywhere else close-in or renovate. but I'm thinking of my friend's former neighborhood in Vienna, just a couple blocks off of 123, where all of the houses looked like trailers. Expensive, crappy trailers.

I think the bigger problem in Arlington is that you have to spend so much money to find something nice. It's all well and good to appreciate the pretty houses, but if you have to spend $1M to live in one of them, it's discouraging.

I'd still rather live here than in a lot of places. In a lot of cities, the housing stock is all built in the 60's and 70's, which was not a great time for residential architecture. I really hate the look of split-level houses, and some areas have a LOT of them. my neighborhood was mostly built up before the age of the split level.

I agree with this. Especially if you only ever drive along the main streets in Arlington - Lee Highway from Rosslyn to East Falls Church has lots of ugly houses built in the 60s and 70s, and Wilson Blvd. and George Mason Drive are similarly ugly. If you get off those main streets, though, into Maywood, Cherrydale, Lyon Village, Lyon Park, Ashton Heights etc. there are really nice neighborhoods with lots of trees and older, more charming houses (Sears bungalows, etc).

I agree with the 2nd part, too. Friends are selling a 3 bedroom 3 bath home in Arlington for "only" $850,000. It is in really good shape and wonderfully renovated, but it is not huge by any means and is a typical 1940s colonial.

I find it a little odd, OP, that you are house-hunting in Arlington but never had actually been there before. I don't know. Kind of weird.

OP - Lee Highway actually isn't that bad. We live less than a block away, and never have trouble turning onto the street (right or left) and very rarely hear road noise. Plus, it's nice to be walking distance from restaurants.

If you want the New England feel, take a look at Westover, Cherrydale, and Waverly Hills. Also, go a little further out and look at Falls Church City.

I'm not saying that Arlington doesn't have teeny ramblers. It does. (and yeah, lots of added-on colonials, some of them lovely, some of them not so much.) You find them in every jurisdiction in this area, though. I just think that people who categorize *all* arlington houses as ugly and tiny might have a different view of the housing stock than people who actually live there and see all the nice houses on side streets that the casual observer will never see. And yes, some blocks have ugly, older houses. The owners likely can't afford to move anywhere else close-in or renovate. but I'm thinking of my friend's former neighborhood in Vienna, just a couple blocks off of 123, where all of the houses looked like trailers. Expensive, crappy trailers.

I think the bigger problem in Arlington is that you have to spend so much money to find something nice. It's all well and good to appreciate the pretty houses, but if you have to spend $1M to live in one of them, it's discouraging.

I'd still rather live here than in a lot of places. In a lot of cities, the housing stock is all built in the 60's and 70's, which was not a great time for residential architecture. I really hate the look of split-level houses, and some areas have a LOT of them. my neighborhood was mostly built up before the age of the split level.

Anonymous wrote:The Waverly Hills neighborhood is nice and you can walk to Ballston metro.

This is where we live and I agree it is nice (especially 19th Street between Utah and Glebe). The schools are W-L, though, so maybe out for OP. Also, I don't think there is anything on the market!

The Waverly Hills neighborhood is nice and you can walk to Ballston metro.

You can definitely get the "small town" feel in City of Falls Church. We're about a mile from both East Falls Church metro and West Falls Church metro. Walkable to lots of restaurants, shops, etc - and it has a real community feel (small schools, lots of town events in the Cherry Hill park). Plus it's on the border of Arlington and Mclean, so you can are close to those amenities as well....

OP, we too are from a small, traditional town in the Northeast and moved here a year ago. It took a while for us to realize DC doesn't really have residential areas that are comparable. FWIW, I thought most of Arlington was pretty awful aesthetically, at least areas that were accessible to Metro and in the Yorktown pyramid. We liked Vienna a lot but since I work near Union Station too, we settled in the Bethesda/Rockville area of MD. I'm less than a mile from the metro station and at my desk in 35 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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 don't know what you're talking about. It's Arlington that's full of teeny ramblers and colonials with ugly additions.

10:17 here. I agree with the first PP that there are beautiful homes in Arlington, and streets that are full of character. I guess what I mean is that it's unlikely to find an entire neighborhood or section of town that is uniformly like that. In my neighborhood, there is one street that I love in terms of appearance and the rest, including my own are just okay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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 don't know what you're talking about. It's Arlington that's full of teeny ramblers and colonials with ugly additions.

There are a few small ramblers in McLean, but not compared to either Vienna or Arlington. And they are gradually all getting torn down, whether in Arlington, McLean or Vienna.

I don't know why people would find it surprising that properties in Vienna or McLean are almost as expensive as Arlington. Some are near Metro stations (Vienna, WFC), Tysons is a big job market, and the schools are usually ranked higher than W-L, though I'd personally be fine with W-L, too.

Anonymous wrote: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?

I grew up in NE, too, and don't think you are going to find the same thing in Arlington - it is not a small town by any means. In general most neighborhoods in N. Arlington are teeming with kids, but I would say more people do playdates, etc than just having kids run around and play with each other. Like other PPs have said, Yorktown and metro do not mix really. We are in the W-L district and from everything I have seen, it is a very good school. Yes, more diverse than Yorktown (not necessarily a bad thing), but lots to offer for the motivated student. If you really want near metro, you will have to probably look in the W-L pyramid. Another option are the neighborhoods right along Lee Highway that feed into Yorktown. You can take the bus straight down Lee Highway to metro (Rosslyn or East Falls Church), so even if you are not walking distance, you can get to metro fairly easily.

Anonymous wrote: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 don't know what you're talking about. It's Arlington that's full of teeny ramblers and colonials with ugly additions.