I like all the shopping and restaurant opportunities out there (compared to McLean) but hate the traffic on Maple and would not want to have to deal with that on a daily basis.

Anonymous wrote:It's the poor man's langley

OP here. This doesn't bother me too much...I'm not rich, so oakton is probably better for me than GF.

Anonymous wrote:It's the poor man's langley

*poor man's great falls (langley high school)

It's the poor man's langley

Decent sized lots, rural feel, lots of nature/animals, a bit more private and less "keeping up with the Joneses" than Vienna but generally wealthier as well. Houses are less cookie-cutter. A large portion of Oakton is zoned for Madison and the property values tend to be a little higher for Madison houses than Oakton HS houses.
Septic systems aren't scary: turn the handle once a year when the county send a reminder postcard, and get it pumped every 5 years.
It takes us 8 minutes to get to 66, & the same amount of time to reach 50. Hunter Mill & 123 is a mess every weekday @ rush hour, but then so is 123 everywhere in Vienna.
No town feel like you get in Vienna, so if you like larger lots and a more woodsy feel, then Oakton is lovely. We went on a walk the other day and saw horses, a sheep, four deer, and a Golden Retriever nobly surveying it all.
Definitely some good deals to be had right now. I'd go make some practice runs for your commute and see what you think.

P.S. Of course, some of the neighbors might have kids...but they wouldn't be as close and easy to get to as they are now here in this townhouse community.

Op here. The house I love is off Fox Mill, not far from intersection with waples mill. My main concern is that it will be a mistake (with respect to my young kids) to go from a townhouse community with pool & playground and neighbors with kids to none of that (although the house has a pool).

I lived there, on the end very close to the Vienna metro, between Vienna and I-66. It's nice.

"Oakton" is large and spreads from right next to Vienna to far out rt50. So it depends on where you live. Close in Oakton is very nice and Oakton HS is a good school. That area around it is convenient. Going farther out -- people who live out thee have big beautiful homes on large lots and they like the country feel. wealthy.

I think prices for Oakton and Langly are cold and falling because of the major boom in traffic. Most people don't want to be out that far anymore. You can pick up some bargains out in those areas right now.

We live in Oakton and love it! But, we love it for the reasons some people upthread don't like it! We wanted more room and because all of Oakton is septic, every lot is half an acre or more. We love the privacy that we have. Our situation is a little different because we live on a pipestem so we have a neighborhood feel that some houses right on Vale or Fox Mill don't have. I love driving around in Oakton because it does have a rural feel with the hills and trees. The schools are incredible. I think for people in the $700-$900k range, you get a lot more house than you would in Vienna or Mclean. I wouldn't want to commute downtown from here but commuting to Dulles or even Tysons isn't bad.

Anonymous wrote:I believe oakton is not as highly rated as madison, mclean or even marshall

Oakton is comparable to Madison and McLean, and typically rated higher than Marshall. From another thread:

Student Enrollments As Of 9/30/14:

Woodson 2359
Oakton 2267
Madison 2059
McLean 2050
Langley 1966
Marshall 1910

2014 SAT Scores:

Langley 1830
McLean 1774
Oakton 1767
Woodson 1759
Madison 1749
Marshall 1740

2015 US News Ratings/State of Virginia:

Langley #2
Woodson #3
McLean #4
Oakton #6
Madison#7
Marshall #15

2015 Washington Post Challenge Index/DC Region

Oakton #8
McLean #15
Woodson #20
Madison #21
Langley #24
Marshall #53

2015 Washington Post E&E (College Readiness) Index/DC Region

McLean 78.8%
Madison 78.2%
Oakton 72.0%
Langley 70.1%
Marshall 67.5%
Woodson 67.5%

National Merit Semi-Finalists/Class of 2015:

McLean 12
Langley 10
Oakton 10
Woodson 9
Madison 4
Marshall 3

GreatSchools Ratings:

Langley 9
Madison 9
Marshall 9
McLean 8
Oakton 8
Woodson 8

2015 Virginia Index of Performance Awards:

Langley - Excellence Award ("the second-tier honor in the VIP program")
Madison - Excellence Award
McLean - Excellence Award
Oakton - Excellence Award
Woodson - Excellence Award
Marshall - No Award

2013-14 Dropout Rates

Madison 0.10%
Woodson 0.18%
McLean 0.29%
Langley 0.30%
Oakton 0.68%
Marshall 1.65%

2014 Teacher Survey Satisfaction Ratings

McLean 94%
Woodson 92%
Marshall 89%
Madison 86%
Oakton 86%
Langley N/A

2014-15 FARMS Rates

Langley 2.10%
McLean 8.27%
Madison 9.50%
Woodson 10.18%
Oakton 11.87%
Marshall 20.03%

2013-14 LEP (Limited English Proficiency) Rates

Langley 1.81%
Woodson 4.15%
Madison 5.09%
McLean 5.61%
Oakton 5.98%
Marshall 9.65%

Median List Price for Pending Sales Contracts as of 5/27/15:

Langley $1.349M
McLean $872K
Madison $825K
Woodson $650K
Oakton $632K
Marshall $617K

We looked at some houses in Oakton. For me, I disliked that a lot of the area doesn't have a "neighborhood" feel-the large lots are just kind of stuck on the side of the road. Also, in our price range a lot of the houses seemed to be on wells/septic systems which seemed like a hassle. The schools in that area are supposed to excellent though.

I believe oakton is not as highly rated as madison, mclean or even marshall

Thanks for these insights. I did not realize some of these things about oakton.