Anonymous wrote:1. Where do you work and what do your hours look like? This is the biggest question because it will dictate whether Maryland or VA or living on the metro or along the VRE lines makes sense. You haven't given us enough information to help you.

2. A 700K budget is going to land you either a townhouse in an expensive area or a house a bit further out (Rockville, West Springfield for example). You need to understand where your houses are and what your money can buy. That's basic research.

3. Use a rebate realtor because if you can do the leg work yourself, you can land a check for over 10K after closing.

GL.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps W. Springfield 22152 for a good school/home price/commute balance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why people knock South Arlington schools. If moving weren't such a big hassle, I would sell my N. Arlington house and move to S. Arlington in a heartbeat. I bet you could find a single family in South Arlington on your budget.

Seconded - so nuts that people say this. We ended up buying in north Arlington because we got a great opportunity but south Arlington was our preference - more diversity, less crazy moms, still great schools. People knock Wakefield but in my opinion it is 100% because they are inherently bias that it isn’t majority white kids. My friends mom does teacher training, observing teachers in all Arlington schools and says hands down she would pick Wakefield for her kids if she had to do it again. Metro access from south Arlington is probably the bigger problem

But OP - there is so much personal preference here! Unfortunately I don’t think you can get what you want from this thread. You’re going to have to do the work. Arlington is close in, good metro access, good schools. It’s easy to get around and you won’t spend your life sitting at traffic lights. But it’s expensive and we have an overcrowding problem. So there are pros and cons. Fairfax schools can be good too but it’s huge - hard to give you specific recommendations. Schools are often pretty big there so that’s a preference thing too. Commute will be longer and it will require more driving. But you can get more house. And you might find people a tad more laid back. So there’s a lot of prioritizing. We prioritized walkability, ease of driving and shorter commute and live in a two bedroom old house (that we love) in Arlington. There are definitely houses under $700k in south Arlington but they won’t have close metro access.

I realize it’s hard if you don’t have experience with the area, great schools is not a great indicator. Maybe pinpoint a couple areas you’re interested in based on what you want to prioritize (how much house, how close in etc) and then search the board or ask specifically about those schools here. That might help you get a sense.

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to prioritize what you want. Do you want a house or would you be happy with a town home? North Arlington schools are great, but you can't buy a house on that budget unless you will be happy with an old home or one far from the metro. South Arlington schools generally aren't as good as North Arlington ones. Falls Church schools are great, but the homes are expensive with limited inventory. Fairfax County has great schools, but your commute will be longer (and you will likely have to drive/bus to the metro). Alexandria schools aren't great. Obviously there are exceptions to each of these generalizations, but hopefully that's a overview for you. I would recommend you focus your search on North Arlington or Fairfax.

Anonymous wrote:

Hi All,

I’m sure this thread has been done before but I can’t find it. We’re buying a home. We have a toddler. I’m lazy and don’t want to move several times for schools. Where in NoVa is a good cluster? We max out at $700k and work in downtown DC so we’d like a not heinous commute. I’m on redfin and I’m seeing high schools in the 1’s and 3’s, WTF? That can’t be right. Am also looking at MoCo but people keep saying VA is a better buy than MD. We’re currently renting in Van Ness DC and would like to buy something by December. Please help. Thanks!

You're not looking very hard.

Anonymous wrote:Define best?

Your kid is little.

What might be an outstanding high school pyramid today might not be by the time your kid makes it to high school.

Signed,
9 school pyramid

Anonymous wrote:I mean work off of.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why people knock South Arlington schools. If moving weren't such a big hassle, I would sell my N. Arlington house and move to S. Arlington in a heartbeat. I bet you could find a single family in South Arlington on your budget.

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church, 22043. I prefer Shrevewood over Lemon Road neighborhoods and they both go to Kilmer and Marshall.