I don’t have a dog in the race but Fairfax City is best value in the area. Low taxes, good govt, shopping centers being renovated, and the Fairfax County school pyramid is improving. As an investor wish I had picked up
A couple of properties there few years back. Still looking...

Fairfax City is making progress with the vestiges of our racist area. Fairfax high changed the name of the street they are on from "Rebel: run to "Lion" run and changed the mascot. Fairfax is pretty solidly blue. That's why we have nice things, like animal control and public parks and nice police officers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax City

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/3209-Traveler-St-22030/home/12024956

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/10232-Confederate-Ln-22030/home/12025167

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/10214-Confederate-Ln-22030/home/12025065

Is this a coincidence or were those three houses picked out for the street names? Confederate Lane needs to go, but at least Robert E. Lee's horse was named Traveller, not Traveler.

From the listing:

"Welcome to 3209 Traveler Street, in the middle of everything yet in its own wooded enclave you find Mosby Woods. A 60's planned community that thrives today as a wonderful established neighborhood."

Not a coincidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Mosby

How sad to always attempt a negative.

I don't know that it's a negative, but it is a fact. Up to buyers whether they care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax City

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/3209-Traveler-St-22030/home/12024956

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/10232-Confederate-Ln-22030/home/12025167

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/10214-Confederate-Ln-22030/home/12025065

Is this a coincidence or were those three houses picked out for the street names? Confederate Lane needs to go, but at least Robert E. Lee's horse was named Traveller, not Traveler.

From the listing:

"Welcome to 3209 Traveler Street, in the middle of everything yet in its own wooded enclave you find Mosby Woods. A 60's planned community that thrives today as a wonderful established neighborhood."

Not a coincidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Mosby

How sad to always attempt a negative.

Anonymous wrote:I live in Fairfax City. I have been pleased with Providence Elementary. They have an excellent principal. The school is quite diverse which is probably why it is dinged on great schools. Mosby Woods is a great family friendly community. Pricing has jumped. About 600,000 to 750,000 depending on the model and renos and additions. Fairfax City has great services and feels like a much smaller area.

+1, Daniels Run is also a tight ES community. Other neighborhoods to consider in Fairfax City are Fairchester Woods, Old Lee Hills, Country club hills and westmore.

Anonymous wrote:We looked at Mantua area, and found better selection but same community feel in Wakefield Chapel.

Those neighborhoods do look nicer than Mantua for some reason... maybe the consistent curbs and sidewalks.

Others will disagree, but I also feel Mantua can be overly big-treed which makes the neighborhood feel dark and sometimes unkept to me.

I like modern/contemporary and I do love the contemporaries that are mixed in with the houses in Mantua. There are some interesting houses there although I love Truro too

Both are fine.

Mantua is a great neighborhood and truly is a community of trust, which is hard to find in this day and age. The schools are generally excellent, The administration at the elementary school does a very good job of matching specific students with teachers that are good fit for the student, although parents often push the administration for specific teachers that may not be a good fit for a particular student even if they are a great teacher. Prices in Mantua are high but not every home is out of your budget. That said at your budget you would be on the low end of homes and those would be smaller or not substantially renovated. (they would still be in good condition, just smaller and/or dated) All is all a great place to call home and one of the few closer in neighborhoods with large lots and lots of trees, so the feel is like you are way out, but in reality you are close to many things. Computing ot Tysons is easy, DC is ok.

Anonymous wrote:We looked at Mantua area, and found better selection but same community feel in Wakefield Chapel.

+1
The only risk with anything east of Wakefield chapel is the FCPS is so woke now that they could always send that part back to Annandale high school. It needs more white kids.
AHS is arguably the worst school in the entire DMV.

We looked at Mantua area, and found better selection but same community feel in Wakefield Chapel.

What about the oil spill in Mantua?

You all are debating areas a bike ride away

splitting hairs. It's all good.

Anonymous wrote:Op ~ how about this https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4608-Braeburn-Dr_Fairfax_VA_22032_M67723-88315

Btw, Fairfax City is fine feeding to Fairfax High School. Some prefer Woodson. Mantua is a more expensive area feeding into Woodson. There are 600-700K houses in the area, if you can find them. Woodson, Robinson, Lake Braddock, West Springfield. These high schools, and lower schools - we thought- were all good, good-enough.

We used to live in Fairfax (county) zoning to Woodson on the border of Fairfax City. We wished we had bought in Fairfax City because it seems to have more of an identity, lots of parks, some walkable areas, good bus system to Vienna metro. Whereas we were just sort of a census area in Fairfax County that our local County Supervisor basically forgot existed because our area got moved around a bit within the county districts. It just felt like no one at the local government level cared about traffic calming or cross walks we requested in our area whereas we had friends in Fairfax City and it seemed like their mayor knew a lot of residents and was involved.

It’s still outside the beltway suburbia, but a few blocks of it have a small town feel (go check out the redeveloped downtown area). There’s a splash pad, summer festivals (non-COVID of course), and some non-chain restaurants. Plus GMU is nearby so you get a little bit of the college town feel.

I know Woodson and the Fairfax Co. schools are higher per their GS rating, but we have friends with kids at Providence who love it (plus they can still test into to some advanced placement center as of maybe 2nd grade?). I don’t know all the details, but I get the impression the schools are good, but less of a pressure cooker than Woodson.

Anonymous wrote:DP. Any other info on the schools in fairfax city?

Solid schools with admin who really care.

Op ~ how about this https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4608-Braeburn-Dr_Fairfax_VA_22032_M67723-88315

Btw, Fairfax City is fine feeding to Fairfax High School. Some prefer Woodson. Mantua is a more expensive area feeding into Woodson. There are 600-700K houses in the area, if you can find them. Woodson, Robinson, Lake Braddock, West Springfield. These high schools, and lower schools - we thought- were all good, good-enough.