Hey, OP - just sending you this link to this cute house in Stuart Ridge.

http://franklymls.com/FX7849544

We looked at this house last year and very seriously considered it. It didn't wind up selling and the owner took it off the market and made improvements to the kitchen (took out a wall and added that bar area) and basement (added a bedroom and bathroom). You really cannot beat this price in this area.

actually that mamma lucia's is not part of the chain! i love their food. especially those garlic knots.

i know that north shore house. it's nice -- it's near some low income housing, so maybe that's why it's still on the market. i think it's worth a look.

reston is a cult. my husband and i have already decided we want to stay in this area. and i commute to DC every day -- the commute really isn't that bad. it takes me 15 minutes than when i lived in mclean gardens.

Poster who used to live in North Point here - we LOVE Santini's but weren't all that fond of Mama Lucia's. As for those listings, the issue with Rosedown is Dogwood Elementary, which is a Title I school with a majority Hispanic population due to the low-income housing development nearby. The other one is I think zoned to Lake Anne, which also doesn't have the best reputation (although we applied to the immersion program there). I also loved the community feel of Reston and we were pretty adamant that if we HAD to leave, we wanted a neighborhood that was walkable and had lots of nearby amenities.

Might I recommend Burke Centre? It's modeled after Reston, albeit 15 years later, so they captured some of the lessons-learned from Reston (which is much larger, geographically- and population-wise. BC us about 20 minutes from Reston, due SE. Lots of SAHMs but also lots of WMs, too. BC is situated near the VRE train station, has lots of buses to DC, and has two "slug" parking lots (which is what I take into downtown DC every day - it's fast and free! Commute time for me is, on average, 45 minutes). The schools are great, communities (5 different neighborhoods) and community centers are wonderful, and, overall, it's a fantastic neighborhood to raise our family. I highly recommend it. Good luck!

Here's the thing about Reston. It's a cult. Once you get it, you'll be sucked in and will never leave. But if you don't get it, then you just think it's some non-descript suburbs too far from the city.

We moved here two years ago from another part of Fairfax and it is exactly what we wanted for our family. I love that we constantly bump into friends and neighbors wherever we go. I love that we've gotten to know so many people so quickly. Compared to our old neighborhood, where we knew almost nobody after 12 years, it's really great. Yes, having kids helped, but they were already school-age when we moved and we feel fully-embraced by our community here. All the kids go to RA camps in the summer, the Lake Anne Farmers Market is always packed on Saturday mornings, all the parades and fairs and festivals at RTC are a blast. Our kids do tons of sports and activities either through Reston Little League, RYA, RCC, whatever.

Now, as for local eateries...Santini's is pretty popular for a pizza/sandwich/watching sports place. Great pizza. I swear we bump into people every time we go there. And any place with 3 kinds of fries is good in my book!

Mama Lucia at NorthPoint is another popular place. Yes, it's a chain, but it's another spot where we always bump into friends and food is good too.

I will say that it's ideal for us because we work nearby. I can't imagine commuting much further than Tyson's. Metro will help, but it will still be a substantial commute each day.

OP here. Ok, so I have been looking at listings in Reston, and some of them actually look pretty good to me. But they have been on the market for awhile so there must be something about them that is quite unappealing. So, if anyone can enlighten me, here's a couple of listings...

http://www.redfin.com/VA/Reston/2301-Rosedown-Dr-20191/home/9331590

http://www.redfin.com/VA/Reston/11737-North-Shore-Dr-20190/home/39949354

To the PP that posted about off-the-beaten-path restaurants/shopping. That's very much my thing, so I would love any details about that. We drove through RTC and it looked fine for certain occasions but just not my cup of tea. It would be a nice place to have access to, and we would take advantage of the special events and ice skating though.

Anonymous wrote:
But I like being able to eat, shop and eat gelato within a couple hours. YUM, the Gelato!

PP back again: yeah, you have a good point about that!

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this place is that it is super crowded and often the wait for the restaurants is very long, over an hour is not uncommon during popular times. It also features overcrowded parking garages and swarm of of people on the sidewalks. The last time I went to Reston, I swear the number of people walking around is comparable to something like Manhattan because of overcrowding. That was also the night we were quoted 1.5 hour wait at most popular restaurants. The problem is that there is nothing else like it around and people actually want these types of places and there just isn't enough of them. So, it seems like the entire suburban population of DC metro congregates there, as it is the only destination and place to go. As a contrast DC trendiest neighborhoods don't feel nearly as crowded to me because people who live close have more choices where to go.

Umm, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. RTC is crowded because it's in a region with a lot of people, and people like to go there. There are more choices in the surrounding areas of Herndon and Reston than there are in most "trendy" DC neighborhoods. There aren't as many people in the latter because few DC neighborhoods appeal to very many people.

the trick to RTC dining is to get there early on the weekend. Like before 6 pm.

I don't disagree that it gets crowded...and that it is a bit sterile. But it serves its purpose.

Yes, there are some independent places that don't get a lot of press. But I like being able to eat, shop and eat gelato within a couple hours. YUM, the Gelato!