Bluemont seems like a great neighborhood. My friend lives over there and we join their annual block party. Lots of parks and trails. Ashlawn sounds like it has a nice community. And they do walk to a few places nearby.

The Ballston mall is horrible though - such a waste of prime real estate. It definitely needs something!

future Yorktown parent here. I've seen the college admissions data for the last couple of years. No idea why, but Yorktown actually seems to have the fewest admitted students to Ivy league and other highly ranked schools. W-L had more students admitted to elite schools than Yorktown, as did Wakefield, as did H-B Woodlawn. So Yorktown may have the highest SAT scores in Arlington and may be the whitest, richest and least ESL, but it's not the 'best" in every category. There's nothing wrong with Washington-Lee; any test score differences from Yorktown are, like the schools in Fairfax, generally explainable by demographic reasons. Students of each race tend to score about the same, whatever school they're in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also considering whether to buy a house in Bluemont. It seems like a great neighborhood with a lot of young families, parks, trails, not far from metro, etc., but it doesn't get as much attention as neighborhoods like Lyon Village (which don't have as many parks and trails). What am I missing here?

Also, we live in DC -- the weather is nice maybe 4 months out of the year (winter misery and then summer furnace with smattering of nice weeks between each). So parks and trails not as valuable as, say, walking to bookstore, whole foods, restaurants, etc. Bluemont has the best pizza in town, but it is impossible to get a seat and if they are full you can grab some Lebanaese food next door, and then you are out of options without walking quite a trek.

That's a bit of an overstatement. It's not like we're in Alaska. The winters are generally mild. The summers are miserable, but on most days it isn't so hot and humid that you can't go out for a half-hour walk.

Exactly. I run almost every day. People are weather wimps here.

And is on the Washington Lee district

Lyon Village has the best walkability

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually washington and lee is pretty terrible

Yorktown parent here. This isn't true at all.

Some asshole comes on to say that everytime somebody plans to buy outside of YHS. Agreed. W-L is a great school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's much further from the metro, and the metro that it is near is Ballston. Have you been to Ballston?!

That said, Ballston mall is being renovated, the crummy safeway near ATS is being demolished and rebuilt as a fancy safeway + apartments, so redevelopment and growth is a good option.

You make it sound like Ballston is the end of the world and desperately needing a renovation. Sure, the mall is boring and doesn't have great stores but it is very safe area with tons of restaurants.

Have you been to the mall?????

Reading comprehension is not your strength, is it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's much further from the metro, and the metro that it is near is Ballston. Have you been to Ballston?!

That said, Ballston mall is being renovated, the crummy safeway near ATS is being demolished and rebuilt as a fancy safeway + apartments, so redevelopment and growth is a good option.

You make it sound like Ballston is the end of the world and desperately needing a renovation. Sure, the mall is boring and doesn't have great stores but it is very safe area with tons of restaurants.

Have you been to the mall?????

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also considering whether to buy a house in Bluemont. It seems like a great neighborhood with a lot of young families, parks, trails, not far from metro, etc., but it doesn't get as much attention as neighborhoods like Lyon Village (which don't have as many parks and trails). What am I missing here?

Also, we live in DC -- the weather is nice maybe 4 months out of the year (winter misery and then summer furnace with smattering of nice weeks between each). So parks and trails not as valuable as, say, walking to bookstore, whole foods, restaurants, etc. Bluemont has the best pizza in town, but it is impossible to get a seat and if they are full you can grab some Lebanaese food next door, and then you are out of options without walking quite a trek.

That's a bit of an overstatement. It's not like we're in Alaska. The winters are generally mild. The summers are miserable, but on most days it isn't so hot and humid that you can't go out for a half-hour walk.

But is being able to go for a half hour walk a big selling point for RE? It isn't like this is beach access or something

Anonymous wrote:It's much further from the metro, and the metro that it is near is Ballston. Have you been to Ballston?!

That said, Ballston mall is being renovated, the crummy safeway near ATS is being demolished and rebuilt as a fancy safeway + apartments, so redevelopment and growth is a good option.

You make it sound like Ballston is the end of the world and desperately needing a renovation. Sure, the mall is boring and doesn't have great stores but it is very safe area with tons of restaurants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also considering whether to buy a house in Bluemont. It seems like a great neighborhood with a lot of young families, parks, trails, not far from metro, etc., but it doesn't get as much attention as neighborhoods like Lyon Village (which don't have as many parks and trails). What am I missing here?

Also, we live in DC -- the weather is nice maybe 4 months out of the year (winter misery and then summer furnace with smattering of nice weeks between each). So parks and trails not as valuable as, say, walking to bookstore, whole foods, restaurants, etc. Bluemont has the best pizza in town, but it is impossible to get a seat and if they are full you can grab some Lebanaese food next door, and then you are out of options without walking quite a trek.

That's a bit of an overstatement. It's not like we're in Alaska. The winters are generally mild. The summers are miserable, but on most days it isn't so hot and humid that you can't go out for a half-hour walk.

Anonymous wrote:I'm also considering whether to buy a house in Bluemont. It seems like a great neighborhood with a lot of young families, parks, trails, not far from metro, etc., but it doesn't get as much attention as neighborhoods like Lyon Village (which don't have as many parks and trails). What am I missing here?

Also, we live in DC -- the weather is nice maybe 4 months out of the year (winter misery and then summer furnace with smattering of nice weeks between each). So parks and trails not as valuable as, say, walking to bookstore, whole foods, restaurants, etc. Bluemont has the best pizza in town, but it is impossible to get a seat and if they are full you can grab some Lebanaese food next door, and then you are out of options without walking quite a trek.

Anonymous wrote:I'm also considering whether to buy a house in Bluemont. It seems like a great neighborhood with a lot of young families, parks, trails, not far from metro, etc., but it doesn't get as much attention as neighborhoods like Lyon Village (which don't have as many parks and trails). What am I missing here?

It's much further from the metro, and the metro that it is near is Ballston. Have you been to Ballston?!

That said, Ballston mall is being renovated, the crummy safeway near ATS is being demolished and rebuilt as a fancy safeway + apartments, so redevelopment and growth is a good option.

Also, the schools are not considered as strong; Ashlawn is very good but it is more diverse than more No Arl schools, which some people avoid (though honestly I think it and ASFS have very similar demographics). Kenmore middle school is probably a bigger issue, as a middle school it is considered a bit weak though the facility is gorgeous.

I'm also considering whether to buy a house in Bluemont. It seems like a great neighborhood with a lot of young families, parks, trails, not far from metro, etc., but it doesn't get as much attention as neighborhoods like Lyon Village (which don't have as many parks and trails). What am I missing here?

To be fair, Kenmore does have a lot of ESL students. That affects the quality of instruction for the other students b
-Kenmore parent