Anonymous wrote:Pimmit Hills would be a fantastic 10-year investment. If you could scoop up an original in decent shape, just live in it then sell it as a tear-down later? ca-ching!

I would agree with this. Pimmit Hills has an odd reputation on this board but I think it could be perfect for you. Your commute to Tysons would be non-existent, it's a safe neighborhood and walkable to a shops, restaurants, parks, and a library, and easy to get into DC via car or public transportation. You're almost priced out but you could absolutely find an original house (3/1, 900? sq ft) in that range. I actually think you might be able to find something remodeled - ours is 3/2 1200ish sq ft and I'm not sure it's over $500k right now.

Much better option than the neighborhoods you mentioned in your original post, unless you are looking for 2000+ sq ft.

The neighborhood has a bit of a transitional feel right now but the location cannot be beat.

Good luck.

OP...I highly recommend Reston and I agree with others to rent first in order to get the lay of the land.

Don't live in Maryland or DC, period. You're consigning yourself to sitting on bridges for hours of your life just to get home every day. There's a big-ass river dividing Virginia from everything else, and only a handful of bridges to span it -- makes for a massive traffic bottleneck.

With your budget and commute, I'd really look at townhouses (they're not like apartments -- the dividing walls are thick enough that neighbor noise is not normally an issue). They'll be less costly for the same square footage, and far less yard maintenance. But if you are stuck on a SFH, that budget isn't going to get you anywhere close to Tysons.

Get the job first and worry about this later.

Anonymous wrote:Rule #1 - do not cross the river (so say no to Maryland)
Rule #2 - do not rely on highways (so say no to Alexandria/Kingstowne)
Rule #3 - always have a backroads route to get to work

I would look in Fairfax, Falls Church (Fairfax County portion as it will be cheaper), McLean, and maybe Arlington and Annandale

This. Sprawl in the area is only getting worse. The back roads idea is especially helpful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rule #1 - do not cross the river (so say no to Maryland)
Rule #2 - do not rely on highways (so say no to Alexandria/Kingstowne)
Rule #3 - always have a backroads route to get to work

I would look in Fairfax, Falls Church (Fairfax County portion as it will be cheaper), McLean, and maybe Arlington and Annandale

Alexandria can be a good/reasonable commute to DC. My wife used to make the drive into DC and if you go in early she made it in 30 mins or less. With traffic, about 45 mins. I'd also suggest Falls Church inside the beltway or Annandale. Trying to commute to DC from outside the beltway if you aren't taking Metro will get old real fast. Heck, even inside the beltway it can be bad.

OP will be commuting to Tyson's Corner/Falls Church. I live in Alexandria. That would not be a great commute.

I would suggest you rent and get to know the area a bit before committing to a big purchase. Bethesda is the nicest of the places you listed, but is going to be expensive. Those spots also seem like a very long commute. I would think you would want someplace walkable and with some kind of community if you are moving out alone. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:Rule #1 - do not cross the river (so say no to Maryland)
Rule #2 - do not rely on highways (so say no to Alexandria/Kingstowne)
Rule #3 - always have a backroads route to get to work

I would look in Fairfax, Falls Church (Fairfax County portion as it will be cheaper), McLean, and maybe Arlington and Annandale

Alexandria can be a good/reasonable commute to DC. My wife used to make the drive into DC and if you go in early she made it in 30 mins or less. With traffic, about 45 mins. I'd also suggest Falls Church inside the beltway or Annandale. Trying to commute to DC from outside the beltway if you aren't taking Metro will get old real fast. Heck, even inside the beltway it can be bad.

Pimmit Hills would be a fantastic 10-year investment. If you could scoop up an original in decent shape, just live in it then sell it as a tear-down later? ca-ching!

I would suggest renting for a yr then you will really know what you want to buy. Look in fairfax, Pimmit hills, Annandale

falls church, parts of fairfax/Vienna (townhouse you could afford), reston or Annandale are your best bets, I think.

good luck with the job search!

OP, I actually think you're in a fairly good position to find a SFH you like if you're willing to do something smaller (3 bed/2Ba) as opposed to needing a 4 BR+ house. And you should definitely buy where there are decent schools for re-sale, but you don't necessarily need to pay a high sticker price to get into a great schools 10 rated pyramid.

I think your best options are either trying to stay near Fairfax/Oakton/Vienna/Falls Church. I live near the edge of Fairfax City and think it's a nice, safe area with a few restaurants/shops downtown (they're working on expanding the old town area). It's also only a few miles from Mosaic District. My husband commutes to Tyson's on back roads and it takes anywhere from 25 (good day) to 45 min. Oakton has less restaurants/shopping, but is a quick drive to Maple St in Vienna and isn't too far from Tyson's.

Otherwise, a lot of people who work in Tyson's tend to look out west toward Reston.

I recommend at least spending a week out here exploring different areas if you really want to buy. Otherwise, renting is a great option until you get your bearings. Good luck!!

I live in northern PG County and work in Greenbelt. I understand you want the better property prices in PG County, but for you situation, Bowie, Lanham and Greenbelt are not going to work unless you relax your conditions some.

Contrary to the PP who thought Bowie wasn't very safe, it's fine. However, Bowie is not accessible by public transit, so you would be tied to driving. Regardless of what Google maps says, I've made the trip and from the near part of Bowie to the near part of Tyson's, it's about 45 minutes in no traffic. In a typical rush hour, it can take you over 2 hours unless you time shift to go early (arriving before 8:00) or late (arriving after 10:00).

As for the Lanham, New Carrollton area, that has the advantage of being directly on the metro's Orange line, but the trip from New Carrollton to West Falls Church is 50 minutes, with no problems, typically you'll probably be right around an hour. And that's metro time only. The time it takes to leave the house, get to Metro, park, walk to the station, wait for the train, plus the walking at the other end, will probably mean that your typical commute is minimum about 1:15. Add 10 minutes to everything if you need to switch to the silver line to get to the new Tyson's Corner station.

If you are set on PG County and willing to handle an average 1:15-1:30 commute each way, then you want to avoid the area right around the New Carrollton metro station. The houses in the area without about a mile of the metro station have higher crime rates. You want to move outside the beltway and stay north and east of the metro station. Outside the beltway and north of US-50 are generally better neighborhoods that the other direction.

While I like the northern PG County area, I agree with other PPs that this area does not suit your situation at all.

Hello, neighbor! Sort of--I grew up in Northern California and have lived in DC and commuted to the Tyson's area for more than a decade. I'd love to give you advice but it would be easier if I knew more about what kind of neighborhood you'd like.

Where are you from in CA? Where is your ideal place to live? Is space more important to you than walkability? Since you are single (and presumably not constrained by schools, right?) I'd be inclined to recommend places with more to do. Reston isn't everyone's cup of tea but I think it might be perfect for you. The Silver Line makes a Tyson's commute a breeze; there is a cute, funky lakefront center and a fancier town center. I have a friend who bought a really cute townhouse in Reston for under 400k last year. And I think Reston is a pretty safe bet for resale because of the Metro and because it's well-planned.

- Rent for a year.
- Rethink the idea that you can't share walls with neighbors.
- Don't make yourself cross a bridge into VA in the mornings.

And good luck! I hope everything works out as you hope.