Help me Find a Home in VA, MD DC area and still afford Disney!!

[Donnaksmj]

See if ZipRealty is in one of those areas. My husband works for them in Ma and that company rebates their buyers 20% of their commission.......use can use that check for your trip!!!!! Good Luck!

 

[goofyforlife]

Hi Rhia, I was looking at the border cities of WV. How are the schools there?

If you want to live in WV and drive into DC be prepared for a LONG HELLiSH commute every day.... (over 2 hrs or so one way if there's a wreck; and there's usually guaranteed to be one at least once a week; sometimes twice)

I drove from Frederick only to Gaithersburg (25 miles) and many times it was taking one to two hours. DC is like twice that distance so one can only imagine.....plus traffic is worse past where i got off the highway.

Not for the faint of heart.....

Alot of the WV people take the MARC train into dc. My husband used to see the WV peeps sleeping in the AM or drinking in the PM. (however MARC only runs "in" in the morning and "out" in the PM.) If you have kids you'd need to have a back up plan for emergencies and such to get home mid-day.

 

[mrsltg]

Oh you poor thing! It is expensive here. I have lived here for 10 years and though the market has softened a little, in my area at least, it's not making much of a difference. I live in Eastern Prince William County about a mile off of 95. I commute during rush hour everyday and utilize the HOV lanes by either slugging (non-traditional carpooling) or taking the bus (10 tokens on PRTC cost $40 and you can use Metro cards to pay for tokens). My commute door-to-door is less than an hour unless there is a major problem. I live 25 miles outside of the city. I live in a single family home that is now about $600k (bought at about $380k.) There are single family carriage homes in my development which are going in the mid-threes. These are basically separated town homes with a small yard. They are very nice and quite comfortable. I would caution you against moving to MD or Western Virginia because of the lack of HOV to make a quick commute. The places you could afford in either of those areas do not have a quick method of transit that is inexpensive.

If you would like more specific information I would be happy to help you. Please feel free to PM me. I know a great realtor who is very familiar with the area and would be able to help you out.

Good luck and welcome to the neighborhood!!!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Thanks all for all the great advice!

I have alot to consider, but I really appreciate all the details, they help me think more clearly about the situation.

 

[pbharris4]

You could probably still get something (TH or SF) here in that price range..it is climbing though. You can jump on the VRE (Virginia Railway Express) for most of your trip. My neighbors work at The Pentagon, one works at The Capital Bldg. and others work at Dept. of Agriculture, etc. There's Pilots out of D.C. or Richmond that live here as we are right between the 2 cities. iT is a longer commute. A lot of couples w/ kids have 1 who commutes and 1 who works somewhere in the area. Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties have good schools (and it's one hour closer to Disney). I-95 if you drive can be pretty bad. There was a bad accident earlier today (southbound) that had traffic backed up 30 miles! DH was glad he does the train. It's not as crowded here yet. I agree that it might be better to rent a home for a year and then buy. By then you should have a good grip on the area and decide what's best for your family.

My DH's commute: leaves here at 5:30 gets on the VRE leaves a second car at the Woodbridge VRE lot and then drives 35 minutes to Chantilly (no train service there). He gets to work between 7-7:30am. He leaves work at 4pm and walks in the door around 6. Fridays he leaves work earlier and gets home earlier. Long commute but he naps on the train or does his schoolwork and he says it's better than when he had to drive to Springfield and back everyday. We considered moving, but love our area sooo much, love our house, we have a great backyard, and love the schools and DH wouldn't be able to ride the train.

Some home builders: Ryan Homes, Ryland Homes, Beazer Homes, Toll Brothers (real expensive), Lee's Hill Contstruction, Tricord Homes, J. Hall Homes, Childress Homes, Richmond American, NV Homes, there are so many more.

Happy House Hunting wherever you decide to go!

 

[Jessmela]

Personally, I wouldn't commute to DC from WV or even Calvert Co. Traffic is too bad, and you couldn't pay me enough to want to spend that much time in the car.

I moved from Greenbelt, MD (about 20 minutes north east of DC in rush hour) to Herndon, VA last year since I got a job in Reston, VA. I commuted for a month before we could move and some nights it took 2 hours for the 35 mile trip around the Beltway

I really liked Greenbelt and if I was still working in DC, we wouldn't have moved. We don't have kids, so schools weren't a very big factor for us though. But there are some good schools in Greenbelt, including a Goddard Elementary-- a French immersion school which is supposed to be great. In Greenbelt you could probably get a nice size townhouse in your price range. We sold our 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhome there last year for $298,000 and I'm sure it's gone down since then.

For comparison, we now live in Fairfax county in a much smaller 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo. We bought for $367,000 a year ago, it's now worth about $348,000 (I just keep telling myself we'll be here for several more years and it doesn't matter what the current price is ). Our property taxes were a bit more proportionately in VA, but our income taxes in VA are a lot less than MD.

Having worked at a college that had teacher certification programs that catered to DC public school teachers-- I would never, never, never put a child in public school in DC. I'm sure there are some wonderful teachers in the district, but I saw way too many awful ones to ever consider it.

 

[Microcell]

My BIL works blocks away from the White House, and they live in Baltimore MD. They have four kids and my sister does not work, so it must be affordable. The question is, would you want to live in Baltimore?

 

[Marshay]

Sorry this is OT but I wanted to reach an audience that may have missed an upcoming DIS meet for those in DC/MD/VA on May 19th at the Natl Zoo.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1401243

As for OP, just remember driving around here is about 30mph during rush hour (if you are lucky!), so think 20 miles = 40 minutes (or more)...it's just an approximation ...

 

[Selket]

I live in Montgomery Co. not too far from 270 and closer in than Gaithersburg and there are still houses around me going for $330K (not many though). I would NOT live so far out because of the commute (not sure where your job will be). I really can't fathom how folks handle a 2-4 hour R/T commute daily. You can buy more home farther out but at a trade-off with the commute.

I highly suggest looking at closer in. My neighborhood is post-WW2 and has some funky and cool houses and good schools and we're about 2 miles from the metro. I'm happy to give you more details if you want to PM me - most houses are in the 400K range but there are some in the 300's.

 

[disneyfor3]

A little bit of a commute to DC but a nice central location with good schools are Severna Park and Arnold. Yes, houses can get very pricey here but you can find an older home that needs a little TLC in your price range. I used to commute to the DC area and it took around 35 to 40 minutes one way. The area is just north of Annapolis and 30 minutes south of Baltimore so lots for kids to do. The zipcodes are 21146 and 21012 if you would like to do a search of homes.

 

[ldo]

I live in VA about 20 miles S of DC on I-95. If you think you might only be in DC for 3-5 years, I would rent. Because the market cooled last year, there are TONS of really nice houses for rent. You can easily get a 3 year rental contract. And the rents DO NOT match the prices of the mortgages if you bought!
For ex., in an upscale golf course community, you can rent a 3500 sq ft 4 BR home with granite, etc. for about $2500 a month. The house sells for $800K now and used to sell for $900K 18 months ago.

In the $2000 a month range, you can still get a very nice house in a good school district in my area (eastern prince william county, va)---but for $2500 you can live like a KING.
Search 22192 for rentals--also in woodbridge/lake ridge area. (IF you are interested, I can give you the low-down on schools---there is a difference, even within this zip code.)

$300K will not buy you much at all---townhouse, if that. I would rent and live in a great neighborhood with good schools unless you KNEW 100% that you werew not moving for at least 5+ years.

 

[punkin]

I live in VA about 20 miles S of DC on I-95. If you think you might only be in DC for 3-5 years, I would rent. Because the market cooled last year, there are TONS of really nice houses for rent. You can easily get a 3 year rental contract. And the rents DO NOT match the prices of the mortgages if you bought!
For ex., in an upscale golf course community, you can rent a 3500 sq ft 4 BR home with granite, etc. for about $2500 a month. The house sells for $800K now and used to sell for $900K 18 months ago.

In the $2000 a month range, you can still get a very nice house in a good school district in my area (eastern prince william county, va)---but for $2500 you can live like a KING.
Search 22192 for rentals--also in woodbridge/lake ridge area. (IF you are interested, I can give you the low-down on schools---there is a difference, even within this zip code.)

$300K will not buy you much at all---townhouse, if that. I would rent and live in a great neighborhood with good schools unless you KNEW 100% that you werew not moving for at least 5+ years.

I agree 100% Why buy in a declining market? Wait a year or so until you are sure you will be here for a while. Then you will have a better idea of what you want anyway.

 

[Kay1]

Today's articles on the Housing Bubble Blog feature Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. You should look them over before you consider buying.

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/

 

[Keishag]

I realize this is a very old post, but I'm looking for all of the info on VA I can find right now. I'm wondering if anybody can tell me if the housing situation is still the same? Would it still be a better idea to rent a home then buy right now?

 

[VAfamily1998]

I realize this is a very old post, but I'm looking for all of the info on VA I can find right now. I'm wondering if anybody can tell me if the housing situation is still the same? Would it still be a better idea to rent a home then buy right now?

Hi! I live in Virginia. I think the OP was written in 2007, and I think prices did, in general, dip lower---but I *think* the worst (from a homeowners point of view) may be over. Homes in my neighborhood are lower priced than they were a few years ago, but they don't last long on the market, at all. Actually I was at a dinner party the other night, and someone mentioned that a house near them listed at $425 but sold at $460...I've actually heard similar about a few homes in my neighborhood--that they end up selling for more than asking price.

What part of VA were you looking to move to?

 

[Swimalie]

I realize this is a very old post, but I'm looking for all of the info on VA I can find right now. I'm wondering if anybody can tell me if the housing situation is still the same? Would it still be a better idea to rent a home then buy right now?

Depends on where you are looking. Housing prices on our neighborhood are starting to go up. I'm about 30 miles west of DC.

 

[Keishag]

Thank you for that bit of info. My husband has an opputunity to work in Herndon VA. I posted on the community board about then but then used the search to pull up all old threads regarding VA and this one popped up.

From what I gathered over there I should be looking in the Loudon county since Fairfax seems to be a bit more costly.

 

[Jessmela]

Thank you for that bit of info. My husband has an opputunity to work in Herndon VA. I posted on the community board about then but then used the search to pull up all old threads regarding VA and this one popped up.

From what I gathered over there I should be looking in the Loudon county since Fairfax seems to be a bit more costly.

I live in Herndon and I think our housing market has just about reached bottom and is starting to rebound. I would take a close look at the schools if you have kids. In general, Fairfax County schools have a better reputation than Loudoun County schools but it does vary depending on individual schools. Neither is a bad district by any means.

I'd also be very careful to consider the commute involved. The houses are a bit cheaper in Loudoun Co than in Herndon, but if you factor in the commute time it may be worth the extra cost. There's a toll road that's faster but expensive-- I think it's up to around $5 each way during rush hour now. Otherwise there's only a few roads that go out to most places, like Route 7, which get totally backed up during rush hour. So even though you may only be looking a few miles difference, you could be looking at drastically different drive times (there's really no good public transportation between Herndon/Loudoun Co.).

 

[vicki_c]

Hi Jessica!

Zillow says my house is worth $5K more than last month - woo hoo! It has been trending up for the past few months. Only $125K more to go and I'll be back to even with what we bought for!

And I would agree -- you really CANNOT understand the commuting issue until you are here dealing with it every day. I happen to live near Annapolis, and for a short time, I commuted to Herndon 3 days/week. I offered to do it when I took a new position with my company, thinking it would be okay. I lasted for about 5 months and that was only 3 days/week (although people do it every day, I could not). Luckily my manager found a place closer to home to stick me, and when I left that manager, I now work at home full time except for a few visits to my company office, which is in Dulles next to the airport. I went over for a meeting about 2 months ago, and it took me 2 hours to get there in the morning and 3 hours to get home in the afternoon.

And it's not just about distance, but about WHAT roads you will be traveling and in what direction. My friend lived 7 miles from his office near Tyson's and he told me it took him over an hour to commute more days than not.

 

[Jessmela]

Hi Vicki-- I'm scared to look... the prices I put here in 2007 sound so lovely now.