Possible move to N. Virginia, any help/info. on particular areas?

[Keishag]

Hi! I have a quick question I'm hoping some of yall may be able to help me with.

My husband is considering a job in Herndon, VA. We are currently in Fort Worth Texas and have been in Texas our whole lives, so this would be a HUGE move for our family. We have a 7 year old boy and a 5 year old girl and we're also trying for #3.
Schools are a major factor for me. I want an area with great public schools or reasonable private (they are currently in public). Our income would be about $130-150K/year. I'm a stay at home mom and a great neighborhood with other kids is also important to me. I don't want anything in the city. I'm a country girl and love country living. So my question is, are there any reasonably priced areas around Herndon that you would reccommend with the things that are important to me in mind? My husband would be ok with about to an hour commute, obviously the less the better.
I've read mixed things on Manassas (sp?). It looks like a great area with possibly some houses that we'd like but I've read there are some bad areas.

Anyways I'm sorry for the book long post. If you have any ideas of some surrounding suburbs or any other info on the area I'd love to hear it. I've never known anybody from VA and know nothing about the state.
Thank you in advance!

 

[MJMouse]

Fairfax county schools are, as a rule, wonderful schools. There are some areas that are better than others, but I don't know the Herndon/Chantilly/Vienna area all that well.

My sis-in-law just bought a beautiful house out in Aldie, VA (Loudoun County). Not sure about the schools, but there are some amazing housing communities there (some are South Riding, Stone Ridge).

Generally, the farther west you go, the better the housing prices get.

The only caution I have for you is that affordable housing is relative. You are still looking at $400k+ for a newer, 3+ bedroom, 2 car garage type house. We won't even talk about the cost for the same in Eastern Fairfax County...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hi--we bought a house in April and will be making the move in 3 weeks.

I found thta the realtors have their hands tied with suggestions due to fair housing laws. It kind of stinks. They can't tell you squat.

Manassas has some pockets but it was a bear to find them. We did find something Manassas though. I do know our neighborhood and a couple of others were considered good pockets. Pm me if you want the names. I'll have to track down the names of the neighborhood we did buy in.

I don't consider ourselves picky by any stretch. We weren't looking for a McMansion---but it was a challenge until we started looking at a certain price level. That is for sure. Your realistic budget kind of determines where you can look.

Great places in manassas to look are in the vicinity of Prince William Parkway. Gainesville and haymarket were lovely. Our budget only allowed for townhomes in that area. Coworkers of my dh also
suggested chantilly. But that is fairfax county and out of our budget.

if you want "country living"---fauquier county fit that bill. That will work if your dh is willing to commute. (it would have been 30 minutes each way for dh for the homes we looked at. A bit too far to suit our needs.)

We homeschool but are zoned for Ellis elementary. It appears to be a good school by their website. But I know nothing personally about it.

If we had the budget, I would have preferred fairfax county. But we would have had to budget for 400k and higher to get what we needed again---not trying for a mcmansion!)

home prices are crazy! And for that area--they have risen since our search while my Florida home continues to lose value. I don't get it!

We also found that short sales were in bad shape and for the most part, foreclosures were in better condition.

Any questions---pm me.

 

[Christine]

For the more rural feel, I think you should look in Loudoun County for your commute. Ashburn specifically is very well rated; however, might be getting a bit too built up for your tastes.

I like most areas of Fairfax County but it is very congested. Schools are good (as are Loudoun schools).

I would stay away from Herndon. It's not awful or anything just not the best choice. Reston is okay but their school's get knocked for some reason.

I live in Prince William County (eastern side) which is just an okay area but it's what I could afford at the time. Loudoun County seems to be the up and coming area and I've heard only good things about it from its residents.

 

[Christine]

OP, here is a good forum to visit especially if this becomes a done deal.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/northern-virginia/

 

[pioneer89]

Since no one has mentioned it, you might want to take a look "Over the Mountain". Clarke County is a wonderful place to live.

It's reasonably rural, you'd likely pay about $50k-$100k less for the same house/land then you would closer in to D.C.

Commute to Herndon would be about 45 minutes, depending on where in the county you are.

The schools are very good. Taxes are reasonable. Politics in the county are very conservative, but also very polite.

I love it here.

 

[Keishag]

Thank you so much for the great info! This is so very helpful. I already feel a bit alone and we haven't even made any decisions yet. Just not having a single family or friend tie is so new to me.

I think our budget would be under $300k. I'm not even really sure if it would be that high until I'm able to know his exact pay, etc. I will start looking up some of the areas yall have mentioned and see what I can find. Thank you all again and those that have said I could pm with more questions I probably definately will if/when this becomes more of a reality.

 

[disfan07]

I lived in Fairfax County for almost 20 years (I was born there) and I went through the Fairfax County school system.

All Fairfax County schools are wonderful but there are some that are better than others.

I lived in a neighborhood called Chantilly Highlands which was basically 15 minutes to Dulles airport (Fairfax County/Loudon County border)

Personally, if he is working in herndon, I would not move to Loudon County. I know a lot of people who work in that area and live in Loudon because it was cheaper but they regret it because of the commute. The majority of people living in Loudon are headed the same direction (towards the DC area --Herndon,Reston, Arlington, DC, etc) and with construction it can get really bad but obviously everyone has their own opinion about that.

Houses....now there is going to be a big discrepency in house prices in Fairfax County. Our house was a 3 bdrm, 3.5bth 3500sq ft (including basement) and back in 1997 when we bought it, we were already paying over $200,000 for it. Even in the midst of the market slump (fall 2008) we still got almost $600,000 for the house when we sold it.
For houses, once you find out your husbands work location plus what you would like to spend, I would definitely recommend getting in touch with a realtor in the area to get an idea. Once you get an idea of possible areas and house prices, I would come back here and ask about those specific areas (Fairfax County is a big area...as with everywhere there are places you want to live and places you would prefer to avoid).
I would go on realtor.com just to get and idea of what prices are. In my neighborhood you would be able to maybe get a townhouse for $300,000 but no single family homes.

The rule is usually, the farther away (south or west) from DC you go, the cheaper the houses. My dads advice to anyone who is moving to northern virginia is to make the commute from where you want to buy during the normal work hours because my dad had a bunch of coworkers in virginia who were miserable because of their commute. They got cheaper housing but were not happy.

What you have to remember about Fairfax County is that the median income in the area is over $120,000 (at least it was last year) so housing and COL is going to high as well.

If you have anymore questions feel free to PM me

 

[Tina]

You may get lucky and find what you're looking for in a single family home in the Gainesville/Bristow area. I've been in Bristow for well over 10 years now and I really like it. I'm close enough to the "city" for work and recreation, yet its a quieter lifestyle out near the country. While most single family homes are over $300k here, there are a few within your budget. It never hurts to look.

 

[mikehn]

Leesburg, Fredericksburg

 

[Tina]

Leesburg, Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg would we well over a 2 hour commute to Herndon.

 

[Fabinva]

Bristow in Prince William County is a relatively new neighborhood, great for families and good schools as well.

 

[Hoodie]

Thank you so much for the great info! This is so very helpful. I already feel a bit alone and we haven't even made any decisions yet. Just not having a single family or friend tie is so new to me.

I think our budget would be under $300k. I'm not even really sure if it would be that high until I'm able to know his exact pay, etc. I will start looking up some of the areas yall have mentioned and see what I can find. Thank you all again and those that have said I could pm with more questions I probably definately will if/when this becomes more of a reality.

It would definitely be hard to get a single family home for less than 300k in N. VA. There are some foreclosures around and "fixer uppers" but it's a very small and competive market. You can check realtor.com for some current listings. also, longandfoster.com has a map search that I found helpful.