Tell Me About Living in Washington, D.C.

[BridgetBordeaux]

If you want to pass the time waiting for your offer, go to realtor.com or some other real estate website and look over houses, neighborhoods, and asking/transaction prices. As soon as you get the transfer offer and accept it you will want to contact an agent and get a feel for what housing options might work for you. We dealt with high house prices by buying a smaller house than we were used to but knew we would not be in the area forever. We viewed it as a stepping stone to climbing the career ladder.

 

[Jennia]

But to most other people out there, living in that area IS D.C. Just like we live "in Seattle" to most who ask, because there are still some out there who haven't heard of Tacoma.

Or, if you say Tacoma when you're in/near DC, people think you live in Maryland and have forgotten how to spell where you live and have forgotten to add the Park to it.

So you say Seattle and narrow it down if needed. Same with DC. Welcome to living in a big city with lots of living spaces around it!

We just moved from Tacoma to Maryland, and get this ALL THE TIME! We've only been here a month but have already learned to say Seattle, ha ha.
As for living in the DC area, I lived in Fairfax when I was in grad school and loved it. Closer to DC, not so much, that traffic gives me major anxiety. Alexandria is also beautiful, and close enough to everything that you can still commute. Yes, housing is pricey, but there are so many opportunities in the area (free zoo, great metro system, authors at the Smithsonian in the summer, great restaurants, American Girl at Tyson's Corner, etc).

 

[natenapril]

We moved to the DC area last year thanks to the military. I find some of the posts here amusing. Particularly, the one that said you need to make 180,000 a year to make it here. That's just not the case for military families living in the area. Right now we live on base but are actively searching for houses to buy in Calvert County, Maryland.

Personally, the Maryland side feels less "concrete jungle" and has a better opportunity to buy a home on an acre+ lot. Down here in Virginia it seems to stay under 400,000 you find more houses in a subdivision with small lot.
The opportunities here are amazing for my children. We have done so much just in the year we have been here but haven't even scratched the surface.

 

[Eureka]

We moved to the DC area last year thanks to the military. I find some of the posts here amusing. Particularly, the one that said you need to make 180,000 a year to make it here. That's just not the case for military families living in the area. Right now we live on base but are actively searching for houses to buy in Calvert County, Maryland.

Personally, the Maryland side feels less "concrete jungle" and has a better opportunity to buy a home on an acre+ lot. Down here in Virginia it seems to stay under 400,000 you find more houses in a subdivision with small lot.
The opportunities here are amazing for my children. We have done so much just in the year we have been here but haven't even scratched the surface.

You can get a lot of house for not a ton of money in Calvert, at least as compared to Charles Co. where we live. I have several friends who have moved to the Owings area from my neighborhood in the last year or so. Depends on how far out you want to be. Good luck house hunting!

 

[valee]

I love living in NoVa, even though I work in Maryland near College Park. I leave for work at 6 am, and it takes 30 minutes, and my afternoon commute is around 45 minutes - 1 hour. I'm lucky to live near Burke only about a mile from the Beltway.
Living in Fairfax means a reasonable 20 minutes trip down to the Mall to get to the Smithsonian or the Kennedy Center. My coworkers who live in Maryland have to drive through DC to get to the museums, and most of the Marylanders don't seem to go very often. I also enjoy being able to get in my car on a Saturday morning and be in Williamsburg in about 2 1/2 hours, or in Baltimore's Inner Harbor or Little Italy in just over an hour.
And the autotrain down to Florida leaves from Lorton, so you can pack up the car, load it up on the train, and be in Orlando the next morning.

 

[bluesaturn]

I definitely wanted to apologize for referring to NOVA as DC. The two posters above were correct in that I am calling the entire metroplex DC. Since I'm not familiar with the area, I just lumped it all together. We (and all our friends) did the same thing with Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, etc. If we do move there, hopefully I'll learn the lingo quickly so as not to make a similar mistake.

Don't worry, everyone around here considers it the DC area. But people in DC tend to get all testy when the NOVA and MD people do so, despite the fact that most of the metroplex is made up on VA and MD residents. In fact, the newly transplanted living in DC seem to have the biggest issue with this, which I find hilarious since a native in MD has a lot better understanding of DC culture than someone who just got to DC from across the country.

I think the DC area is a great place to live, I grew up there (although I'm not there now) and plan on raising a family there. I think MD and NOVA have pretty different feels, with NOVA being much more concrete jungle as someone said and the traffic is worse. Your husband would be pretty deep into VA so MD might not be much of an option for you in terms of housing (especially east of Montgomery county). But you should consider MD if possible.

I think the area is a great place to raise children. It's really diverse, there's so many great opportunities for culture, and people in general are really well educated. Whether or not you like it probably depends who you are. I am living in a very small city with a small town feel right now and I know I never want to raise my children in a small town. But other people love small towns.

I think most people must like the DC area because I think you see a good majority of kids raised there staying around as adults.

 

[delmar411]

We live in NoVA. I hate it. Can't wait to leave here. People don't know how to drive, traffic is a nightmare due to old infrastructure, housing is expensive and not even that great, the weather is awful, and there is still quite a lot of "old south" mentality going on that I find quite off putting.

That said, I don't think I could live in Indiana either, so...

Just FYI, you will hear a lot about how good Fairfax schools are. Well, this year, the district is operating under a serious budget shortfall that is projected to get worse. I find Fairfax county to be grossly overrated. And, the communities close to Tyson's are really quite adult oriented, with a lot of apartments and condos attached to "lifestyle entertainment complexes." The single family houses in that area are $750k and up. Rents will run in the $3000-5000 range for SFH in that area. You can look to western Prince William or Eastern Loudon County for more affordable living and great schools, but that comes with a price. The commutes are a MAJOR thing to factor.

We moved from NoVa out to WV panhandle and then to IN. IN is much better. LOL. I grew up in Fairfax and was priced out of there as an adult, which pushed me out to Leesburg and then even farther out to Harpers Ferry.

OP, not sure where in IN you are but the salary that was really comfortable in IN wasn't even enough to rent a house/townhouse in Nova. I would not trust COL calculators. Depending on what he makes in IN, he'd need a huge increase to make it in Nova.

And if he is working in Tyson's then MD isn't really an option if he ever wants to be home. I'd look for something off the toll road, probably someplace with direct access to the road without having to get on too many other side roads. Maybe look out in Ashburn and Leesburg.

 

[DLgal]

I am going to go ahead and put this out there.

On one income, assuming a family of 4, you would need to be making at least $100k to be comfortable here. Closer to $150k is better.

 

[ssawka]

I am surprised to hear PPs saying NOVA is much more "concrete jungle". When I first moved here (17 years ago ), I lived in Montgomory county. I only lived there for a year, and I felt like it was just the opposite. I moved to VA because it felt much more spread out to me. In Montgomory county I felt like everything was really close together. It felt like neighborhoods just grew into each other. In NOVA you still have a fairly good separation of areas. Now granted you do have "high rises" in Arlington and Tyson's, but I live along the Fairfax County Parkway and here everything is still "Green".

 

[DLgal]

I am surprised to hear PPs saying NOVA is much more "concrete jungle". When I first moved here (17 years ago ), I lived in Montgomory county. I only lived there for a year, and I felt like it was just the opposite. I moved to VA because it felt much more spread out to me. In Montgomory county I felt like everything was really close together. It felt like neighborhoods just grew into each other. In NOVA you still have a fairly good separation of areas. Now granted you do have "high rises" in Arlington and Tyson's, but I live along the Fairfax County Parkway and here everything is still "Green".

I agree. We basically live out in farm country. And we are only about 30 min from DC. We are deep into suburbia, but concrete jungle doesn't describe most suburbs at all. Tyson's Corner is definitely concrete jungle, but not many people actually live there. It's mostly commercial development.

 

[bluesaturn]

I am surprised to hear PPs saying NOVA is much more "concrete jungle". When I first moved here (17 years ago ), I lived in Montgomory county. I only lived there for a year, and I felt like it was just the opposite. I moved to VA because it felt much more spread out to me. In Montgomory county I felt like everything was really close together. It felt like neighborhoods just grew into each other. In NOVA you still have a fairly good separation of areas. Now granted you do have "high rises" in Arlington and Tyson's, but I live along the Fairfax County Parkway and here everything is still "Green".

Haha I definitely wasn't thinking Montgomery county at all. I was thinking Howard, Anne Arundel, PG (away from the beltway), southern Maryland. Honestly, I think Montgomery county and the Tyson's/Fairfax areas might be their own entity which is very concrete jungle. And then there's the rest of us, in both states, living in suburbia

 

[Swimalie]

I agree. We basically live out in farm country. And we are only about 30 min from DC. We are deep into suburbia, but concrete jungle doesn't describe most suburbs at all. Tyson's Corner is definitely concrete jungle, but not many people actually live there. It's mostly commercial development.

Same here. Although I'm sad to see my area tearing down more and more trees for more concrete.

 

[2Kds2K9]

OP don't let others scare you away. I'm about as "native" as they come and one of the few who can say, "I remember when".

NOVA is a great area. Yes, it is expensive, but I feel you get what you pay for. We have great schools, parks, public libraries and many other services. DC is close by with many free museums; the beach is an easy 3 hour drive away and the mountains are in our backyard.

If your DH is going to work in Tysons, then I would recommend looking for homes in the Fairfax, Vienna, Oakton, Great Falls, Reston and Herndon areas. Homes are pricey and will get lower the further you go out. I would advise strongly against going south to areas like Springfield, Woodbridge, Quantico, and as far as Fredricksburg. Nothing against those areas, but the commute is HELL. Interstate 95 can be a living nightmare! One of the big problems around here is the weather. Being such a melting pot, we have people from all over the world and many have never seen snow, much less driven in it. During our last storm, it took my neighbor over 6 hours to go 15 miles. I think he could have walked and been home faster.

There is also a huge difference during the summer as many are on vacation. Once school starts again, the traffic starts up again and is terrible.

Get with a good realtor and really ask questions. If you get a chance to visit the area before you have to move, make sure you watch the local news and catch the traffic reports. That will help you the most.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[ssawka]

If your DH is going to work in Tysons, then I would recommend looking for homes in the Fairfax, Vienna, Oakton, Great Falls, Reston and Herndon areas. Homes are pricey and will get lower the further you go out. I would advise strongly against going south to areas like Springfield, Woodbridge, Quantico, and as far as Fredricksburg. Nothing against those areas, but the commute is HELL. Interstate 95 can be a living nightmare!

I agree about living in south county, unless you can afford to take the HOT lanes.

 

[ssawka]

Sorry, duplicate post.