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I highly recommend West Springfield -- the Cardinal Forest neighborhood in particular. I commute from there to Tysons and my commute is pretty reliably 45 minutes (I leave around 7:15). Schools are excellent, kids can walk to the elementary, middle and high schools, neighborhood is older with beautiful mature trees and a great mix of people. One of the highlights of our lives here is our local swim club. That's a really huge thing in the summer -- all the kids are on the swim and/or dive team. They spend their entire summers outside, getting loads of exercise and fresh air. It's great for the parents too -- we've made so many wonderful friends there. Can't recommend it highly enough!
Thanks for all these great comments. Super helpful!
I am finding older houses around 2000SF in places like Fairfax Station, Fairfax, Springfield and Annandale. Any thoughts on those areas?
Annandale and Fairfax are closer to Tysons than Springfield or Fairfax Station. I'm quite familiar with Annandale (22003 zip code). There are definitely some nice neighborhoods in your price range - for example, Sleepy Hollow Woods and parts of Tall Oaks, Truro and Wakefield Forest.
Calling Annandale "blighted" could be viewed as hyperbole. It's really the fact that the shopping areas around Route 236 and Columbia Pike have a tired, 1960s suburbia vibe, and some of the garden apartments off Route 236 right inside the Beltway are a bit run-down. There are a lot of Korean businesses in Annandale, including some very bakeries and restaurants, and a fair number of Hispanic day laborers who live in garden apartment complexes off Route 236 right inside the Beltway and hang out at the local 7-11 stores. So it doesn't have the same upscale vibe than you'd find in, say, Vienna or Ashburn, and it was all built at a time when "walkability" was not a major priority. But there aren't widespread areas of abandonment or empty strip malls in Annandale, like you come across in so many parts of the country that have been hit hard by the recession. Income levels in most parts of Annandale are quite high compared to national averages.
It's fairly common for C-D posters to advise people looking at Annandale to live in the section of Annandale outside the Beltway in the Woodson HS district. There are also some nice areas inside the Beltway like Sleepy Hollow Woods; the main difference is that the inside-the-Beltway schools are going to have more lower-income kids than schools in the Woodson pyramid. FWIW, the kids in Sleepy Hollow Woods will be attending a brand-new elementary school next year.
You're absolutely right, it was a hyperbole. It is a relatively more forgotten part of the county is perhaps how I should have put that. At the end of the day fairfax is a very affluent area so it definitely is not central detroit, but relative to Merrifield, Vienna, Fairfax, Reston, Herndon, Mclean, etc its probably the more lower income part of the county and probably not the best area to let kids run around. I grew up in Annandale when I was a really small kid and it was ok then but its really car centric now, never been to the parts you were talking about so I should prolly keep an open mind.
You're absolutely right, it was a hyperbole. It is a relatively more forgotten part of the county is perhaps how I should have put that. At the end of the day fairfax is a very affluent area so it definitely is not central detroit, but relative to Merrifield, Vienna, Fairfax, Reston, Herndon, Mclean, etc its probably the more lower income part of the county and probably not the best area to let kids run around. I grew up in Annandale when I was a really small kid and it was ok then but its really car centric now, never been to the parts you were talking about so I should prolly keep an open mind.
Annandale covers a fair amount of territory. The areas right inside the Beltway that include the garden apartment complexes near Annandale HS are among the lowest-income parts of the county. Other parts of Annandale are fairly affluent, certainly in national terms and even compared to other parts of Fairfax as well. So, for example, the census tract that includes the Wakefield Forest and Truro neighborhoods has a median income of around $138,000 per the latest ACS, which is higher than most of Merrifield or the Town of Vienna. The census tract that includes Sleepy Hollow Woods (inside-the-Beltway) has a median income of around $129,000, higher than most of Reston. And so on.
I wouldn't be the least bit concerned letting my kids run around Annandale. It was car-centric in the 1960s and is car-centric today, and it's not particularly close to a Metro station (guess the Dunn Loring station in Merrifield is closest). It's fair to say that it's not going to get the boost that places like Dunn Loring/Merrifield will get from new developments like the Mosaic District, but its proximity to DC and Tysons are advantages for those who don't mind driving, but aren't prepared to endure a really long commute. Of course, some people do want to be close to the Metro or to live in areas where there are no lower-income residents, or don't want to live in an area where a lot of the merchants are immigrants, and they'd be well-advised to look elsewhere.
There is no chance you can live in Ashburn and get to Tysons in 45 minutes. I lived in Herndon and it took 50-60 minutes without any incidents using the toll road most days (except for the middle of summer when schools and some feds are off).
My experience with the Herndon-Tysons commute time has been different than this. I lived in Herndon for a couple years (off Centreville Rd) and commuted to Tysons (Gallows Rd near Rt 7/495 intersection), and it rarely took me 50 minutes. Most days were less than a half hour. I don't have a consistent morning routine, so the time I traveled varied but I don't remember it being that bad most days unless there was a major incident.
We currently live off Fairfax County Parkway on the Reston/Herndon border and my boyfriend still commutes to Tysons (same areas as described above) and it doesn't usually take more than a half hour.
I can't comment on the commute time from Ashburn because I don't know how much that adds (and since Ashburn seems to be a pretty big area, I would assume the specific location could make quite a difference as well).
There are many neighborhoods in the Western part of Fairfax County that would work for you - look in zip codes 22033 (we live in the Greenbriar neighborhood, which is so full of kids, it supports TWO elementary schools - East and West), 20171 (we liked the area feeding into Oak Hill ES, the neighborhoods are Chantilly Highlands and Franklin Farm) and 20151 (Lees Corner ES area is good).
You definitely can find a 4 BR in these neighborhoods in your price range, and quite a few of the people who live in these areas commute to Tysons. I know the HS is not one of the "top 5" in the county, but I also think a lot of the top schools nonsense is about the ses/demographics of the student body. A good student is going to perform well at any school, and mid-level HS in FCPS=top notch HS in 95% of all other school districts.
Wow, JEB77 is knowledgeable. I wanted to throw my two cents in and say that Ashburn and the surrounding areas seem terrific for families. However, you will be commuting to Tysons, and I always vote for the shorter commute over the bigger house. Around here, a short commute is one of the greatest lifestyle improvements you can make.
$540K makes it tough, but if I were you I would not rule out looking at Wolf Trap, Vienna, Oakton, Falls Church, and the City of Fairfax, all of which are family oriented and offer a better commute to Tysons.
@NOVA_Lurker Are you sure about those times or are those 30 minute times on Fridays (less Federals) or during the summer? Here comes the traffic engineer side of me;
The toll road typically runs at 99% capacity of peak flow, on days when there is an additional thousand people, any kind of construction obstructions, or an accident which is atleast once a week somewhere along the toll road, it makes a huge difference. It also makes a huge difference in the winter because of the suns height in the sky during rush hour, and it matters if you leave at 6:55 or 7:10.
Theres a thousand different factors, but if you look at a peak rush hour there is no chance you can get from Herndon and get to Tysons in 30 minutes. Average person with a 9-5 will probably take like I said 45 minutes on average (with portions of the year taking about 25-35 minutes, but these are the exception not the rule).
From Ashburn to Herndon on the toll road isnt the issue, its Waxpool which is a disaster in the mornings and evenings, that alone to get to the toll road will take atleast 15 minutes from the subdivision portions of Ashburn (I assume you dont want to live at Redskins Park or Dulles Office Park).
Just giving a heads up, if you think from Ashburn to Tysons is gonna be 45 minutes, 95% of the time you'd be wrong unless you leave at 6
My advice: spend a little time driving around the Tysons area and surrounding parts of Fairfax Co. before you decide, if you have the chance. It's hard to describe to non-residents just how truly awful the traffic is around here.
The daughter of one of my parents' friends moved to the Annandale area from Seattle with her high-ranking military husband for a two-year deployment and hated it from day one. The endless traffic congestion--not just to work, but for shopping and basically everything else--drove her nuts. Those of us who have lived here a long time get used to it, but it takes time.
JEB, what do you think of Pimmit Hills? There are homes there in the OP's price range, and it's not far from Tysons, but I don't know about the schools.
Last edited by Carlingtonian; 01-25-2012 at 12:29 PM..
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