We may be moving to the DC area - Any advice?

[TravelGirl]

My family and I MAY be moving to the DC area. We should have a final decision by the end of next week. I have a cousin who lives in Reston and a close friend from high school who lives in Alexandria. My husband travels a lot for work so I suspect we'll need to be within reasonable distance to National airport (he rarely uses Dulles).

We are moving from Texas with 2 Golden Retrievers, a 2 year-old and I'm due with our second at the end of May. If we have to move, I'd like to be in our new home before the baby comes.

We will need a house, not a townhouse or condo. We'll need a yard for the dogs/kids to play in. I would like at least 3 bedrooms (prefer 4), and 2+ bathrooms. An attached 2 car garage would be great but I suspect we'll be looking at older homes and a garage can not be assumed. We currently live in a neighborhood with a pool and a playground. Are neighborhoods set up like that there? We would also like to be in a good school district since we may be there long enough for our oldest to start school. Our hope is that we'll move back to TX within a few years. Are most basements finished?

Can anyone suggest areas where we should look? Is Alexandria our best choice? Is that too broad an area? What sticker shock should I expect? It seems like a 1950's house with 3-4 bedrooms will run us $450K and up. Am I wrong? I would like to find a ballpark so my husband can make sure his bosses understand what he'll need to make in order to at least closely resemble our lifestyle here. There will have to be a cost adjustment.

I know a real estate agent will be able to help us with this, as can my cousin and friend when the time comes. However, I'm not finding much on realtor.com and would like to be a little bit educated as to what we may be getting ourselves into.

Thanks, Ladies!

(Sorry about the typos. Tried to fix a few.)

[AirForceLove]

I don't have any suggestions because me, DH, and our 2 boys (20 months and 6 1/2 months) are moving to the same area and I have all the same questions you have. We are moving to the Andrews Air Force Base area in Maryland. We are currently in MI. It is such a beautiful area. Good luck!

[SingleWhiteFemale]

Bowie isn't a bad area :) PG County may be a cheaper bet than Montgomery County, Alexandria or Arlington. It is a nice suburbia area, but only a quick drive to... everywhere! 10 miles or so down route 50, and I'm in DC. Yet, I'm in a quiet, semi-secluded neighborhood (used to be really boondocks, but they've been building a new housing development around here in the last few years--houses starting at $600k, where you can reach out your windows and touch your neighbors house).

As to pricing, I would expect around $400k for a 4 bedroom/2 car attached. My neighborhood was a planned one, and it has a pool, a pond with a huge bike path around it, a whole bunch of bike paths, tennis courts, a softball field, and some nice playgrounds. I think there is a neighborhood playgroup. The association dues are around $40/month, but they are good about upkeep so the $40 is worth it. The housing market is cooling off... I know that many houses sold the same day they went up. I had a friend who saw a house in this community in the morning, immeadiately put in a bid for over asking, and was outbid in under an hour, and by the end of the day, there was a nice bidding war and the house went for a bit above asking. This was built around 12 years ago, so if you're willing to go into the $400-450k range, you can get your 4 bedroom/3 full 1 half bath/2 car attached. But, new construction will kill your budget honestly, there is a neighborhood going up a couple miles down the road, and they're nothing extremely special (they aren't tiny though) and they're going for $900k-1 mill. Yeah, woah, insane! My neighborhood is slowing down, as there is a house that has been up for over a month on the market. They're finally figuring out that people aren't going to pay $600k for a house that isn't worth that much.

Any particular reason why no townhome? There are some here with nice yards, and they are 3/4 bedrooms. A friend in this neighborhood lives in a townhome, but it is really huge--not small/cramped.

Basements being finished--toss up, really. Some are, some aren't. I know of a neighbor who has his semi-finished, and 3 who don't, just in my immeadiate area. I only know of one that is finished.

National isn't far. I'm not sure of exactly how to get there/roads, but I did do a few errands and I did go over the bridge where you can see the planes take off--they're right above you. Scary as heck when you're on the bridge and a plane is right overhead!

When are you planning on moving? I do have a close neighbor who is looking into putting his house up, and if it is in the timeframe you're looking to purchase I'll ask a few questions (please, I'd like a really nice neighbor to replace him, he's so awesome and I'll miss him!)

Schools. Bowie is a better area in this county for schools. I know that for my housing development, there are good schools. The local elementary school has won numerous Blue Ribbons. The middle school is currently overcrowded, but they've been working on it (on another note, remember the DC sniper? The kid he hit went there. The school is really safe, but that is the schools claim to fame currently). The area high school is good as well. Really, it is what the kid makes of it. I do know that this area does have a lot ofparental involvement. There is another public high school kids can go to--they must get in by grade/placement exam--that is one of the best in the country, Eleanor Roosevelt. I went there :D Some of the best athletics, and the academics are enough to knock your socks off. Internships at the USDA, FDA, JHU-Applied Physics, NASA, NIH are the norm for seniors. So, lots of opportunity in that area. There are really good private schools, too. DeMatha, Elizabeth Seton, Archbishop Spaulding to name a few. I currently go to U. Maryland College Park. It is only a 10-12 mile peaceful drive to the campus, and it is a great school (in most respects). Also, Bowie State U. is in Bowie. I wouldn't go to PGCC, the local community college, unless necessary--it is a good school, but somewhat "ghetto" with an interesting bunch of people. I took a few classes there, and it is not the best place for academic enrichment--not due to the professors, but the students. Although, I did learn a lot, but the other kids made it less than enjoyable.

Also, the county is predominately black. That is not a bad thing at all, and growing up here my entire life, I never really learned that there were different races until I hit middle school. I grew up playing with the neighborhood kids, the 2 geographically closest were Korean and black, and we were the best of friends. Very cool, learning about their cultures, but never a big deal (I read an article about this, how PG used to be a segregationist area a long while back, but just look how color-blind it is becoming. I never really thought about it growing up, but now I'm older I think it really served me well, that I appreciate everyone who is different.). Bowie is one of the most affluent counties in the nation in terms of the African American population. So, Bowie is really a huge mix of people! It is a well educated area, with people who just really want the best for their kids. Not to say we don't have our juvenile delinquents though, but it is safe.

I'd search the MLS. Here's a house (http://www.homedatabase.com/ericfigurelle/cgi-bin/aa.fcgi?+NDQ2MjA2YjhjY2Y2OWVmYzM1NzQxNWQ1MTI3MzY3M DMSlI0iZbI78etCOGgOJqjwLfZlVte4iAbS53bKEL9Q6GD9dML TRTT3aLminWguMFHKNqdQfTU%3d) just down the street in another subdivision that may be of interest to you. Nice neighborhood, although this only has a 1 car garage. This is a little bit more (http://www.homedatabase.com/ericfigurelle/cgi-bin/aa.fcgi?+YzY1ODllZjllMzAyNjFlNjA5N2M4OTU1Y2RiM2RlM jMSlI0iZbI78etCOGgOJq%2f3LfJlVte4iAbR53bKEL9Q6GD9d MLTRTT3aLminWguMFHKNqdQfTU%3d), but a 2 car garage and a really nice looking place. If you're interested in my neighborhood, PM me and I'll give you the name.

[houseblend]

Basically the further away from DC you look, the cheaper the housing. I would recommend Herdon, Ashton and Sterling. All of those are fairly close to the Dulles airport. I would stay away from Alexandria - it is closer to DC so more expensive and more traffic.

Houses are definitely a lot more expensive there than in Texas. We finally had to move away from there because of that. It's been a couple of years, so I'm not sure what the housing market has done since then. Back then, a 2250 square foot house in the areas I mentioned would go for around $450k and up. There were some townhouses starting around $250k. Pools are not as common as they are in Texas, but people do have them.

Good luck with the decision!


ETA: Oops! Just noticed you said he rarely uses Dulles (I thought you said he usually used that one). Nevermind my info then!

[andrew&shannah]

Alexandria and Arlington are the two closest areas to National Airport. Alexandria is part of the Fairfax County school district so most of those schools are considered better than many Arlington schools. As with all cities, it has its nice/not so nice areas.

Since you are looking for a house with yard + garage, you will probably want to focus on areas like Del Ray, Huntington, and closer to Springfield. In Arlington, I recommend the northern part of the city to the more southern. As for schools, I really can't comment on specifics because I don't have children in school.
If you are willing to move a little further out, there are TONS of neighborhoods in Fairfax City that would fit your description. It would probably be about 5-10 minutes further than most of the places in Alexandria with respect to the airport. Keep in mind though that the airport is metro accessible so you can always just look for an area near a metro. If you are willing to do that, Vienna is a great place to look. It is part of Fairfax County, has wonderful schools (my DH grew up there), and offers lots of neighborhoods.

Basements will be hit or miss with being finished vs unfinished. We saw A LOT of both when looking. Garages are the same way. Many of the older homes don't even have garages but some have added detached in the rear of the house.

Longandfoster.com is a good way to sort of look through and get an idea on prices. We were looking for a similar house fairly close in and instantly landed in the $600k+ range. FWIW, I moved outside of the beltway into a 4 bedroom/4 bath townhouse with a garage and paid in the $400k range. Prices have softened a bit since then however. We did find houses closer in that fell in that price range BUT they needed a lot of work or were just older than we wanted to deal with. My MIL's 1970s house with 5 bedrooms + 3 baths and 2 car garage sold for over $800k in October.

A good realtor will be invaluable to you in your search.

[dian_love]

Since you are only interested in single family homes I would say you need to expect to pay in the 600s.

We live in Gainesville 30 miles from DC and even out here a single family is 600k for an older house.

[Evie]

In Alexandria or Arlington you will not find a single family house in good condition for under $650,000. New housing for a single family home would definitely be over a million. It is even worse in the district.

Reston, however, is a pre-planned community with shopping centers and pools. I am not sure about the prices in Reston since that is pretty far from the city.

The schools in McLean are superb, but that is a very expensive area to live in. Although someone did mention Vienna, and the schools there are top notch as well.

[emmjay]

Reston is very expensive as well for a single-family home - absolute minimum is $600k for a 4br/3ba. Also, it's only 20 miles from DC, so it isn't too, too far out (I grew up there and virtually all of my friends' parents worked in DC, and we used to go downtown all of the time when I was in HS).

[nettreefrog]

I am originally from DC -- so I thought I would provide my $0.02 as well. Of course, I can only suggest areas in Maryland and DC itself --. I worked in Arlington --off of Glebe Road some years ago, and thought it was comparable to Montgomery County. Schools (good public ones) were always my major focus --and I wanted to live close in to the City (if not in the City itself).

If you are located anywhere close to Metro, your DH won't have a problem getting to National (err Reagan National). That said, you have some good options... In Maryland, I would suggest Montgomery (and Howard County --Columbia specifically) County. Within Montgomery, anything along 270 works well... Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Kensington, Rockville, and Gaithersburg... If you do choose DC, there are good schools in the NW section --Oyster, Lafayette, etc. I could pick out a few good spots in VA too --if prompted...

Other things to consider though are -- the actual proximity to the Metro (and parking there), middle schools (many elementary schools are good --but you need to examine the next level to verify that works too--even if you decide to move back, you'll still have to sell the place), community, etc.

If I can help with anything, let me know!

[TravelGirl]

Thanks everyone for your help!

Someone asked about townhouses - I guess I need to keep an open mind. However, with 2 large, young, active dogs we have to have a good sized fenced in back yard for them to play and run around. (They won't live outside but they need the space.) In my experience, the backyards that come with a townhouse are too small and I'll worry that their barking and antics will bother my neighbors more than if we were in a detached house.

After talking more to my husband, he said we shouldn't rule out areas near Dulles since he'll have some clients in that area. He thinks somewhere in the middle would be great. I'll check out Vienna and a few others.

Thanks so much for the link to property finders. You're right, anything that looks close to what we want, will be at least $600K. Definitely a bit of a shock coming from TX.

[TravelGirl]

I don't know who decided to move this thread (I'm assuming some random monitor) but, frankly, I have an issue with it.

First, I purposefully put it in Chit Chat b/c more individuals read that forum and I needed a well rounded response from multiple people, fast.

Secondly, the other area I might have put this was in All Things Home since this pertained to where we might live in the near future, not Misc. But I didn't b/c it wasn't about actually selling or buying a specific house but learning about the DC area.

Thirdly, it was always my understanding that DC was in the Northeast not the Southeast part of the US.

Vent over. Still annoyed but I guess I've gleaned enough information to get me started in my search.

[nettreefrog]

I can imagine that the prices are a bit of a shock compared to Texas. Maybe a search on realtor.com after putting in your specifics (using various zip codes in what sounds like Arlington and Fairfax) would help... Check out: http://www.co.arlington.va.us/ and http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/

Have you considered renting a house for a year? This would give you the space--and you could get to know the area before buying especially because you said that you were thinking of ultimately going back to Texas.

[andrew&shannah]

If you are willing to move closer to Dulles, then you will see a price drop in houses. It won't be HUGE but definitely a little better than trying to stay so close in.
Also, many townhomes do have yards that are fenced in. Frankly, most SHF are going to be on .5 acres max (and you will pay dearly for that!) so the difference in yard size will not be sizeable.
In my experience, the backyards that come with a townhouse are too small and I'll worry that their barking and antics will bother my neighbors more than if we were in a detached house.

The distance between SFH and Townhomes where barking was concerned is minimal in my opinion. I have lived in both and I just don't feel the average distance between the houses are enough to make a difference.

If you have a chance to visit before you really get into house hunting and move preparations, it would be good to maybe tour the area. Arm yourself with some listings and a local map and start marking off places that rate high on your list. nettreefrog's idea of renting a place for a year is a great one although you might have trouble finding someone will to rent with your 2 large dogs.

[Millie03]

Hi! And welcome (almost) to this area.

I agree with what everybody has said...especially that the cheaper housing is going to be further out. I agree longandfoster.com is a good site.

I would recommend Howard County (Md)-- prices are still high but not as high as some places. Schools are good, too. Montgomery is expensive.

Prince Georges County is OK, but you have to be careful where. Bowie is pretty good. And as far as overall, prices in Maryland are slightly cheaper than Virginia--and definitely DC. But Loudoun County (VA) is very nice but it would be a commute (especially with the traffic!).

Sorry for your frustration about moving the thread (I didn't do it!).

As for this:

Thirdly, it was always my understanding that DC was in the Northeast not the Southeast part of the US.

We are technically the southeast because we are below the Mason-Dixon line but the attitude isn't "southern". :)

[andrew&shannah]

But Loudoun County (VA) is very nice but it would be a commute (especially with the traffic!).

This is very true but there are ways to lessen it! I live in Loudoun County (LoCo) (moved there in July) and work in Arlington (5 mins from National Airport actually). My husband works in DC. We commute in together and it is 45 minutes door to door. It just takes finding the right route most times :)
LoCo is just really starting to grow so you might find better prices, etc there.
I have lived in both Arlington and Loco and have a pretty decent knowledge of Fairfax County so if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[Phen]

JFK is quoted as calling DC "a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm." ;)

The Fairfax County area of Alexandria could work, too. Down by Mount Vernon/Ft. Belvoir, off Route 1...

~ phen

[camberne]

KSI http://www.ketsco.com/ is a really good developer in the area if you are looking for new construction. Pulte Homes and Ryan Homes are also good single-family residential developers that do a lot of planned neighborhoods up there.

Sterling is beautiful... I love it up there.

[Myra]

Thirdly, it was always my understanding that DC was in the Northeast not the Southeast part of the US.
It is. There's a DC/MD/VA thread in Location: North East.

[KaliLily]

TravelGirl - I moved to Northern VA a year ago from the Seattle area, and the housing market sticker shock still gets us. My DH works in Dulles, and we ended up finding a nice 4 bdrm house with 1/2 acre of land in Berryville (northwestern VA) for the same price we would have paid for a townhouse in Loudoun County. However, that'd probably be too far for you if your DH prefers to fly out of National. (It's only 45 minutes from Dulles Airport taking the toll road) The best advice I can give you is to get a good realtor, and if you need a referral I can give you the contact info for the one we used. She was phenominal to work with. We had only 3 days to find a house, so she took us to 18 properties in one day! We found our house on the second day.

We also had a great mortgage lending consultant who got us a great mortgage that allowed us to more comfortably afford our monthly payments.

Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you'd like their names/contact info.

[TravelGirl]

Thank you so much for the additional information. Still haven't heard if we're making the big move. Should know by the end of next week, maybe even this week.

We have considered renting for a year. (Yes, finding a place that will allow two large dogs who live inside will be a challenge.) We've also considered renting while we're there and renting our house here while we're gone. The idea of renting before buying is not too attractive since that means you have to move again once you find a house to buy but if that's the way it works out, that's the way it works out. For example, if we consider building we may have to do that regardless. I knew Pulte built there so I already checked them out. I checked out Ryan homes. Very cool. Couldn't find anything on the KSI site. Wonder if it's our computer blocking cookies or something.

The other thing we need to look into is how experts speculate the real estate market will do there. It has risen like crazy the last few years and settled down in the last year. I think they said the average home rose 27% in 2004 and the current average home in the Washington DC metro area is over $300K, $429K in the Viriginia area. I've heard a lot of talk about the Bubble bursting in real estate in the Northeast (Boston in particular) and in California. Bad news for many people with interest only loans. Point being - we need to determine if buying is even the right thing to do. Texas real estate is suppose to continue to increase where we live. If DC is not, then we may be better off renting. We had friends recently move to CA and they're renting for that exact reason.

We will definitely keep an open mind with townhomes. We aren't looking for 1/2 acre, just a decent backyard. Lots of stairs!

I think I'll purchase a map this afternoon and mark where my DH will be working, airports, neighborhoods mentioned, where my cousin lives, my friend lives, and extended famly live (Huningtown, MD?). We'll have to do at least 1-2 trips there to find a place to live. My DH will be there for work a few times so I may just tag along. Ya never know, we must just stay where we are.

Thanks again for all your help!

[KGif]

Forgive me if someone already posted this site but this is a good one for house hunting!

www.HomesDatabase.com

I'd check Fairfax County and Louden County. The town of Gainesville in Prince William County has expanded quite a bit over the last few years.. a bit further out then you might want to go tho. It's down 66 about 35 miles from DC and about 20 miles from Dulles airport. Ashburn in Louden County is great too -- again a little bit more "out there" as it's around 35 miles from DC BUT it's only about 10 miles from Dulles Airport. :)

[andrew&shannah]

The other thing we need to look into is how experts speculate the real estate market will do there. It has risen like crazy the last few years and settled down in the last year. I think they said the average home rose 27% in 2004 and the current average home in the Washington DC metro area is over $300K, $429K in the Viriginia area. I've heard a lot of talk about the Bubble bursting in real estate in the Northeast (Boston in particular) and in California. Bad news for many people with interest only loans. Point being - we need to determine if buying is even the right thing to do. Texas real estate is suppose to continue to increase where we live. If DC is not, then we may be better off renting. We had friends recently move to CA and they're renting for that exact reason.

I can totally understand this fear but the "bubble" here isn't very likely to burst and send housing prices/values crashing. I will have to look up the source, but when we were buying, our realtor gave us all the studies that showed values in the DC metro area not going down (as a whole of course) for the past 22 years or something. The bubble definitely didn't start way back then. It is a combination of the government presence and many areas becoming land locked making it so difficult to provide adequate amount of housing for the jobs that come in each year.
No, it probably won't continue to grow at 24% per year consistently but I doubt you have any real worry of a house losing value in this area.

[KaliLily]

FYI - I bought my house in Berryville (60+ miles from DC) a year ago and it's value has risen about $50K in the last year. In the last 4 years home values in my county (Clarke) have risen an average of 103% according to a resent newspaper article.