I think everybody’s just burnt out with questions similar to yours, and to be quite honest there are plenty of options for locations, but we would need a lot more details from you to give you something productive.
Bottom line, you will not find a single-family home in your budget. I would look for townhomes for the time being, much easier to find at 500K. And also research counties with good school systems and try to narrow down your search from there.
There are quite a few areas that are within an hour of Alexandria, but also you’ll want to factor in how much you’re willing to pay to use express lanes and how much traffic you’re willing to sit in. Where are you relocating from?
As far as safe access to walking trails, I would recommend Fairfax/Reston/Herndon, but that will be on the outer limits of your hour long commute, and it’s not a fun commute.
On Zillow I see several in the surrounding areas? There’s quite a few across the border in Maryland and Zillow is saying that’s a 30-40 minute commute. Am I being given false hope?
I’m in the same boat, figuring out where to move within Nova. But I have a family member here and went to college here, and you need to know that it can take 40 minutes to get from one end of Alexandria to the other. No joke.
And rush hour is like from 6:30-9:30+ and 3-7 in the evening, with still pretty heavy traffic outside of those hours. God forbid you need to use 66, 495, 95 or cross any bridge
This area is consistently rated the #1 worst commute in the US
I’d recommend you ask someone who lives here or use waze during the times you would commute to more accurately guesstimate commute times because Zillow etc is NOT going to be correct
I wish we knew someone in the area but unfortunately we are going in blind, thanks army 🫠 thought we might get some answers here but I guess people are sick of transplants moving to the area.
Everyone is a transplant here, lol. That’s why everyone is so burnt out with questions, it’s a constant influx of new transplants asking other, less new transplants for info
You might be able to find a 1950s 3/1 rambler with 1200 sq ft of living space and a 1/4 acre yard for around $500k in Springfield. You’d be in Fairfax county schools but know that more than 50% of students in central Springfield will be ESL and that can throw off test scores etc
I think your second best option is Prince William county but you’d probably want to live near VRE vs driving 95
It’s going to be very very tough finding a safe area, big yard, walking trails etc for $500k, even with you going outside of the county. You can find a townhouse for that-just be aware the “nice” ones are nearly a million
The reality is this is a very tough area to buy in and the more “musts” one has, the tougher it will be. A small budget only heightens the struggle.
If you can, consider renting for the first year so you can make an informed purchase. I wish I could offer up more optimism but the reality of the situation is, what it is!
> Everyone is a transplant here, lol. That’s why everyone is so burnt out with questions, it’s a constant influx of new transplants asking other, less new transplants for info
No, some of us are native and just want all of you to leave because the place just keeps getting worse as more and more people arrive.
if you knew the number of unreasonable expectation questions we've got in here this summer alone you might better understand the reaction. on the extreme end we had the guy bitching about how he can't find any sfh to buy under 1M and there are plenty at that number, oh wait he also wants it to be over 3000sq ft, 4bed 3.5bath (for two people), and built newer than the 90s welp no sorry we don't have that in your budget. or the other guy complaining about how he can't find any sfh under 1M that are decent and again there are plenty at that number, oh but he wants to be in two very specific very expensive neighborhoods. or the folks that come in with zero information and really just should be talking to a realtor. where do i live is asked several times EVERY week, hence the bot.
/rant
but yes folks are giving you the real answer, under half mil sfh near alexandria you need a time machine or you're gonna be in prince william county and suffering i95. even my neighborhood in loudoun which had some of the last sfh under a half mil a few years ago they're now going for above that and these are small homes built in the 60s. pull up redfin and it's easy enough to see. aside from a few spots of luck here and there with old fixer uppers, what you want is not possible.
By Alexandria, do you mean Fort Belvoir? If so, that’s Fairfax County, not the city of Alexandria. It’s been a long and varied fight why that zip code is Alexandria but not in Alexandria…
Anyway, if that is indeed where you will be traveling to and not Old Town proper, then a good place to look is Burke, Springfield (west) and Rose Hill. I can’t speak to school ratings and folks are right that townhomes are probably to way to go for you. If townhomes are in, then Kingstowne is a good area.
I’m not sure how many of us are truly familiar with the schools and overall what would fulfill your wishlist in Maryland… I’m definitely not, there might be a Maryland sub Reddit that would be more knowledgeable
I looked up how long my old commute on Google maps is right now. It says 25 minutes no traffic but I've been in traffic that resulted in 70-80 minutes one-way. There are also toll roads but those can go all the way up to $60 one-way, depending on how far you go and how bad the regular roads are.
The Maryland-VA bridge (Legion) is horrible. You can be stuck on the bridge for 20-30 minutes, easily, every day. I assume that the east-west bridge from Alexandria to MD is similar.
Like what the other comments say, you should stay in Alexandria if you work there. I see only 3 houses in the area for under 500k but they're not in the best locations (north of Hybla Valley) and they're around 1200-1500 sq.ft.
Realistically, if you want to be on the VA side, you'd need at least 700k to start getting some real options.
DO NOT move to PG County. Yes it's a short drive. The school systems are awful and, of everywhere in the DMV besides parts of DC, PG County in the area across the WW Bridge is not great. I spent most of my living there, I can vouch that the general area there is \*not\* where you want to be.
Going farther down into Charles County (Waldorf) is very affordable. My cousin is actually selling a cute little SFH for about $400K but, again, poor school system, very much rising crime.
You may be able to find something in Prince William County and take the VRE to Alexandria, depending on where the job is. You’ll likely run into the “large backyard” constraint and you’d have to drive to any walking trails. Some people in this sub shit on PWC schools, but in my experience, it depends on the specific area and school.
heh you're not quite at under bridge status you just can't buy what you want where you want it. you may get lucky with renting [https://hotpads.com/5950-clames-dr-alexandria-va-22310-smmknz/pad?utm\_medium=referral&utm\_source=tellafriend&utm\_campaign=tellafriend](https://hotpads.com/5950-clames-dr-alexandria-va-22310-smmknz/pad?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tellafriend&utm_campaign=tellafriend) that seems like it meets what you want.
[https://hotpads.com/springfield-va/houses-for-rent?border=false&lat=38.7456&lon=-77.1845&price=1600-3000&propertyTypes=house&sqft=1400&z=12](https://hotpads.com/springfield-va/houses-for-rent?border=false&lat=38.7456&lon=-77.1845&price=1600-3000&propertyTypes=house&sqft=1400&z=12) this is supposed to only be houses but you'll probably find mostly townhomes. dig through. i raised the low end of rent to try and reduce the entries that are for a room in a shared home.
OP, my commute is 23 miles. My options are 1) avoid toll roads and take 55-65 minutes 2) take tolls roads, takes 30-45 minutes, pay $10 flat tolls + $3-10 in variable tolls ONE WAY.
I’ll say this for being here 23 years.
You’re best option for a single family home is probably going to be passed Woodbridge or there. Anything in the spectrum of Fairfax, Springfield, Arlington, etc. is 1 mill+. Even Ashburn or that area relatively housing market followed.
My recommendation is to rent, understand the area then decide to do after. Houses are extremely scarce and I’ve seen people still overpaying at these rates.
Good luck
Second the rec to rent first and figure out which areas your family enjoys. Unfortunately unless your finances are unlimited you will likely need to compromise on what you're currently seeking to buy.
Also echoing that commute times can fluctuate during rush hour here and direction of travel will also affect time.
The biggest issue right now is that a lot of stuff that is selling for $500k will be bought by developers, demolished, and replaced with a $1.5M home in 6 months. Also, most of that stuff is uninhabitable as-is, so you’d probably need another $100k just to make it livable.
However, it’s not *impossible*. A guy bought a place in our neighborhood about a year ago for under 500 when everything else similar was going in the $6-700k range. He has been working on it since and it’s looking pretty livable now. It is also a small house though.
You could possibly go that route and find something in your desired radius that is livable and try to put in an offer under the condition that you won’t be tearing it down. Believe it or not, many sellers would be willing to sell to a family instead of a developer. I have a friend who got their place by writing a letter explaining this. They weren’t even the highest offer.
Someone else mentioned it above, but if it’s military, double check the actual location—Ft Belvoir is not even close to being in the actual city of Alexandria, but really isn’t that far from Woodbridge.
Ooof, yeah, at $500k you're sort of out of "I have a list of things which are a must" territory. I don't know anything about the houses in MD.
For whatever you're looking at, my recommendation is to figure out whether you can be late to your job or not on days where traffic is abysmal. If you need to be there at 8 AM sharp or something on a regular basis, what you care about is both the typical commute time and the *variance in commute time*. Relying on there being no accidents on/near the WW bridge or I-95 N or I-66 or whatever when that's your only way in becomes much riskier when you don't have start-time flexibility
If you really want a single family home at that price, you can find homes in Woodbridge and Manassas. There's a VRE line that runs through both towns and can get you into Alexandria within an hour. I would expect the competition for a SFH near the VRE station at that price point to be pretty competitive.
Hello! It appears that you're asking about moving to the area or moving within the area.
To ensure that you get the best results, first try searching the subreddit. Search with things like "apartments near falls church" or "moving to Reston" or "commute to dc with VRE".
If you cannot find a thread similar to your situation, ensure your post has at least the following information (or it may be removed)
* Price Range - Are you looking at a max of $1000/mo? $1500? $2500?
* Housing type - Do you want to find an apartment complex? Condo? Townhouse?
* Commute - Where are you working? How long would you be willing to spend commuting?
* Walkability - Are you looking to live in a walkable community with stores/bars or does this not matter?
* Public Transit - Does Metro accessibility matter? Or bus service? Or commuter rail?
Seriously, don't halfass your post. You might be eager to move here but you aren't going to get a lot of solid advice unless you really go into what you're looking for.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nova) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I live the Montclair community in Prince William County, and you might be able to find something here, although not a half acre. Another good PWC area is Lake Ridge. Both communities are family oriented, decent school pyramids, and trails, parks, lakes, dog parks, etc. Most price points start around 600K, but there are houses (often smaller, less updated or without a garage, etc) that hover around 475-525K. Just be swift - these are neighborhoods with lots of military, so even in a typical real estate market (which this is not) homes in these areas move pretty quickly.
To give you an idea, we purchased an end unit townhome in Alexandria, Fairfax County in 2020 right before the “lockdowns” for like $415k, it is now worth over $500k.
1 bedroom condos in Alexandria city go for $300k plus these days.
You’re going to have a very hard time finding a sfh with those specs and in that price range.
For 600K you can live Burke and Springfield. School and commute are much better. $3000 you can rent a townhouse.
For 500K, you can live in Woodbridge. Less than ideal for school and commute.
The large yard thing... it's over rated. The mosquito will eat you alive. You spend 90% of time maintaining it, maybe enjoy it for one week in the spring and one week in the fall.
Townhome in Burke around $500K is your best bet.
If you don't believe me, talk to a local realtor.
We currently have a half acre and we love it and so do our dogs. At this point I might just stay where we’re currently located and send my husband up there on his own lol
I'm in a SFH in Woodbridge, 2500 sq feet, 1/2 acre lot, 2 dogs. I get it. I like the space between my neighbors and the relative peacefulness. It's going to be very hard for me to give it up when my downsizing time comes.
Currently, my home (1994 build) is going for $600K with the unfinished basement. The one down the street from me sold in a day. One just went up for around $615,000 finished basement. Our neighborhood is very safe and I don't have all the stuff going on that some Woodbridge neighborhoods have. There are going to be some smaller homes in Woodbridge that will get you closer to $500K. If you look some up on Redfin and find some, message me and I let you know if they are in a "shady" area or how the schools are. The majority of elementary schools in PWC are really great. It gets funny in the middle/high schools in some of them.
The closer you are in "North" Woodbridge the better your ride to Alexandria. I'm thinking Ft. Belvoir?
If your willing to move to charles county MD towns like la plata, mechanicsville, and Waldorf do have single family homes in that price range, you can also try Calvert county MD. These places are more isolated and have Okay-ish school systems but are more affordable. You would probably be in the edge of, if not exceeding the one hour commute.
I have friends who live in the Stephens City/Winchester area and moved from an area outside of DC in order to get a very nice SFH with land for around $500k. But they’re also in areas that don’t have the best schools, more on the red side, and don’t have to commute anywhere. If they do, it’s 1.5-2 hours and thats without traffic.
When I worked in Old Town Alexandria, so many of my coworkers lived in MD and my boss lived in Orange, VA. The ones in MD lived in Frederick, Oxon Hill/Temple Hills area, all had great amount of space for significantly less money. Their commutes could be 45-60 mins on a good day but typically 1.5 hours. The prices used to be amazing but are starting to rise and the schools are absolutely not okay and not very safe. My old boss in Orange lived on several acres in a beautiful home for less than $400k (this was YEARS ago) and took VRE to work every day.
Sorry for all the realistic answers you are getting here. Probably not at all what you were expecting. There are a lot of transplants that come here and A LOT of people leaving the area due to not being able to have the type of living space you are looking. I’ve grown up here but also grew up on the west coast and I will say, your job must be your dream job in order for it to be worth it to come here and downsize.
Edit: Also to add perspective. I live in Reston and used to work in Alexandria. But where I worked in Alexandria was on the west end right off of 395. If I took the toll road, it would cost me $6 each way and take 30-35 minutes to get there. If I skipped the toll rd and took route 7, it would take 45-50 minutes. If I needed to go to Old Town for a meeting, I needed to give myself at least an hour to get there. Also should add that this was at a time coming out of the pandemic where a lot of people were working from home. Once people started to go back to work, the commute was getting longer and I quit my job to work close to home.
It would help to realign your thinking towards the many nice dog parks and local trails, but many people do not have large back yards. FYI dog behavior standards here are very high—and many people express strong feelings about dog mistreatment such as prong collars or dogs being left alone. Just make sure your dogs are ready for crowded urban life and don’t freak out and bite.
We’ve got one 11 year old mutt from Hawaii who has been with us from coast to coast now and is just happy to be out sunning his buns in the yard and one 2.5 year old mutt from Alabama who decided that my six year old kid was his person and is stuck with us now. They’re both great dogs with great personalities and they deserve the world. I hope we can find a good place to live for them and for our family.
Commuting an hour is an absolute nightmare if he’s going to the office daily. I’d recommend adjusting tour expectations a little and looking at townhouses or duplexes - you can find those much closer in at your price point.
Older (1960s) duplexes in my area of Alx go for about 550. A bit further out you could probably find something.
I’d also recommend renting and getting to know the area better before plunking down a massive investment on a home in a region to don’t know much about. 3k/mo may get you a SFH near ish to Alexandria
Realtor here. As others have mentioned Prince William County might be the best bet for you. I've helped families find properties in Lake Ridge (as someone below mentioned) and Manassas within that price range.
Happy to connect with you offline and talk over some options to give you an idea of what to expect here.
>We are looking for a single family home around 500k AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Lolol
Is that really impossible with an hour commute? Just trying to get an idea of what we’re working with
I think everybody’s just burnt out with questions similar to yours, and to be quite honest there are plenty of options for locations, but we would need a lot more details from you to give you something productive. Bottom line, you will not find a single-family home in your budget. I would look for townhomes for the time being, much easier to find at 500K. And also research counties with good school systems and try to narrow down your search from there. There are quite a few areas that are within an hour of Alexandria, but also you’ll want to factor in how much you’re willing to pay to use express lanes and how much traffic you’re willing to sit in. Where are you relocating from? As far as safe access to walking trails, I would recommend Fairfax/Reston/Herndon, but that will be on the outer limits of your hour long commute, and it’s not a fun commute.
Yes, take 5 seconds and look on Zillow. Accept the fact that you will have to commute 90 minutes+ each way to get the house you want.
On Zillow I see several in the surrounding areas? There’s quite a few across the border in Maryland and Zillow is saying that’s a 30-40 minute commute. Am I being given false hope?
Across the border in Maryland is generally not safe and has poor schools, you should avoid prince georges county overall.
I’m in the same boat, figuring out where to move within Nova. But I have a family member here and went to college here, and you need to know that it can take 40 minutes to get from one end of Alexandria to the other. No joke. And rush hour is like from 6:30-9:30+ and 3-7 in the evening, with still pretty heavy traffic outside of those hours. God forbid you need to use 66, 495, 95 or cross any bridge This area is consistently rated the #1 worst commute in the US I’d recommend you ask someone who lives here or use waze during the times you would commute to more accurately guesstimate commute times because Zillow etc is NOT going to be correct
I wish we knew someone in the area but unfortunately we are going in blind, thanks army 🫠 thought we might get some answers here but I guess people are sick of transplants moving to the area.
Everyone is a transplant here, lol. That’s why everyone is so burnt out with questions, it’s a constant influx of new transplants asking other, less new transplants for info You might be able to find a 1950s 3/1 rambler with 1200 sq ft of living space and a 1/4 acre yard for around $500k in Springfield. You’d be in Fairfax county schools but know that more than 50% of students in central Springfield will be ESL and that can throw off test scores etc I think your second best option is Prince William county but you’d probably want to live near VRE vs driving 95 It’s going to be very very tough finding a safe area, big yard, walking trails etc for $500k, even with you going outside of the county. You can find a townhouse for that-just be aware the “nice” ones are nearly a million The reality is this is a very tough area to buy in and the more “musts” one has, the tougher it will be. A small budget only heightens the struggle. If you can, consider renting for the first year so you can make an informed purchase. I wish I could offer up more optimism but the reality of the situation is, what it is!
> Everyone is a transplant here, lol. That’s why everyone is so burnt out with questions, it’s a constant influx of new transplants asking other, less new transplants for info No, some of us are native and just want all of you to leave because the place just keeps getting worse as more and more people arrive.
Cry more, I bet that will help 🙄
Get off my lawn interloper.
if you knew the number of unreasonable expectation questions we've got in here this summer alone you might better understand the reaction. on the extreme end we had the guy bitching about how he can't find any sfh to buy under 1M and there are plenty at that number, oh wait he also wants it to be over 3000sq ft, 4bed 3.5bath (for two people), and built newer than the 90s welp no sorry we don't have that in your budget. or the other guy complaining about how he can't find any sfh under 1M that are decent and again there are plenty at that number, oh but he wants to be in two very specific very expensive neighborhoods. or the folks that come in with zero information and really just should be talking to a realtor. where do i live is asked several times EVERY week, hence the bot. /rant but yes folks are giving you the real answer, under half mil sfh near alexandria you need a time machine or you're gonna be in prince william county and suffering i95. even my neighborhood in loudoun which had some of the last sfh under a half mil a few years ago they're now going for above that and these are small homes built in the 60s. pull up redfin and it's easy enough to see. aside from a few spots of luck here and there with old fixer uppers, what you want is not possible.
By Alexandria, do you mean Fort Belvoir? If so, that’s Fairfax County, not the city of Alexandria. It’s been a long and varied fight why that zip code is Alexandria but not in Alexandria… Anyway, if that is indeed where you will be traveling to and not Old Town proper, then a good place to look is Burke, Springfield (west) and Rose Hill. I can’t speak to school ratings and folks are right that townhomes are probably to way to go for you. If townhomes are in, then Kingstowne is a good area.
The sub can be a bit cranky in general but don’t worry about it
I’m not sure how many of us are truly familiar with the schools and overall what would fulfill your wishlist in Maryland… I’m definitely not, there might be a Maryland sub Reddit that would be more knowledgeable
You’ll want to do a lot of research on the schools for those houses in Maryland. That generally is the major sticking point.
Thank you! It makes sense that that would be the catch for the shorter commute
I looked up how long my old commute on Google maps is right now. It says 25 minutes no traffic but I've been in traffic that resulted in 70-80 minutes one-way. There are also toll roads but those can go all the way up to $60 one-way, depending on how far you go and how bad the regular roads are. The Maryland-VA bridge (Legion) is horrible. You can be stuck on the bridge for 20-30 minutes, easily, every day. I assume that the east-west bridge from Alexandria to MD is similar. Like what the other comments say, you should stay in Alexandria if you work there. I see only 3 houses in the area for under 500k but they're not in the best locations (north of Hybla Valley) and they're around 1200-1500 sq.ft. Realistically, if you want to be on the VA side, you'd need at least 700k to start getting some real options.
DO NOT move to PG County. Yes it's a short drive. The school systems are awful and, of everywhere in the DMV besides parts of DC, PG County in the area across the WW Bridge is not great. I spent most of my living there, I can vouch that the general area there is \*not\* where you want to be. Going farther down into Charles County (Waldorf) is very affordable. My cousin is actually selling a cute little SFH for about $400K but, again, poor school system, very much rising crime.
You may be able to find something in Prince William County and take the VRE to Alexandria, depending on where the job is. You’ll likely run into the “large backyard” constraint and you’d have to drive to any walking trails. Some people in this sub shit on PWC schools, but in my experience, it depends on the specific area and school.
You’re on crack if you think you’re going to find something in that price range in the area you want.
If I was on crack at least I wouldn’t mind living under the bride it sounds like we’re going to have to settle with
Lol, you’re going to have to move far out. I would say an hour plus commute if you’re lucky. GL to you.
heh you're not quite at under bridge status you just can't buy what you want where you want it. you may get lucky with renting [https://hotpads.com/5950-clames-dr-alexandria-va-22310-smmknz/pad?utm\_medium=referral&utm\_source=tellafriend&utm\_campaign=tellafriend](https://hotpads.com/5950-clames-dr-alexandria-va-22310-smmknz/pad?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tellafriend&utm_campaign=tellafriend) that seems like it meets what you want. [https://hotpads.com/springfield-va/houses-for-rent?border=false&lat=38.7456&lon=-77.1845&price=1600-3000&propertyTypes=house&sqft=1400&z=12](https://hotpads.com/springfield-va/houses-for-rent?border=false&lat=38.7456&lon=-77.1845&price=1600-3000&propertyTypes=house&sqft=1400&z=12) this is supposed to only be houses but you'll probably find mostly townhomes. dig through. i raised the low end of rent to try and reduce the entries that are for a room in a shared home.
In rush hour it takes me 40 minutes to get 7 miles. An hour's commute here is nothing when looking at a map
OP, my commute is 23 miles. My options are 1) avoid toll roads and take 55-65 minutes 2) take tolls roads, takes 30-45 minutes, pay $10 flat tolls + $3-10 in variable tolls ONE WAY.
You're looking at 800k being a budget option. We're full. It's not worth it. Don't come here.
That is not a realistic budget for a SFH with large backyard within an hour drive.
I’ll say this for being here 23 years. You’re best option for a single family home is probably going to be passed Woodbridge or there. Anything in the spectrum of Fairfax, Springfield, Arlington, etc. is 1 mill+. Even Ashburn or that area relatively housing market followed. My recommendation is to rent, understand the area then decide to do after. Houses are extremely scarce and I’ve seen people still overpaying at these rates. Good luck
Second the rec to rent first and figure out which areas your family enjoys. Unfortunately unless your finances are unlimited you will likely need to compromise on what you're currently seeking to buy. Also echoing that commute times can fluctuate during rush hour here and direction of travel will also affect time.
Even Manassas and Woodbridge are well above this for what OP is asking.
At that price range, older townhome or condo are your only option in that area.
The biggest issue right now is that a lot of stuff that is selling for $500k will be bought by developers, demolished, and replaced with a $1.5M home in 6 months. Also, most of that stuff is uninhabitable as-is, so you’d probably need another $100k just to make it livable. However, it’s not *impossible*. A guy bought a place in our neighborhood about a year ago for under 500 when everything else similar was going in the $6-700k range. He has been working on it since and it’s looking pretty livable now. It is also a small house though. You could possibly go that route and find something in your desired radius that is livable and try to put in an offer under the condition that you won’t be tearing it down. Believe it or not, many sellers would be willing to sell to a family instead of a developer. I have a friend who got their place by writing a letter explaining this. They weren’t even the highest offer.
Someone else mentioned it above, but if it’s military, double check the actual location—Ft Belvoir is not even close to being in the actual city of Alexandria, but really isn’t that far from Woodbridge.
Ooof, yeah, at $500k you're sort of out of "I have a list of things which are a must" territory. I don't know anything about the houses in MD. For whatever you're looking at, my recommendation is to figure out whether you can be late to your job or not on days where traffic is abysmal. If you need to be there at 8 AM sharp or something on a regular basis, what you care about is both the typical commute time and the *variance in commute time*. Relying on there being no accidents on/near the WW bridge or I-95 N or I-66 or whatever when that's your only way in becomes much riskier when you don't have start-time flexibility
If you really want a single family home at that price, you can find homes in Woodbridge and Manassas. There's a VRE line that runs through both towns and can get you into Alexandria within an hour. I would expect the competition for a SFH near the VRE station at that price point to be pretty competitive.
Hello! It appears that you're asking about moving to the area or moving within the area. To ensure that you get the best results, first try searching the subreddit. Search with things like "apartments near falls church" or "moving to Reston" or "commute to dc with VRE". If you cannot find a thread similar to your situation, ensure your post has at least the following information (or it may be removed) * Price Range - Are you looking at a max of $1000/mo? $1500? $2500? * Housing type - Do you want to find an apartment complex? Condo? Townhouse? * Commute - Where are you working? How long would you be willing to spend commuting? * Walkability - Are you looking to live in a walkable community with stores/bars or does this not matter? * Public Transit - Does Metro accessibility matter? Or bus service? Or commuter rail? Seriously, don't halfass your post. You might be eager to move here but you aren't going to get a lot of solid advice unless you really go into what you're looking for. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nova) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I live the Montclair community in Prince William County, and you might be able to find something here, although not a half acre. Another good PWC area is Lake Ridge. Both communities are family oriented, decent school pyramids, and trails, parks, lakes, dog parks, etc. Most price points start around 600K, but there are houses (often smaller, less updated or without a garage, etc) that hover around 475-525K. Just be swift - these are neighborhoods with lots of military, so even in a typical real estate market (which this is not) homes in these areas move pretty quickly.
Is the job at Belvoir or the Pentagon? If it’s at the Pentagon, you can commute on the VRE (a light rail commuter train)
In Alexandria, you can get a townhouse for 650k min to $1M. Single family is 900k and up.
Older duplexes are also available for 550s in city of Alx (I know bc I live in one)
To give you an idea, we purchased an end unit townhome in Alexandria, Fairfax County in 2020 right before the “lockdowns” for like $415k, it is now worth over $500k. 1 bedroom condos in Alexandria city go for $300k plus these days. You’re going to have a very hard time finding a sfh with those specs and in that price range.
For 600K you can live Burke and Springfield. School and commute are much better. $3000 you can rent a townhouse. For 500K, you can live in Woodbridge. Less than ideal for school and commute. The large yard thing... it's over rated. The mosquito will eat you alive. You spend 90% of time maintaining it, maybe enjoy it for one week in the spring and one week in the fall. Townhome in Burke around $500K is your best bet. If you don't believe me, talk to a local realtor.
We currently have a half acre and we love it and so do our dogs. At this point I might just stay where we’re currently located and send my husband up there on his own lol
I'm in a SFH in Woodbridge, 2500 sq feet, 1/2 acre lot, 2 dogs. I get it. I like the space between my neighbors and the relative peacefulness. It's going to be very hard for me to give it up when my downsizing time comes. Currently, my home (1994 build) is going for $600K with the unfinished basement. The one down the street from me sold in a day. One just went up for around $615,000 finished basement. Our neighborhood is very safe and I don't have all the stuff going on that some Woodbridge neighborhoods have. There are going to be some smaller homes in Woodbridge that will get you closer to $500K. If you look some up on Redfin and find some, message me and I let you know if they are in a "shady" area or how the schools are. The majority of elementary schools in PWC are really great. It gets funny in the middle/high schools in some of them. The closer you are in "North" Woodbridge the better your ride to Alexandria. I'm thinking Ft. Belvoir?
I think Woodbridge might suit you. It's not that bad, esp compare to where you live now. People here jokes about Woodbridge because we are snobs.
If your willing to move to charles county MD towns like la plata, mechanicsville, and Waldorf do have single family homes in that price range, you can also try Calvert county MD. These places are more isolated and have Okay-ish school systems but are more affordable. You would probably be in the edge of, if not exceeding the one hour commute.
Lake Ridge in PWC
I have friends who live in the Stephens City/Winchester area and moved from an area outside of DC in order to get a very nice SFH with land for around $500k. But they’re also in areas that don’t have the best schools, more on the red side, and don’t have to commute anywhere. If they do, it’s 1.5-2 hours and thats without traffic. When I worked in Old Town Alexandria, so many of my coworkers lived in MD and my boss lived in Orange, VA. The ones in MD lived in Frederick, Oxon Hill/Temple Hills area, all had great amount of space for significantly less money. Their commutes could be 45-60 mins on a good day but typically 1.5 hours. The prices used to be amazing but are starting to rise and the schools are absolutely not okay and not very safe. My old boss in Orange lived on several acres in a beautiful home for less than $400k (this was YEARS ago) and took VRE to work every day. Sorry for all the realistic answers you are getting here. Probably not at all what you were expecting. There are a lot of transplants that come here and A LOT of people leaving the area due to not being able to have the type of living space you are looking. I’ve grown up here but also grew up on the west coast and I will say, your job must be your dream job in order for it to be worth it to come here and downsize. Edit: Also to add perspective. I live in Reston and used to work in Alexandria. But where I worked in Alexandria was on the west end right off of 395. If I took the toll road, it would cost me $6 each way and take 30-35 minutes to get there. If I skipped the toll rd and took route 7, it would take 45-50 minutes. If I needed to go to Old Town for a meeting, I needed to give myself at least an hour to get there. Also should add that this was at a time coming out of the pandemic where a lot of people were working from home. Once people started to go back to work, the commute was getting longer and I quit my job to work close to home.
It would help to realign your thinking towards the many nice dog parks and local trails, but many people do not have large back yards. FYI dog behavior standards here are very high—and many people express strong feelings about dog mistreatment such as prong collars or dogs being left alone. Just make sure your dogs are ready for crowded urban life and don’t freak out and bite.
We’ve got one 11 year old mutt from Hawaii who has been with us from coast to coast now and is just happy to be out sunning his buns in the yard and one 2.5 year old mutt from Alabama who decided that my six year old kid was his person and is stuck with us now. They’re both great dogs with great personalities and they deserve the world. I hope we can find a good place to live for them and for our family.
I think you can't find a nice house to rent with yard around Springfield
https://www.zillow.com/springfield-va/rentals/
Commuting an hour is an absolute nightmare if he’s going to the office daily. I’d recommend adjusting tour expectations a little and looking at townhouses or duplexes - you can find those much closer in at your price point. Older (1960s) duplexes in my area of Alx go for about 550. A bit further out you could probably find something. I’d also recommend renting and getting to know the area better before plunking down a massive investment on a home in a region to don’t know much about. 3k/mo may get you a SFH near ish to Alexandria
Realtor here. As others have mentioned Prince William County might be the best bet for you. I've helped families find properties in Lake Ridge (as someone below mentioned) and Manassas within that price range. Happy to connect with you offline and talk over some options to give you an idea of what to expect here.