DC Area moms-Please Help!!

Fairfax County, Arlington and Alexandria, all are nice and close, but very expensive. We loved Cameron Station in Alexandria, but it was expensive. Maryland is also nice, but everyone is right, stay close to a metro. As for hospitals, check out INOVA hospitals. They are all over Northern Virginia. I know INOVA Fairfax is the big one with a Trama Center. We are further out in Loudoun County, which we love and is less expensive. However, to get to DC, your husband would either have to drive a good 20-30 minutes to a metro location and take the metro, or drive all they way to work and fight traffic. They are building a metro line that goes out to Loudoun, or close enough to Loudoun county, but I don't think it will be done until 2014. And in DC Area construction time, that means closer to 2017. Stafford is far. Remember, DC has horrible traffic, so something that is 20-30 miles away may not sound bad, but you are looking at a 2-3 hour commute each way. When I worked in DC, I was in Falls Church, VA (Fairfax County) and 15 miles from my office and on the metro it was a 45 minute commute and driving it was 1 1/2 hour commute with traffic each way. If I had the money, I would probably go back to Alexandria City. Alexandria is in Fairfax County, but they also have a separate City of Alexandria, which is more expensive as far as taxes go.

Please, please factor in the length of commute time for your husband as a very high priority in whatever choice you make. If he and you are not used to his having a long commute -- you need to either be prepared for that to be part of your life or to make compromises on your son's schooling, costs of living etc., in order to avoid a long commute. A long commute is fine with some families; for others, it would mean he would not be there to help take your son to school or extracurricular events, he would not be home until late some evenings, you will see less of him, etc. I suspect you are not currently used to your husband taking a hour or more each way to get to and from work, and you can expect that to change dramatically when you get here. Unfortunately you do not want to live in SE DC or in the Maryland areas bordering SE DC, due to crime and poor education issues, so accept that your husband WILL have a commute (whether by car, Metro, rail, carpool, whatever) wherever you live.

Chantilly, Reston etc. are great places but way, way too far to commute to a job in SE DC, I think. Stafford is possible but that puts you down south along I-95 and that is a totally unpredictable commute if he drives. Virginia Railway Express as someone mentioned is doable from Stafford, BUT depends on whether he has a VRE station anywhere near his workplace, whether he needs a car during the work day, how long it would take him to get to VRE from your home, whether he would have very early or very late hours (VRE is not 24 hours) and so on.

I would definitely visit this area first before you make any commitments on where to live. When you say you've "looked at" Fairfax County and Stafford, do you mean you've actually visited, driven around, tried a rush-hour drive to his work location -- or you've just considered those areas but not visited them in person? I would come up here immediately and do a lot of driving here during the most crushing hours for commutes (if those are his workign hours) and see what it's realistically like.

You also need to do a lot of research on school systems. Fairfax has an excellent county school system and so does Arlington County ( the latter has a ton of money and a relatively low number of students so it offers a lot that other school systems can't). Personally with a commute to SE I would look harder at Arlington rather than Stafford or Fairfax, though I live in Fairfax and like it a lot. Arlington is both a city and a county -- it is officially a county but is pretty much a self-contained small city. It will have a higher cost of living than Stafford but also has some older housing that might either be just right for you or might put you off since some houses are small, but the school system's reputation is good and the location is much better to get to SE DC than if you are in Fairfax County, I would think.

I live between Manassas and Woodbridge (Prince William). I commute daily to near Reagan Airport. My commute (car + metro) is a good 1 1/2 hours each way. Commuting wise, you would be better off in Fairfax (Lorton) or Alexandria. Yes they are expensive. However, they are about 45 closer to your husband's job then PWC and and hour closer than Stafford. The whole area has really good hospitals, so locating in Fairfax or Alexandria would put you in prime location for easy commute to many of the hospitals.

Stafford is a good 1 1/2 - 2+ hours minimum commute up I95 each way, unless you are commuting at 5a. If he has hours where he could take the VRE, then it is doable.

You may also want to consider Maryland. Although I would say avoid Prince Georges County - high crime rate.

I live in Chantilly which is in Fairfax county. I don't really know anything about Stafford though. I'am new to this area, only been here for a year and a half. It's very expensive. I like Chantilly because it's a little more away from the city than other parts of Fairfax County. I'm on the border to Loudoun County. South Riding is a very nice area with lots of families and there are a lot of new homes there too. It's a bit farther out, and it's right next to Fairfax county, but it's in Loudoun County. But it's a nice area. Reston is nice also but if you are working in DC, then Chantilly, South Riding and Reston might be a little far because the traffic is really terrible here. I've heard good things about Arlington, but in my own opinion it's too much of a "city" feel to it but it's a lot closer to DC. I think it might even border it but I could be wrong. All of Fairfax County (and pretty much most of NoVa) has really great schools. That's one thing I love about this area is that the schools are amazing! I'm sure others might be of more help to you. I get a bit overwhelmed around this area because of the traffic and crazy drivers and bigger (than I'm used to) city's.

We live south of the Stafford area in Spotsylvania. There are three hospitals down this way (Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Mary Washington in Stafford, and Spitsylvania Regional Medical Center). We also have a stand alone ER in Spotsylvaina. I've heard good things about Ll of them from an employee perspective.

Your husband has many options to SE DC from here, including Virgina Railway Express and Metro, carpooling, vanpool, or slugging (a phenomenon exclusive to this area ... see this link ... http://www.slug-lines.com/). I worked in SE DC (assuming he's headed to the Navy Yard area) and have used carpool (with and without slugs) and VRE / metro.

Cost of living in the Stafford / Fredericksburg / Spotsylvania area will be less expensive than in the Northern Virginia area. If you decide to look in our area, PM me and I'll send you the name of a great real estate agent who can help you out. She also happens to be my stepmother!

ETA: when I was commuting via carpool to DC, it was only about an hour, cause we were in the HOV lanes. Highly recommend carpooling ... Going it alone IS JUST CRAZY TALK!!

The Metro runs all the way from Gaithersburg, MD down to Sprinfield, VA. You can also look in Montgomery County, MD but it might be a long commute. I don't know a lot about VA but I have heard good things about Fairfax schools. You should look at possible Metro commuting, IMO. wmata.com will show you where the trains and buses are. I took the train down to VA for a year and it was so much better than driving, even if it was longer timewise.

Fairfax County is great, but it is pricey. I'm thinking for a halfway decent detached house, you'll pay around $800k. Definitely less if you don't mind buying a townhome. Oakton and Vienna have wonderful public schools. The area is very safe. The W&OD trail goes through Vienna and the Metro station is nearby. The Inova Fairfax Hospital and Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (great hospitals!) are also very close.

Stafford is quite a haul from D.C. I think after practicing that commute, you might scratch that off your list.

Good luck!

You need to come and visit and figure out the commute. We have the worst traffic congestion! My husband commutes on the I66 corridor and it's no where near as nasty as the I95 corridor. 95 is extremely unpredictable...
Fairfax is lovely as is Stafford, but the commute is just horrid...
We live WAY out and my husband drives really early in the morning -- as in he leaves before 5am to miss the traffic that happens every day. If you aren't used to a long commute, you may want to pay more to live in closer.
I'm not familiar with DC neighborhoods. I don't know if you are a city mouse, but I'm sure there are very nice parts of DC. I'm definitely a country mouse.
The best advice I can offer is to take a week, and come out and check it all out - especially the commute. :-)
LBC