What can you tell me about living around Dulles, VA?
- Thread starter Wasteland Knight
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Thunderfoot
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Or how about closing the scholls for the FORECAST of snow... I remember when they closed all of the schools the night before and then ended up with 4" of RAIN... Being a mid-westerner, all I could do was laugh until I cried.Cthulhu's Librarian said:
Yeah, we are kinda nuts in our little area! 
I live in Front Royal (roughly a 40-50min drive from Manassas/Dulles/Chantilly area) and everyone in our area seems to freak out when the word snow is mentioned. It's like they never had snow before, they act like we are being attacked by aliens or at war.
All of the areas are pretty decent overall, though in some of the larger cities there is an epidemic of gang activity in the last few years and it is spreading and getting worse but it isn't too bad. It's pretty obvious where you should and shouldn't be.
I highly suggest that for Dulles you look into the nearby areas (even as far out as Front Royal area) like Vienna, Gainsville, Manassas, etc. I'd not suggest Arlington, though nearby Annandale isn't bad. Dulles proper is pretty nice from what little I've seen (I've only really gone to the airport) and Chantilly/Centreville have the best LFGS around (Games Parlor)! Nice area if you can get a quiet suburb or something like that.
Our entire area has had a housing price boom in recent years (i.e. my house five years ago was worth roughly 75-85k. It is now appraised at 210k). And that is in the "country" in Front Royal... I can't imagine what Dulles/Manassas would cost to buy. MOST people who work in the larger cities like 30-60 mins away in a smaller community and commute. I HIGHLY suggest doing so if you can afford it.
I live in Front Royal (roughly a 40-50min drive from Manassas/Dulles/Chantilly area) and everyone in our area seems to freak out when the word snow is mentioned. It's like they never had snow before, they act like we are being attacked by aliens or at war.All of the areas are pretty decent overall, though in some of the larger cities there is an epidemic of gang activity in the last few years and it is spreading and getting worse but it isn't too bad. It's pretty obvious where you should and shouldn't be.
I highly suggest that for Dulles you look into the nearby areas (even as far out as Front Royal area) like Vienna, Gainsville, Manassas, etc. I'd not suggest Arlington, though nearby Annandale isn't bad. Dulles proper is pretty nice from what little I've seen (I've only really gone to the airport) and Chantilly/Centreville have the best LFGS around (Games Parlor)! Nice area if you can get a quiet suburb or something like that.
Our entire area has had a housing price boom in recent years (i.e. my house five years ago was worth roughly 75-85k. It is now appraised at 210k). And that is in the "country" in Front Royal... I can't imagine what Dulles/Manassas would cost to buy. MOST people who work in the larger cities like 30-60 mins away in a smaller community and commute. I HIGHLY suggest doing so if you can afford it.
I can't speak from much personal experience, but I have several friends who live in Ashburn (immediately west of Dulles), and have been out to visit them several times.
- Traffic can be AWFUL. And, as others have said, if the weather gets bad (esp. if it snows), traffic just becomes exponentially worse.
- There's a ton of new construction (i.e., sprawl) moving west along the toll road. The arterial roads have a very hard time handling all the increased traffic (esp. west of Dulles, much of that area was fundamentally rural just a few years ago).
- If you're going to be working near Dulles, get a place to live fairly close to there, unless you really like sitting in the car. And, under no circumstances, agree to live in Maryland or D.C. (i.e., on the other side of the Potomac). There are very few bridges across the Potomac, and those bridges become tremendous traffic bottlenecks. One couple that I'm friends with moved out there, and built a house in Gaithersburg MD, because they were both working in nearby Bethesda MD. Within two years, they'd both changed jobs, and were both working in Tysons Corner. Their commutes became absolutely unbearable (at least once a week, an accident or bad weather would make the commute 2-3 hours long), and they eventually threw in the towel, sold the house in Gaithersburg, and moved to Ashburn.
- Housing prices are just nutty. It continues to be one of the hottest housing markets in the U.S., and buying even a small townhouse is amazingly expensive.
- Traffic can be AWFUL. And, as others have said, if the weather gets bad (esp. if it snows), traffic just becomes exponentially worse.
- There's a ton of new construction (i.e., sprawl) moving west along the toll road. The arterial roads have a very hard time handling all the increased traffic (esp. west of Dulles, much of that area was fundamentally rural just a few years ago).
- If you're going to be working near Dulles, get a place to live fairly close to there, unless you really like sitting in the car. And, under no circumstances, agree to live in Maryland or D.C. (i.e., on the other side of the Potomac). There are very few bridges across the Potomac, and those bridges become tremendous traffic bottlenecks. One couple that I'm friends with moved out there, and built a house in Gaithersburg MD, because they were both working in nearby Bethesda MD. Within two years, they'd both changed jobs, and were both working in Tysons Corner. Their commutes became absolutely unbearable (at least once a week, an accident or bad weather would make the commute 2-3 hours long), and they eventually threw in the towel, sold the house in Gaithersburg, and moved to Ashburn.
- Housing prices are just nutty. It continues to be one of the hottest housing markets in the U.S., and buying even a small townhouse is amazingly expensive.
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