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Northern Virginia questions (1 Viewer)

Beef Ravioli

Beef Ravioli

Footballguy
Looks like a move to northern VA (Woodbridge, Dumfries, perhaps out towards Manassas area) is happening sometime this summer. Housing is quite a bit more expensive then what I have experienced in Columbus, OH. Just be me and the wife as both of my kids are in college in Florida. 

What else should I be aware of? Car expenses: Insurance more here? Inspections on cars difficult? Is there a yearly tax on cars? Etc.

Any areas I should be careful with? I am definitely going to be in the middle class income level. We are planning to rent for the first year so we can get a better feel for the area. I am going to be working in Woodbridge but almost in Dumfries. We would like to live west of there and stay away from  I-95 traffic as much as possible. Any suggestions on areas would be greatly appreciated. 

Anything else you think would be helpful, please feel free to share. Thanks in advance! 

 
Insurance is higher but not terribly.  Car tax and housing tax rates are fairly high too, compared to OH, although jurisdiction matters.  Manassas, for instance, is an independent city and tends to have higher tax rates than the counties of which Woodbridge and most of Dumfries are a part.  

Like anywhere, there are good and bad areas, but nothing truly unlivable.  A bit of a drive through the neighborhood and a check of local crime stats should be enough to keep you out of anything bad.  The whole region is fairly upscale suburban so nothing like an inner city to be concerned with.

You are wise to avoid I-95.  Even midday it can be unpredictably bad.  Keep in mind the bulk of the commuter traffic will be northbound in the AM, southbound in the PM, so if you can manage to find housing north of your place of business your life will be much happier.  Don’t expect the interstate to be clear either direction at rush hour, but there is a robust network of secondary roads in that area, so you should be fine.  (Unless your work is south of Quantico base, which takes up a large footprint and restricts the available avenues crossing it.)

I grew up in that area and have lived there off and on for decades.  Feel free to PM me with specific questions if you like, I will give you my best perspective on them.

 
Arodin said:
Insurance is higher but not terribly.  Car tax and housing tax rates are fairly high too, compared to OH, although jurisdiction matters.  Manassas, for instance, is an independent city and tends to have higher tax rates than the counties of which Woodbridge and most of Dumfries are a part.  

Like anywhere, there are good and bad areas, but nothing truly unlivable.  A bit of a drive through the neighborhood and a check of local crime stats should be enough to keep you out of anything bad.  The whole region is fairly upscale suburban so nothing like an inner city to be concerned with.

You are wise to avoid I-95.  Even midday it can be unpredictably bad.  Keep in mind the bulk of the commuter traffic will be northbound in the AM, southbound in the PM, so if you can manage to find housing north of your place of business your life will be much happier.  Don’t expect the interstate to be clear either direction at rush hour, but there is a robust network of secondary roads in that area, so you should be fine.  (Unless your work is south of Quantico base, which takes up a large footprint and restricts the available avenues crossing it.)

I grew up in that area and have lived there off and on for decades.  Feel free to PM me with specific questions if you like, I will give you my best perspective on them.
Click to expand...
Thanks GB! 

 
Overall, be ready to sit in traffic and lots of it all the time.   Rush hour lasts 3-4 hours in the morning and again in the evening too.

I agree with your decision to rent for a year and get a feel for where you want to live.  I can't say I'm that familiar with Woodbridge but am fairly familiar with NoVa overall.  You will want to avoid I-95 as often as possible including summer weekends.  You will not want to be living south of Woodbridge and driving north for work.   I'm not sure what the traffic on 123 is like these days but there are nice places to live off that road.

You can find nice neighborhoods off 234 as well.  Personally, I wouldn't want to live in Manassas but there are newer neighborhoods in the Bristow/Gainesville area that are nice.   Any of that area will give you a longer commute to work though and the drive from there on I-66 towards the Beltway/DC is also awful for rush hours.

Other than traffic it's a nice place to live though and obviously there is a lot to do.  Good luck!

 
I live closer to DC, so don't have living experience around there.  Agree with the others and your intuition that 95 is a mess in that area.  

My view of Woodbridge might be stereotyped by Potomac Mills, as kind of a chain/big box retailer type of place.  I'm sure there are some quaint areas to it though.  Dumfries has intrigued me to explore more because of its history, and seems to have a smaller feel.  Love Manassas for historical reasons too, but it is longer commute.

Lots of good things to do around in the Woodbridge area though.  The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico is an underrated gem.  I've been to some Potomac Nationals games in Woodbridge -- stadium is a dump (and they are building a new ballpark in Fredericksburg), but entertaining enough and you can catch the end of the year.  Mason Neck State Park a good place for bald eagle watching.  George Mason's home at Gunston Hall another underrated historical place.

 
Welcome.  I moved to Leesburg about 11 years ago from Michigan.  This is a great location, but very expensive compared to the midwest.  My greatest joy, which may sound strange to people not from Michigan/Midwest is the road construction.  Namely the speed with which they actually complete projects.  I'm North of you so I don't really know that area well but will echo the traffic if you have to go anywhere near the beltway.

 
Update: we are here and are living in an extended stay hotel down in Stafford for the month of June. I start work Monday. 

Been house shopping for two weeks. Went into contract on a house Friday night. To say we had “sticker shock” coming from Columbus would be an understatement! We looked for fixer uppers to move in ready places. We really tried to get outside of Woodbridge up towards Nokesville but the right place in our budget did not show up. We found a place in Dumfries, in the Montclair neighborhood that is move in ready. We both like it a lot, I would say my wife loves it. She was not really looking forward to another rehab house. 

Question: We are celebrating our 25th anniversary this week. I want to take the wife out for a very nice meal. I would be fine to go down to Fredericksburg, over towards Manassas and all the way up to south part of DC for the right place. I have ZERO knowledge of the area and do not know what is safe, etc. Ideally, I would like an area that we could do some walking/exploring a little neighborhood/history and then into dinner. Looking at Tuesday or Thursday evening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

 
Beef Ravioli said:
Update: we are here and are living in an extended stay hotel down in Stafford for the month of June. I start work Monday. 

Been house shopping for two weeks. Went into contract on a house Friday night. To say we had “sticker shock” coming from Columbus would be an understatement! We looked for fixer uppers to move in ready places. We really tried to get outside of Woodbridge up towards Nokesville but the right place in our budget did not show up. We found a place in Dumfries, in the Montclair neighborhood that is move in ready. We both like it a lot, I would say my wife loves it. She was not really looking forward to another rehab house. 

Question: We are celebrating our 25th anniversary this week. I want to take the wife out for a very nice meal. I would be fine to go down to Fredericksburg, over towards Manassas and all the way up to south part of DC for the right place. I have ZERO knowledge of the area and do not know what is safe, etc. Ideally, I would like an area that we could do some walking/exploring a little neighborhood/history and then into dinner. Looking at Tuesday or Thursday evening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 
Click to expand...
Trummer’s on Main in Clifton could be a fit.

 
Beef Ravioli said:
Update: we are here and are living in an extended stay hotel down in Stafford for the month of June. I start work Monday. 

Been house shopping for two weeks. Went into contract on a house Friday night. To say we had “sticker shock” coming from Columbus would be an understatement! We looked for fixer uppers to move in ready places. We really tried to get outside of Woodbridge up towards Nokesville but the right place in our budget did not show up. We found a place in Dumfries, in the Montclair neighborhood that is move in ready. We both like it a lot, I would say my wife loves it. She was not really looking forward to another rehab house. 

Question: We are celebrating our 25th anniversary this week. I want to take the wife out for a very nice meal. I would be fine to go down to Fredericksburg, over towards Manassas and all the way up to south part of DC for the right place. I have ZERO knowledge of the area and do not know what is safe, etc. Ideally, I would like an area that we could do some walking/exploring a little neighborhood/history and then into dinner. Looking at Tuesday or Thursday evening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 
Click to expand...
Old town Alexandria? You could walk around the waterfront and also check out some historical locations. The only restaurant we've been to there is The Warehouse, which we thought was very good, but that was a couple of years ago. Lots of restaurants with good reviews in that area, we just don't visit there too often.

 
roarlions said:
Old town Alexandria? You could walk around the waterfront and also check out some historical locations. The only restaurant we've been to there is The Warehouse, which we thought was very good, but that was a couple of years ago. Lots of restaurants with good reviews in that area, we just don't visit there too often.
Click to expand...
Warehouse is good. Vermilion and Brabo are a couple of others in Old Town. Brabo is a bit of a further walk from the waterfront, but there’s a free trolley that runs down King Street.

 
@Beef Ravioli

Welcome! I’ve been in NoVa my whole life. Glad you found a home.

Trummer’s in Clifton is definitely a good spot. Clifton is really small, nice, and quaint. There are a few restaurants, general store, a couple churches, and some historic homes. It’s a cool town. If you want something more lively with more options, Old Town Alexandria is a good choice. 

Occoquon might be another option. There’s a really good French place near there but it’s not in the old town part so you can’t dine and walk around as easily as Clifton or Alexandria.

If you are up for a bit of a drive, then consider Middleburg. If not this anniversary, maybe take the wife there another time.

Check out the DC thread sometime:

https://forums.footballguys.com/forum/topic/594913-the-official-washington-dc-thread/page/71/

 
Beef Ravioli said:
Looks like a move to northern VA (Woodbridge, Dumfries, perhaps out towards Manassas area) is happening sometime this summer. Housing is quite a bit more expensive then what I have experienced in Columbus, OH. Just be me and the wife as both of my kids are in college in Florida. 

What else should I be aware of? Car expenses: Insurance more here? Inspections on cars difficult? Is there a yearly tax on cars? Etc.

Any areas I should be careful with? I am definitely going to be in the middle class income level. We are planning to rent for the first year so we can get a better feel for the area. I am going to be working in Woodbridge but almost in Dumfries. We would like to live west of there and stay away from  I-95 traffic as much as possible. Any suggestions on areas would be greatly appreciated. 

Anything else you think would be helpful, please feel free to share. Thanks in advance! 
Click to expand...
Maybe get yourself a good Spanish/English dictionary. 😜

But seriously, I have a friend who is a mechanic with lots of experience getting car inspections on both sides of the river (MD and VA) and he says there is no comparison: VA is much, much easier.

 
roarlions said:
Old town Alexandria? You could walk around the waterfront and also check out some historical locations. The only restaurant we've been to there is The Warehouse, which we thought was very good, but that was a couple of years ago. Lots of restaurants with good reviews in that area, we just don't visit there too often.
Click to expand...
Vermillion in Old Town is solid.  Had several meals there while living up the street and really liked it each time.  Has a nice bar as well if you want to pre-game.

 
Beef Ravioli said:
Update: we are here and are living in an extended stay hotel down in Stafford for the month of June. I start work Monday. 

Been house shopping for two weeks. Went into contract on a house Friday night. To say we had “sticker shock” coming from Columbus would be an understatement! We looked for fixer uppers to move in ready places. We really tried to get outside of Woodbridge up towards Nokesville but the right place in our budget did not show up. We found a place in Dumfries, in the Montclair neighborhood that is move in ready. We both like it a lot, I would say my wife loves it. She was not really looking forward to another rehab house. 

Question: We are celebrating our 25th anniversary this week. I want to take the wife out for a very nice meal. I would be fine to go down to Fredericksburg, over towards Manassas and all the way up to south part of DC for the right place. I have ZERO knowledge of the area and do not know what is safe, etc. Ideally, I would like an area that we could do some walking/exploring a little neighborhood/history and then into dinner. Looking at Tuesday or Thursday evening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 
Click to expand...
I'd go along with Old Town Alexandria. It's a genuinely historic neighborhood, very charming, plenty of places to eat and drink. Consider jumping off of 95 North and finish your drive by coming up the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Nice river views, and it will make you feel good about the place you've chosen to make your new home.

 
The_Man said:
I'd go along with Old Town Alexandria. It's a genuinely historic neighborhood, very charming, plenty of places to eat and drink. Consider jumping off of 95 North and finish your drive by coming up the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Nice river views, and it will make you feel good about the place you've chosen to make your new home.
Click to expand...
GWPK north I think is still under significant construction for the sinkhole. At least I keep seeing the signs saying so around Key Bridge. Beware.

 
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