NoVa Neighborhood Suggestions for a Bike Commuter?

[Emm]

My husband and I are now getting serious about buying a house this summer. I think we plan to make an offer sometime in May or June, and move in August (VA loans take some time to process). We’re now deciding neighborhoods to really narrow our search with a real estate agent. Do any of you have any thoughts about the following neighborhoods in NoVa, and how friendly they are for bike commuters? Our criteria are stand-alone house, 3-4 bedrooms, 2-2.5 bathrooms, 1750 sq ft or +, w/in a 15 mile bike commute to SW DC, decent public schools, and a yard. Our budget is somewhere in the $600-$650 range, which based on our criteria eliminates most of Arlington, and the Del Ray and Old Town neighborhoods in Alexandria.

Each of the below locations offers a good number of houses that meet these criteria. Do any of you live there, and how do you like it? Does it make for a decent bike commute? Is there anything I need to be concerned about/aware of? Any other neighborhoods in NoVa we should look at, or parts of the below areas to help narrow the search down more?

Falls Church:
Pros: pretty active area with alot to do, W&OD and Custis make good access routes to work and weekend bike rides. Commute can be 8-15 miles from work (or more) depending on exact location. Some of the trails to work get plowed in Arlington, and there is metro access in some places. House prices vary alot.
Cons: When driving, i-66 is the route to work, which according to my colleague is a disaster (he also detests the city tax).

Belle Haven (Fairfax County)
Pros: just outside old town, so fairly close to work.
Cons: houses are on the small side if you stay east of Route 1, no great access point to MVT. MVT doesn’t get plowed.

Fort Hunt (Fairfax County)
Pros: A few good access points to MVT, really scenic bike commute to work which is a huge bonus, large-ish houses with lots of bike storage spaces. We have friends who live here who also bike alot.
Cons: MVT doesn’t get plowed, towards the far end of my commute range, MVT in this area gets some serious flooding and becomes impassable in spots after bad rain storms from what I’ve seen.

Any thoughts or input would help. I’ve only lived in Rosslyn and Del Ray, so I’m sure we’re missing really good potential neighborhoods!

Topic

[vvill]

Our budget when we were looking (back in 2007) was the same as yours. We ended up adding $100k to our original budget just to see what we could get with a “little” more and decided it was worth it (not that that’s necessarily doable for everyone! The second mortgage is paid off now at least.) I’d go with Falls Church for sure, of your options. If I could choose again where to live in the VA side of the DC area, I would probably pick Falls Church or Arlington over McLean, although I didn’t ride my bike much before 2011 so the bike routes weren’t a factor back then.

[Terpfan]

We were really between South Arlington and near the area you’re talking about with south of OT Alexandria. We ended up buying a home that’s basically what you described and same factors drove our decision-making, albeit not quite the same budget. And we also wanted to do Del Ray/OT, but similarly decided we couldn’t get what we wanted.

The commute for me to Cap Hill is about 13 miles each way. The hardest part is climbing Beacon Hill. It’s also the part I get the best workout on. I wish they would plow the MVT. When they don’t, I either do Rt 1 or Kings Highway down to Eisenhower and then come through Del Ray or OT to the Potomac Ave Trail and come across Memorial Bridge from behind that way (or sometimes 14th St depending on how much snow/ice/etc).

I suppose it also depends on how much you drive and to where as well. The one nice thing for my wife is that she can always opt the 295 route or GWMP to 395 depending on traffic. The downside to the driving component is that Rt 1 is horrible on the weekends.

But overall, I like the area. We have some woods at the end of my street and a little playground/ball field/basketball court a block away that the county maintains. The ES seems average and is a short 5 minute walk or 5 minute bike ride, but about a 10 minute car ride due to the way the streets are laid out. West Potomac is the HS. Not sure on middle school.

And there are grocery stores everywhere. I think there are 3 Safeways within 3 miles, a Giant, a Shoppers, Costco, Target, Walmart, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

[baiskeli]

You can get what you’re looking for on your budget in Arlington, near the trails.

I looked at the home for sale a few doors down from me. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,500 sq foot single-family with a yard. It’s half a block from the bike trail and not too far from Metro. $640k. 5719 6th St. North. Only downside is you’d live near me.

[Vicegrip]

22043. Falls church like living with top Fairfax county schools. Plenty of non McManson houses with real yards in your range if you can buy it before a teardown builder does and don’t need 3500+ sf and 5 bathrooms. Metro and W&OD nearby. Plenty of food and other stores local but not on top of you. Commercial areas are all improving rather than running down.

[Steve O]

@baiskeli 136609 wrote:

. Only downside is you’d live near me.

Correct. Don’t buy it.

[baiskeli]

@Steve O 136618 wrote:

Correct. Don’t buy it.

Just for that, I’m moving into your neighborhood now.

[Emm]

@baiskeli 136609 wrote:

You can get what you’re looking for on your budget in Arlington, near the trails.

I looked at the home for sale a few doors down from me. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,500 sq foot single-family with a yard. It’s half a block from the bike trail and not too far from Metro. $640k. 5719 6th St. North. Only downside is you’d live near me.

Thanks! We looked at that house over the weekend. It was…interesting. And usable space was closer to 1500 sq ft with 0 storage space (attic is a waste of space and there was no basement). The location and yard were awesome though. We did find a house we liked that is RIGHT ON the W&OD trail in Arlington, but it’s too early to make an offer since we don’t want to close until July/August. If the 2nd house we saw had a nicer yard we would have done it though and just sucked up and paid the penalty for breaking our current lease early…

I think I got my husband more on board with Arlington and Falls Church though by checking out a few house, so that’s a plus. He agreed being on the bike trail would be awesome. He’s not a fan of how “on top of each other” the houses are, but until you get out to Fort Hunt, that’s most neighborhoods around here.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Emm 136689 wrote:

Thanks! We looked at that house over the weekend. It was…interesting. And usable space was closer to 1500 sq ft with 0 storage space (attic is a waste of space and there was no basement). The location and yard were awesome though.

I looked at that as a comp for our house…you’re right that the usable space is much less. I’d guess the taxable space is no more than 1500sqft. It’s a good price though, although I bet it’d be higher if it was in the McKinley school district.

@Emm 136689 wrote:

We did find a house we liked that is RIGHT ON the W&OD trail in Arlington, but it’s too early to make an offer since we don’t want to close until July/August. If the 2nd house we saw had a nicer yard we would have done it though and just sucked up and paid the penalty for breaking our current lease early…

We got out of our lease without penalty when we bought, because we were able to line up new renters to move in right away. Some places are inflexible on that point, but I’ve done it a couple of times and found most buildings/management companies will do it if you ask, even if such an accommodation isn’t written into your lease.

[GovernorSilver]

I was at the gas station at Belle Haven and GW Parkway this past Saturday, having the VA emissions test done on my car.

Access to MVT from Belle Haven doesn’t look good at all. There’s no sidewalk on the west side of GW Parkway to ride on while waiting for a gap in traffic to cross over to the MVT – and as we all know, traffic on the parkway is a near-continuous stream of cars from sunrise to late night. No traffic light controlling the Belle Haven-GW Parkway intersection.

Fort Hunt Rd. looks as dangerous as ever to ride on, from Huntington all the way to Belle View.

[hozn]

@GovernorSilver 136911 wrote:

Access to MVT from Belle Haven doesn’t look good at all. There’s no sidewalk on the west side of GW Parkway to ride on while waiting for a gap in traffic to cross over to the MVT – and as we all know, traffic on the parkway is a near-continuous stream of cars from sunrise to late night. No traffic light controlling the Belle Haven-GW Parkway intersection.

I used to live down in that neighborhood for a year or so after college. This was pre “serious cycling” so I was driving and waiting for a gap at Bell Haven was pretty horrible, even in a car.

Crossing to the MVT by bicycle (which I did occasionally) was even worse, as you describe here.

[dasgeh]

@Emm 136689 wrote:

with 0 storage space (attic is a waste of space and there was no basement). The location and yard were awesome though.

One thing to keep in mind when house shopping: if the yard is ample, buying a shed might be a cheap and easy way to increase storage space…

[Oldtowner]

I’ve lived in Del Ray, Old Town, Fort Hunt and Mount Vernon so I’m pretty familiar with the MVT and its crossings.

Crossing the GWP at Belle Haven or Belle View is horrible. Avoid at all costs. Crossing at Tulane is not bad. Crossing at the stone bridge on Alexandria Ave is easy. We live in Old Town because we like small and walkable, but if I was doing it again I would think harder about Arlington. The combination of its great location, bike friendliness, and good schools makes up for the less than walkable character so many of its neighborhoods. Oh and it seems to have fewer hardcore anti-cycling curmudgeons than Alexandria.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@dasgeh 136952 wrote:

One thing to keep in mind when house shopping: if the yard is ample, buying a shed might be a cheap and easy way to increase storage space…

If the yard is big, the work/cost to maintain it will be equally big, and probably beyond what many first-time buyers expect (myself included). Some people love it, but not me. One of the factors for us selling was getting rid of the yard.

[MLB]

Have you looked at Seminary Valley in the west end of Alexandria? Quiet neighborhood centered on Taney Ave between Pelham and Latham. Plenty of 3-4 BR houses built in the 50’s & 60’s that sell in the 400’s to 500’s. Easy access to the Holmes Run Trail which will bring you all the way down to the Eisenhower Ave trail and on to Carlyle/Old Town, plus decent access to W&OD/4MR via sharrows & bike lanes on Taney, Howard (hill), Braddock & Walter Reed.

[Subby]

West McLean is pretty solid – you have a bunch of different options for your commute from here. Are the prices terrible? Probably! But there are still some values if you want to go the “worst house in the a good neighborhood” route.

[Author]

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