Place to live?

[TwoWheelsDC]

So are you looking for a condo? 300k probably won’t get you a house within about 20-30 miles of the city, unless it was an extreme fixer-upper. To stay near trails and metro, I’d start my search between West Falls Church and Vienna. Also, look at the areas along the upcoming Silver Line in Tyson’s and Reston. You can also find more affordable stuff down south in Alexandria and points along the Yellow and Blue lines, although the bike trails get harder to access as you move southwest.

[americancyclo]

your best bet might be to compare real estate mapping websites with the bicycling layer of google maps. I don’t know of any real estate sites that have ‘bicycling’ as a layer you can select.

Also good to know:
max desired commute time/distance?
are you willing to do a mixed mode commute?
preference for metro over bus?
urban/suburban?

[rcannon100]

* South Arlington near Shirlington.
* Falls Church
* Alexandria/Fairfax down river of of Old Towne

[Greenbelt]

Mount Rainer, MD Lots of houses in various stages of fixer up, often with very nice yards. Also Hyattsville Arts District or parts of College Park along the Green Line Metro. The cool kids go to charter/magnet schools. Basically you want to get in before the Whole Foods goes in (at that point the neighborhoods are discovered for good and prices go up).

It’s a great ride to DC from northern Prince George’s county, although not too many people realize it (you have to piece together a route from trails and neighborhood streets).

I commute from Old Greenbelt — about 15 miles, 65-70minutes.

This was a roundabout route we took for bike to work day http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2176630

Excellent road biking on the Anacosta Tributary trails and at higher speeds in the USDA Research Farms and Patuxent Wildlife Refuge. Here was my Strava from yesterday: http://www.strava.com/activities/114034628

[americancyclo]

@rcannon100 77576 wrote:

* South Arlington near Shirlington.
* Falls Church
* Alexandria/Fairfax down river of of Old Towne

Show me where to find a place to live in falls church for under 300k

[jrenaut]

@americancyclo 77582 wrote:

Show me where to find a place to live in falls church for under 300k

I have a 2br 1ba condo just off Lee Highway right inside the Beltway that I’d happily sell to you for under $300K.

[Raymo853]

Anacostia SE DC across the Anacostia River from the “main” part of DC. Focus on the areas near the Penn Ave and MLK/11th Street bridges.

That entire area is changing super fast, all the corner houses are already being bought by the smart and house-flippers. But you can still get a nice mid-block house for a bargain. In five years it will be just like LeDroit Park, full of trendy places to eat and people paying $750,000 for a 1600 sq-ft house with bad insulation and fancy trim. Some places are yes still a little sketchy and the schools are HORRID (no worse than Mt Rainer)

[Terpfan]

I suppose a lot of it depends upon what sort living arrangement you’re willing to accept (condo, townhouse, home) and then what you would define as a good street route. If I were you, I would use one of those apps like Trulia or Zillow and filter the results for whatever pricerange (sounds like 250-300) and other specifications you have. Then work outward from the major trails in MD/VA/DC. Here’s a rudimentary listing: http://bikewashington.org/trails/ (I would ignore the last 5 as they’re not really commuter trails into DC).

It’s possible to get a home within a few miles of a trail for $300k, but not a huge home. Hence it sort of matters as to what you want. Someone correctly said below you can still snap up some properties south and west of Alexandria, which is where I live, but pay attention to the area as some parts are sketchy. If you’re looking for condo living, that’s very easy, and I’ve seen some for sale in north Old Town Alexandria (about a 7 mile ride for you right on the Mt. Vernon Trail) for $240-275k, but they’re small. (I know as I used to live there). In my case, there is also a large hill involved at the end, but there was a home or two right around that point that were for sale (small, but on decent plots) nearby.

I would also pay attention to living somewhat close to a Metro stop. At least so you can hop a bus and be on a train within 5 or 10 minutes. This gives you another layer of commuting capacity in the event of crappy snow or ice that seems to have been the thing this winter. (Or allows you to bike to Metro easily–something I do infrequently, but it’s a 7 minute ride and very easy). Certain areas also have dedicated bus routes (I only know the 11Y near where I used to live and then the S9 in DC) that run express busses from areas into DC.

[DaveK]

You can get a 1 bedroom condo in the city for $300k in a good neighborhood. All depends what size place you’re looking for.

[Dcphilly]

thanks for all the good replies.

I don’t really mind how big my place is. 1 bedroom 1 bathroom is minimum. I definitely prefer garden style > high rise. Max commute is 60 minutes door to door; around 40 or less would be best. I do not mind biking to a metro station. Taking a bus directly to work would be cool too. I do NOT want to take a bus to a metro station.

I want to be able to get home at 4 and pop out the door on my road bike and ride for 20-50 miles…

[DismalScientist]

All local buses have bike racks on the front. This is useful in inclement weather and/or shortening the length of the bike part of a commute.
Bikes are prohibited on Metro during rush hours.

[Arlingtonrider]

Dcphilly,

I sent you a private message that has some information that you might find helpful. To access it, look at “notifications” in the upper right hand corner when you’re logged into the forum. I hope it helps you in your search!

[Arlingtonrider]

Shirlington has lots of garden style condos around $300K that are just a few blocks from Shirlington Village along S. Arlington Mill Drive. Look at The Arlington, Courtbridge, Heatherlea and Windgate. All are next to or almost next to bike trails and within easy walking distance of Shirlington Village shopping, restaurants and theatres. (Some condos are apartment style and some are townhouses, so prices vary a lot.)

[hozn]

I second (or third) the suggestion of Shirlington. From a cycling perspective Shirglington is pretty perfect, right there on the W&OD/4MRT and near the MVT. And relatively quick to get to the hills of N. Arlington and McLean.

Now, it would be easy to roll out the door and do 20 miles of low-stress riding. When I think of 50+ mile rides, I tend to gravitate toward Poolesville, Sugarloaf, and that general region (in MD). That is some of the most pleasant riding in the area IMO. The Loudon county gravel roads are a nice attraction too if you are into that. Point being that you’re not going to find the pleasant rolling country roads inside the Beltway, but you can easily put together a route with miles. Personally I find riding the roads of Arlington & McLean to be some of the safest-feeling road riding in the area. Drivers expect cyclists (and on the whole are very courteous), traffic is not crazy, there are often bike lanes or sharrows, and there are no shortage of [little] hills to give a great workout in relatively short distance. I love having the trails for commuting, but I always prefer to ride on the road when I am going out for a weekend ride.

[DaveK]

@hozn 77645 wrote:

I second (or third) the suggestion of Shirlington. From a cycling perspective Shirglington is pretty perfect, right there on the W&OD/4MRT and near the MVT. And relatively quick to get to the hills of N. Arlington and McLean.

Now, it would be easy to roll out the door and do 20 miles of low-stress riding. When I think of 50+ mile rides, I tend to gravitate toward Poolesville, Sugarloaf, and that general region (in MD). That is some of the most pleasant riding in the area IMO. The Loudon county gravel roads are a nice attraction too if you are into that. Point being that you’re not going to find the pleasant rolling country roads inside the Beltway, but you can easily put together a route with miles. Personally I find riding the roads of Arlington & McLean to be some of the safest-feeling road riding in the area. Drivers expect cyclists (and on the whole are very courteous), traffic is not crazy, there are often bike lanes or sharrows, and there are no shortage of [little] hills to give a great workout in relatively short distance. I love having the trails for commuting, but I always prefer to ride on the road when I am going out for a weekend ride.

It’s easy though from almost anywhere in Arlington to hop over Key Bridge and out MacArthur Blvd to string together a longer day.

[Author]

Posts