After 15 years in good ole Boston, it appears that I’m going to move pretty soon … before March 15th, to be exact! I will be working for IBM in their McLean, VA, offices. I don’t know of anyone in that neighboorhood and was wodering if there are any guppies from that area who can give me some guidance.
Ideally, I would like to rent a 1 bedroom apartment on a short term lease preferably close to work. Any suggestions regarding locations, traffic, security, social issues, prices, etc. are greatly appreciated.
The McLean area (Fairfax county) is becoming really cosmopolitan – the second silicon valley - I am sure you know. Most construction is recent and there are various housing options to choose from. Rents are very high because of proximity to Washington. Roads are good and traffic is pretty tame.
If I were you, I would stay at a Days Inn etc for a week, go to George Mason University, look at the bulletin boards for sub-leases, efficiencies etc. Then make up your mind, once you know the area.
It’s a modern suburban locality, safe and clean, but a good one hour drive from downtown Washington. But the orange subway line ends in the same county too.
I agree with Citizen about coming down here for a week/weekend and scoping out the place. Traffic seems to get worse every day but the area as a whole is pretty safe and secure.
Single home prices can be very high but you can definitely find a good apartment deal these days. Other alternative good areas would be Centreville, Chantilly, Reston.
Thanks for your advice. I think I have lucked out and found a 3 month sublease of a 1 bedroom apartment in Herndon area for 625. I think 3 months are long enough to find a permanent residence.
I live in Maryland so I don’t know about the halal places in VA, but there are lots (the ADAMS site might have links/addresses). As for restaurants, there are lots of kabob houses and the like, Chutney, Abshaar, Tabir. Post again if you need further info.
bahah the traffic is tame. traffic in northern va is some of the worst in the nation because of all the job growth. Also affordable housing is becoming rarer in fairfax county and loudoun as well. growth Growth has expanded out into loudoun county west of fairfax county where dulles airport is located and starting to seep into prince william county south of fairfax. Northern va however is probably the second or third after silicon valley as far as tech goes. It is also big in defense. Two big reasons for the business growth are the proximity to dulles airport and the pentagon. Also virginaia has a much lower tax rate than md. haha maybe compared to nyc traffic is tame. Fairfax county is the richest county in the country. I believe loudoun is the third. mongomery in md is the 7th and howard co ait more far out from dc in md is 6 i think. pg county in md is the richest majority black county. northern va is a little more conservative and maryland is pretty liveral as far as political stances go. mclean is a probably the richest town in va. Also md(dc area part and overall i believe) has a larger %age of minorities than northern va. there are other differences between md and va which I won’t go into.
Thanks for all the links and information. You are right about housing being crazy. In my quick search I have found that houses are not staying in the market for more than two weeks and sometimes they are sold at higher than asking price. I have also seen mortgage brokers offering 100% financing with interest only payments ..... I can see lots of people forclosing as the interest rate goes up.
I can't decide, whether to take advantage to the current low rates or wait for the market to cool down!!!! Any ideas??