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GOUGE Northern VA Housing Info

Living/working in the District you must, must take a hard look at commute times and your working hours. If you have a sponsor/poc at wherever you're working in the Pentagon, try to get a feel for office hours and flexibility. If you don't have much flex, prioritize short commute over cute neighborhood. The less you're at the mercy of bridges and Metro (I'm sure this SafeTrack asspain wont be the last), the better your life will be. My girlfriend lived in Arlington near Pentagon City; not what I'd call a cute neighborhood but lots to do, easy walk to the Metro and minutes from the big five-sided building.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Living/working in the District you must, must take a hard look at commute times and your working hours. If you have a sponsor/poc at wherever you're working in the Pentagon, try to get a feel for office hours and flexibility. If you don't have much flex, prioritize short commute over cute neighborhood. The less you're at the mercy of bridges and Metro (I'm sure this SafeTrack asspain wont be the last), the better your life will be. My girlfriend lived in Arlington near Pentagon City; not what I'd call a cute neighborhood but lots to do, easy walk to the Metro and minutes from the big five-sided building.
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Or just convince everyone you work with that you're a slug and you have to leave before the lines disappear.
 
Eastern Market and SE DC in general are great for DINK couples, with some housing bargains still to be had.
 
Eastern Market is rapidly gentrifying into the "young hipsters and old gay couples" neighborhood. Think street art fairs and everyone's on a bike. Worth a look if you want a cute and walkable area.

SE and NE are kind of a crapshoot. The difference between a great neighborhood and "Hey, we're on 'Cops' again!" is often a block or two.

If I was headed back to the Pentagon I'd pick somewhere on the VA side of the river, walking distance to a Yellow or Blue line Metro station, with off-street parking.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Living/working in the District you must, must take a hard look at commute times and your working hours. If you have a sponsor/poc at wherever you're working in the Pentagon, try to get a feel for office hours and flexibility. If you don't have much flex, prioritize short commute over cute neighborhood. The less you're at the mercy of bridges and Metro (I'm sure this SafeTrack asspain wont be the last), the better your life will be. My girlfriend lived in Arlington near Pentagon City; not what I'd call a cute neighborhood but lots to do, easy walk to the Metro and minutes from the big five-sided building.
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Much, much wisdom in UF's comments above. I drive Route 50 everyday from Fairfax to the Pentagon and while I love where I live (Fairfax City), I am on the verge of becoming Michael Douglas in "Falling Down" almost every afternoon/evening on my way home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Down
 
Uncle Fester said:
Eastern Market is rapidly gentrifying into the "young hipsters and old gay couples" neighborhood. Think street art fairs and everyone's on a bike. Worth a look if you want a cute and walkable area.

SE and NE are kind of a crapshoot. The difference between a great neighborhood and "Hey, we're on 'Cops' again!" is often a block or two.

If I was headed back to the Pentagon I'd pick somewhere on the VA side of the river, walking distance to a Yellow or Blue line Metro station, with off-street parking.
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I lived on 12th St SE, literally across the street from Potomac Gardens. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Price was right, neighbors were great, close to metro, grocery, etc etc. Yes, the police are literally parked out front every night, but neither me nor my spouse ever felt unsafe.
 
othromas said:
I recently received verbals to Northern VA (Chantilly) in the spring of 2017 and wanted to see if anyone here has insight into the area with regards to rentals. Looks like traffic is the real deal there. Trulia has a commute time heat map that's been invaluable to narrow my focus. So far it looks like we can either get a small condo/townhome in Reston, a typical SFH in Chantilly/Centreville, or a much larger SFH out towards Haymarket. However, it'd be invaluable to hear what others who've been up here have to say. I have also heard recently that I-66 is going to be undergoing significant construction, which will change the traffic patterns, so I'm avoiding it as a result. If there are other infrastructure changes or significant events like that happening in the next several years, I'd like to know to plan ahead. Thanks!
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As someone who has worked at your future organization in Chantilly for a long time now, and watched the traffic patterns change over that time, I'd highly recommend dialing up Google Maps with the traffic filter on at (local) rush hour for a few days in a row to get a sense of where the bottlenecks are. My personal recommendation would be to wave off of anything that requires you to be west of the area - the traffic is really, really brutal. (It would take a whole lot of $$ to get me to live in Haymarket.) Reston is pretty sweet drive-wise, and there are multiple routes that can get you there if things start getting dorked up. It's also got some good dining options, and new Metro access. There are a few sketch areas in Reston, though, so make sure you do your due diligence. The same is true of Herndon, which has some good opportunities but also some real downers. The Chantilly area itself is fine if you have a family and want a SFH. Vienna (where I live) and McLean are also very nice, but the prices start getting jacked pretty quickly.

As others have said, though, it's about the commute. Chantilly beats the crap out of the Pentagon or DC for a commute, but you still need to choose wisely. (BTW, PM me and I can give you some organizational gouge...).
 
DC traffic sucks everywhere, anytime (I think it get's worse for non commuting routes on weekends). You have to pick your poison. Stay away from 66, the beltway, 95, and 270. Bridges against traffic are OK. My worst commute was going from Old Town to Chevy Chase. Try to make sure that the District isn't between you and your destination.
 
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