There is a decent chance that the Army will be PCSing me to take a position in Arlington, VA. After living in Metro Detroit and more recently in Georgia near Ft. Gordon I see that the NOVA area is pretty darn expensive. Granted my housing allowance will go up to compensate but I see that there is a line to walk that balances commute time with cost of housing.

It's just me, my wife, and couple of dogs so I don't have too many requirements. Where can I find houses in a safe neighborhood that have fenced back yards, two car garages, and have a consistent commute to Arlington in around 30-40 minutes or less during normal business hours?

"consistent commute to Arlington in around 30-40 minutes"

"Consistent" is the problem.
You are heading for one of the worst traffic areas in the entire country.
Commutes less than 60 minutes are hard to find.
And wait till you see the prices.

I live 30-ish miles from work (Quantico to Arlington) and my commute can be anywhere from 50 minutes to 1.5, just on a "regular" day.  Friday's are worse and don't even consider leaving work after 2:00 or so on a Holiday weekend heading south.  I've had 2 hour commutes regularly, it's just the way it is here.

That being said, my kids wanted to ride bikes and skateboard on safe streets with no traffic, wanted a big yard, nice house, community pool, etc.  For what I get for my mortgage in the Montclair/PWC area, you can get a small 1 bedroom condo in Arlington.  That is why 30% of my community is Military.  They deal with it and carpool for the quality of life it gives their family.  That said, if I was single, I'd live in the Clarendon section of Arlington.  It has everything, is safe, and has the best eye candy in the DC area, hands down

So, to answer your question, you can't get someplace near Arlington that is safe, cheap, with a backyard - let alone a 2 car garage! - unless you have plans to spend $4+ k a month.  If you can deal with a long and unpredictable commute, you'll pay less than half that.  As they say, they aren't making any more land...

Hope you find someplace, and welcome!  (Will you be at the BRAC or Pentagon?)

Understood. Thanks!

Yes I pretty much shit myself looking at housing prices. Here are some recommendations that I received so far: Lorton, Alexandria, Dale City, Stafford. I will most likely be renting since I may only be in the are for a couple years. I have a rent budget of around $2500-2750.

I guess I will have to get use to commuting then. I commute about 35 minutes in the Detroit area. 45 minutes if I leave at the wrong time.

NoVA native. First thing to note: land is expensive in NoVA building plans go up not out; unlike GA. Many people like to find locations close to highway access.  Town homes are very common.  All the commutes below vary greatly depending on traffic. I would checkout Zillow.com for pricing.  Property taxes here are high.  The new suburbs are moving west and south of DC. Cost of living is high.  You pay for everything you want to do. Traffic is bad...always.

Really depends on your budget; the closer you get to DC the more expensive it gets.  To have a yard, single family house from Fairfax (city) in its 500K+ (500K is the very low end; probably more like 600K.).  That's about a 35-45 minute commute to Arlington on a good day.

Alexandria - mixed bag; low income housing to 5 million dollar+. Stay away from route 1. Single family min 500K+ 30-45min commute depending on traffic.
Woodbridge - inexpensive - somewhat higher crime, 45min-1 hour+ commute depending on traffic and route. Single family + yard - 200-400K depending on how large of a house.
Fallschurch - 350K+, possibly higher crime, short commute 30+ min.
Lorton - 300K+ on the low end (older houses) Relatively safe. 45+ Min commute.
Clifton - 400K and your in the stix.  Gaining popularity so its getting expensive. 45+ min commute.
Manassas - Less expensive 300K+ and yard.  1hr + commute depending on location. Can be higher crime depending on location.
Springfield - Low end 400k+ - 1950s single level. Crime depends on neighborhood.  Springfield mall went to hell when the metro came in.
Chantilly - Low end 400K + single family + yard - lots of town homes. Low crime. 45 min commute to Arlington min - route 50 construction.
Centerville  - Low end 400K + single family + yard - lots of town homes.  45 min commute to Arlington min
Reston -  Low end 500K+ single family + yard  -  30-50 min commute. Relatively safe; depends on neighborhood.
Herndon - Low end 400K+ single family - 30-50 min commute. Relatively safe; depends on neighborhood.  Lots of day workers.
Aldie - Longer commute and getting expensive - everyone wants a country estate. Lots o money out west; some huge multi-million dollar estates; wine growing.  Hour + to Arlington.
Fredericksburg - cheap housing 300K big yard, 1 hour plus commute up 95. Relatively safe, country.

MD - sucks. Lots o gun laws; bad drivers (wink) but you can find some cheaper housing. Not sure of locations I avoid MD.

Hope this helps.

Excellent thanks!

It sounds like the drive is worth it. I didn't even consider that there would be carpool possibilities. It makes sense if everyone is .mil and heading in the same direction.

I am going to be at NGB with a possibility that duty can sometimes be at Ft. Belvoir.

Thanks badz2801....! This helps a lot. I will send this over to my wife so she can look around at Zillow. It looks like the one hour commute is the new standard I need to accept.

I agree with you on MD. That's why I am here in this hometown forum. My collection is not MD friendly. I don't want to live there.

There is a good shotgun range in MD (oddly) if you like sporting clays.  21 stations I think it is.  

http://www.pgparks.com/Things_To_Do/Sports/Trap_and_Skeet.htm

Yup 1 hour+ commute is pretty much the norm. 100K a year income does not go far in NoVa.

Check out the communities of Montclair, Ashland, Lake Terripin, and Hope Hill near Dale City/Woodbridge. They are very nice family friendly communities without the riff-raff, and are close to I-95. Stafford is nice but is another 15-20 minutes south.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: I should point out that these are all somewhat new communities, so they are on the nicer end. There are many homes to rent however, and you can find a lot on Zillow.

If you'll be working close to Crystal City you might want to look at the Virginia Railway Express:

http://vre.org

Get a place within easy driving distance of a VRE station. Hopefully your gig is okay with you working on the commute in answering emails and such and counting that as time on the clock. A lot of area employers subsidize mass transit tickets; see if your new employer is one of them.

Oh crap, the National Guard Bureau, I am so sorry about your impending crap commute.  There is no easy or quick way of getting there.  You are at the intersection of George Mason and Arlington Highway (Rte 50).  You will have a horrible commute any way you slice it.  The Foreign Service Institute is your neighbor.  I departed my home in Stafford 2 and a half hours before my class was supposed to start and I was still late for class on the first day.  Weather will have a lot to do with it, accidents and road construction will also tend to screw it up.  Try spend most of your time at Fort Belvoir, the commute up 95 or Rte 1 still sucks but it doesn't suck as long.  Slugging or car pool will have limited possibilities.  For HOV on 95, you'll need three people in your car.

Use franklymls.com and check out zip codes 22310 & 22315.

You should be able to find something that fits your bill in those two areas, and the commute to Arlington should be a breeze, generally speaking.

ETA:  Those two areas directly adjoin the Ft. Belvoir area.  Kingstowne & Alexandria (Fairfax County).

Look in fairfax county just south of Alexandria. Telegraph road and Franconia. Virginia Hills is a good start. Modest 2-3 br and about 1/4 acre. Real easy drive to belvoir (telegraph south to kingman gate) and about 20 min to NGC in the AM. (telegraph to duke to quaker to four mile run to george mason). 30-40 min going home. occasional clusterfuck at the beltway but there are options.



after about 0745, the backup on george mason to the FSI is pretty heavy.



stay away from huntington. Jefferson manner not bad (duplexes), Wilton woods, virginia hills, and places west are good. not east.



Lived there 15 years.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the information. Love arfcom for this sort of thing. My wife appreciates it too. It gives us some good options and things to consider directly from some people familiar with the area.

I also ride the VRE because fuck living north of Quantico on I-95.

How long will you be here? If it's just you, the wife, and two dogs for a few years I'd just grab a "cheap" 2 bedroom in old town Alexandria. There's plenty of dog parks and you can eat a champagne brunch at Murphy's for me. If you don't have kids, and won't while you are here, might as well live somewhere fun.

Anywhere South of Woodbridge is VRE worthy.    Quality of Life is nice .generally speaking , anywhere from Rippon Landing, Brook Station, Leeland Station and Fredericksburg along the VRE.
The Traffic is Horrible but if you are in the Military your BAH/housing allowance will most likely cover your rent and there is a $130 per month stipend offered to those who take the VRE or carpool.
I take the VRE because DC traffic causes my flux capacitor to overheat.

Take a look at Rose Hill and Virginia Hills if you want a single family.  You can usually find a few recently renovated 2-4 bedroom ranchers for upper 300k to low 400k.  Virginia Hills to Arlington is under 30 min.  

Also, I suggest using Redfin.com instead of Zillow for pricing and even purchasing.

I'm stationed at Myer right now and decided to live close.  My commute is 3 miles on back roads and takes less than 10 mins door to door.  I couldn't deal with lost time sitting in traffic.  The trade off is a small apartment, but it's in a very nice little neighborhood and the buildings are only three stories tall, instead of the high rise ones in other areas.

No garage or fenced in yard, but their is a park across the road and several others in walking distance.  It's a quiet, safe area in Arlington.  The best part is rent around 1,750 for a two bedroom. Doesnt sound like its what youre looking for at all, but IM me if you want the name of the place.

NGB isn't a bad drive from Reston... I went past it on my way to Crystal City for years.  Route 7 is the only thick traffic part, then you can do "back roads" pretty much the whole way - figure  45 minutes on an average day.

Hi all....resurrecting this thread since I found out that I am officially moving to the area during the first week of October. When looking for a good compromise of commute and household needs I found places in these two areas. Looking back a couple of posts I think this location is GTG but wanted to check again.

First Location

Second Location

I know the first area, although not that specific street, etc.  Mt. Vernon area is nice overall.

West of the beltway is nice as well - Fairfax City, North Burke, etc.  Leave early enough (0600ish) and you can go 495 to 395, or 495 to 50 with few problems. Nice and quiet.  I work in DC and just take 495 all the way south into MD and then up into DC.

If you can swing it, best to try your commute out before you commit, during the times you will be on the road.  Traffic gets much worse once school starts up again.

I agree, although I'm probably biased after living in the western part of the county for most of the last 30 years.

And I thought the Hybla Valley area was the hood, although I may have that confused with something else.

Although if your work takes you to Ft. Belvoir much the south side is a better choice.  Are you certain you will be working at the NGB itself?  Reason I ask is we have a lot of National Guard in our building in Crystal City.

Didn't Hybla Valley have a big flooding problem a few years ago?  Storm water management system neglect by the County if memory serves...

The area around Kingstowne used to be OK, but think it's become a bit... marginal.

I'd suggest West/NW (NOT MD) of the Beltway as well, but that's me.

Truth right here.

Also, if your planning on driving, and ain't too fancy, slugging might be an option. www.slug-lines.com I'm in Woodbridge, our old house was less than a mile from 95, exit 160. It used to take me less than 45 minutes door to door to get to work. A bit longer now that we're 5 miles or so away from 95.

Look out near Dulles Airport (Herndon/Reston/Chantilly).  Depending on the time you leave your house will greatly affect your arrival time, anywhere.  Good luck!  Imagine LA, then you'll wish you had that instead.  Oh, forget Maryland if you enjoy your 2A rights.

It would be really easy for me to scout out either location for you.  I just can't say much about the commute.  It looks like the commute from location 2 would be better - a lot of chances to go against the grain.  Hwy 1 can become a parking lot heading toward DC - and it looks like you might have to depend on it - in that direction - from location 1.

Both are great for access to Belvoir.

Thanks for that! I have been using Google maps to watch traffic times for those two locations (and others). Even though those two spots are not that far apart, you are right, location 2 has a pretty good commute time during rush hour. I am still checking AHRN, Zillow, etc for the right place.

Thanks to all for the help so far. I have a lot to do back here in Michigan over the next 5 weeks or so. No pressure.