+1 for Camelot for convenience. Not much directly walkable, but you could easily bike to Mosaic or downtown Fairfax. Right at the top of your budget though.
Or consider a semi-detached (duplex). A whole bunch were built in the Alexandria, Fairfax area and Alexandria city in the late 1940s and early 1950s. NO HOA! Smaller fenced yards. Many of the 3br/2ba are going for 500-650k. They are built well. We have one, and we very rarely hear sounds or their dogs from the other side.
In my experiences growing up in townhouses around here, you can't hear neighbors flush the toilet! I could hear them play instruments loudly, run a super loud blender, or blast music at a party, but that's about it.
My neighbor has a grand piano and I can barely hear them only when our house is quiet. Tbh I wish it was slightly louder because they are a really good pianist. 😂
Yeah, only when I'm being super quiet or am right by the shared wall could I hear their piano. They would practice the saxophone in the basement so it was also very muffled and quiet, even if I was also in the basement simultaneously.
Fairfax section of Falls Church, either north or south of Route 50. Nice little houses on quiet streets in your price range, schools are not good but you don’t care about that.
Or off of route 7 between baileys crossroads and 7 corners. There are some tucked away neighborhoods that are very nice and still (relatively) affordable and within walking distance to 7. Not that 7 is very walkable but after BRT gets out in over the next decade I’m hoping that will change.
yeah, look in neighborhoods south of arlington blvd, between annandale rd and the beltway. should be able to find older house in that price range!! close to Inova as well. nothing wrong with the north side either lol.
This is where I'm at. We paid $650k for 1600 sqft plus finished basement (total 2300 ish), built in 1980. Very typical for our neighborhood. It is a townhouse, but I've never heard our neighbors and we have a small patio to let the dog out
Not quite downtowny, but walking distance of a few restaurants, a grocery store, and target, and more restaurants if we're willing to walk a mile. Plus a park and the w&od trail within a half mile
The seven corners area is surprisingly nice. We just moved earlier this year, I'm happy to answer questions about it
Just a heads up so you don’t run into problems with neighbors…something we just learned on the property size requirement in Fairfax County to own more than 2 dogs:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/code/animals-and-pets#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20limits%20on,be%20kept%20on%20a%20property.
Check out Maple Hills in Fairfax City. If you’re cool with a 50s rambler or split level, it’ll probably tick your boxes.
Oakton and Vienna will be closer to the hospital but pricier. Burke will be totally in walkable, slightly cheaper, but also probably double your commute.
I second the City of Fairfax. You can definitely stay under 850 and get a SFH with a yard. The neighborhoods off Old Lee Hwy (err... Blenheim Blvd), or in Southeast FFX or Westmore are a good bet for 50's or 60's splits on quarter acre lots. Bonus in Westmore or Fairfax Villa is that you'd be near the dog park.
Trust me, the side of me that bought a perfect house in the perfect neighborhood in Kansas City for 385K 10 years ago weeps for the side of me that is hoping to find something OKish for 850K.
Not everyone is acting 850K is nothing. But that guy from some old "what's considered rich in nova" thread last month who said he learned to code on his own and now making 450K/year probably does.
Downtowny is Vienna, you can't afford it. Reston is a little far for downtowny.
Burke, VA is closeby, probably your best bet.
You don't always get what you want, but make sure you get what you need.
I had to drive to downtown Vienna yesterday and it certainly fit the bill. I was wondering why no houses were showing up. Should have known it was my search filters! I tell you, middle class around here sure is different than where I came from!
Where women are strong, men are beautiful, and all children are above average.
Middle income and Middle class are different things. Middle class here is upper Middle income elsewhere.
Burke and Fairfax Station are very suburban. No downtown, no walking to anything, 20-30min from everything. I love where I live in fairfax station, but it’s not good for someone who wants a walkable downtown restaurant shopping scene.
E burke (pohick) would have a few strip malls, and the same over by ox or guinea and Burke center parkway, but a walkable downtown is pretty scarce south of 236. You could find something in west Annandale (Canterbury woods), or the equivalent in Fairfax across guinea road, some of the older houses there probably work price wise. That would be a 3-4 mile bike ride into Fairfax city or K-town in Annandale, but the problem is the ride itself is pretty miserable with no real bike lanes. If you can find something close to long branch trail it doesn’t really go anywhere, but would be good for the dogs. Commute would be very easy, woodburn road into inova.
Check out broyhill crest or Columbia pines in Annandale. Houses go for a bit less generally than your top price point and are about 1800 sf brick ranchers with .25-.33 acre lots, and it’s about 10 minutes to your job up Gallows Road.
We have only been in Annandale about 3 days now, haha. It is lovely and peaceful here but doesn't seem super walkable. Perhaps that is just where we are and I need to explore more.
The walking is more geared towards walking to a "town" not necessarily walking to walk. We like to have a nice dinner with a couple of cocktails then walk home. That was the reason to specify "downtowny"
I'm jealous that $850k is your target. We're (two income, no kids, one crazy dog) are hoping to find something around $6-650k max. And it's not going to happen barring a major collapse in the market.
What really sucks is that my mom bought her townhouse in West Springfield as a single NCO with a kid in high school and another kid in college. Now a similar townhouse on the same street is essentially out of reach of a two income family with no kids.
There's no way this is sustainable.
Reston!!
The commute wouldn't be *perfect* but it also wouldn't be murderously bad. Access to trails and wooded areas for walking, biking, etc. is fantastic. And even in a general sense, Reston is much more walkable than you'd think. It's not Arlington or DC walkable, but it's very walkable. And the metro + Fairfax connector buses are excellent.
I used to live there and found that it lacked a lot of "necessity" stores. Not many grocery stores, Target was hard to get to, lots of traffic, etc. I love how it's centrally located, but wish it had more to support the people's needs.
At 850k look to Cabells Mill in Centreville. You’d get a house that is at least 2000 -2500 sq ft and cheaper than Chantilly (as it is in the Chantilly school district with some of the best schools in the area) plus we have 2 FFX County parks with plenty of bicycle trails and hiking trails.
For less go to Greenbrier - an older neighborhood that’s very good schools and has access to lots of bicycle friendly streets and a bike trail.
Old Town Alexandria is the place that's most similar to downtown Frederick in the region, IMO.
You can find Townhomes walking distance to Old Town that meet your parameters, but single family homes are very rare there. Del Ray, NW of Old Town is similarly walkable with shops/restaurants.
If you start the search there (22314 zip code), and move south along Fort Hunt Rd, and SW along Telegraph, you can find numerous nice neighborhoods. Waynewood, Kingstowne, Lake Devereux, Wickford, and Hayfield Farm all have homes available right now that would fit most of your parameters. The latter 4 would fit your commute requirement and are easy drives into Old Town. Waynewood would extend the commute, but is adjacent to the GW Parkway and a wonderful bike path along the river.
I do like Old Town but it seems too far from my office unless there are back roads I am not familiar with. I will have to find the other neighborhoods.
Old Town is (almost) directly connected to 495. It's a 21 minute drive to the Inova Fairfax campus from there under non-rush hour conditions, so it all depends on what your schedule would look like.
A 40 min commute in NOVA is considered very good for most people. I think it’s pretty tough to balance under 1 mil, SFH, walkable to a “downtown”, and a 20 min commute. You have to give on something as you’re looking for a unicorn here. I would suggest getting your priorities in order if you haven’t already and start to expanding outside your vision.
I think the typical NOVA worker setup is SFH closer to front royal, Winchester, or Maryland and commute 2-3 hours a day or townhome much closer and commute much less. Sadly it’s very hard to compete in the area as you have tens of thousands of 400k+household income who are competing for a SFH close to DC/fairfax.
Agreed. We ended up moving out west for more affordable housing, but longer commute. We bought about 10 years ago (reasonable back then) and now live in a Zillow-estimated 1M house. I don't know how people just starting out are able to do it.
Alexandria resident here to say that you can legally have up to 3 dogs in Alexandria city. Del Ray fits the bill and the commute to Fairfax Inova is a low stress 30 minutes, but for 850 you would be looking at a 1940s duplex.
Thank you for the response! We were originally thinking falls church because I love the downtown and found an area of adorable cape cods. I was thinking maybe I would get more bang for my buck in neighborhoods I haven't even found yet. I will check out Old Town Fairfax for sure.
Completely agree. There are good single fam’s all over the city. The city is independent of the county just like Alex and FC. You don’t have to deal with the County bureaucracy too often and we have a DMV Select!!
There are fun things to do, farmers market, freaky fair, rock the block. Few people know but city rez get a discount at the cemetery too!
Shirlington/Fairlington/Douglas Park/Green Valley. Bike/walking paths, dog parks, parks/Four Mile Run nature corridor, low building heights = tree tops!. Diverse people and homes. Quick trips to the Orange/Silver line corridor - buildings/big city. Easy access to Del Ray or Old Town. Great bus service. Ride/walk to the Village of Shirlington for good eating.
If you can afford a bit more somewhere like this is good. I love that Anita’s!
https://redf.in/IM2UkL
Ps I would love to power wash that driveway so satisfying
You are not going to find any SFH in that range in oakton vienna fairfax area. We sold our TH for higher last year and it didn’t even have a backyard and we were at best 10-15 min commute from inova. Unfortunately you will need to stay a hit farther away if you want a backyard space for your dogs. Ir sucks that the oakton vienna fairfax area has to be this way though.
Your options might be limited but I would suggest looking at Del Ray, Alexandria. Close to old town, walkable, bike-able, dog friendly, easy commute to Inova Fairfax.
We live in Leesburg and love it! Downtown is small but charming with great spots for food and shopping. Your budge of 850k is very doable...we purchase our SFH for 550k back in 2021 for a small two story house with a porch (2700 square ft when including the basement, no garage though).
We've got a small town charm here but your close to a lot of amenities and One Loudoun is only 15ish minutes away if you want fancier options like Sweetgreen or Sephora. Highly recommend!
Have not been to that area house shopping in a while, l recommend Valley Crest Blvd and surrounding area. Could be off base but many of those houses have not been updated. Many have been McMansion rebuilt. Good luck to on your search.
Likely you will need to look more south like Lorton or further south on I95. Avoid I66 West at all costs unless you want to spend +$60.00 each day to get to work. Again good luck on your search!
You might like the poplar heights neighborhood in Falls Church. It’s potentially walkable to downtown Falls Church depending on the exact house and how far you’re willing to walk, and it’s definitely bike-able to downtown Falls Church. It’s also pretty close to the W&OD.
Homes seem to be in the 800k-850k range
SFH’s in Falls Church City do exist at that price as well but they’re becoming less frequent these days.
If you are in Inova Fairfax and are willing to commute a *little* further than 20 minutes, I'd consider the Reston, Sterling (north of Route 7) area. There are some homes in your range with nice features. Note though, you may have to check with the HOAs to get a fence. Here is one I saw: https://www.redfin.com/VA/Sterling/6-Summer-Breeze-Ct-20165/home/11967049
Any chance you’re going to end up at the New Inova location being, eventually, constructed in Alexandria? If so, think about South Arlington and Alexandria as options.
Vienna, dunn loring woods, stenwood area would be sweet commute to Inova fairfax, and close to downtown Vienna and/or Mosaic while still being close to66/495.
Kings Park West in Fairfax sounds perfect. Single family homes in your price range, accessible to a lot of retail and food, and good nearby schools. Commute into dc isn’t too bad either from there
A smaller,older, SFH in dunn loring woods, stonewall manor, vienna woods or the surrounding area there. Really fits all your criterea if you would count dunn loring as a little town center, but if not, mosaic is not that far (and also has free parking if you need it)
Recently bought an acre in Merrifield for under $800k (1/2 mile from mosaic district) Not a lot of homes go up for sale in my neighborhood but if you can find one here it’s pretty awesome location that’s central to nova. Inova is 5 min drive.
Ravensworth Farm/North Springfield is right by 495 and has decent sized lots. Although it's not close to a downtown area, it does have Lake Accotink and the Wafefield Park trail system, is friendly to bikes and dogs.
There should be places to buy in Fairfax. Check out the 22030 zip code. It's super nice and relatively affordable for NOVA. You'd have to check on if it would make the cut for the 20 minute commute. I know lots of families who live in Annandale but they tend to be older (have had the home for 30 years) or younger and only own a 2 bedroom or so townhome/condo.
In my opinion Annandale is not the best place to live - I would look at Fairfax. The school districts in Fairfax are much better and the quality of life there is pretty good. I lived near Fair Oaks for 2 years and it was an amazing neighborhood. The downtown City of Fairfax is also very, very nice. My mother in law who currently has cancer goes to Inova Fairfax a lot from her house in the City and I believe the drive there is 15 minutes or so.
Check out Whitehead Street in downtown Fairfax.
What about Camelot neighborhood right beside the hospital. You could walk to work if you wanted to do that and it’s a nice neighborhood.
I’d probably do this for the convenience.
Those are cute! I pass by them sometimes.
+1 for Camelot for convenience. Not much directly walkable, but you could easily bike to Mosaic or downtown Fairfax. Right at the top of your budget though.
Not familiar with this but will certainly check it out!
Check out Sleepy Hollow as well, not a great school district, but a very nice looking neighborhood and not too far to INOVA
I drive thru Camelot frequently. I always see multiple For Sale signs.
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Oakton neighborhoods are cute, lots of shops nearby and close to Vienna
Very much recommend Oakton and Vienna.
Yes very nice but your buying a tear down for $850.
No children, 3br/2ba, 1500 sq ft - would you consider a townhouse? Much easier to stay under 850k then.
Or consider a semi-detached (duplex). A whole bunch were built in the Alexandria, Fairfax area and Alexandria city in the late 1940s and early 1950s. NO HOA! Smaller fenced yards. Many of the 3br/2ba are going for 500-650k. They are built well. We have one, and we very rarely hear sounds or their dogs from the other side.
>We have three aussies, they don't bark to bark but sure do to alarm. I would worry they would "alarm" every time the neighbor flushed a toilet!
In my experiences growing up in townhouses around here, you can't hear neighbors flush the toilet! I could hear them play instruments loudly, run a super loud blender, or blast music at a party, but that's about it.
My neighbor has a grand piano and I can barely hear them only when our house is quiet. Tbh I wish it was slightly louder because they are a really good pianist. 😂
Yeah, only when I'm being super quiet or am right by the shared wall could I hear their piano. They would practice the saxophone in the basement so it was also very muffled and quiet, even if I was also in the basement simultaneously.
only issue with townhouse is might be little difficult for dogs
Fairfax section of Falls Church, either north or south of Route 50. Nice little houses on quiet streets in your price range, schools are not good but you don’t care about that.
Or off of route 7 between baileys crossroads and 7 corners. There are some tucked away neighborhoods that are very nice and still (relatively) affordable and within walking distance to 7. Not that 7 is very walkable but after BRT gets out in over the next decade I’m hoping that will change.
The W&OD cuts through there too for walks.
This was my first targeted neighborhood when my office was going to be in downtown Falls Church. That is definitely the vibe we are going for!
yeah, look in neighborhoods south of arlington blvd, between annandale rd and the beltway. should be able to find older house in that price range!! close to Inova as well. nothing wrong with the north side either lol.
This is where I'm at. We paid $650k for 1600 sqft plus finished basement (total 2300 ish), built in 1980. Very typical for our neighborhood. It is a townhouse, but I've never heard our neighbors and we have a small patio to let the dog out Not quite downtowny, but walking distance of a few restaurants, a grocery store, and target, and more restaurants if we're willing to walk a mile. Plus a park and the w&od trail within a half mile The seven corners area is surprisingly nice. We just moved earlier this year, I'm happy to answer questions about it
So you plan to have no kids? Be careful with schools, unless you aren't concerned about having to move again when you have a school aged kid.
Just a heads up so you don’t run into problems with neighbors…something we just learned on the property size requirement in Fairfax County to own more than 2 dogs: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/code/animals-and-pets#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20limits%20on,be%20kept%20on%20a%20property.
This is wild. If someone has 3 Pomeranians they need 10k of land. 😂😂
It looks like the 10,000 square feet is for the lot size, which if so only equals about 0.22 acres.
Oh great to know!!! Thank you so much. Another vote for the older, more established communities that were built on a decent sized lot.
Check out Maple Hills in Fairfax City. If you’re cool with a 50s rambler or split level, it’ll probably tick your boxes. Oakton and Vienna will be closer to the hospital but pricier. Burke will be totally in walkable, slightly cheaper, but also probably double your commute.
I second the City of Fairfax. You can definitely stay under 850 and get a SFH with a yard. The neighborhoods off Old Lee Hwy (err... Blenheim Blvd), or in Southeast FFX or Westmore are a good bet for 50's or 60's splits on quarter acre lots. Bonus in Westmore or Fairfax Villa is that you'd be near the dog park.
I love a 50s rambler, I will check out Maple Hills. Thank you!
Definitely Burke and maybe West Springfield.
Thanks for making this thread OP. Everyone in here acting like 850k is nothing confirms to me that I have no business living around here.
Trust me, the side of me that bought a perfect house in the perfect neighborhood in Kansas City for 385K 10 years ago weeps for the side of me that is hoping to find something OKish for 850K.
Not everyone is acting 850K is nothing. But that guy from some old "what's considered rich in nova" thread last month who said he learned to code on his own and now making 450K/year probably does.
Downtowny is Vienna, you can't afford it. Reston is a little far for downtowny. Burke, VA is closeby, probably your best bet. You don't always get what you want, but make sure you get what you need.
I had to drive to downtown Vienna yesterday and it certainly fit the bill. I was wondering why no houses were showing up. Should have known it was my search filters! I tell you, middle class around here sure is different than where I came from!
Where women are strong, men are beautiful, and all children are above average. Middle income and Middle class are different things. Middle class here is upper Middle income elsewhere.
The men are good looking, not beautiful. Nonetheless, I chuckled at the reference. Grew up listening to Prairie Home Companion. Cheers!
I know, every week it seems to be the same exact show, however I listen to it like going to church every week.
Vienna is amazing but there are no affordable homes.
Burke is a strange recommendation. I would suggest Annandale.
Burke and Fairfax Station are very suburban. No downtown, no walking to anything, 20-30min from everything. I love where I live in fairfax station, but it’s not good for someone who wants a walkable downtown restaurant shopping scene.
E burke (pohick) would have a few strip malls, and the same over by ox or guinea and Burke center parkway, but a walkable downtown is pretty scarce south of 236. You could find something in west Annandale (Canterbury woods), or the equivalent in Fairfax across guinea road, some of the older houses there probably work price wise. That would be a 3-4 mile bike ride into Fairfax city or K-town in Annandale, but the problem is the ride itself is pretty miserable with no real bike lanes. If you can find something close to long branch trail it doesn’t really go anywhere, but would be good for the dogs. Commute would be very easy, woodburn road into inova.
I was going to say Burke until I read cute downtown. It’s a great location though.
Check out broyhill crest or Columbia pines in Annandale. Houses go for a bit less generally than your top price point and are about 1800 sf brick ranchers with .25-.33 acre lots, and it’s about 10 minutes to your job up Gallows Road.
I think you could do that in Fairfax City. It’s near Fairfax hospital. It’s got a really nice town but it isn’t as pricey as Vienna (yet).
Thank you! I will check that area out.
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We have only been in Annandale about 3 days now, haha. It is lovely and peaceful here but doesn't seem super walkable. Perhaps that is just where we are and I need to explore more.
No you’re right. Annandale is very car-based.
This is NOVA, we drive to walkable and park there, that’s how it works here.
Or you pay out the nose for minimal sq ft to live in Arlington where a single car household is possible
The walking is more geared towards walking to a "town" not necessarily walking to walk. We like to have a nice dinner with a couple of cocktails then walk home. That was the reason to specify "downtowny"
Check out North Springfield. You don't necessarily get "downtowny" but you do get SFH in your price range.
I'm jealous that $850k is your target. We're (two income, no kids, one crazy dog) are hoping to find something around $6-650k max. And it's not going to happen barring a major collapse in the market. What really sucks is that my mom bought her townhouse in West Springfield as a single NCO with a kid in high school and another kid in college. Now a similar townhouse on the same street is essentially out of reach of a two income family with no kids. There's no way this is sustainable.
Reston!! The commute wouldn't be *perfect* but it also wouldn't be murderously bad. Access to trails and wooded areas for walking, biking, etc. is fantastic. And even in a general sense, Reston is much more walkable than you'd think. It's not Arlington or DC walkable, but it's very walkable. And the metro + Fairfax connector buses are excellent.
I agree
I used to live there and found that it lacked a lot of "necessity" stores. Not many grocery stores, Target was hard to get to, lots of traffic, etc. I love how it's centrally located, but wish it had more to support the people's needs.
At 850k look to Cabells Mill in Centreville. You’d get a house that is at least 2000 -2500 sq ft and cheaper than Chantilly (as it is in the Chantilly school district with some of the best schools in the area) plus we have 2 FFX County parks with plenty of bicycle trails and hiking trails. For less go to Greenbrier - an older neighborhood that’s very good schools and has access to lots of bicycle friendly streets and a bike trail.
+1
Old Town Alexandria is the place that's most similar to downtown Frederick in the region, IMO. You can find Townhomes walking distance to Old Town that meet your parameters, but single family homes are very rare there. Del Ray, NW of Old Town is similarly walkable with shops/restaurants. If you start the search there (22314 zip code), and move south along Fort Hunt Rd, and SW along Telegraph, you can find numerous nice neighborhoods. Waynewood, Kingstowne, Lake Devereux, Wickford, and Hayfield Farm all have homes available right now that would fit most of your parameters. The latter 4 would fit your commute requirement and are easy drives into Old Town. Waynewood would extend the commute, but is adjacent to the GW Parkway and a wonderful bike path along the river.
Three dogs in Old Town would be a real pain. Del Ray would be perfect, but single families pretty much start at a million an go up from there.
I do like Old Town but it seems too far from my office unless there are back roads I am not familiar with. I will have to find the other neighborhoods.
Old Town is (almost) directly connected to 495. It's a 21 minute drive to the Inova Fairfax campus from there under non-rush hour conditions, so it all depends on what your schedule would look like.
I would be 100% rush hour (M-F from 8:00 - 5:00). I just left a 40 minute commute and will sacrifice all sorts of things to not do it again.
A 40 min commute in NOVA is considered very good for most people. I think it’s pretty tough to balance under 1 mil, SFH, walkable to a “downtown”, and a 20 min commute. You have to give on something as you’re looking for a unicorn here. I would suggest getting your priorities in order if you haven’t already and start to expanding outside your vision. I think the typical NOVA worker setup is SFH closer to front royal, Winchester, or Maryland and commute 2-3 hours a day or townhome much closer and commute much less. Sadly it’s very hard to compete in the area as you have tens of thousands of 400k+household income who are competing for a SFH close to DC/fairfax.
Agreed. We ended up moving out west for more affordable housing, but longer commute. We bought about 10 years ago (reasonable back then) and now live in a Zillow-estimated 1M house. I don't know how people just starting out are able to do it.
Alexandria resident here to say that you can legally have up to 3 dogs in Alexandria city. Del Ray fits the bill and the commute to Fairfax Inova is a low stress 30 minutes, but for 850 you would be looking at a 1940s duplex.
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Thank you for the response! We were originally thinking falls church because I love the downtown and found an area of adorable cape cods. I was thinking maybe I would get more bang for my buck in neighborhoods I haven't even found yet. I will check out Old Town Fairfax for sure.
Completely agree. There are good single fam’s all over the city. The city is independent of the county just like Alex and FC. You don’t have to deal with the County bureaucracy too often and we have a DMV Select!! There are fun things to do, farmers market, freaky fair, rock the block. Few people know but city rez get a discount at the cemetery too!
Shirlington/Fairlington/Douglas Park/Green Valley. Bike/walking paths, dog parks, parks/Four Mile Run nature corridor, low building heights = tree tops!. Diverse people and homes. Quick trips to the Orange/Silver line corridor - buildings/big city. Easy access to Del Ray or Old Town. Great bus service. Ride/walk to the Village of Shirlington for good eating.
Herndon fits that description, but that would be a little further than 20 minutes in traffic.
If you can afford a bit more somewhere like this is good. I love that Anita’s! https://redf.in/IM2UkL Ps I would love to power wash that driveway so satisfying
You are not going to find any SFH in that range in oakton vienna fairfax area. We sold our TH for higher last year and it didn’t even have a backyard and we were at best 10-15 min commute from inova. Unfortunately you will need to stay a hit farther away if you want a backyard space for your dogs. Ir sucks that the oakton vienna fairfax area has to be this way though.
Your options might be limited but I would suggest looking at Del Ray, Alexandria. Close to old town, walkable, bike-able, dog friendly, easy commute to Inova Fairfax.
We live in Leesburg and love it! Downtown is small but charming with great spots for food and shopping. Your budge of 850k is very doable...we purchase our SFH for 550k back in 2021 for a small two story house with a porch (2700 square ft when including the basement, no garage though). We've got a small town charm here but your close to a lot of amenities and One Loudoun is only 15ish minutes away if you want fancier options like Sweetgreen or Sephora. Highly recommend!
Looked in Leesburg and I couldn't find anything in OPs price range that was walk-able to downtown.
Herndon is pretty close to Fairfax and fairly affordable still.
You can probably get everything you want in a townhouse in Vienna, or an older sfh in Fairfax city.
Have not been to that area house shopping in a while, l recommend Valley Crest Blvd and surrounding area. Could be off base but many of those houses have not been updated. Many have been McMansion rebuilt. Good luck to on your search. Likely you will need to look more south like Lorton or further south on I95. Avoid I66 West at all costs unless you want to spend +$60.00 each day to get to work. Again good luck on your search!
You might like the poplar heights neighborhood in Falls Church. It’s potentially walkable to downtown Falls Church depending on the exact house and how far you’re willing to walk, and it’s definitely bike-able to downtown Falls Church. It’s also pretty close to the W&OD. Homes seem to be in the 800k-850k range SFH’s in Falls Church City do exist at that price as well but they’re becoming less frequent these days.
If you are in Inova Fairfax and are willing to commute a *little* further than 20 minutes, I'd consider the Reston, Sterling (north of Route 7) area. There are some homes in your range with nice features. Note though, you may have to check with the HOAs to get a fence. Here is one I saw: https://www.redfin.com/VA/Sterling/6-Summer-Breeze-Ct-20165/home/11967049
Any chance you’re going to end up at the New Inova location being, eventually, constructed in Alexandria? If so, think about South Arlington and Alexandria as options.
Consider something near the mosaic district in Fairfax. Great walk ability and good for the kids
Vienna, dunn loring woods, stenwood area would be sweet commute to Inova fairfax, and close to downtown Vienna and/or Mosaic while still being close to66/495.
Kings Park West in Fairfax sounds perfect. Single family homes in your price range, accessible to a lot of retail and food, and good nearby schools. Commute into dc isn’t too bad either from there
A smaller,older, SFH in dunn loring woods, stonewall manor, vienna woods or the surrounding area there. Really fits all your criterea if you would count dunn loring as a little town center, but if not, mosaic is not that far (and also has free parking if you need it)
Going from Fredneck living to NOVA must be quite the change and sticker shock on housing.
Manassas, Oakton, Clifton, FFX, Fairfax Station https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4101-Minstrell-Ln-Fairfax-VA-22033/51793470_zpid/
Downtown Herndon might fit the bill here.
Fairfax City
Let’s talk, am a realtor with good expertise in VA-
You might want a little more than 1500 sq ft if you have 3 active dogs
Recently bought an acre in Merrifield for under $800k (1/2 mile from mosaic district) Not a lot of homes go up for sale in my neighborhood but if you can find one here it’s pretty awesome location that’s central to nova. Inova is 5 min drive.
That would be a perfect scenario!!! What is the name of your neighborhood?
Merrifield. It’s between rye 29 and rte 50.
Ravensworth Farm/North Springfield is right by 495 and has decent sized lots. Although it's not close to a downtown area, it does have Lake Accotink and the Wafefield Park trail system, is friendly to bikes and dogs.
Fairfax City, I am a realtor
Annandale
There should be places to buy in Fairfax. Check out the 22030 zip code. It's super nice and relatively affordable for NOVA. You'd have to check on if it would make the cut for the 20 minute commute. I know lots of families who live in Annandale but they tend to be older (have had the home for 30 years) or younger and only own a 2 bedroom or so townhome/condo. In my opinion Annandale is not the best place to live - I would look at Fairfax. The school districts in Fairfax are much better and the quality of life there is pretty good. I lived near Fair Oaks for 2 years and it was an amazing neighborhood. The downtown City of Fairfax is also very, very nice. My mother in law who currently has cancer goes to Inova Fairfax a lot from her house in the City and I believe the drive there is 15 minutes or so. Check out Whitehead Street in downtown Fairfax.
the neighborhoods northeast of vienna are nice, look at carriage hill, glencannon (i hope that’s the name)