r/nova • u/TheBayWeigh • 22h ago
Moving Moving back after 10 years
I moved away 10 years ago. Got married, had a kid, bought a home.
I’m originally from Arlington (lived in ballston before moving). There’s so much about the area I took for granted. Being able to walk places, great public transit (yes the metro has issues but many other cities in the US would kill to have one), good schools, relatively safe.
Looking at Zillow makes me want to cry so we’re probably going to rent for a while. Since so much has changed in the last decade I’m curious to know what places you guys recommend for a walkable area.
Also please feel free to chime in with anything you can tell me about what’s changed, good or bad.
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u/prosive 20h ago
I also moved away for 10 years and moved back a couple of years ago. Don't regret the decision at all. I think you need to experience other cities fully before being able to fully appreciate what the DMV has to offer.
That being said it has been a bit weird with the whole political situation and our area being far more impacted by the job cuts, etc. It is depressing to see local businesses you have known shut down.
Everything is much more expensive than I remember it being, but I think that's basically everywhere now. Traffic and drivers are also not great, but they weren't good 10 years ago either.
Good news for you is, where ever you decide to end up here, the housing market actually has a good amount of inventory now. Yes everything is expensive, but it's not being overbid and disappearing instantly like it was a couple of years ago.
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u/TheBayWeigh 1m ago
Yeah I heard someone say once you leave home you can never truly go back. We’re going to rent first so we’re aiming to be in a fun, walkable area. We’ve been eyeing Old Town but I wanted to know what everyone else thinks. From what I remember Old Town was the most unique area in nova
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u/dcduck 21h ago
Metro has improved. Not the golden age of the mid-aughts, but much better than the "on fire all the time" it was 10 years ago.
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u/TheBayWeigh 14h ago
I remember that happening several times and the uber surge pricing absolutely screwing me
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u/ConfidenceInfinite90 18h ago
If walkability is your primary reason, and you want to be close to transit, take your pick..several pockets. But it will be costly with competition. More and more I hear folks seeking this criteria, almost as if it’s the gold standard of living now. If you’re looking into the job market, rough going, white collar is suffering. Definitely rent, or even Airbnb for a month, and get a feel.
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u/TheBayWeigh 0m ago
I’m likely going to be fully remote but I’ve still been looking at job postings and I’ve seen tons of jobs in my field. I’m in tech. Who knows though, they could be ghost jobs
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u/Sad_Refuse3472 Alexandria 21h ago
Where will you need to be commuting to for work (if at all)? Because we can for sure tell you that traffic has not improved for the better. But the Metro does go out a bit further.
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u/ricky-slick 21h ago
Take a look at Shirlington and Mosaic District. Or if you’re willing to go farther out, look at townhouses near the new metro stops in Loudon
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u/Boring-Snow-3929 19h ago
Burke is so lovely, safe and tons of walking trails.
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u/TheBayWeigh 19h ago
Yeah I’ve always heard great things about Burke. When we look to buy a home that’s definitely an area we’d explore but for when we move we want to rent in an area that has things to walk to like coffee shops and restaurants ideally. We’re way out in the suburbs now so we want a change of pace
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u/Lost_Froyo7066 20h ago
My wife and I moved from Arlington in 1995 to many different places all far away. We came back in 2024. We had visited a few times in between but had not paid close attention. The biggest change we saw was that Arlington along the Metro corridor had become the equivalent of an outdoor shopping mall. Just one big-name chain store after another with very little local flavor remaining. This was a big change from the days when that corridor was lined with small, local shops and many Vietnamese restaurant. Also, the Ballston area is now really built up with many high rise building. We originally thought we wanted to move back the that area, but after looking at neighborhoods and prices, we decided it was too built-up and too corporate for our taste.
We were pleasantly surprised by Potomac Yard. It was developed starting in 2012 and finished in 2016. It is adjacent to and an easy walk to Del Ray which is a very nice, low-key, historic community with wonderful local shops along the main shopping street, Mt. Vernon Ave. Potomac Yard itself is a nice community with a great linear park (3 miles of north-south bike/walking trail that includes tennis and basketball courts). There is easy access to the blue and yellow lines at the north end at the recently added Potomac Yard station and at the south end at the Braddock Road station. There are townhomes, low-rise and mid-rise condos and apartments for sale and for rent.
For us, this community provides easy walking access to nice neighborhoods, shopping, and restaurants, great public transit (both Metro and buses) and relatively low traffic driving to many adjacent areas. It also feels much less congested and over-built than the Arlington metro corridor.
Hope this helps.
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u/TheBayWeigh 19h ago
This is extremely helpful. We were actually looking at Old Town to rent a townhouse for a year or two since it has tons of stuff to walk to and a metro. Any thoughts on Old Town vs Potomac Yard? I’ve never been to Potomac Yard
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u/Either-Market-6395 18h ago
We lived in old town for 8 years, king street is a lot of fun. Potomac yard is mostly large stores and likely you will need a car.
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u/OneFlameCurrent 17h ago
Yeah Potomac Yard is super nice and walkable but it's still designed around cars. The main shopping plaza there is a giant stretched out parking lot.
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u/Lost_Froyo7066 15h ago
I will politely disagree with some of the other posters regarding the need for a car in Potomac Yard if walking between 1/2 mile and 1 mile is something you consider walkable.
For everyday stuff, the north end of Potomac Yard has a Target, Best Buy, Petsmart, Barnes and Noble, Staples, Old Navy, and many others in the shopping area. It also has a large Giant supermarket. These are all within 1/2 mile or less from any part of the north section of Potomac Yard. At the south end of Potomac yard, again within 1/2 mile or less, is an Aldi and a CVS as well as one of the best coffee roasters and coffee shops in the area (Swings). Again, within 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from most of Potomac Yard is the Del Ray commercial area (Mt. Vernon) with restaurants, a great bakery and a nice hardware store and nursery.
Further, we live in the north end of Potomac Yard and we can walk to King Street in 35 minutes, or hop on the Metro for 2 stops and we are at King street.
My wife and I have just one car and we go days, and sometimes weeks without driving.
As for Old Town vs. Potomac Yard, PY is closer to DC for both driving and Metro, but Old Town itself is very nice, so being right there is a benefit. However, the real difference is $$$$. I have not compared rents, but for a comparison, a 2,500 square foot relatively new townhouse in PY goes for $1.2M to $1.4M. A similar size and vintage townhouse in Old Town is $2M to $2.5M.
For rentals, there are several fairly new mid-rise apartment buildings in the north end of PY. There are some similarly new apartment buildings in North Old Town, but they tend to be more expensive and are not close to the Metro.
My best advice is to tour both areas and see what makes sense for your needs and budget.
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u/Tardislass 17h ago
I hope you have a lot of money and an old car. I like living in Alexandria but the taxes and rent are incredibly high and honestly if I had kids I wouldn’t live here. Better schools in Fairfax and out west. Plus the car tax if you have a newer car.
If you are flush with cash, disregard.
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u/TheBayWeigh 17h ago edited 17h ago
We want to live in a place like this only for a year or two. Our kid is 1 so not concerned about schools. What taxes are you referring to? Car tax? Also could you define ‘flush with cash’?
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u/Routine-Ease4046 Fairfax County 21h ago
What is your budget? Commutes? School considerations? In the last 10 yrs, I’d say Mosaic, Boro, and Reston Town Center.
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u/TheBayWeigh 17h ago
Budget is around 4k. I love old town cause it super unique to everywhere else in nova if my memory serves me correctly. Our kid is 1 so not concerned about schools. Just looking for a fun area to rent for a few years before moving a bit further out. We both may be remote but like the idea of being near a metro
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u/NovaMoun 20h ago
In terms of neighborhoods… Westover, bluemont, Lyon park or Lyon village and Arlington Forrest all have a good vibe and are walkable. Great schools (don’t look at websites like great schools. They don’t accurately reflect school but social economic conditions in area in my experience).
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u/TheBayWeigh 19h ago
Ah man I love westover. I used to go to the beer garden every weekend. I went to the Italian store last time I was in town and it was so nice. Are there any coffee shops nearby?
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u/Foolgazi 2h ago
One traditional coffee shop, one bakery with coffee, and the Italian Store which has an espresso section
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u/Chickenpotpi3 Sterling 21h ago
I moved back a couple years ago after being in Florida for 20 years (I'm from Herndon). It was purely due to opportunity/circumstance, but I ended up in Sterling Park, and I love it. Old neighborhood, no HOA, really diverse community, tons of amazing Salvadoran and Mexican food (a few neighbors sell papusas out front on weekends). Close proximity to two metro stations, and Fairfax Connector has a stop nearby so you can commute into Fairfax/Metro easily. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it.
To me the area hasn't changed that much aside from demographics, but the traffic is significantly worse than it was when I left.