How I Feel About Northern Virginia

[chaz]

OK, I don't want to offend anyone here that lives in one of these places.  They are just not for me.  Just too far away for my tastes and not the kind of environment for me.
 
 My brother in law lives out there and they've got a nice, huge house and they just love it out there.  They think we (who live in Arlington) live in 'the city' and are constantly asking us how we can stand it where we live...so just different strokes for different folks.
 
 Arlington was just a good balance for me and the missus.  
 
 

Originally posted by Harriet Balls:
  why do you consider these places hell-holes? I know a guy who is president of an IT company who lives in Burke and I've seen some nice cribs in Cetreville...

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

How were you able to afford your small 600K house in Arlington?
 
 

Originally posted by chaz:
  OK, I don't want to offend anyone here that lives in one of these places.  They are just not for me.  Just too far away for my tastes and not the kind of environment for me.
 
 My brother in law lives out there and they've got a nice, huge house and they just love it out there.  They think we (who live in Arlington) live in 'the city' and are constantly asking us how we can stand it where we live...so just different strokes for different folks.
 
 Arlington was just a good balance for me and the missus.  
 
   

Originally posted by Harriet Balls:
  why do you consider these places hell-holes? I know a guy who is president of an IT company who lives in Burke and I've seen some nice cribs in Cetreville...

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[chaz]

Yes, I inherited a large sum of $$$ from my Granny who was married to an oil baron....not.
 
 Not rich at all.  We've got a small townhouse in one of the cheaper (and that's a relative term) areas of arlington that we were able to buy after years of toiling away.  We got into it just in time.  If we were buying now we could not afford our own place.
 
 We could have moved somewhere outside the beltway and gotten a much bigger place but the tradeoffs just didn't make it worth it to us.
 
 

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
  You must either be rich, or content to live the rest of your life in an apartment.
 
 
   

Originally posted by chaz:
  Yeah Arlington's not the easiest place to navigate if you don't know your way around at least a little.  I'm with god's shoeshine...I don't really think of Arl. as NoVa either.  But that's probably because I live there and resent the fact that technically we are NoVa which includes some serious hell-holes like Burke, Centerville and other way-out burbs.

[/b]

[markie]

Errrrrmmm, Arlington seems like an alright place to live. Plenty of bars and restaurants and the two live music venues.
 
 If you want to see depressing you should check out the strip mall about two miles away from College Park.

[chaz]

So what's your problem anyway?  My house cost much less than 600k, in fact, signifigantly less than half that...but why should I even have to tell you this.
 
 

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
  How were you able to afford your small 600K house in Arlington?
 
   

Originally posted by chaz:
  OK, I don't want to offend anyone here that lives in one of these places.  They are just not for me.  Just too far away for my tastes and not the kind of environment for me.
 
 My brother in law lives out there and they've got a nice, huge house and they just love it out there.  They think we (who live in Arlington) live in 'the city' and are constantly asking us how we can stand it where we live...so just different strokes for different folks.
 
 Arlington was just a good balance for me and the missus.  
 
   

Originally posted by Harriet Balls:
  why do you consider these places hell-holes? I know a guy who is president of an IT company who lives in Burke and I've seen some nice cribs in Cetreville...

[/b]

[/b]

[Guiny]

Sonick, i believe you described exactly what i went thru the first time i went to IOTA. They said take Wilson BLVD off Washington BLVD. I never found it and after taking 500 different roads i finally found it. I now know to take the GW Parkway and just get off in Roslynn now, its much easier that way.....or is it RT 110? Oh well i know how to get there even if i dont know the road.

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by El Tee:
   

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
  everyONE looks the same and everyones car is shiny.

Just a different coat of paint, my friend...    
 Once you left and saw the bright lights of the city, the familiar haze hanging over the sky, and smelled the potent Potomac, I assume you breathed a sweet sigh of relief? [/b]

an ugly coat of paint. And yes, i was so happy to be in DC that i didnt even mind rumbling over the monstrocity that they call M st.  (what are they DOING to that road!?)
 
   thank you very much! or I might still be driving around VA!!!

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by Rob_Gee_a.k.a _Guiny:
  Oh well i know how to get there even if i dont know the road.

EXACTLY!!!! hahahaha.  you are a true NoVan
 
  they know where everything is, but cant tell ANYONE how to get to any of it.  its like a secret code or something that only they know.

[eltee]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  i live on seminary road.
 
 but i think you got some bum directions. personally, i don't think of arlington as NoVa, but whatever. it is confusing sometimes.

I think of Arlington as Nova....But I can understand wanting to live closer into the city and more options to walk about...I live in VA and I feel your pain sonick...man alive -- it is perplexing that one cannot get onto 66 (east) from the exit right next to Tyson's. I've known this for years, alas, I had to be reminded of it again. I practically went to DC and back just to get to Arlington.

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
  You must either be rich, or content to live the rest of your life in an apartment.
 

not everyone wants a single family home you know.  I am content with a nice condo overlooking Zurich.  

[kosmo vinyl]

getting to arlington from maryland is a royal pain in the arse... there are many ways none of them very direct.  it always seems that key roads don't connect where they should.  
 
 of course it dosen't help that getting from 295 south to 395 in DC involves making a pact with the devil...  talking about a screwed set of roads and "freeways".
 
 when i got to clarendon yesterday it was people walking in the street when there was a perfectly good sidewalk.  cars double parked or cutting across two lanes to park.  it was an obstacle course.  i blame the fresh fields for ruining the area around iota and galaxy hut.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Not sure when you bought, but a quick perusal of single family homes in Arlington on realtor.com shows that over 80% of the homes for sale in Arlington cost over 400K, and over 50% of them cost over 500K.
 
    Even a modest 3 BR single family home in "far out" suburbs such as Burke, Centreville, or Springfield will run you 450K-400K these days.
 
    I would guess that most people who are moving to the places you look down on aren't moving there because they just happen to want to live in a far flung suburb; they're moving there because that's somewhere they can afford.
 
 

Originally posted by chaz:
 [QB] So what's your problem anyway?  My house cost much less than 600k, in fact, signifigantly less than half that...but why should I even have to tell you this.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by Rob_Gee_a.k.a _Guiny:
  Sonick, i believe you described exactly what i went thru the first time i went to IOTA. They said take Wilson BLVD off Washington BLVD. I never found it and after taking 500 different roads i finally found it. I now know to take the GW Parkway and just get off in Roslynn now, its much easier that way.....or is it RT 110? Oh well i know how to get there even if i dont know the road.

actually, it is easier to get to iota from washington blvd. . .it's the exit right past the pentagon on 395.  nevertheless, i just take 66 to the wilson blvd exit and go straight up wilson.
 
 btw, whoever told you to take rt. 1 was wrong, i believe rt 1 crosses into dc via the 14th street bridge.

[godsshoeshine]

Originally posted by mark e smith:
  Errrrrmmm, Arlington seems like an alright place to live. Plenty of bars and restaurants and the two live music venues.  

and that's why i don't think of it as nova. northern virginia is where you go when you get married and want to raise kids. you know, places where you can almost afford to buy a house. arlington seems great for apartment living, though. one of my favorite places in the area, despite being confusing.

[chaz]

Read my post.  I own a townhouse not a single family.
 
 Then read my other post.  I don't 'look down' on these places.  They're just not for me.
 
 

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
  Not sure when you bought, but a quick perusal of single family homes in Arlington on realtor.com shows that over 80% of the homes for sale in Arlington cost over 400K, and over 50% of them cost over 500K.
 
    Even a modest 3 BR single family home in "far out" suburbs such as Burke, Centreville, or Springfield will run you 450K-400K these days.
 
    I would guess that most people who are moving to the places you look down on aren't moving there because they just happen to want to live in a far flung suburb; they're moving there because that's somewhere they can afford.
 
 

Originally posted by chaz:
 [QB] So what's your problem anyway?  My house cost much less than 600k, in fact, signifigantly less than half that...but why should I even have to tell you this. [/b]