What are the best places to live in Northern Virginia? What should we expect to pay for housing?

There are lots of jobs all over northern virgina for surgical first assistants. My husband just graduated school and is looking to move us there. We live in Boise Idaho now and I am terrified of moving there. Is is a nice area? Can you live okay on 70,000 a year? We have 2 young children and I want to raise them in a safe place. We really need some help on this one. What kind of housing would we be looking at. Most of the jobs are in fairfax, falls church, and woodbridge.

Public Comments

1. I hate to say this, but there are no good places to live in northern Virginia. The people are snotty and pretentious. I'd almost rather live in New York. A place a little further southwest like Staunton would be okay. But you may very well like yankees and their completely ridiculous, vain nonsense, if so then you would probably like NOVA. Oh and housing prices vary greatly in this area. A couple of miles could really make huge difference. In a city your probably looking at 300,000-500,000 for a small colonial style two story home. You could probably get a single story 3 bedroom out of the city for under 200,000.
2. The three areas you mentioned are VERY expensive. The climate is extremely hot and humid. D.C. itself has one of the highest crime rates in the country. Try Norfolk or Chesapeake VA. They have some excellent hospitals there. Same weather but much more reasonable in cost. You could live very well on $70,000. Chesapeake has one of the lowest crime rates in America
3. Northern Virginia is a nice area with some great communities and wonderful school systems. Newcomers to the area say that the people are not as friendly (you don't get a lot of "Hi's" from strangers on the street) and people in general are always stressed out and in a hurry. However, that's not to say you can't find a nice neighborhood to settle down and feel right at home. Granted there are plenty of snobs, but there are also many friendly people -- nothing to be terrified of. For $70,000 a year, you could afford a townhouse closer in (Burke, Centreville, Springfield) or a single-family home further out (Woodbridge or Manassas). Here are some examples: Townhouses: http://matrix.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Email.aspx?ID=26992710686 Single-Family Homes http://matrix.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Email.aspx?ID=26992692317