Good and Bad
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10/19/2011
We've lived and owned a townhouse in Reston for 4 1/2 years, and lived in Chantilly for 4 years prior to that. It has good and bad points. First the good: variety of cultures represented, variety of types of families (working, stay at home,married, single families, etc), 15 nice pools to choose from in the summer (part of being part of the home owners associations), lots of kid friendly activities, relatively clean, nice parks and walking trails, driving to DC on weekends isn't bad as long as you avoid Rt66, and it is one of the few areas in Northern VA that kept trees (you'll find this in Arlington too). Now the bad: we pay two home owners association fees, one to Reston and one to our neighborhood (not worth it for what you get, especially in this economy), some public schools are okay but some are bad (recommend doing research), not many good choices for preschools that are affordable (we pay 1150 for a preschool (very reasonable for this area) and 1250 for an in-home daycare for one too young for preschool (higher end for home daycares, but low for infant/toddler care in a center), my commute to Arlington VA is 45-90 minutes each way (on the lower end in the summer, holidays, and Fridays because 1/2 of the government is off on Fridays), traffic is getting heavier even in Reston and is very unpredictable (problematic when trying to pick up kids), everyone is so busy that even those neighborhoods that try hard to have a sense of community fail compared to what a real community should be, people are not that friendly in general (if you don't have family around, it is tough). Overall, if you have to live in the DC area and you are looking to be in the suburbs, Reston is a nice place, especially if you have extra income to spend or a stay at home mom...but if you are trying to decide whether or not to move to the DC area, I wouldn't recommend it, particularly if you like or are looking for a place with a sense of community (and I think Reston has that more of a community than the majority of the areas around DC).
Erin | Reston, VA