What can you tell me about Woodbridge, VA?

Question

We are being transferred to the DC area for work. It's extremely expensive to live in the city and you get less than what you pay for. It seems that in the Woodbridge area, you get more for your $, plus there is the VRE to get us to work. Thoughts on the area? Thanks!

Answer 1

Our 1st home was in Woodbridge VA that we bought when I was in the military assigned to Fort Belvoir. We moved to Fairfax later when my wife got tired of the long commute which is even worse today. If you are dual income couple with school age kids, I agree Fairfax County Public Schools and teachers are tops as reflected in the SAT scores and overall academics and many parts have better neighborhoods where both parents are college graduates raising kids...though please be advised Fairfax does have some less desired areas where apartments are occupied by the low income.



Back to Woodbridge, after the construction of Potomac Mils outlet mall the developers did later follow with the bigger homes and new developments in Prince William County and further south into Stafford and below that one can certainly buy for lower prices than Fairfax. Besides traffic and distance being trade offs, the next question is can they sell in slow times if they are too many houses on the market in particular neighborhoods?



FYI besides the VRE, they and all local jurisdictions do their best to move traffic with commuter buses, carpools and commuter parking lots and slug lines...but you will have other worries besides I-395 Shirley Highway not matter where you live and often it's a matter of how long and backed up it takes to get to/from the VRE, commuter lots and just the principal roads because of the congestion as moving along the main thoroughfares can be slow and is certainly not a simple hop, skip and jump in many areas including Fairfax County around Fair Oaks Mall that I myself would avoid despite very nice homes bec the traffic can be so unpredictable...



Hope the Above Info Helps and Best of Luck!

Answer 2

Woodbridge to DC is in fact a nightmare. You're alternatives to driving yourself are slug lines (a bizarre car pool system involving complete strangers) or VRE. Either way, you're looking at at least an hour commute to DC each way each day.



Consider living closer to the city, paying more for housing and less for gas. Some predict $10/gallon gas soon. Crazy? Yeah, probably, but even at $5/gallon, you'll eat up that Woodbridge savings pretty quickly.

Answer 3

I'm not fond of anything on the I-95 corridor. I don't like Woodbridge and Prince William County has serious issues. We live off of 66 and the drive is not as bad as on 95. With the housing prices falling, you might want to look in Arlington, Fairfax, or even Alexandria before settling on Woodbridge. Do you have kids in school? That would be a definite no for me concerning Woodbridge.

Answer 4

i used to live in woodbridge, it's a nice area, if you plan to use VRE that's fine, but driving to d.c. is a nightmare.

Answer 5

Driving north to the DC area is a daily nightmare...check out some of the local tv stations or traffic camaras for more info...many local tv stations have online broadcasts...plus there is a monstrosity called the "mixing bowl" I personally would shoot for Falls Church it's close in....

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodbridge,_VA