Moving to NOVA? Ballston?
Looking for the forums input on what it is like living in Northern Virginia. Specifically looking at the Ballston neighborhood.
- Is the metro into DC fairly reliable on the Orange line? Does it really show up every 6 minutes?
- Whats the difference between Ballston, Clarendon, Court House, Rosslyn in terms of nightlife and overall cultural vibe? Is one inundated with tech bros and the other ageing WASPs?
- Trying to gauge average rents: Any thoughts on what a 2 bedroom in Ballston goes for? 1 bedroom + den? Parking?
- Moving from the Bay Area with safety top of mind as I have a wife and kid. Is Ballston a safe-ish urban area relative to increasing crime incidents happening in DC?
Any input appreciated.
I know lots of people who rely on metro 100%. You might have a random day where you have to Uber or are a little late. But it’s rare and people understand it’s not your fault
Clarendon is also a 3 min metro ride away, Arlington is very navigable
If you live in the R-B corridor (Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, Ballston) it doesn't really matter where. It's all so close geographically that it just doesn't matter--you'll be able to experience all 5 areas with no issue whenever you want, so just find the best place for you. I've lived/worked in pretty much the entire R-B corridor + East Falls Church. The R-B corridor is just so freakin' cool.
Rosslyn is more of an office area. It's got some of the only true high-rise buildings (close to "skyscraper") in Northern Virginia. It's really nice, but since Covid has felt kind of dead. It's got some true next level, ultra-luxury condos, but not as much in terms of market-rate rentals. If I were buying and I could afford it, I'd buy a Rosslyn condo overlooking the Potomac.
If I were renting, I'd personally choose Courthouse since it has the best rental options--nice mix of luxury, style, and building/neighborhood amenities.
I own a condo in Clarendon. At this point, all the owners are pretty well-heeled financially and are therefore rarely under 30. However, Clarendon has a decent amount of rentals + leased condos. Clarendon is the hub of 20-something nightlife. Post-Covid, it has come back alive and is really pumpin'. Clarendon has both a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's, which is terrific. In my humble view, Clarendon is the true anchor of the R-B corridor as its nightlife is legendary and it is close to the geographic center.
Virginia Square is wedged between Clarendon and Ballston and is probably my second choice for renting. It's hard to explain, but while the rest of the R-B corridor has a lot of concrete, Virginia Square seems to have more green space. It's got a lot of tall, ~1980s vintage apartment buildings + some new ones. I really dig Virginia Square, and it's so stinkin' close to both Clarendon and Ballston that you get kind of everything. It's a very close 2nd to Courthouse for renting.
I lived in Ballston before the opening of Target, Vida Fitness, Ballston Quarter, the new Marymount campus, and before the new Mosaic Park opened. Ballston kind of sucked before all of these things, especially before Ballston Quarter, which is sort of an open-air mall, but now is really quite nice. The Gold's Gym in Ballston (at the edge of Virginia Square) is old and crappy but has an enormous amount of insanely attractive women--I've never before or since experienced so many 9s/10s in a single place than Gold's Gym Ballston. That's why I think Virginia Square is such a good option for so many people--relatively affordable high-rise apartments, green space, access to Gold's Gym Ballston, easy walk to Clarendon, easy walk to the newly opened Mosaic Park in Ballston + Ballston Quarter.
You really can't miss in terms of neighborhood. One thing you'll eventually notice is that there is no strong delineation between neighborhoods--they sort of slowly evolve into the next one. Where you can miss is getting a crappy building with bad management, so read reviews.
Lol, I’ve never read such a rave review of Arlington before. I lived there for a year. It’s a nice, quiet, affordable place to live… but not much more than that. I mean calling Clarendon nightlife legendary? C’mon man haha
I agree on your assessment of Virginia Square (cheaper, quieter than other areas but still super easy access to the rest of Arlington). I recommend living in a Dittmar building (you’ll come across them in your search). For some reason they priced the most competitively when I lived there and have some nice, newish building options.
I lived in one of their buildings and they let my lease go month to month while keeping me at the same annual rate I was already paying. I just explained to them I was about to move cities, but didn’t know exactly when so she said it was NBD to waive the month to Month premium - not something you’ll ever see from one of the buildings owned by big public REITs.
Yeah, legendary. I live an hour away outside of Baltimore presently and everyone has heard of Clarendon. Everyone. No one has heard of the other neighborhoods of Arlington but everyone knows what Clarendon is. Because of Virginia alcohol laws, it's probably the only true "nightlife" in all of Virginia. If I step outside my Clarendon building at 10 pm on a Friday night, it's absolutely crushed with people--building after building crushed with 20-somethings and the best looking women--as a group--in the Mid-Atlantic. The caveat is that Clarendon was totally dead from March 2020 to March 2022. It was very depressing, so if that was your experience, yeah, that's understandable, and probably in 2019 there was a ton of construction and closed retail buildings in development. This is a new era.
As far as your description about Arlington being "affordable," this is literally the first time someone has described Arlington as affordable since the 1990s. That characterization is incredibly bizarre.
haha Clarendon nightlife is LEGENDARYYYYYYYYYY
lololol
Don't listen to the clown above. I've lived in 3 continents, spent time in the DMV when my dad was stationed as a diplomat in DC years ago, and Arlington isn't anything to brag about. It's nice, quiet, safe, and truly one of the best places to have an upper middle class lifestyle, but parties? Lmfao bro, DC is one of the shittiest nightlife cities I've seen, and absolutely ass for a world capital. Feels like a fucking village. If you have serious money, don't waste your time here. I know that doesn't apply to must of us worker cogs, but ya, just had to respond to that nonsense of a reply you got above lol.
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