Gina was planning a move to Fairfax County for her new job.  She was excited about the job, plus she was happy to see that there were plenty of options for choosing a great school for her kids.

Gina also wanted to keep her current lifestyle

She was hoping to find a home where she could walk to the park, and have easy access to a bike trail.  She also wanted to have shops, restaurants, and the dry-cleaners nearby.

Where is the fun stuff near a home?

Most people when they look for a home, they focus on what’s within its 4 walls:

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I have lived in Fairfax County for over 18 years.  And as I have moved from home to home, I have slowly learned about where the nearest parks are, or where the nearest library is. By driving around, I may have noticed a police station, or a hospital.  And by necessity, I may have had to look up or ask about where the nearest post office was.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Station

We don’t usually focus on public services when we look for a home

We are used to buying a home based on its particular characteristics, such as number of bedrooms, the size of the yard, and an updated kitchen.  Some of us might further place our focus on a few external characteristics such as the assigned schools.

What we don’t usually do is think about required public services until later, once we’ve moved in.

That’s when we start wondering how to get stuff done…

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Some years ago, I moved to San Francisco.  When I was shopping for an apartment there, I learned that neighborhoods seemed to be very important for people’s identity. For example, some people identified themselves with living in The Haight-Ashbury, others to The Castro, and the “hip, techie” people were proud of living in Noe Valley.

The Haight Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco has a unique personality

The neighborhood where one lived seemed to be very important for society. To my surprise, I used to get comments like:  “Ooh, you’re looking in The Haight-Ashbury? Wow!”

Fairfax County isn’t a city, it’s a suburb Continue Reading…

According to Movoto, a California-based real estate blog, these are the top 9 cities in Virginia. Interestingly, all of these 9 cities / towns / Census Designated Places (CDPs) are here, in Fairfax County.

Top 9 Cities in Fairfax County (click for larger image)

To come up with its ranking, the California-based blog crunched some data and came up with their ideal mix of factors to rank each city such as crime rate, median household income, high school degree attainment rate and “number of Southern food restaurants”…, among others.*

This is their list of Top 9 Cities in Virginia Continue Reading…