Info on Falls Church (Arlington, Bailey's Crossroads: house, transfer, schools)

[tilly]

Moving to DC area from UK in Jan 07 for 3 years, Falls Church is one possible house location. I'd love some info on what it's like to live in Falls Church. My husband will be working in Crystal City. Many thanks!

[acatinthe]

Falls Church is a delightful town. You have the city of Falls Church and then the county. I would recommend the city. It has great schools and is slightly higher tax wise. It has a small town way about it. Look into homes off of Park Ave. My friend lives there with her family and she loves it. People stay connected.

[dullnboring]

For Falls Church, it depends whether or not you're in the city of Falls Church or the outskirts. Northern Virginia is screwy in the sense that there are very few defined towns but rather many unincorporated communities that sort of bleed together into a giant suburban blob. The actual city of Falls Church is fairly small, both in size and population and is one of the few areas in Northern Virginia to have some semblance of a downtown and a bit of character in terms of people, architecture, etc. as opposed to the homogenous sprawl that defines much of the area. Falls Church is older and quiet and is in a great location with two Metro stations nearby (although I don't think either are technically within the city limits) and you're only some 8 miles or so from DC. You're also relatively close to the nightlife of Arlington and the shopping at Tysons Corner. A commute to Crystal City via Metro should run around 30 minutes door-to-door since a transfer would be required at Arlington. Housing is pretty expensive there, but if you can afford it, it's a terrific place to live.

Now the tricky part is the fact that many other parts of Fairfax County have a Falls Church mailing address in spite of not being within the city, and these areas are different from the city itself partially due to the bizarre classification of cities/communities in Virginia, and also partially for marketing purposes (particularly when selling homes) since Falls Church has a better reputation than the area's "true" location. These other areas are more sprawly, ugly, and gritty. Places like Merrifield, Seven Corners and Bailey's Crossroads I believe all at times will use Falls Church addresses. If choosing between these communities and those within the city limits, I'd say choose Falls Church if you can afford it.

[tilly]

Thanks so much for that information - it's clearly time for me to download a streetmap! I'd like to be close to a Metro stop so if they denote the 'city', it'd be good place to start. Wherever we end up will be a huge lifestyle change from a tiny South West village (and for me, probably no job)!