**katiewhompus**

guacamolly

I just saw your reply that you're going to look at houses near Dale City. Be careful with that neighborhood and make sure you do some research about crime. FI's mom lives on the border of Montclair and Dale City and has issues all the time - when FI was living there right after grad school for a couple weeks, he had his replacement check card stolen out of their mail box three times. They also have a good amount of robberies and assaults in the area (their ACTUAL neighborhoood is nice, but it borders on not so nice). Also as a warning, the school's aren't fantastic - not horrendous, but not GREAT. If that's of concern to you. Just some things to keep in mind and ask your realtor! Hopefully they'll be honest with you.

xMyjackponyx

I have personally lived in Dale City my entire life. It's not nearly as bad as PP makes it sound. Not trying to be snarky at all, just letting you know from someone who was born, raised, and returned to raise her family there. Just like any large suburban area, there are neighborhoods that are less than desireable. However, even the worst Dale City neighborhood is not that bad. As far as the school system goes, my mother is a teacher in said system. Some of the schools are not so great, some are better. We have quite a few private and charter schools in the area, not to mention the several catholic schools. My advice would be to check out the neighborhoods. Do "drive bys" at different times of day. And if you have questions about any of the specific neighborhoods, please please please feel free to ask me. Having lived here for 30 years I know this place like the back of my hand.

guacamolly

I was also born and raised in the area (lived there for nearly 20 years albeit in Lakeridge/Woodbridge), so please don't discount my post. I was merely warning her that there are some less than desireable (more so than other parts of Woodbridge/Lakeridge in my opinion) there. I didn't say they all were. It's also something to keep in mind, if you live near, but not in, those less than desireable neighborhoods - crime is not always contained. And it also wasn't meant as a personal attack to anyone that lives there.

katiewhompus

Thanks ladies We've done some drive-bys and it seems like the neighborhoods are fairly well advertised with bad verses not. Right now I live in Falls Church and yeah...it's bad here. My last apartment had several gang fights in the back courtyard area and my current apartment has had 3 break-ins and 1 stabbing. I'm so thankful for my big guard dog.It's weird because in Woodbridge they almost seem to border on one another, one street has beautiful big houses and the next is horrible.We put in an offer on a house on Bremerton Street but it fell through, ah well.Schools aren't a huge concern yet, we're looking at tcc in the next year but will probably move before any kid is old enough to start 1st grade.

spuliafico

I have to agree that it's not *AS BAD* as OP made it sound, but parts aren't good. If you stay west of route 1 you should be fine. Montclair is beautiful, I lived there and my cousin lives there and is in a great school system. My aunt taught at Pattie Elementary (little Pattie) before she passed and said it was a wonderful school and the district in general is great, the only thing she was unhappy with was the LOCATION of the middle school, but not the schools themselves. We're also looking at houses in Dale City/Woodbridge and have found that most of the homes we're looking at have been pretty nice and in really family friendly low crime neighborhoods. It's when you cross Route 1 that things get rocky, there are a few very decieving neighborhoods in that area. A few of my aunts friends lived in one (can't remember the name of it) with gorgeous custom built homes, but their neighbors were the worst, vandalism, robberies, assualts/muggings. Money doesn't buy class...on the other hand a few years ago I was looking for an apartment and one of her other friends lived in Dale Forest and said it was amazing, never faced any crime or had a problem. The place looks shabby and gross but she loved it. So just make sure you research your areas and call the police department and just ask for a crime report on the subdivision, they'll send it to you and be a lot more honest than a realtor. Again, when looking for apartments the actual representatives couldn't tell me about crime rates because of fair housing laws, not sure if that applies to realtors.