Could this be your new home?

This past week, Stephanie and I went to the Northern Virginia Area to look for a new home. Stephanie has been assigned to the Pentagon and will be reporting in May. Until that time, she will be at sea. In order for both of us to look for a house, Stephanie’s best friend in the whole world, Marci Schulman, came up from Atlanta to watch our brood. Her company, MCI now Verizon, allowed her to telecommute at a local office here, overlooking the battleship in Norfolk.

We stayed with our friends, the Seroka’s, in Woodbridge/Manassas and looked at about 60 houses. Needless to say, we got a bit of sticker shock and awe with the Real Estate prices in Northern Virginia! Our price started low and went up about $200k by the end of the week! We did not find something within our price range, but hopefully, more houses will become available as the season nears the end of the school year. We will be putting up our house for sale here, so I will have to big tasks to complete while Stephanie is at sea.

The picture of Stephanie is at a new development in Lorton, Virginia. The home here can run up to and exceed one million dollars! Because of limitations on space, the houses here are on small lots, often less than 8,000 square feet. That means there are large houses on small lots with less than 15 between houses. At least there won’t be a lot of yard work!

We figured that we can save about $10,000 for every mile we go out from the Washington D.C. area. So by going out another 10 miles, we could probably save around $100,000. However, in rush hour traffic, one mile may mean another 5-10 minutes in travel time…almost too far for us to get the kids.

And yes, once we get up there, I will be looking for a full time job. So if you know of any opportunities, please let me know! You can find my resume here.