Family Living in Vienna
Are you looking for a family friendly neighborhood with great schools, community feel, where it’s easy to meet people and is close to employment centers? I receive emails like this often and I have just the spot for you. You are going to want to learn more about this slice of Mayberry right here in Northern Virginia.
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Vienna, Virginia is about 15 miles west of downtown Washington DC. It is 2.5 miles southwest of Tyson’s Corner and 12 miles east of Dulles. If you look at the DC Area like a clock, Vienna sits right at 9:00.
Real Estate
Housing in Vienna is strong and will always stay strong for all the reasons I’ll cover in the next sections in this video. Much of Vienna was Ranch or Rambler homes that have been torn down and “McMansioned” into larger homes that appeal to present-day buyers.
Vienna has a lot of single family detached homes available with prices ranging in the $800,000’s to the $2M’s. There are homes that are higher than that, in the $3M – $5M range, but the bulk of the housing is below $2.5M. If you’re looking for a huge house with 5-7 bedrooms on more than half an acre, you will be well into the $2M’s for that. If you want 4 bedrooms with a ¼ acre lot, you can have a great variety of choices from $1M to $1.5M.
The houses below the $1M mark are typically the original ramblers. At $1M, you will find split levels and colonials. Around $1.5M, you will find homes that have been added on to and renovated. By $2M, we’re in teardown and rebuild territory.
Generally, I would say that Vienna is an area where people move to get that house in the suburbs lifestyle. But, I don’t want to overlook talking about condos and townhomes. Going for a condo or townhome is another avenue to get a home with less competition. If you have a shorter time frame, say you will only want to be here a few years or you will be empty nesters soon, but want to buy, this could be an option.
Before you tell me these may not be good investments, in the past year, prices on condos and townhomes have generally risen about $100,000. Last year, you could get a condo for mid $200,000’s and townhomes started in the $500,000’s. Now, about 15 months later? Condos in Vienna start in the $300,000’s and go to about $600,000. Townhouses pick up at the $600,000 price point and go over $1M, depending on area, condition and size.
What’s the conclusion on Vienna real estate? Prices always go up. If the home is well cared for and updated tastefully, it will have multiple offers, even in softer markets. While the rest of the world was taking a breather with these higher interest rates, Vienna’s prices were still climbing.
Food
Vienna has a main street, called Maple Avenue. Holy Moly there’s a lot packed into this strip. This isn’t the boring suburbs by any stretch, there are a wide variety of ethnic foods options on Maple.
There’s Clarity, which is a RAMMY award winning casual fine dining restaurant serving American Food. They serve lunch and dinner and have fixed price and a la carte choices. There’s Maple Ave which is European food open for dinner with a fixed price menu. Bonaroti is old world Italian Food famous for their fresh made pastas. There’s Pazzo Pomodoro for pizza and pasta. Chef Raffaele promises that the food you eat will taste like it came right from his mother’s kitchen in Italy. Sweet Ginger is an Asian Fusion Restaurant serving Chinese, Malaysian, Thai & Sushi. Café Renaissance serves French Food, If you want something not as fancy, you can head to Bear Branch Tavern, or the Vienna Inn. There’s also Plaka Grill, which is often where I slide into when I’m in Vienna or near their Falls Church location. Casual Greek food is my jam! Roberto’s Ristorante is another of Vienna’s Italian spots.
There are a bunch of other casual places like Taco Bamba, Social Burger, Foster’s Grille, MOD Pizza, Panera and of course the place the kids make me stop all the time – Crumbl Cookies.
There are lots of grocery stores in Vienna – Giant, Whole Foods, Fresh Market are all off Maple Avenue. Harris Teeter is a bit south near 66.
Shopping & Fun
In Vienna, there are a couple locations for shopping. Along Maple Avenue you will find a lot of stores like Petco, Michael’s Crafts, Walgreens..
There’s also another shopping center, Cedar Park Shopping Center, which is at the corner of Cedar and Park.
This is so close to Tyson’s Corner though where there is everything you could possibly want.
The town of Vienna has 12 Parks.
The Vienna Recreation Center is home to recreational and educational programs they offer as well as festivals & concerts year-round. Chillin on Church is a monthly block party that runs from June to September. There are Fourth of July fireworks at Yeonas Park, Oktoberfest, a Halloween Parade, Holiday Stroll, a Kids on the Green summer series of events, Memorial Day Celebration and a Farmer’s Market. ViVa Vienna is a music and craft festival.
Every time I read about the NoVa parks and Rec I get pissed off that I live in DC.
The W & OD (Washington and Old Dominion) Trail goes right through Vienna. The entire trail is 45 miles and runs from Shirlington in South Arlington to Purcellville, Virginia. It’s super cute to be driving through Vienna and stop to let bikers and walkers cross the road to continue on their way.
Vienna Aquatic Club is a private club. Membership is limited to 450 members and there is currently a wait list of 3-4 years. It’s $775 to join and then $500 dues. The pool is only open in the summer months.
Cardinal Hill Swim and Racquet Club is located in Wolf Trap Steam Valley Park. There was a 7-8 year waitlist last year and now they are at 10+ years so I’m sure no one cares about them so there’s no point in discussing them further.
Hunter Mill Swim & Racquet Club has a Vienna mailing address but it’s up near the Dulles Toll Road pretty close to Reston. It’s $750 to join and $700 annual dues. There has not been a waitlist in the past but there is one now. There are no estimates available about the timing.
Vienna Woods. Almost not worth mentioning with their 11 year wait list. They offer 750 memberships. Tne time fee is $1700 and annual dues are $695. Vienna Woods is located right by Cunningham Park.
Secret Alert: One thing to know about these pool memberships, they can often transfer with property sales so if this is important to you, just know that this is a possibility.
If you want, you can join Westwood Country Club. There’s a $75,000 initiation fee.
Wolftrap is a national park for performing arts. Lots of concerts happen here during the season, May – September, of all music types, dance performances, opera.
Kids
People move to Vienna for the same reasons anyone would move to a sought-after suburb. The family activities are plentiful, the living isn’t hectic and the schools are great. In Vienna, 40% of the households have children under the age of 18.
There are several elementary schools. Cunningham Park, Louise Archer, Vienna, Marshall Road and Wolf Trap. There are two middle schools – Thoreau Middle, Kilmer Middle and an option to do Advanced Academics at Jackson Middle in McLean. These schools all feed to Madison High School. Madison’s academic programs include AP classes, Global Classroom with partnerships with Colombia and France, and Residential Governor’s Programs for 10th and 11th graders interested in Visual and Performing Arts. They have a separate website, Warhawk Sports, with information about the sports at Madison. They have a robust sports program – Football, Tennis, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Dance, Golf, Basketball, Baseball, Crew, Softball, Lacrosse, Track. They have a ton of sports fields, it is incredibly impressive.
The “Great Schools Scores” pretty much track to what we see all over. Elementary scores are 7’s 8’s 9’s. Middle school drops to 6 and high school is a 6. These scores are subjective though because they are based on test scores.
There’s a cooperative pre-school in Vienna called Meekins.
Also in Vienna is Lee Music Studio which offers piano and trumpet lessons.
There’s a School of Rock in Vienna. If your kiddo is a budding rockstar, this place is universally loved by those who sign up for their programs.
There’s also a MyGym in Vienna. We used to go to one in Bethesda and loved it. It’s for younger kids, but it’s great for them to learn to tumble, balance and play.
Dogs
Dogs are well loved in Vienna. One of the best specialty vets in the area is in Vienna – Hope Vet. You can see them for general veterinary visits, but they have ophthalmology, cardiology, and oncology. They have merged some of their practice with VCA South Paws which is also great news, because they are another of my go-to specialty vets.
There’s a Petco right in town as well as several dog grooming businesses. Vienna Pet Spaw, Wag N Wash, Coco Clips, Horner’s Pet Salon.
Vienna has a dog park at 700 Courthouse Road in Nottoway Park.
Vienna is a pretty idyllic place for families, and you can probably see why they love it there. If you have any questions about Vienna, let me know!