November 2009

Orange Hunt Estates in West Springfield, VA

Cover of the original new home brochure for the community. I wish it showed more of the cars and people from 1975! It was only 34 years ago but things were a little different. No computers, no cable television, no mobile phones, I can’t believe it sometimes but I was around way back then. Of course… I was just a kid… a really little kid!

Here’s a very brief snapshot of just some of what our community has to offer.

Commuting

• Metro-bus runs through the community providing both morning and evening rush hour service to the Pentagon Metro Station – it’s about a 40 minute trip
• Additionally, it is a relatively short drive to the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station for subway service to Washington, DC and all other stations on the subway system.
• It’s approximately a 20 minute drive to Fort Belvoir.
• The Springfield Interchange of I-95, I-395 and I-495 is approximately 15 minutes away
• Orange Hunt Estates borders the Fairfax County Parkway and Old Keene Mill Rd
• This is the link to the Metro Map and this is for the VRE

Schools

• Sangster and Orange Hunt - Elementary Schools are both are located in our community.
• Washington Irving Middle School on Old Keene Mill Road is for seventh and eighth graders.
• West Springfield High School is for ninth through twelfth Grade

Information on all these schools can be found at Fairfax County Public Schools main site. On the main site, you may also find the maps for the school boundaries.

Libraries

Pohick Regional Library is located just outside Orange Hunt Estates at Sydenstricker and Old Keene Mill Road. Additionally, Burke Library and Kings Park Library are both minutes away.

Pools

1. Cottontail Swim and Racquet Club
2. Fox Hunt Swim Club
3. Orange Hunt Swim Club

Shopping

• Huntsman Square – Moments away
• Burke Town Center – Minutes away
• Rolling Valley Mall – Minutes away

It is also an easy commute to Target, Kohls, Walmart, numerous Grocery stores and dozens and dozens of other shops and restaurants in the West Springfield/Burke area.

Recreation

• South Run Recreation Center has a year round pool, very nice exercise facilities including a full line of free weights, machines and cardio equipment and other activities and is located across the street from one edge of our community.
• Burke Lake Park has a golf course, camping, picnic areas, small boat rental, fishing, carousel, miniature train and ice cream parlor is just up the road. You can drive there or just walk, run or bicycle from your home. The trails from Burke lake come right by Orange Hunt and also connect to Lake Mercer which is in the community. We have wonderful trails, streams and lakes to enjoy!
• We are also semi-close (10-15 minutes) to the Audrey Moore Recreation Center, Wakefield State Park and Lake Accotink Park.

Orange Hunt Square

This neighborhood sign is really hard to photograph. This little community within a community is a delight.

There are only 130 town homes located on either side of Reservation. They are a stones throw from both the South Run Rec Center and Sangster Elementary School. We have many friends on both sides.

Here’s a very brief snapshot of just some of what our community has to offer.

Commuting

• Metro-bus runs through the community providing both morning and evening rush hour service to the Pentagon Metro Station – it’s about a 40 minute trip
• Additionally, it is a relatively short drive to the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station for subway service to Washington, DC and all other stations on the subway system.
• It’s approximately a 20 minute drive to Fort Belvoir.
• The Springfield Interchange of I-95, I-395 and I-495 is approximately 15 minutes away
• Orange Hunt Estates borders the Fairfax County Parkway and Old Keene Mill Rd
• This is the link to the Metro Map and this is for the VRE

Schools

• Sangster and Orange Hunt - Elementary Schools are both are located in our community.
• Washington Irving Middle School on Old Keene Mill Road is for seventh and eighth graders.
• West Springfield High School is for ninth through twelfth Grade

Information on all these schools can be found at Fairfax County Public Schools main site. On the main site, you may also find the maps for the school boundaries.

Libraries

Pohick Regional Library is located just outside Orange Hunt Estates at Sydenstricker and Old Keene Mill Road. Additionally, Burke Library and Kings Park Library are both minutes away.

Pools

1. Cottontail Swim and Racquet Club
2. Fox Hunt Swim Club
3. Orange Hunt Swim Club

Shopping

• Huntsman Square – Moments away
• Burke Town Center – Minutes away
• Rolling Valley Mall – Minutes away

It is also an easy commute to Target, Kohls, Walmart, numerous Grocery stores and dozens and dozens of other shops and restaurants in the West Springfield/Burke area.

Recreation

• South Run Recreation Center has a year round pool, very nice exercise facilities including a full line of free weights, machines and cardio equipment and other activities and is located across the street from one edge of our community.
• Burke Lake Park has a golf course, camping, picnic areas, small boat rental, fishing, carousel, miniature train and ice cream parlor is just up the road. You can drive there or just walk, run or bicycle from your home. The trails from Burke lake come right by Orange Hunt and also connect to Lake Mercer which is in the community. We have wonderful trails, streams and lakes to enjoy!
• We are also semi-close (10-15 minutes) to the Audrey Moore Recreation Center, Wakefield State Park and Lake Accotink Park.

Searching Homes For Sale in Northern Virginia

Most people like to search online to find homes at the same time I’m searching. Ideally they are using my IDX or a Brokers IDX solution. Some people though, can’t help themselves and search on one of the dozens of real estate-like sites and are always disappointed by the results.

There are lots of places to look for listings but unless it is a REALTORs or Brokers IDX solution, the data is highly suspect. Those other sites get their information from real estate agent advertising but they keep it for content even after the home sells. They don’t have access to the MLS, nor should they, so they have no idea when a house sells. I use those sites to market homes and meet new buyers as well so I guess I shouldn’t speak ill of it but once you meet me or your REALTOR of choice to represent you with the purchase of your home, stop using Trulia, Zillow, realtor.com and the rest and start searching with your agents search tools.

Just the other day, Google announced that from any Google map, you can click “More” from the map itself, not the “More” at the top left of the page but the “More” that’s actually on the Map between “Traffic” and “Map” “Satellite” and “Terrain” It’ll show listings that… Google has found from various advertising outlets. It’s fun to try out as long as you don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s accurate. By way of example, one of the homes I found as “Active” on Google had gone to settlement 3 months earlier.

Again, a lot of fun but not practicle when your home search turns serious. That’s what I’m for ; )