ASHBURN VA: Top 2 of The Best Places to Live in America, 2018

Revenge of the Burbs!

 
Home is where the heart is, home is where you make it—but given the option, wouldn't you want to make your home and store your heart in a place with a great sense of community, excellent schools to set your kids up for success, and affordable homes so you can set yourself up for financial stability?
Of course you would. And we're here to help!

For the second year in a row, realtor.com® teamed up with Money magazine to come up with its annual Best Places to Live list. Having focused on small towns last year, we set our sights this time around on places with populations of 50,000 or more.

To figure out the best of the best, we took into account more than 135,000 data points, covering economic health, public school performance, local amenities, housing, and cost of living. We disqualified places with high crime rates (more than double the national rate), depressed income (less than 85% of the state median), and a lack of racial diversity.

The resulting list doesn't feature any of the nation's best-known big cities (could it be due to their higher crime rates and skyrocketing home prices?), but many suburban towns that are within a decent commute of one. That means you get those classic suburban amenities (a big house, a backyard for barbecues, great public schools) without totally giving up on the big-bucks jobs and fun factor of the big city.

"For someone who’s starting from scratch, this is a list of areas with great quality of life, healthy housing markets where affordability is important, and great overall community," says Danielle Hale, realtor.com's chief economist.
Ready? Let's take a cross-country tour of America's top-drawer places, 2018. (See the list of all 50 here.)

1. Frisco, TX

Median home price: $449,900
Median household income : $117,642
Population: 177,286

A three-bedroom home in Frisco for less than $500,000.

For the first time in at least five years, Frisco topped the U.S. Census list of America's fastest-growing big cities. From 2016 to 2017, the city added an average of 37 new residents every day. Over a year, that added up to a population jump of 8.2%.

The city about 30 miles north of Dallas is home to the splashy new headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys, The Star, a megacomplex that includes offices, a hotel, and swanky bars and restaurants. North Texas is on fire economically, and as Mayor Jeff Cheney pointed out in his (apparently unsuccessful) sales video aimed at snagging Amazon's new headquarters, Frisco still has plenty of room to grow.

With its 177,000 people, Frisco is already a good-sized city—but one that still has a sense of community, says Julie Howell Stutts, who's been a homeowner there for seven years.

"You still kind of feel like you know everybody here," she says.
Schools here are top-notch and a prime draw for families. But while in the past the area's housing consisted of mostly single-family homes, the recent spate of building has included apartment complexes more appealing to single professionals.

2. Ashburn, VA

Median home price: $519,990
Median household income: $120,862
Population: 49,692* 

A large home in AshburnTim Kitchen/Getty Images

A couple of decades ago, Ashburn was a country town with just one grocery store. That's when Kim Rabinowitch and her husband bought a townhouse, just after their marriage.

"We liked it because we could get a lot for our money back then," she says. But they fell in love with the schools and their neighbors, and when they decided to trade up to a house, they bought one just down the street.

"People want to move into our school district," Rabinowitch says. "Houses go on the market, and they’re on there for less than a day."

With great schools and convenient transportation—it's 10 minutes by car to Washington Dulles Airport and 40 minutes to the District of Columbia, plus there's a new metro station to DC under construction—it's no wonder that Ashburn has become popular with commuting federal employees. And other nearby suburban towns such as Tysons Corner and Fairfax offer more job opportunities closer to home.

Single-family homes, many with four to five bedrooms, dominate the housing stock, along with some townhomes. An impressive 83.4% of those homes are owner-occupied.

3. Carmel, IN

Median home price: $374,000
Median household income: $106,546
Population: 92,198

Coxhall Public Garden in Carmel, INPurdue9394/iStock

Just 26 miles north of Indianapolis, Carmel has become a sought-after suburban destination for its excellent schools and amenities.

"It’s mostly young families that are moving in," says Kelly Lavengood, a real estate agent with the Lavengood Team in Indianapolis. "I frequently receive calls from people looking to relocate to Carmel from out of state."

But it's not just a magnet for parents—Carmel's walkable downtown and plentiful parks also make it appealing to empty nesters.

"A lot of times, people think that suburbs are just an extension of the city," Lavengood says. "But Carmel has really become an entity of its own."

There's a variety of homes for Carmel buyers to choose from, from entry-level abodes all the way up to mansions. Architectural styles vary, too—there's even a pocket of midcentury modern homes designed by Avriel Shull.

4. Ellicott City, MD

Median home price: $558,950
Median household income: $121,019
Population: 70,780*

Shops in Ellicott City, MDWalter Bibikow/Getty Images

Founded in 1772, Ellicott City has plenty of charm, particularly in its historic downtown district. Here, you can dip into boutiques and antiques stores in buildings that are pretty much antiques themselves.

But that doesn't mean this place is stuck in the past. Its top-rated schools attract young families, and its affordable housing and access to two major metropolises appeal to professionals as well.

"The cost of living is high in Maryland; Ellicott City just happens to be located between Baltimore and Washington [DC], and it offers affordable housing," says Jon Sandler, a real estate attorney who has been practicing in Ellicott City for 21 years. "Half the people are [Washington] Redskins fans, and the other are [Baltimore] Ravens fans."

It's the kind of place, he says, where locals stick around, or eventually come back to their roots. Many of the older buildings downtown have rental apartments upstairs, and there are also historic single-family homes, typically built with granite blocks, just outside downtown. There are also quite a few newer developments aimed at young professionals, Sandler notes.

But if you buy here, you'd best get flood insurance—the city has been subject to disastrous inundations in the past, and is weighing whether to invest tens of millions of dollars to redirect water from downtown.

 

5. Cary, NC

Median home price: $389,000
Median household income: $94,617
Population: 165,904

Four-bedroom home in Cary, NC

Cary sits within North Carolina's Research Triangle—an area of scientific innovation marked off by the cities of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham, which is home to more than 200 companies.

The area is rife with highly educated professionals who want the best schools for their kids—and Cary can offer that, says Merry Ann Cutler, a real estate agent and relocation expert with Re/Max United in Cary.

"Some of the people moving here are coming all the way from the West Coast," she says.

Plus, it's relatively affordable—you can buy a nice, single-family home here for $400,000.

"There’s a huge influx of people moving in right now, and construction can’t keep up with it," Cutler says. "Homes sell very, very fast."

Despite the development, there's still plenty of green, crisscrossed by the largest number of walking and biking trails in the Triangle.


for more on the list, go to: Best Places To Live In America, 2018

By Cicely Wedgeworth | Sep 17, 2018