This thread is interesting for me on a personal level as I was almost relocated to Virginia; in fact I recently had to decide whether to stay in San Diego or head to Virginia.

I started by looking in Sterling-which is an area I like and not far at all from DC IMO. Only a few minutes really to Tyson’s Corner. Prices seemed pretty high in Sterling and holding as far as I could tell, so then I started looking in Gainesville.

Gainesville is really very similar to Temecula and I would characterize both as exurbs. Well, there is one difference – Gainesville RE prices did not fall nearly as much from the peak compared to Temecula.

I suspect the reason for the huge difference is that the unemployment rate in NOVA is around 6%, meanwhile the unemployment rate in the IE is north of 15%.

The rest of the country suffers for the benefit of the DC area.