No, this isn't a personal question about your belly button.  I have some new buyers moving to the Northern Virginia area and they have been reading some of the literature that I sent them to look over before they arrive in the area.  Many cities have unique terms to describe different neighborhoods and those of us who live in this area have some unique ones as well.  I have written about our "slugs" before but realized there is another phrase we all use liberally that needed explaining to someone new to the area.

We often describe neighborhoods in Northern Virginia as being either inside or outside the beltway. Neighborhoods in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and McLean are some examples of areas inside the beltway. Areas outside the beltway would include Burke, Centreville and Springfield. 

So the logical second question that followed was, is one area more desirable than another?  No it is a matter of the type of home you are looking for, the neighborhoods that appeal to you the most and your price range.  Neighborhoods inside the beltway tend to lean towards smaller and older homes however there has been a boom of condo developments inside the beltway which has kept a lot of first time homeowners closer to the DC metro area. 

The selection of neighborhoods outside the beltway is generally more diverse if for no other reason than the space constraints of trying to squeeze homes within a smaller geographic area has been removed.  There has been significant new home development outside the beltway in recent years in the western part of Fairfax County, Prince William County and Loudoun County.  These areas may need there own description as time comes by as they are way outside the beltway!

As an interesting historical note:  the terms inside and outside the beltway originally started as political phrases used to describe the fact that most of the power in the DC area was located inside the beltway where the Federal Government is located.  The first written reference to the term is found with the Warren Commission Report about Watergate printed in 1975: 

"In the White House of Richard M. Nixon, it was said that Watergate would become serious only if it "got outside the Washington Beltway".   I guess we know that the scandal did make it "outside the beltway!