Come down towards Richmond, certain areas have good schools and cost of living is much, much lower. Drive time is 1:45 to IAD best case, 2:30 is usually the max except weekends during the summer. I’ve only seen over 3 hours once, the night before thanksgiving with a wintry mix occurring.
You can get a nice, big house under $400K. My house is smaller but I think it’s nice, about $250K.