Advice on MoCo and PG Neighborhoods
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Anonymous
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My husband and I are looking to purchase our first home. If we stretch our budget to the max, we can go as high as $800,000 but are much more comfortable in the $600-700k range. We don't have kids yet, but plan to start a family soon.
We want a minimum of 3 beds, 2.5 baths (greatly prefer 3 full baths, though) and no big projects that need to get done. I'm open to doing a kitchen and/or bathroom reno if they just need updates, re-doing floors, and maybe finishing a basement but we're not up for much more than that. Ideally, we'd like something that's over 2,000 sq ft. I'm comfortable with some crime, as long as it's more targeted and not muggings and home break-ins. I work in Navy Yard and my husband works in College Park. I can work from home multiple days per week, so my commute is less of a priority. I probably have the option to go fully remote, if need be. We don't want to have to drive for the commutes and are hoping to keep it under 45 minutes each way. However, if the perfect house came along, we'd consider a driving. One of the points of contention is that I prefer a more urban, city feel and my husband wants a large yard and privacy. We're trying to find a compromise between those two where the neighborhood is more suburban, but is close to a nice downtown. We currently live in Petworth, but are definitely priced out. We've been looking in Brightwood, the DC side of Takoma, and Brookland, but even those neighborhoods are getting up there in price. We've just started to explore areas around Silver Spring and further into MoCo, but I truly have no idea about those neighborhoods. We have also been looking in Hyattsville, but the future of that neighborhood seems a bit less certain. Any advice on where to look? Do you think Hyattsville will continue to improve? Maybe Riverdale Park near the Whole Foods? I'm really open to any suggestions. |
Anonymous
| The future of Hyattsville is uncertain? The City itself? What makes you think this? |
Anonymous
I more mean for home value if the schools don't improve or if crime stops decreasing. We are nervous about buying there while it's currently being hyped up and then in 5 years there's no appreciation or - worst case scenario - the home has lost value. My husband works for a startup and, while we're pretty confident it will do well/he could find another job here if it doesn't, we're not ruling out the risk of having to sell if something happens. I know it's useless to try to predict the future, but he took a bit of a risk with this job so we're being slightly risk averse with the house. |
Anonymous
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Look in 20910, especially if your husband will continue to work in College Park.
For now, he'd have to drive (15 minutes) or bus (30 minutes) but the Purple Line will connect Downtown Silver Spring and College Park within a few years. East Silver Spring seems like a great compromise. There is a lot of variety in home and lot size, so you should be able to find something that meets both of your needs. Something like this with a smaller lot: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/632-Mississippi-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20910/37278281_zpid/ This is a bigger lot, same street: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/512-Mississippi-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20910/37278525_zpid/ |
Anonymous
Oh I see. I don't believe there's much crime in the City itself or in parts of Riverdale. The schools in that side of town are iffy but that's because PGC has such a strong private school culture. I think more younger people are sending their children to the elementary and middle schools but the high school options don't seem to be great. However, College Park Academy seems to be doing well |
Anonymous
The maybe you should up your budget. You can’t have it all. |
Anonymous
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I don’t know that there’s a solid theory for why Hyattsville should not appreciate while Silver Spring would but I think you should look in College Park. Commute is so important for quality of life.
Plus, you’ll get more house for less budget and can invest the difference which is a much better way to protect yourself against market swings than trying to pick a magic neighborhood. |
Anonymous
This is a great point about investing. Are there certain areas of College Park you'd recommend? It goes quite far north and we're only familiar with the area right around UMD and a bit east where husband's office is. I've seen some houses online in Hollywood by the Greenbelt stop but wasn't really sure what the neighborhood was like. We're planning on renting a car to go drive around neighborhoods soon, so I'm trying to pinpoint where we should spend our time when we do that. We're fine with buying a car if we need to after we move and are building in the cost of monthly car payments to our budget. |
Anonymous
| Rockville. West of 270 is mostly white/asian, and east of 355 has lower quality schools and fewer amenities. So anywhere between 270 and 355 hits the sweet spot for both diversity and high quality of life. |
Anonymous
Our home value is worth 4 x what we paid for it. Granted, we bought in the early 2000s, but still. I think if one of you works in CP and the other at the Navy Yard, Hyattsville is a no-brainer. |
Anonymous
woops! wrong thread. sorry. |
Anonymous
| I have friends living in Silver Spring and loving it, OP. |
Anonymous
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I think Hyattsville is a far more certain investment than Silver Spring.
1. Schools. People in SS think that their homes are discounted for lower ranking schools when they compare against Bethesda which is true. However, there is a pecking order within SS and the magnets prop up the rankings significantly. Its pretty likely that schools across MOCO will continue to drop in rankings. MCPS does not seem very supportive anymore of the magnet programs and if they go there goes SS. SS is more at risk of absorbing larger percentages of low income kids which will further drop the scores. If the busing stuff happens and depresses values in the higher to mid ranking MCPS schools this will reduce values in SS by even more because buyers who prefer a better ranked school can now afford it. In PG the school discount IS actually baked in. People either decide that TAG is good enough (and it is pretty good) or they plan on private. If the schools improve, great but if not there is no real hit to the property values. 2. Financial stability -this is a big one. MOCO is broke and running in the red with no plans on how to fix it. In a boom economy, revenues have been going down. All indictors predict a further drop in revenue. This means that services need to be cut and taxes need to go up. I've lived in NY and CA so higher taxes do not really bother me BUT I do know that an increase in taxes especially property taxes will decrease the values of the homes. 3. Commute - The metro lines that serve PG are far more reliable than the red line. Its more convenient to get to the Navy Yard but also to Pentagon City (Amazon and the other companies that will move into this area). PG is the one area of MOCO that will probably benefit from Amazon. 4. Trends - Hyattsville, CP and Mount Rainier are the new hip places to be. They have the artsy crowd, the diversity crowd, the millennials and its continue to grow. 5. Potential value - This is an important one for almost any investment. There is always a ceiling on potential value. The closer you get to it the less you make in appreciation and the more likely you are to lose with any downturn. MoCo has already started to drop from its peak over a year ago (and that peak never really hit 2007/2008 levels). PG on the other hand has a bigger band of potential value. |
Anonymous
| Bowie |