Anyone else burnt out with DC lifestyle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we can all agree that living in the DC suburbs sucks in a big way. Whether you prefer DC to London or Boston is, of course, a matter of personal preference.

I do know this, though: every year that the burbs gets more congested is another year that DC proper continues to improve. This process will only accelerate over the next decade.

Nope. I live and work in Fairfax city, and living here doesn't suck at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we can all agree that living in the DC suburbs sucks in a big way. Whether you prefer DC to London or Boston is, of course, a matter of personal preference.

I do know this, though: every year that the burbs gets more congested is another year that DC proper continues to improve. This process will only accelerate over the next decade.

Nope. I live and work in Fairfax city, and living here doesn't suck at all.

All of your neighbors who are "burnt out with the DC lifestyle" (and by "DC lifestyle" of course, the OP meant the "suburban deathstyle") seem to disagree with you.

[Anonymous]

It's probably because they commute into DC every single day, and bought their houses in 2005.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's probably because they commute into DC every single day, and bought their houses in 2005.

I bought my house close in, in 2005 and I love it here (and commute to DC every single day). I walk to the metro (DH has a short commute not in the city and can work from home a lot more than I can) and have a pretty good commute. We bought within our means and invested further in our house to open it up and expand a bit as our family grew. We are planning on staying in the house for several years. We refinanced at a much lower rate last year, we have a high enough HHI that we are considering private down the road (not elementary, which is great in our area). We have great jobs, great house, great neighborhood, great friends, and family nearby. There are downsides to living here for sure, but the big ones are covered.

I love DC, but since I work here every day have no desire to live in the city proper (did that for several years pre-kids). We couldn't afford the type of neighborhood and house I would want in DC, so we moved just outside.

It really depends on what you are going for. I love being a one car family and taking transportation to work - it's important to me. I couldn't do that in many other places in this country.

[Anonymous]

To those who really hate it here - what is keeping you here? Jobs? Stuck with a house you can't sell? Are you making an action plan for the future to leave?

Just curious, not trying to be difficult.

[Anonymous]

Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

But clearly not everyone thinks that. My 22 year old self would be ashamed of my 39 year old self, but I love the (close in) burbs. I couldn't do the far out ones (if I was commuting to DC, I could if I could be gauranteed a job with lots of telecommuting or that was outside the city).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

Funny thing is, though: as the suburban congestion gets worse, and folks begin to stay in the city after their kids are born, the neighborhood elementary schools continue to get incrementally better--in a pattern that mimics the improvement in neighborhoods in general. Five years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of sending my kid to the local in-boundary DCPS elementary school. Now there are hundreds of middle-class parents fighting to get in. Schools that were fine for K-2 grade a few years ago are seeing middle-class kids staying in the 3-5 grades. Marginal improvements build on marginal improvements.

To say "if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood" [it'll be worse with new residents] misunderstands the dynamic. You might just as well make the point about "competition for the few houses in decent neighborhoods was fierce before tens of thousands of new middle-class households moved into DC". The supply of DC housing for middle-class residents is not a fixed quantity. The perimeter of "good" neighborhoods is rapidly expanding; and substandard housing in those neighborhoods is rapidly being rehabbed.

Competition for OOB slots may stay constant because the number of spots will be increasing--between DCPS improvements and new and expanding charters. At least that's what's happened over the last decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

But clearly not everyone thinks that. My 22 year old self would be ashamed of my 39 year old self, but I love the (close in) burbs. I couldn't do the far out ones (if I was commuting to DC, I could if I could be gauranteed a job with lots of telecommuting or that was outside the city).

Right, most people in the DC metro region will always live outside the city. It's just that middle-class and upper-middle class will tend to self-segregate in the city, and DC's poor will continue to emigrate to the suburbs where housing is cheaper, and blue-collar jobs are more plentiful. Traffic congestion will continue to get worse. Life in the 'burbs will continue to get marginally less pleasant. Live in the city (and close-in suburbs) will continue to get marginally more pleasant. Eventually DC will simply be another wealthy neighborhood in the region--albeit one with amazing transportation infrastructure and other amenities.

[Anonymous]

Wow, it's as if these DC posters actually believe there are no jobs whatsoever outside of Washington DC.

Work in Leesburg and in a few months, will have a place in Leesburg. DW works in Chantilly, so why (aside from bragging rights) do we need to live inside the FFX County Parkway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

But clearly not everyone thinks that. My 22 year old self would be ashamed of my 39 year old self, but I love the (close in) burbs. I couldn't do the far out ones (if I was commuting to DC, I could if I could be gauranteed a job with lots of telecommuting or that was outside the city).

Right, most people in the DC metro region will always live outside the city. It's just that middle-class and upper-middle class will tend to self-segregate in the city, and DC's poor will continue to emigrate to the suburbs where housing is cheaper, and blue-collar jobs are more plentiful. Traffic congestion will continue to get worse. Life in the 'burbs will continue to get marginally less pleasant. Live in the city (and close-in suburbs) will continue to get marginally more pleasant. Eventually DC will simply be another wealthy neighborhood in the region--albeit one with amazing transportation infrastructure and other amenities.

Please. My neighborhood in the close in burbs is full of government attorneys and the like. I'm sandwiched between two of them. Plenty of middle class professionals with a HHI of 150K and above in the burbs. We shop at Whole Foods, we meet new moms in prenatal yoga, and congregate at the neighborhood farmer's market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it's as if these DC posters actually believe there are no jobs whatsoever outside of Washington DC.

Work in Leesburg and in a few months, will have a place in Leesburg. DW works in Chantilly, so why (aside from bragging rights) do we need to live inside the FFX County Parkway?

That's great that you were able to move out of the DC area. Not quite as far as Maine, but still...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

But clearly not everyone thinks that. My 22 year old self would be ashamed of my 39 year old self, but I love the (close in) burbs. I couldn't do the far out ones (if I was commuting to DC, I could if I could be gauranteed a job with lots of telecommuting or that was outside the city).

Right, most people in the DC metro region will always live outside the city. It's just that middle-class and upper-middle class will tend to self-segregate in the city, and DC's poor will continue to emigrate to the suburbs where housing is cheaper, and blue-collar jobs are more plentiful. Traffic congestion will continue to get worse. Life in the 'burbs will continue to get marginally less pleasant. Live in the city (and close-in suburbs) will continue to get marginally more pleasant. Eventually DC will simply be another wealthy neighborhood in the region--albeit one with amazing transportation infrastructure and other amenities.

Please. My neighborhood in the close in burbs is full of government attorneys and the like. I'm sandwiched between two of them. Plenty of middle class professionals with a HHI of 150K and above in the burbs. We shop at Whole Foods, we meet new moms in prenatal yoga, and congregate at the neighborhood farmer's market.

Please yourself. If you're in the "close-in burbs" then for all intents and purposes you live in the city. As I said above, "Life in the 'burbs will continue to get marginally less pleasant. Life in the city (and close-in suburbs) will continue to get marginally more pleasant.." What were historically the streetcar suburbs will do fine. The sprawling developments that metastasized over the last forty years will be the ones to wither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if everyone agreed that living IN DC was the be-all, end-all, where would they live? And if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood, well...

Funny thing is, though: as the suburban congestion gets worse, and folks begin to stay in the city after their kids are born, the neighborhood elementary schools continue to get incrementally better--in a pattern that mimics the improvement in neighborhoods in general. Five years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of sending my kid to the local in-boundary DCPS elementary school. Now there are hundreds of middle-class parents fighting to get in. Schools that were fine for K-2 grade a few years ago are seeing middle-class kids staying in the 3-5 grades. Marginal improvements build on marginal improvements.

To say "if you think competition for those OOB spots was fierce before millions of suburban residents moved to your neighborhood" [it'll be worse with new residents] misunderstands the dynamic. You might just as well make the point about "competition for the few houses in decent neighborhoods was fierce before tens of thousands of new middle-class households moved into DC". The supply of DC housing for middle-class residents is not a fixed quantity. The perimeter of "good" neighborhoods is rapidly expanding; and substandard housing in those neighborhoods is rapidly being rehabbed.

Competition for OOB slots may stay constant because the number of spots will be increasing--between DCPS improvements and new and expanding charters. At least that's what's happened over the last decade.

These are excellent points.

It should also be added that population density in most of DC is actually pretty low as major cities go. We definitely have room for more. In fact, we're about 600,000 now. There have been as many as 800,000 in the past, and it was still a fairly low density city even at its busiest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it's as if these DC posters actually believe there are no jobs whatsoever outside of Washington DC.

Work in Leesburg and in a few months, will have a place in Leesburg. DW works in Chantilly, so why (aside from bragging rights) do we need to live inside the FFX County Parkway?

To escape "the idiocy of rural life", which no doubt applies whatever the "FFX County Parkway" may be.