Damascus vs. Olney vs. North Potomac

[Anonymous]

We want to buy a SFH, and are looking at Damascus, Olney, and North Potomac. You get much more house/land in Damascus and Olney than in North Potomac for our price range (about $600k). BUT, I have heard very good things about Wootton HS. Anyone have thoughts on these areas/schools? DS would be starting in Elementary school...

[Anonymous]

We are in Olney. It's a great place to raise a family and you'd be close to everything. We have a SFH - 4 br with .3 acres of land.

[Anonymous]

Be sure to check out Brookeville (20833) when you are looking at Olney --- they border each other and feed into the same schools. There are neighborhoods in Brookeville where you can get a very large home on a big piece of property for $600k (or even less) and feed into excellent schools.

[Anonymous]

wootton, whitman and churchill (see us news and world report) are the three highest ranking hs in MoCo. Your property values will hold up better and you won't have to brave 270 traffic every morning.

[Anonymous]

I think you are pretty safe in Olney and Brokeville with property values.

I have been in Olney for a year and winter was rough getting to work but the warmer weather it is delightful. VERY family oriented and the quiet life is lovely.

We looked in all the areas you mentioned and settled on Olney because it felt right and really a lovely area.

I never have to go on 270 or the beltway!!

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/realestate/features/2009/housing-review/property-values/montgomery.html

this chart may help you with regard to stability of property values

[Anonymous]

wootton and its feeders far outrank the other places mentioned, but I don't know how far $660k will go on a SFH on that area

[Anonymous]

what is "North Potomac"? Gaithersburg?

[Anonymous]

Very little of North Potomac goes to Wootton. Most goes to Quince Orchard, which is still a really good school. I live in the Rockville/North Potomac area that goes to Wootton. If I could buy a SFH, I'd buy in Olney. Much more of a real neighborhood feel to it.

[Anonymous]

I would go with North Potomac. Wootton is one of the top high schools in MC and is also ranked nationally. Also, housing prices have stayed pretty stable--and some have actually gone up despite the economic downturn--because people want to be in the Wootton cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would go with North Potomac. Wootton is one of the top high schools in MC and is also ranked nationally. Also, housing prices have stayed pretty stable--and some have actually gone up despite the economic downturn--because people want to be in the Wootton cluster.

Rankings, rankings, rankings. That's all most of you seem to care about. It's like never considering a restaurant that hasn't been touted by Zagat's. What a bunch of lemmings!