Where to live?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Hi! We are likely moving to the DC area this upcoming summer. My husband will be working (5 days in person) in Ft Meade MD, and my job (2-3 days in person) is near the Carnegie Library/ Mt Vernon Sq.
We have two young kids - 3.5yo and 10mo - and currently live in Hoboken NJ. We absolutely love Hoboken and hate that we may have to leave. My 3yo is in an excellent public pre k program and the baby goes to a small, tight-knit daycare. Apart from these two programs, we love that Hoboken is flooded with young families, and we can walk everywhere - 5 mins to prek, 10 mins to the daycare, 1 min (across the street!) from grocery. We have a car but use it only once or twice a week for errands or hobbies (out of town tennis etc.), and we currently both commute by public transit. We are looking for something as similar as possible to what we are giving up. I know next to nothing about the DC area so I would love some recommendations. We’d like to stay under $5k/mo for a three bed but can be flexible for the right place. I’ve looked a bit at Capitol Hill as it seems walkable etc. and it is close to Union Station for my husband's commute. We plan to enter the pre k lottery so trying to narrow down the area we’d like to live in in order to select our preferences. Thanks so much! |
Anonymous
The key main thing is do NOT live in Virginia, because all Potomac River bridges are major choke points. Second, Hoboken public schools are much less uneven than DCPS. I would suggest Montgomery County MD, and specifically somewhere that would let you take MetroRail to/from work -- while also not giving spouse a terrible commute. Understand that DC-295 / MD-295 / BW Parkway is routinely choked both ways during rush hour south of MD-32 and in all of DC. That looks on a map like a commute option to the Fort from Capitol Hill, but it is nightmarish to do every day. Ft Meade can be a bit of a tricky commute because so many people work on-base or nearby and public transport options are pretty limited. Start by looking at Google Maps for metro DC during rush hours and also start looking at rush hour traffic reports at "https://www.wtop.com/traffic". |
Anonymous
| OP here - also adding that my husband’s job provides shuttles from the train station in Ft Meade hence the comment about living near union station. Also, we would rent because we don’t know if this is a short term move or longer term. We would prefer a condo or row home or something that is NOT a house with all the yard maintenance etc. We currently rent a first floor condo that has a small yard which would be ideal. |
Anonymous
I still would live in MD - maybe near a train station (MARC) that the one who works in DC can take. In metro DC, public transport is hub and spoke, so it is almost always easier to take public transit to/from work in DC while living somewhere outside DC. Have you been to Union Station recently? Huge issues there since the pandemic. |
Anonymous
|
The part of DC that is relatively safe and has good schools is the part west of Rock Creek Park. Not surprisingly, this also is the most expensive part.
Families living at Capitol Hill area generally will move elsewhere once their first child starts K. |
Anonymous
| Good lord. You should live on the Hill. And do exactly what you’re proposing - Marc train to fort Meade station. The elementary schools are great and it is charming and walkable. It is absolutely fantastic for young families, and you’re good to middle school. |
Anonymous
|
Your jobs are a really poor location combo.
Making DH use Marc every day is bad. He will have a horribly long commute counting the shuttle and Marc and shuttles are badly affected by wintery mix. He will come to hate it, |
Anonymous
| Live an easy commute to whatever he does at Ft Meade and find yourself a different job. You can take Marc your 2 or 3 days. Ft Meade probably has daycare. |
Anonymous
This is right. Especially if you are renting. And though some people do move away from the Hill for school-related reasons, it's mostly around 4th grade and up. And your family won't be there for years and years. |
Anonymous
+1. Neither MARC nor the shuttles are very timely - and also they are not reliable in foul weather or when Amtrak randomly has a bad day. |
Anonymous
| Since you plan to rent, I would move up near Ft. Meade, around either Odenton or Columbia. Let me drive to work each day and you take the commuter train to DC. Find daycare near your home or his job. Make that work for a year and use the time to figure out the lay of the land and move if you need to. Or you could do the opposite and move near Capitol Hill and still have him drive to work and you commute via metro, daycare would need to be near you. |
Anonymous
|
OP again - for those of you suggesting MD or somewhere closer to Ft Meade, is there anywhere similar to Hoboken in terms of lifestyle and density? I’m nervous about the move in general and even more terrified if it would involve a change to a very suburban lifestyle. I think we would feel very isolated.
That is why I had looked at the Hill, as it seemed most similar to what we have now. My husband absolutely will drive an hour each way if it gets us the lifestyle we would like to live with young kids. |
Anonymous
OP here - is the “good lord” because of responses to live in MD? Hopefully not w/r/t my wish list. I really don’t know much about MD but I have been to the area around Ft Meade and it was … the exact opposite of where we live now and would like to raise our young family. Very sprawling suburbia. For context, I’m referring to the area near Arundel Mills. |
Anonymous
It's because Capitol Hill is extremely clearly the correct answer. If you really, really want to check out some MD suburban areas, you could look at Hyattsville or Takoma Park MD (just to see what is out there). But either of those will split the difference of your commutes and, IMO with little kids, it's way better to have one parent pretty close and the other doing the longer commute. If your husband is willing to drive an hour, the Hill is a no brainer. |
Anonymous
PP here - the good lord was for the people implying you can’t live east of rock creek park if you care about your kid and don’t want your kindergartner to get knifed at recess. We live on the Hill and have friends who used to live in Hoboken. Knowing what you are looking for in terms of type of community to raise your kid, you will absolutely hate living near Fort Meade. I hear the other posters in that the MARC train is not the gold standard for commuter trains in terms of frequency and weird weather issues, and that if your husband drove, 295 traffic would be crappy even though he’d be commuting out of the city. You know him best and what he’ll tolerate but agreed he has some commute time coming to him if you live in the city. But assuming you as a family are genuine about wanting to live somewhere that feels a little bit similar (and that he’s cool with the commute time it will take), you absolutely should live close to a MARC station, and taking that plus the type of neighborhood you want, the right answer is Union Station and living nearby for one of the good elementary schools. FWIW, we picked this area because we wanted something that felt similar to Rittenhouse Square in Philly, where we lived before, and we’ve been happy with the choice. |