Four Corners Neighborhoods

[Anonymous]

We are a young family looking for a house in SS. We noticed there are major price differences across each corner. Why are Woodmoor prices much higher than South Four Corners? Which is best to live in???

[Anonymous]

Woodmoor is a lovely place. My daughter went to an area daycare and we knew several families who lived there. I’m not familiar with the other neighborhood. Are they zoned to the same schools?

[Anonymous]

Woodmoor is a lovely place - echo that. I will say it is not walking distance to a metro, which is very nice to have for kids/visitors/if something happens to car. (Woodside Park I would say is best to live for that reason - walkability. But more expensive.)

[Anonymous]

Schools, b/c Woodmoor zones to Blair, is my guess re: price difference. It's a lovely neighborhood with a great family vibe. Lots of community activities, kids always out playing, fun decorations at Halloween and during the holidays. We spend a bit of time there thanks to kid's friendships and activities.

We found a house we love nearby but our neighborhood is no Woodmoor. Sometimes regret not moving there, tbh.

[Anonymous]

Not sure where you’re looking but I did a quick look and only see a handful of homes for sale in the Woodmoor neighborhood right now that aren’t much different in price compared to South Four Corners.

Bought in a nearby neighborhood last year and I feel like the main reason for the variance in prices between the homes in some of these neighborhoods near the beltway around Forest Glen/Four Corners area is the house itself - size, any renovations or additions. They’re mostly older homes. Some difference in school ratings too but I don’t think they’re too drastic.

Woodside/Woodside Park are definitively in a higher tier though being in a bit more convenient of a location.

[Anonymous]

Did you post in reddit also? In any event, more info there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SilverSpring/comments/1pppapo/any_info_on_the_woodmoor_neighborhood/

[Anonymous]

Admittedly I’m biased but I recommend young families look a little bit west in the neighborhoods clustered around the Forest Glen metro and zoned for Flora Singer or Oakland Terrace schools. Although with the boundary study, Flora is likely to get split up so Oakland Terrace may be more desirable. Lots of young families and community spirit.

[Anonymous]

Woodmoor resident here. I think it’s largely the high school assignment driving the price difference. However, when we were looking for houses, we did feel that the quality of houses in Woodmoor was better and the neighborhood generally has a more upscale feel.

[Anonymous]

Its the Catholic school and church that everyone belongs too.

[Anonymous]

There are some good daycare options in the area, though we're talking DC-area daycare, so fairly expensive, and access wouldn't be better than from the other Four Corners neighborhoods. The YMCA (daycare, yes, but also pool/athletics/etc.) is just across the Beltway off of Colesville Rd, but is not easily walkable.

Saint Bernadette's (Catholic church + K-8 school, if of interest) is there, as mentioned, and there is some associated community feel, but it is not completely ubiquitous. Pinecrest ES is in the middle of the Woodmoor neighborhood, as well. For those hoping to lottery into a Center for Enriched Studies (basically MCPS's elementary GT program), Pinecrest hosts the one for the nearby catchments. The facility also is in good condition. Lottery-based language immersion elementary programs in French and Spanish are reasonably close; though French is closer, there is some uncertainty about it's continuing at its current location due to MCPS facilities planning. An upcoming systemwide elementary boundary study has almost no chance of affecting Woodmoor, though other nearby neighborhoods might be affected.

Eastern MS, to which Woodmoor is zoned, and almost certainly will remain so in the current secondary boundary study, also hosts a criteria+lottery humanities magnet program. Though not right in the neighborhood, it is right across the Beltway on University Blvd (again, not a great walking situation, but a quick bus ride/drive). It is being scheduled for a rebuild, as the facility is not in good condition, and the years that would be under construction may or may not matter to you based on the ages of your children. The criteria+lottery math/science magnet at Takoma Park MS is not too far away, and both Spanish and French immersion programs continue at nearby SSIMS, though that facility may close, with the programs moving to one of the two others mentioned or also-nearby Sligo MS.

There are a lot of moving parts as it relates to high school. There is a large boundary study underway, and there is the remote possibility of Woodmoor being zoned away from Blair HS to Northwood HS. The latter is a mile and a half down the road, and is finishing up a complete rebuild, but the former is directly across University Boulevard, is not ancient, and has an academic situation there that tends to be better for those seeking more advanced options.

Blair is the largest HS by enrollment in the state, and that, in combination with two magnet programs, tends to afford a variety of classes not always available elsewhere, though a shift to HS programming across the county is coming. The current Down-County Consortium (DCC), which afforded some general school choice among 5 area high schools is being replaced by more static HS assignments with more magnet seating (both criteria- and interest-driven, but not simply ranked choice enrollment) across a different set of schools, trading the DCC's Kennedy and Wheaton high schools for the new region's BCC & Whitman (but, again, only for the magnets to be hosted there).

MCPS has remained mute on the disposition of the aforementioned MS magnet programs as part of this whole secondary school plan. Some change might be anticipated, there, though it may simply be replication of the humanities and math/science programs to more schools across the county, drawing from smaller regions and lessening the need for lotteries.

The small/somewhat quaint Woodmoor shopping center is slightly more approachable from Woodmoor than from the neighborhoods on the other side of Colesville. Four Corners, as a whole, isn't that big, though -- it's just busy from a vehicular traffic standpoint, and Woodmoor is the most insulated from this, with little to no cut-through. Access to the Beltway may be slightly better going east and slightly worse going west, though the net may be slightly on the positive side. Return from the Beltway is slightly better in each case. The one car-centric negative vs. South Four Corners may be the reliance on Colesville Road to get to downtown Silver Spring -- S4C has Brunett crossing under the Beltway. Lots with slightly better off-street parking in Woodmoor than some of the commercial-bordering blocks elsewhere in that area tend to mean that street parking for guests is not an issue, not that it is terribly difficult in much of the other Four Corners neighborhoods, at least currently...

The upzoning, etc., impact of the just-passed University Blvd corridor plan (against the sentiment of the majority of those living in the immediate vicinity -- Welcome to MoCo!), though touching Woodmoor, is likely to be more constrained, there, than in the neighborhoods across Colesville, too, though I'd educate myself about that and which blocks might be most affected.

The higher prices in Woodmoor tend to mean that rentals, and some rental-associated uses, are less prevalent than in South Four Corners -- Woodmoor is less economically diverse, though we are talking about MoCo & Silver Spring, so that is on a relative basis in one of the most diverse suburban places in the country. The relative stability also sees a lower percentage of properties on the market, all kind of self-reinforcing.