Why is Arlington so hot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is hot because it's a short drive to DC ( 20 minutes for me to drive), plus you can have a SFH with a yard, good schools that aren't overly snobby, and low crime. People like to hate on the schools but they are far better than the public schools I grew up with. Falls Church is just too far for people who actually need to be in DC and don't want to spend their time commuting.

Falls Church is far? How long can it possibly take to commute to Capital Hill when it’s right next to Arlington ?

It’s an extra 15-20 min compared to closer-in Arlington. And the roads are all slow - lots of congestion and lights.

Just for the record, this is simply not true. I have commuted via car from several locations in FC to DC every day (Pre-COVID) for 20 years. ALL the traffic is in close-in Arlington/DC (bridges, DUH), except maybe PM traffic on the 50 corridor outside of 7 Corners.

I lived in FCC and also EFC for several years and now live closer-in (Courthouse). My closer commute has cut off 15 min or even more on the tough days.

I took Wash Blvd/Lee Hwy to Key Bridge.

** and this wasn’t FCC, but I was driving out to Falls Church (Fairfax County) just inside the beltway (reverse commute) for a few months for a project and that consistently took 20 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

I was looking at W-L data since that is more popular than YHS. It’s also 34% FARMS. How about Whitman?

W-L
Asian 1582
Black 1523
Hispanic 1442
White 1856

Did you find the breakdown by FARM vs non-FARM scores?

There are unique populations in Arlington that make even comparing by “race” less meaningful.

SES would make more sense.

So many of the rich white kids zoned for W-L do private HS now. I say about 60% of HS kids in my neighborhood attend a private HS in DC or VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

I was looking at W-L data since that is more popular than YHS. It’s also 34% FARMS. How about Whitman?

W-L
Asian 1582
Black 1523
Hispanic 1442
White 1856

Did you find the breakdown by FARM vs non-FARM scores?

There are unique populations in Arlington that make even comparing by “race” less meaningful.

SES would make more sense.

Care to explain why the working and LMC white kids in Einstein are scoring 1804 then and outperforming the comparatively well off white kids in Yorktown? The average SFH teardown in Yorktown and W-L cost more than the average new build in the Einstein district, which is 40% FARMs.

This house would be double the cost in North Arlington. You would be in a bidding war for a 2br shack with black mold for this price around Yorktown.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/3818-Woodridge-Ave-20902/home/11135912

RE: Bethesda vs Arlington schools. Look at the SAT score data and see whether Yorktown, W-L, and Wakefield stack up well against Walter Johnson, BCC, and Whitman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

That can’t be recent data, since the College Board reverted from a three-part SAT to a two-part test years ago. But everyone knows neither Yorktown nor any other high school in APS is on par with Whitman.

Yes, there are more rich white & Asian students in Bethesda with the corresponding SAT scores. No one is debating that.

Not PP. but the scores for blacks and Hispanics is also higher at Whitman no?

DP. Not all Black and Hispanic student are low SES, but way to stereotype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

I was looking at W-L data since that is more popular than YHS. It’s also 34% FARMS. How about Whitman?

W-L
Asian 1582
Black 1523
Hispanic 1442
White 1856

Did you find the breakdown by FARM vs non-FARM scores?

There are unique populations in Arlington that make even comparing by “race” less meaningful.

SES would make more sense.

Care to explain why the working and LMC white kids in Einstein are scoring 1804 then and outperforming the comparatively well off white kids in Yorktown? The average SFH teardown in Yorktown and W-L cost more than the average new build in the Einstein district, which is 40% FARMs.

This house would be double the cost in North Arlington. You would be in a bidding war for a 2br shack with black mold for this price around Yorktown.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/3818-Woodridge-Ave-20902/home/11135912

RE: Bethesda vs Arlington schools. Look at the SAT score data and see whether Yorktown, W-L, and Wakefield stack up well against Walter Johnson, BCC, and Whitman.

The Yorktown score seems off. It’s even lower than the W-L score.

Many an anomaly that year (2016)?

Anyway, looking at SAT scores is just looking at SES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

I was looking at W-L data since that is more popular than YHS. It’s also 34% FARMS. How about Whitman?

W-L
Asian 1582
Black 1523
Hispanic 1442
White 1856

Did you find the breakdown by FARM vs non-FARM scores?

There are unique populations in Arlington that make even comparing by “race” less meaningful.

SES would make more sense.

Care to explain why the working and LMC white kids in Einstein are scoring 1804 then and outperforming the comparatively well off white kids in Yorktown? The average SFH teardown in Yorktown and W-L cost more than the average new build in the Einstein district, which is 40% FARMs.

This house would be double the cost in North Arlington. You would be in a bidding war for a 2br shack with black mold for this price around Yorktown.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/3818-Woodridge-Ave-20902/home/11135912

RE: Bethesda vs Arlington schools. Look at the SAT score data and see whether Yorktown, W-L, and Wakefield stack up well against Walter Johnson, BCC, and Whitman.

The Yorktown score seems off. It’s even lower than the W-L score.

Many an anomaly that year (2016)?

Anyway, looking at SAT scores is just looking at SES.

These are the types of excuses that keep APS consistently underwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The Yorktown score seems off. It’s even lower than the W-L score.

Many an anomaly that year (2016)?

Anyway, looking at SAT scores is just looking at SES.

The super-high-achievers in Yorktown zone can transfer to W-L for the IB Diploma program. There's no equivalent transfers to Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

I was looking at W-L data since that is more popular than YHS. It’s also 34% FARMS. How about Whitman?

W-L
Asian 1582
Black 1523
Hispanic 1442
White 1856

Did you find the breakdown by FARM vs non-FARM scores?

There are unique populations in Arlington that make even comparing by “race” less meaningful.

SES would make more sense.

Care to explain why the working and LMC white kids in Einstein are scoring 1804 then and outperforming the comparatively well off white kids in Yorktown? The average SFH teardown in Yorktown and W-L cost more than the average new build in the Einstein district, which is 40% FARMs.

This house would be double the cost in North Arlington. You would be in a bidding war for a 2br shack with black mold for this price around Yorktown.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/3818-Woodridge-Ave-20902/home/11135912

RE: Bethesda vs Arlington schools. Look at the SAT score data and see whether Yorktown, W-L, and Wakefield stack up well against Walter Johnson, BCC, and Whitman.

The Yorktown score seems off. It’s even lower than the W-L score.

Many an anomaly that year (2016)?

Anyway, looking at SAT scores is just looking at SES.

These are the types of excuses that keep APS consistently underwhelming.

Ok. So don’t move there.

Not everyone bases their real estate decisions on SAT scores (AKA lack of economic/racial diversity).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You couldn’t pay me to live in Arlington again. The fact there’s a housing bubble all over the country and people there somehow think it’s about them just sums the place up perfectly.

What in the world are you talking about? This is specifically a thread about Arlington. OP asked why the market here is so hot. Not one person has suggested Arlington is the only location with a heated seller’s market.

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder if this is how you’re interpreting this discussion. And there are plenty of places “you couldn’t pay me to live,” but I’m not so unhappy about my life that I go post about it on an anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is the hottest area because NOVA is hot for jobs and real estate.
Arlington just seems hotter than other parts of NOVA because it is so small. Let’s be real here, we really mean north Arlington when people on this bored post 99% of the time.

Arlington is more expensive than places like fairfax or whatever because of its location and urban-like areas on orange line.

I agree people usually mean north Arlington when they say only Arlington but in this instance south Arlington is just as hot or hotter, and appreciating faster (at least at certain price points). Literally the only advantage north Arlington ever had was the schools, and now it’s clear they are all crap.

And south Arlington will be the first to have prices fall. A lot. No reason to live in high crime area with lousy schools if you don’t have to. Many upper middle class families only live in south Arlington because of the proximity to work. If they can, they move. Even for pandemic a large portion of south Arlington families leave before kids get old enough for school, or sometime in mid elementary school when they realize just how big the educational disparities are between poor south Arlington schools and north Arlington.

When I got 2/3 permanent work from home we moved to western ffx county for better schools and twice the house. And no drug dealing a couple doors down on the Pike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You couldn’t pay me to live in Arlington again. The fact there’s a housing bubble all over the country and people there somehow think it’s about them just sums the place up perfectly.

What in the world are you talking about? This is specifically a thread about Arlington. OP asked why the market here is so hot. Not one person has suggested Arlington is the only location with a heated seller’s market.

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder if this is how you’re interpreting this discussion. And there are plenty of places “you couldn’t pay me to live,” but I’m not so unhappy about my life that I go post about it on an anonymous forum.

You do realize OP is an Arlington poster who started yet another thread about Arlington, right? PP wasn’t wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a good enclave for white people who like diversity in theory and in the abstract but not in real life.

North Arlington is the whitest place in the dmv.
It is the capitol of liberals who live the exact opposite of what they espouse.
There is zero diversity, inclusion or interest in lower income or minorities anywhere near their bubble of white solitude.

Have you been there?

North Arlington is everything north of Rt 50. There are more rich, white people above Rt 50 than below, but overall it’s certainly NOT the whitest place in the DC area. There are multiple affordable housing units and lower-cost apartment buildings. There is even a Title I ES.

North Arlington in practice is everything north of 66. No one near seven corners or the cathedral can really think they are in N Arlington.

I don’t think anyone near the Cathedral even thinks that’s it’s VA.

Many of the desirable areas are south of 66 so.....not sure where you get your facts.
.

.
I assume they meant north of Route 50, not 66. Otherwise you leave out Clarendon, Rosslyn, Ballston, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is the hottest area because NOVA is hot for jobs and real estate.
Arlington just seems hotter than other parts of NOVA because it is so small. Let’s be real here, we really mean north Arlington when people on this bored post 99% of the time.

Arlington is more expensive than places like fairfax or whatever because of its location and urban-like areas on orange line.

I agree people usually mean north Arlington when they say only Arlington but in this instance south Arlington is just as hot or hotter, and appreciating faster (at least at certain price points). Literally the only advantage north Arlington ever had was the schools, and now it’s clear they are all crap.

And south Arlington will be the first to have prices fall. A lot. No reason to live in high crime area with lousy schools if you don’t have to. Many upper middle class families only live in south Arlington because of the proximity to work. If they can, they move. Even for pandemic a large portion of south Arlington families leave before kids get old enough for school, or sometime in mid elementary school when they realize just how big the educational disparities are between poor south Arlington schools and north Arlington.

When I got 2/3 permanent work from home we moved to western ffx county for better schools and twice the house. And no drug dealing a couple doors down on the Pike.

Everything you said would have been true perhaps five years ago, definitely ten years ago, but is not true today. I don’t have a dog in the fight it’s just true - South Arlington is continuing to gentrify and the prices reflect that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown vs Whitman SAT data for those that don’t want to do the research and comb through data.

Yorktown
Asian = 1786
Black = 1506
Hispanic = 1610
White = 1788

Whitman
Asian = 1901
Black = 1561
Hispanic = 1827
White = 1917

Whitman like Yorktown is within the Beltway and close to DC. Housing prices are demographics are similar.

That can’t be recent data, since the College Board reverted from a three-part SAT to a two-part test years ago. But everyone knows neither Yorktown nor any other high school in APS is on par with Whitman.

Yes, there are more rich white & Asian students in Bethesda with the corresponding SAT scores. No one is debating that.

Not PP. but the scores for blacks and Hispanics is also higher at Whitman no?

DP. Not all Black and Hispanic student are low SES, but way to stereotype.

Wait a freaking minute. That is not the story we want to narrate. JFC. SMH!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is the hottest area because NOVA is hot for jobs and real estate.
Arlington just seems hotter than other parts of NOVA because it is so small. Let’s be real here, we really mean north Arlington when people on this bored post 99% of the time.

Arlington is more expensive than places like fairfax or whatever because of its location and urban-like areas on orange line.

I agree people usually mean north Arlington when they say only Arlington but in this instance south Arlington is just as hot or hotter, and appreciating faster (at least at certain price points). Literally the only advantage north Arlington ever had was the schools, and now it’s clear they are all crap.

And south Arlington will be the first to have prices fall. A lot. No reason to live in high crime area with lousy schools if you don’t have to. Many upper middle class families only live in south Arlington because of the proximity to work. If they can, they move. Even for pandemic a large portion of south Arlington families leave before kids get old enough for school, or sometime in mid elementary school when they realize just how big the educational disparities are between poor south Arlington schools and north Arlington.

When I got 2/3 permanent work from home we moved to western ffx county for better schools and twice the house. And no drug dealing a couple doors down on the Pike.

Everything you said would have been true perhaps five years ago, definitely ten years ago, but is not true today. I don’t have a dog in the fight it’s just true - South Arlington is continuing to gentrify and the prices reflect that.

Sort of. I agree things are hot now, but people are buying in south Arlington who already live in south Arlington. They are moving from a rental or smaller place. And, they are still priced out of north Arlington. And the gentrification is focused on the mid and eastern end of the pike. The western end is slated for a huge amount of affordable housing over the next several years that will limit gentrification. As the new storefronts remain empty, things will slide back down. South Arlington can never really gentrify when it has a large cluster of schools with very high rates of student poverty.

North Arlington only has one pocket of poverty, buckingham, which is right on the border with south Arlington. That enclave doesn’t give north Arlington diversity.