
North Bethesda is Rockville
North Potomac is Gaithersburg B-CC, Whitman, WJ, Wooton, and Churchill are the best schools Really if the kid does well in any county school they will be fine. |
Is Robert Montgomery a lot worse than the schools listed? |
Yep. Although all parts of North Bethesda are nice, inmo. North Bethesda is generally 20852 area code. Rockville is further north, and has its really really nice areas, really nice areas, and just OK areas. None are terrible that I know of. |
It's Richard Montgomery -and no - it's a very good school as well. The schools that get knocked (fwiw, and I personally don't agree with most of the knocking) are generally further east (i.e. Wheaton) or north - i.e. Springbrook. |
RM and Blair are excellent schools but a lot of people are affraid to have their kids go to school with those in lower priced areas even though they have great magnet programs. |
I was under the impression that Bethesda was supposed to be better than Rockville and that maybe Potomac was in the middle. Am I wrong? Is there some sort of ranking or comparison of elementary schools in Montgomery County? I am convinced that any of the 4 W high schools or BCC or RM will be fine. I'd now like to focus on elementary schools and areas that have good preschools. It is seriously overwhelming to narrow down our home search because Montgomery County has too many wonderful places to choose from. I do like newer homes and that is important as well as reasonable proximity to public transportation into DC. My husband will be driving to work in Bethesda. For now, I plan not to work but I would like the option to commute to DC if I change my mind in the future. |
You mentioned Travilah Rd. -- that area much further from any Metro station, as well as major shopping centers. What's nice about the N. Bethesda area is that it is close to multiple Metro stations (Twinbrook, White Flint, and Grosvenor). White Flint and Grosvenor have ample parking. And despite the complaints about Rockville Pike, you can't beat the convenience as far as shopping and running errands -- everything you could possibly need is within a few miles.
The DC area is all about trade-offs. With your budget and wanting a large, newer home, you might have to give a bit on location, but then your commute will not be as ideal. |
Yes, I'm learning very quickly that we will have trade offs. We live in NYC now so I am used to having everything very close. North Bethesda seems like it has the best of everything we want except the newer construction and size. I like the idea of being able to drive to any store within 5 minutes. I'm just trying to gather as much information on schools as we can before we meet with a broker. Most likely we will be going down again in May and I want to do my homework before then. Ultimately, my husband and I care most about what is best for our children and education is on the top of that list. An abundance of children's activities would also be higher on the list to us than being close to shopping and a metro station but I have the feeling that places with higher density will have more of the kid's stuff. |
I've been researching all day and it sounds like Luxmanor fits most all of our criteria except for price. I saw a few homes online for about $1.2-$1.5 million. Hopefully the prices are negotiable and we can raise our home budget up a little. This is the area that is right off White Flint area, correct? I really loved the convenience of White Flint. |
Yes, Luxmanor is right off White Flint and will be right on the edge of all the new development, and is less than a mile from metro etc. Grovesnor is a great metro station because during rush hour, almost every other train starts at Grovesnor, and it has a parking garage (garage fills by about 8:30) If you can't make that garage, then White Flint, about 1 1/2 miles up, always has spaces, although the trains don't start there. From either it's about 10-12 minutes to Bethesda, and about 20-30 minutes to Metro Center (downtown DC). It's a beautiful area - and, further west off Tuckerman (Luxmanor is basically bound by Tuckerman and Old Georgetown is Cabin John park - which is great with kids -and has a miniature train that the kids can ride during the spring and summer. There are giant houses for sale in The Oaks subdivision (I think those are the 1.2M-1.5M - those are truly enormous - much more than 3000 ft - plus some back up to 270, so be careful about street noise. There are other newer houses that have taken the place of teardowns in that area. Good luck, and with patience something will pop. |
Luxmanor sounds perfect. The more that I find out about this place, the more I like. We just need to find an extra $500k. ![]() I am loving this new development plan in N Bethesda and would love to live closeby. The new plan is calling for a lot of new housing. Will most of this housing be condos only? No single family homes? |
I think most of the housing will be apts/condos. They are supposed to be building a new elementary school to handle the increase in population, but I don't think that would affect Luxmanor zoning. They just finished a renovation of the Luxmanor Elementary school. Old Farm would also be a consideration for you. It is the neighborhood right next to Luxmanor toward 270. Houses range in size, but there are some larger ones. Not new construction though (1960s homes), but many have been renovated. There is real pride of ownership in these neighborhoods (can you tell I live in the area?) |
Of the Luxmanor, Tilden Woods, and Old Farm (all near each other in North Bethesda/Rockville), Luxmanor is the most expensive of the three. When we were looking for a house, our realtor showed us that area. Unfortunately, the houses in our price range in Tilden Woods didn't have the layout we wanted BUT I have to say I really liked the neighborhood. Those subdivisions have a reputation for having a strong sense of identity - not sure if it is the pool and tennis club in the neighborhoods, the beloved elementary schools there, or the community banding together to try to stop a road being expanded near Tilden Wood (ultimately the road ended up being built) but those are neighborhoods where people will target their house search and it goes beyond the neighborhoods having a really good elementary school. Where this fits in with new construction in your price range, I don't know. But I think if you are relocating to this area without knowing many people and will be home with the kids during the day being part of a tight knit neighborhood might make the relocation easier. Where I am - people love the elementary school and would want to move to the neighborhood because of it - but apart from a block party that someone thankfully organizes each year - I wouldn't really know neighbors that well. Everyone is very friendly and I think once my kids start the local elementary school things will be different but it definitely would be hard being home during the day. We also don't have things like a park or community pool within walking distance and maybe that is some of the difference. |
I agree with 7:23 - the neighborhoods with pool/tennis attached (like Timberlawn, Luxmanor, Windermere, Old Farm) do seem to have a stronger sense of community - even if some of the kids end up not going to the neighborhood public schools (at least in our North Bethesda neighborhood, and I think in Luxmanor as well, there's a high percentage of Jewish families that send their kids to Bnai pre-school and then JDS (Jewish Day School). The kids know each other because they hang out at playground together during off-season, and see each other at the pool during summer. I also wouldn't discount the older homes, because, as pp said, many have been beautifully remodeled inside, and not because of some fly-by-night, cut-the-corners flip-it builder, but because families live in their homes and want to make them nicer (so the quality is more long-term and better). Look at the Windermere neighborhood - those houses are below $1MM - built in early 70s, but many have been completely renovated on the inside. Old Farm and Tilden Woods are in the $600K-$800K range, and Timberlawn is in the $800K-$1M+ range (although hard to gauge because there aren't many sales). Good luck, and welcome to the neighborhood! |
Thank you for the input on community. I wish we could walk around and meet potential neighbors.
Since our kids are young, activities for little kids would be an immediate importance. Here in NYC, there are tons of toddler enrichment programs. I'm assuming suburban MD has similar music, gym and art classes. |