Moving to Petworth
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Anonymous
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Petworth resident near Sherman Circle with two littles (K and pre-schooler).
Lots of nice elements in Petworth for young families, as others have mentioned. I think a distinct advantage is having many great elementary and PK options in walking/biking. We are at John Lewis and love it, know many very happy familes at Barnard, Powell, Dorothy Height, Truesdell, and EL Haynes. |
Anonymous
| Wait till middle school. The happiness starts to evaporate when you strike out on the Latins and BASIS in the lottery in the spring of 4th grade. |
Anonymous
This right here. Anyone thinking of moving to Petworth needs to keep in mind that, at some point, you're probably either going to need to take a chance on the lottery, pony up for private school, or move. This was a lot easier to swallow when people were getting a ton of equity after only a few years, because they could just move WOTP/Bethesda/NoVa if the schools didn't work out (just ask that Popville dimwit about that). It involves a lot more risk with the housing market the way it is now. And those elementary-school years go by *fast*. |
Anonymous
Petworth resident here and I agree. We bought 10 years ago and refinanced to a 2.5% interest rate. Our house has doubled in value and we could get double our mortgage if we rented it out. Staying is a no-brainer for us, even if staying actually means renting and renting for the middle and high school years. House prices have stabilized/decreased slightly since the pandemic insanity, but 7-8% mortgage rates mean new families just won't build equity like we did and have the options we have. There are plenty of good DCPS elementary school options, but most families in the neighborhood still lottery into DCI feeders (which is functionally a guarantee now since MV is clearing their waitlists and won't have enough matriculating students to need a DCI lottery) or move for middle school. We're at a MacFarland feeder and some higher SES do try it out, but aside from a few pioneers, most are there unhappily because they struck out in the lottery. It will take years and boundary changes (ahem, Bancroft) for MacFarland to become like Eliot-Hine or Stuart-Hobson and gain sufficient neighborhood buy-in for most families to consider it. |
Anonymous
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We've loved the local schools, but regardless aren't planning to send our kids to Roosevelt. I think we just need high school to be less remedial and more college preparatory than we expect Roosevelt to be in the the near term.
Long term - I expect by the time we retire to see the neighborhood 200% gentrified. The property values are too high for anything else to happen. I don't like it, but based on what I've read, it's almost impossible for transitional neighborhoods to remain mixed income because of housing costs. |
Anonymous
How long term are you talking? Crime and interest rates will keep things as they are now for a long time. |
Anonymous
Nah, plenty of pre-kids DINKS are still moving into all of the newly renovated houses. There may be 5 offers instead of 15, but people are still buying, and those people are young. |
Anonymous
And they’ll continue to avoid the local schools after ECE just like so many of us in the neighborhood do now. |
Anonymous
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My pet theory is that Petworth/16th St Heights/N Columbia Heights/Park View is turning into Glover Park/Burleith, and that in a generation Barnard or Powell or whatever will be another Stoddert.
Have you seen how many strollers there are in this neighborhood? It’s crazy and the real estate market is supposed to suck. |
Anonymous
That's a generation too late for many of us. |
Anonymous
The people that you see with strollers now will move in the next 5 years. |
Anonymous
That's exactly what people said when I moved to Petworth with a pregnant wife 15 years ago. |
Anonymous
There’s a pretty clear EOTP cycle of buying pre-kids, staying through at least part of elementary, then moving. There’s no evidence that Petworth is breaking that cycle. |
Anonymous
+1000 Agree with the previous posters discussing the sheen wearing off come middle and HS. We’ve been in the neighborhood since before our kids were born. They’re teens now. We’ve since done what I have seen every neighbor with kids our age do, which is lottery into a different school than MacFarland/ Roosevelt (or they’ve gone private). Not to mention the amount of people who we’ve know that moved. I have a friend with a 2 year old who moved to Petworth from a NOMA apartment. They love it here and when I bring up my kids experience they just say, “oh but there’s so many people on our block with kids the same age who want to stay so by the time they’re in middle school it will be different”. Yeah…ok. Lol. Get a taste of the DCPS game in upper elementary and get back to me later. My kids were out daily with the neighborhood kids when they were 3,4,5,6 years old. Then one by one they all left. So sure, keep telling the story that’s been told already for 20 years about how Petworth is going to be “the next….” It’s not and we kick ourselves for missing the boat and not selling earlier when rates were better. Ironically getting lucky in the lottery locked us in longer than others but I can confirm even the DCPS schools you think you want MacFarland and Roosevelt to aspire to be more like leave a lot to be desired. |
Anonymous
People have been saying Petworth is "almost there" for like 20 years now. |