Why is Kensington so much cheaper than Bethesda and Takoma Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:daily gridlock

I have heard that from a friend who lives there—said it got exponentially worse after pandemic wiht changes to ConnAve, but he also said he's started driving to the metro in Bethesda and that is, according to him, incredibly easy.

Where do they park by the Bethesda metro?

I didn't mean Bethesda metro, I meant the stops over by Bethesda. Sorry... I think maybe one of the ones that has garages, Grosvenor maybe? He said post-pandemic the garages are empty and it's an incredible breeze.

Grosvenor would be pretty easy from most parts of Kensington, and parking in the metro lot is $5 per day, so that would make sense.

[Anonymous]

Kensington west of Connecticut is not significantly cheaper than much of bethesda (KP, ashburton and WYngate all feed into NBMS middle school and are pretty equivalently priced). East of Conn is much cheaper but it feeds into the Einstein HS cluster, plus it’s also not easily walkable to the KP pool and the little restaurants (plays bowl, gelato, chipotle) on the W side of Ct Ave.

[Anonymous]

OP here... I just did a bunch of searching on Zillow, and I definitely see multiple houses west of Conn Ave in the $700ks while similar houses west of the park in Bethesda are $900ks... but similar looking ones in Takoma Park are more like low $800ks, so I guess the price difference isnt' as dramatic. But earlier this summer, I definitely saw some 2000sq ft houses on postage stamp lots in Takoma going for $900k, and it does seem like anything that's close to the downtown is in that range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parts of “Kensington” feed into significantly lower ranked elementary and middle schools so that depresses prices some. Also I don’t think Kensington has a similar town vibe, with its own services, like Takoma Park does. It also is substantially less walkable.

I think the school zoning is key. That was our experience when we where looking.
We ended up outside of Kensington but at WJ and are very happy with it.

What are the elementary and middle schools to avoid. Older kid is already in private, and younger will *probably* wind up in private by middle school, almost definitely by high school so I don't worry about THAT too much.

I think people don't like Rock View ES or Newport Mill MS. I have no personal experience with these schools.

[Anonymous]

Which park of Kensington? The poor side or the UMC side? Bethesda is Bethesda and will always be expensive. I don't think that Takoma Park is expensive.

Schools and proximity to amenities and work centers are what generally makes places expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which park of Kensington? The poor side or the UMC side? Bethesda is Bethesda and will always be expensive. I don't think that Takoma Park is expensive.

Schools and proximity to amenities and work centers are what generally makes places expensive.

$850k+ for a 2000sqft house on 1/8 of an acre is very, very expensive. Cheaper than DC, but very, very expensive.

Anyway, as I said, I don't need your opinons on whether its good or bad if Bethesda or Takoma Park is more expensive, or is expensive at all, I'm asking why Kensington is less expensive.

[Anonymous]

There is also concern that even the part of Kensington zoned for WJ could be rezoned, perhaps to Woodward or to Einstein and so that is temporarily depressing some prices I think. The MARC or metro are very easy - you can also park at Forest Glen for the other end of the redline but agree that driving in during rush hour is not ideal due to the Conn Ave back ups. It's a really cute town with fun restaurants and bars to walk to, amazing for kids with a community pool (cedarbrook), farmers market, active community groups, etc. We lived there for a few years and really liked it.

[Anonymous]

The inventory in TKPK is insanely limited. Old housing stock, strange layouts, heavily regulated development (thanks NIMBYs!).

IMHO you will generally get more house for your buck in Kensington but you are farther out and don’t have the cute centralized TKPK downtown with hip new restaurants popping up everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here... I just did a bunch of searching on Zillow, and I definitely see multiple houses west of Conn Ave in the $700ks while similar houses west of the park in Bethesda are $900ks... but similar looking ones in Takoma Park are more like low $800ks, so I guess the price difference isnt' as dramatic. But earlier this summer, I definitely saw some 2000sq ft houses on postage stamp lots in Takoma going for $900k, and it does seem like anything that's close to the downtown is in that range.

By west of Connecticut she also means south of Howard.

[Anonymous]

It’s all school zoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s all school zoning.

It's not. Nobody is paying more for Takoma Elem + Blair than they are for Kensington Parkwood + WJ (potentially Woodward when it opens) or even Oakland Terrace + Einstein.

It's mostly proximity to downtown DC. The commute from Kensington is longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which park of Kensington? The poor side or the UMC side? Bethesda is Bethesda and will always be expensive. I don't think that Takoma Park is expensive.

Schools and proximity to amenities and work centers are what generally makes places expensive.

The “poor” side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s all school zoning.

It's not. Nobody is paying more for Takoma Elem + Blair than they are for Kensington Parkwood + WJ (potentially Woodward when it opens) or even Oakland Terrace + Einstein.

It's mostly proximity to downtown DC. The commute from Kensington is longer.

Many people I know just walk to the Kensington train station and jump on the commuter train.

[Anonymous]

Just remember that as an address, "Kensington" covers a lot of territory. The (incorporated) Town of Kensington is fairly limited. Neighborhoods on the far side of Garrett Park have a Kensington address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's further away from DC. And east of Rock Creek which is significant at rush hour.
Kensington is currently zoned for Walter Johnson which is considered by some (not by me, I DGAF) a "lesser" W school.
There are some cool restaurants here and there but the commercial area is divided by a busy 6 lane road.

Doesn’t most of Kensington go to Einstein?