Falls Church / McLean vs Bethesda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why live in McLean instead of FCC? Better schools in FCC, closer to various retail options, and closer to Arlington and DC. Plus, downtown FCC keeps getting nicer.

McLean is better if you want a country estate feeling and more privacy / less community.

mclean has better schools than FCC and lower taxes bigger homes and it is right next to it. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/rankings

[Anonymous]

Yes, Virginia has a lower tax burden. No, it is not egregiously lower (hello ridiculous car tax!). Find a house, neighborhood and school district you are comfortable with and go from there. You'll be fine in either area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will you be here when your kids apply to college? In-state options in Virginia are better than those in Maryland.

This. And agree with living near Rodef Shalom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$2m is a tough budget. If you are Jewish and not vapid, I think the falls church area around temple Rodef Shalom is great. It’s a wonderful Jewish community there.

But Rodef Shalom is in McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why live in McLean instead of FCC? Better schools in FCC, closer to various retail options, and closer to Arlington and DC. Plus, downtown FCC keeps getting nicer.

McLean is better if you want a country estate feeling and more privacy / less community.

mclean has better schools than FCC and lower taxes bigger homes and it is right next to it. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/rankings

And there’s zero community, very opposite to FCC. I would pick falls church as the best overall option

[Anonymous]

You should know if you are the McLean type by driving through it. Potomac is similar. Most parts (not all) are more upscale, private, and scenic/green than FCC, but McLean can also be elitist and exclusive, often to an extreme. Strong country club vibes.

FCC has the downside of being near all those major roads and traffic and feeling more urban. It is more interesting and has some light artsy/creative elements (it’s relative in the DC area, this is a pretty nerdy/career focused area) with better restaurants, some music/arts shops (still has a used CD/vinyl store!), and slight community feel.

If you are Jewish and want the biggest Jewish community then definitely go for Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why live in McLean instead of FCC? Better schools in FCC, closer to various retail options, and closer to Arlington and DC. Plus, downtown FCC keeps getting nicer.

McLean is better if you want a country estate feeling and more privacy / less community.

Schools in McLean are better than FCC schools unless you want an IB program. Peer groups are stronger academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$2m is a tough budget. If you are Jewish and not vapid, I think the falls church area around temple Rodef Shalom is great. It’s a wonderful Jewish community there.

But Rodef Shalom is in McLean.

Technically it is in Falls Church although the nearby areas feed to schools in the McLean HS pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Virginia has a lower tax burden. No, it is not egregiously lower (hello ridiculous car tax!). Find a house, neighborhood and school district you are comfortable with and go from there. You'll be fine in either area.

This isn't true. We moved from Bethesda to Arlington this fall due to the moco county tax. We were paying $20K+ to the county alone - a year. The car tax doesn't come close to that for the average car.

Funny enough we found living in Bethesda that you could sort of hunch who wasn't actually living off a high salary and was subsidized by family $/trust/etc. by who concurred or mentioned that the county tax was high. Anyone who said "but it's close to the car tax in VA" was showing their hand re their relatively low HHI compared to their lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get more for your money in Falls Church while still feeding into the McLean school district

This could be an option along those lines: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7303-Allan-Ave-Falls-Church-VA-22046/51812148_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Virginia has a lower tax burden. No, it is not egregiously lower (hello ridiculous car tax!). Find a house, neighborhood and school district you are comfortable with and go from there. You'll be fine in either area.

This isn't true. We moved from Bethesda to Arlington this fall due to the moco county tax. We were paying $20K+ to the county alone - a year. The car tax doesn't come close to that for the average car.

Funny enough we found living in Bethesda that you could sort of hunch who wasn't actually living off a high salary and was subsidized by family $/trust/etc. by who concurred or mentioned that the county tax was high. Anyone who said "but it's close to the car tax in VA" was showing their hand re their relatively low HHI compared to their lifestyle.

I think the break even amount is about $300k. If you make more than that, it’s tax wise cheaper in Va and you get much better college choices.

[Anonymous]

OP what industries are you in, and do you need to commute somewhere? That could help decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are you coming from? We chose MD over VA for many of the reasons you listed. We’re walking distance to metro, which is great and in very walkable part of Chevy chase. McLean feels more suburban to me but I really don’t know it well.

We were also looking at these options and ended up in Chevy Chase based in part on walkability. People will say these parts of nova are walkable, but there are almost no neighborhoods with sidewalks, and the commercial centers are not walking scale. That may or may not be important to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get more for your money in Falls Church while still feeding into the McLean school district

This could be an option along those lines: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7303-Allan-Ave-Falls-Church-VA-22046/51812148_zpid/

I wouldn't buy this one expecting to stay in the McLean High School district. This is part of the Timber Lane ES island, and I would not be surprised to see this one zoned to either Marshall or Falls Church HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you coming from? We chose MD over VA for many of the reasons you listed. We’re walking distance to metro, which is great and in very walkable part of Chevy chase. McLean feels more suburban to me but I really don’t know it well.

We were also looking at these options and ended up in Chevy Chase based in part on walkability. People will say these parts of nova are walkable, but there are almost no neighborhoods with sidewalks, and the commercial centers are not walking scale. That may or may not be important to you.

I don't think of Chevy Chase, Maryland as particularly walkable, unless you're right at the DC border. Otherwise it's very suburban and there's very little to walk to.