How important is proximity to metro when not commuting by metro

[Anonymous]

Even if you are not commuting by metro now, you may in the future. Think about this and the resale value. Traffic is only getting worse and the Metro is going to keep getting better with the new lines being built.

[Anonymous]

Where are you looking to buy? DC proper? A close-in suburb like Arlington or Chevy Chase? A farther out suburb like Rockville or Vienna? The answer to your question will vary somewhat depending on your choice. Metro access would be somewhat more important to me in the more urban suburbs than in the farther out ones.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure about your figure of 200K. We live in a house in the MD suburbs that is an easy walk to metro and 200K would be slightly less than half the value of the house. One thing to think about is that many of the metro parking lots fill up early on weekdays so that if your schedule does not follow a commuting pattern it's very possible that you wouldn't be able to park if you wanted to. One of the reasons we moved to a walk to metro house is my terrible memories of sharking for a spot at metro lots at mid-day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As PPs have noted, public transit in this area is nowhere near as reliable as in NY. Most buses are scheduled for commuters, not leisure travel. For example the bus near my SIL in Alexandria runs every 10 mins from around 5:30am to 9am and then from 3:30pm to 8pm. In between, it only comes once an hour.

If you live anywhere outside DC, I can pretty much guarantee you'll be driving everywhere. Even in the city, if you can easily park near your home, you'll drive.

OP here. It's funny you said that. A friend of my DH is a single guy living in the very nice central part of DC and he drives everywhere when he goes out. Before we had kids we would come to visit and go out with him and his GF. They drove every.time. I could not understand why they would not take a metro a block away from their rowhouse or get a cab to go to the downtown clubs. They would also drive to Georgetown even though they could walk there in 20 min, I could never understand this. I think we walk a lot more in NYC.

This is true of everyone I know who lives in the DC area. I think the problem is that not all areas of the city are very Metro accessible and the Metro isn't the most reliable. Most of the time, it really is just easier to drive. Since I've had kids 5 years ago, the only time we've been on the Metro was a "recreational" ride because DC wanted to try it.

[Anonymous]

The thing about being close to Metro that is important to me is that if you're close to metro, then you can change your job and not have to worry about suddenly commuting an extra hour.

Do you plan to both keep your jobs for the entire time you own the house? What if something happens and you need to work downtown, or DH needs to work in a different area? Being close to Metro opens up new choices, job wise ... I like to think that's what's behind the slogan "Metro opens doors."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is true of everyone I know who lives in the DC area. I think the problem is that not all areas of the city are very Metro accessible and the Metro isn't the most reliable. Most of the time, it really is just easier to drive. Since I've had kids 5 years ago, the only time we've been on the Metro was a "recreational" ride because DC wanted to try it.

Huh. I walk or Metro whenever possible, as do my friends who live near a Metro. But their DHs, with one exception, would much rather drive everywhere. I don't get it, but I hate driving. And my kids are in grade school, so they're happy to walk wherever.

[Anonymous]

What happens when your DC goes to school? WFC and EFC will start looking great.

Anonymous wrote:We live in West End and have parking for our condo, we find ourselves driving a lot too when needing to go anywhere where we cannot walk to. Before baby I occasionally would take metro to go to museums and shopping at Friendship Heights or Pentagon. With the baby I honestly don't have time to do such things anymore and we use online shopping more than going to stores. I enjoy living within walking distance to many places including work more than I enjoy living close to metro, which I don't use anymore. Personally, I would settle for areas that are urban and have stuff nearby you can walk to with your double stroller or walk your kids when they are older. I personally don't see the appeal of places around WFC and EFC metro stops that have very low walkability save for the metro stop and don't have anything around. We have access to 3 metro lines around us and don't use them, think about living .5 miles away from a suburban station with one line running through it and delays and having to walk on boring, non-pedestrian friendly paths to get accross highways and parking lots to such stations. I would not pay premium for these place personally.

[Anonymous]

OP what's your price range? Do you need the extra 200K worth of house that you'll get if you dont live within walking distance of a metro? Your money will go farther in a place like McLean (not metro accessible) than in Clarendon, and both are considered very desireable places to live.

[Anonymous]

Before I married and had DS, I lived in Dupont Circle 2 blocks away from metro, and I STILL drove everywhere. For me, the truth was that driving is just way more fun and convenient (if you know your parking). You can control the temperature, the sound, the smell, have all your non-essentials with you without lugging a big purse, etc. I can't even fathom using a subway with a baby in tow. I mean, I know people do it, but it seems to be a great hassle. On weekends metro runs very infrequently. The other thing people don't tell you is that is it not all that cheap, and if you have to drive+park at the metro+metro, then you may as well just drive. So my prediction is that if you can drive, you'll drive. Even if you live in the city.

However, it IS true that houses walking distance to metro hold their value better, so if resale is important, go for it. Our house is a mile away from future Silver Line, and I like it. Am I likely to walk a mile to the station every morning? No freaking way. But the realtors will like it.

[Anonymous]

One thing I would think about, is if you mostly just plan to use the metro for weekends (going to a museum, cherry blossom festival in the spring, etc.)...

The fares are actually kind of expensive, compared to many other cities. Right now, since your kids are toddlers, they will be free...but once they are older and you are paying for 4 metro fares (or more, if you have more children or are bringing along a friend, etc) it really adds up.

We are a family of 6 (2 adults, 4 kids) and have found it a LOT cheaper to just drive into DC for our sight seeing ventures. It's easy enough to find a parking lot on the weekends for less than $20 (I think we've paid $13 under the Ronald Regan building?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if you are not commuting by metro now, you may in the future. Think about this and the resale value. Traffic is only getting worse and the Metro is going to keep getting better with the new lines being built.

Metro service is unreliable and the trains break down frequently. I'm sure that will be much better when there is yet another new line to maintain.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this is something you've factored in yet--living within walking distance to the metro also means that you're probably within walking distance of a coffee shop, a couple of restaurants, etc. For us, it's all that stuff as much as it is being close to the metro. I'd feel awfully stuck if I couldn't walk to anything--and I say that as someone who grew up in the NJ suburbs where you had to drive everywhere. I drive to work now because of the daycare drop-off and location of my office, while my husband does a combo of bus, bike, and metro depending on where he's going, but we use metro a lot on weekends. We do only have the one kid, and we live in DC so it's not a long wait or a long ride to get downtown.

[Anonymous]

We live in North Arlington and can't walk to metro, but I park and ride every day. I love having it just a couple miles away, but couldn't afford a SFH within walking distance. We do sometimes metro in on weekends because it can be hard to park in certain parts of the city for more than 2 hours. We do have a busline near our house - there's a M-F bus within 2 blocks that I have used (it's handy and reliable) and there's a Sat/Sun bus route about 0.35 miles away, which we have also used when I didn't want to have my car with me. In your situation, OP, I probably wouldn't pay $200K extra to be super-close to Metro.

[Anonymous]

We live ~12-15 min walk to metro in N Arlington. We commute via metro during the week (though from where we live, a drive would actually be slightly faster when you account for walking, waiting etc.).

We are into the city almost every weekend, esp national mall/Smithsonian. A metro commute with weekend timings and walking ends up taking 4-5 times as long, so w/ kid schedules, we gave up on that a while ago. Though DC is generally a terrible weekday commuting city, weekend driving is generally a breeze (maybe apart from the belt-way which is more variable), so we drive in and usually it takes 10 mins from Ballston to the national mall with ample street/lot parking options around.

From the sound of it, metro walkability isn't going to be a major need for you. What you might want to look for though is close proximity to the arteries into the city (i.e Route 50 in Arlington is very quick for weekend commutes into DC). You also might want walkability in your own residential area (shops, restos etc.) and this often overlaps with metro walkability, in Arlington for example.

[Anonymous]

In my experience, the premium to be near Metro is more like $50,000 and not $200,000.