neighborhood without a lot of beltway or major thoroughfare noise

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help everybody. I appreciate it. Keep the ideas coming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Would be the homes younger than year 1995 without a massive addition. 2500 sf or less properties, like the one we bought. Those neighborhoods have either the smaller homes, the neglected tear downs, or the bigger new builds. Also, Wood Acres doesn't allow tear downs, just extensions.

OK, I checked and there is one house in Woodacres that sold for less than $700K this year, and none in Bannockburn or Mohican Hills. Plus those are not walkable to anything.

You mean the the timeframe with the lowest historic inventory ever for the area?

Anyhow, we live in a townhouse near Wisconsin ave, in Bethesda. Can "walk places" but is noisy and when we need to drive to/from sports, etc there is usually a lot of traffic. When the kids were little it was great and convenient.

[Anonymous]

You mean the the timeframe with the lowest historic inventory ever for the area?

Yes, since that's the market that OP will be operating in if she buys soon, it seems the most relevant. My point was that if OP's budget is $500-$700K, she probably won't want to target an area where the cheapest single-family house that sold so far this year sold for $690K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the Purple Line will be quiet.

What's going on with the Purple Line these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone recommend a neighborhood in Maryland inside or not too far outside the beltway with a friendly community feel, kids running around/riding bikes, etc, ideally walkable to something (a shop or two or three), ideally near a bike trail, and where you can't hear the beltway or other major thoroughfare?? I know it's a tall order. I keep getting excited about different areas to live but I have a hard time with that constant humming sound of traffic. I much prefer the sound of slow local traffic to fast traffic sounds. We can pay as much as 700K for a house but we'd rather stay closer to around 500.

Old Greenbelt sounds very much like what you are looking for. It is extremely community-centric, kids play together all the time. There is a community shopping center that has a co-op market, a couple of restaurants, a one-screen movie theater that plays a mixture of 2nd run, artsy and classic movies, a community theater, and a handful of other businesses. There are several play areas with children's play equipment within walking distances of homes where the children do not have to cross roads to get there. And from most of the houses, there are under-the-road walkways to get from the houses to the above community center. There are walking/biking trails through the neighborhood and if you want more bike trails, you're 5 minutes by car from Lake Artemesia which has a 1.5 mile jogging, riding, roller-blading trail that goes around the lake. It is under a mile to the BW Parkway and under 2 miles to the Capitol beltway, but it is very quiet and suburban and you cannot hear the major roads due to the tree cover. And you can easily find homes for under your budget. I have a number of friends that live there including a couple of families that waited to find a house in that neighborhood specifically to move back there because they wanted to be back in that neighborhood so much. Not so good ES and MS, but Eleanor Roosevelt is one of the best HS in the county.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like Glover Park would be perfect for you. But oh wait, that's in the District.

Bummer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bannockburn, Mohican hills, wood acres.
All also have multiple ways to get south to DC: MacArthur, Clara Barton, Massachusetts, river road, Bradley to Wisconsin or Connecticut.

We looked in Mohican Hills, and I don't think it's walkable even within the neighborhood. The streets are on the narrow side, especially with lots of parked cars, and there are a lot of people cutting through the neighborhood and driving aggressively. There are no sidewalks.

[Anonymous]

Another vote here for Takoma Park or Sligo Park Hills.

[Anonymous]

Seven Oaks or Woodside in Silver Spring, both walkable to downtown S.S. Indian Springs and Woodmoor too, although there are parts of both that are close enough to the Beltway to get some noise.

[Anonymous]

Sligo Park Hills is a good suggestion, but the streets are narrow and there aren't many sidewalks there.

[Anonymous]

Woodside, Woodside Forrest - near sligo creek park, near Downtown SIlver Spring, lots of families and many little streets where you can't hear the beltway noise - but still have easy access to it and downtown DC as well