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Buying a house for less than 400K?
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Anonymous
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OP - I've heard mixed reviews about the VRE, so we weren't sure if that was worth it.
My husband works on 20th St NW. Not sure if that's considered downtown or not? I'm still looking for work, but most likely will not be in DC. I work odd hours anyway, so we're mostly looking for something that will be reasonably easily accessible to DC for my husband. Right now, we're in Parkfairfax and DH takes the bus to the Pentagon metro. Works well, but SFH in this area are definitely above the $400K mark. I've heard good things about Fairfax county schools. Is that pretty much across the board? |
Anonymous
| Sorry, OP here. That PP was me. |
Anonymous
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Would you consider living in the District?
You could buy a house in woodbridge, north michigan park, brookland, upper NW Brightwood area or petworth for under $400k. The school issue would be about finding a good charter or going to elementary school in NW DC. |
Anonymous
This is where we live and I LOVE it. We're close to the metro, there is a mecca of suburbia retail, the rec center and library are close and Old Town is near by. Check it out. I know there are a few homes in our neighborhood. We're on Fairview drive, 22306 |
Anonymous
I'm the poster that listed 20878 as a possibility and I'd like to add that we also have a MARC station very close to our house. It takes you to Union Station so I just realized that may be an option for you too not just in this area but anywhere the MARC would go. It would even open up moving into Howard County or even Baltimore County. My MIL used to take it when she worked downtown and she liked it. She said it didn't save time, but she did read the paper and have some coffee. The good thing on the MARC is that you can take food....I think you may even be able to buy food.....anyway, on the Metro you can't and that is kind of a pain with a long train commute! |
Anonymous
| If you're willing to move a little further out, I can suggest two great family-oriented neighborhoods in great school districts in Montgomery County. Run a search on realtor.com for Olney (20832) and Brookeville (20833). The Olney Mill neighborhood has 4 bdrm brick homes built in the late 60s early 70s. The Tanterra neighborhood in Brookeville has contemporaries built in the 70s. Both neighborhoods have neighborhood swimming pools, lots of kids, walking paths, parks and greenspace, etc. Olney Mill feeds into Belmont Elem -- Tanterra feeds into Greenwood Elem. Both neighborhoods feed into Rosa Parks middle school and Sherwood HS. Check out the details on the Montgomery County Public Schools site for demographics, test scores, etc. We moved out here from Silver Spring b/c of the schools. Living near a metro isn't always a good thing -- Olney fought having a metro b/c they didn't want the crime it brings with it. The nearest metro is about 15 mins. away (Glenmont on the red line). I drive to DC everyday -- it's doable. Realtors told me that Brookeville and the surrounding areas will be the next Potomac (b/c they're building million dollar homes left and right). |
Anonymous
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Not all Fairfax Schools are equal.
You really need to do your research and understand the different schools. Also, how long do you think you are going to be in DC? If you think it might be 5 years or less, I would stay renting. The market may not be at its bottom and may take some time to recover. I would definitely not purchase outside the beltway as the market there is softer and it might take longer to sell a house. Finally, Obama says he is going to cut government contracting. Watch out DC housing if that occurs. |
Anonymous
| Oh, and Fairfax and Montgomery both have good schools mostly across the board. What separates them is usually socio-economic diversity and Advanced Placement class availability. Nearly all of the schools are in the top 1% in the country but once you move here you start getting pickier about where in that 1% they are. It's just a big topic of conversation here, but really your child will get a good education. I think the PG county schools are more mixed in terms of level of education. I hear good things about some schools, bad about other schools. DC is notoriously screwed up and many send their children to Private school. Howard County has some good schools also. |
Anonymous
| I strongly urge you to check out Hyattsville in PG county. Specifically, the historic neighborhood, zip 20781. The area is fabulous for young families. There is an active mom's group, neighborhood parties like a wine crawl, etc. Beautiful older homes, some redone, some still fixer-uppers. The area is gentrifying and economic develop is centered on the arts, so new museums, artists lofts, galleries etc. all going in. A lot of new development has opened in the past year or two including new restaurants and a beautiful stadium seating movie theatre. There's a fountain/park area in front of the theatre which featured live jazz every Wednesday evening with the fountain open to little kids to splash in. Lots more happening, but check it out. The schools have historically been a problem, but that's starting to change, especially at the elementary school that serves this neighborhood. |
Anonymous
It does depend on where in 22306 you're talking about. Even though the area isn't "pretty", I think the majority of the area is deemed safe-with the exception of the Hybla Valley area, Buckman road. We lived in 22306 before we bought our house in 22308. |
Anonymous
| I like Hyattsville a lot. Lots of good things happening there. |
Anonymous
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I live in Old Greenbelt ( PG county) We moved here a few years ago and it has been great. It's walking distance from the metro and a very close knit community. All trees and a huge lake and lots of young people. There are mostly townhomes and they are ugly from the outside but the vibe makes up for it 10 fold. I love my neighbors and we have a co-op grocery and walking is a way of life here. Check out ghi homes on line and you will get a feel for the history here.
FYI ...we were looking to buy elsewhere ( we have 2 kids and our th is small) but aftyer seeing what was out there we said forget it. |
Anonymous
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http://www.homedatabase.com/cgi-bin/aa.fcgi?+MjliMjhhOTZlZGNhZjM0N2NmMGVmYmNlYTlhZjBjY2USlI0jaK45u%2fJdbTxZKqHwJasmEcC%2f0BSS%2fCGcFL9S+ijkYMLZUXP2Hbk%3d
DERWOOD, md CLOSE TO shady grove Metro, nice homes and a friend just sold her home NO issues in this market. contact my BIL if you like an agent for the N.Potomac and MD area, he lives in 20878. tomwen@hotmail.com |
Anonymous
| This makes me so sad. Those homes are less than the small townhouse that we bought in 2006 right before the market crapped out. We are now stuck here since we have lost ALL of our equity. I cannot believe those homes are going for $300,000 in Derwood. |
Anonymous
| When I was first house hunting (back in 2002 before I had kids), we had really taken to the Stoneybrooke neighborhood, which I think is 22306. We didn't end up buying there (just timing--not because we ruled out the neighbhorhood), and hadn't closely looked at schools. But the neighborhood was really cute (by cute, I mean in a 60's subdivision kind of way--decent houses, well maintained, safe-appearing). And I've recently started going to the RECenter that is right nearby because they have a great playground for little ones and a soft play room inside. I don't know if it's 1-2 miles from the metro (Huntington), but it's definitely not far. I just checked on www.sawbuckrealty.com and there are several houses in that neighborhood for under $400K. |