Columbia Heights: Are families attracted?

[Anonymous]

I think that the plain statistics would show that most people buying townhouses in DC metro-accessible neighborhoods are couples who have or are planning/hoping to have kids. I don't think you could go wrong with a crib.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't waste money staging, personally. Just get the renters moved out and freshen the place up with paint etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless kids are in Private school you are not going to many people with kids over 3.

Says the person who has never been to Columbia Heights.

OP, we're a professional family with school-aged kids, and we can walk to the homes of dozens of friends. I know several other families who bemoan being priced out of CH, because it's where they really want to live.

Says the idiot who hasn't contemplated school or simply doesn't give a darn.... OP, I'm in Columbia Heights now and looking for a way out. The neighborhood is lovely for young couples, those with infants, twenty-somethings fresh out of college, gay couples with no kids, etc... but it loses it's charm once your kid hits pre-school age. Tubman is awful, so most area parents scramble in the lottery shuffle for a decent OOB DCPS or charter. Some luck out. Most don't. We're in private right now, but can't afford it forever, so we'll continue to play the lottery while we try to move away. Already been to a bejesus number of open houses in VA and MD and all of the house hoppers have DC license plates. In just a few short convos, we've discovered we're all DC expat wannabes. Sad, but true. Don't stage the house with children in mind. Better to keep it neutral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless kids are in Private school you are not going to many people with kids over 3.

Says the person who has never been to Columbia Heights.

OP, we're a professional family with school-aged kids, and we can walk to the homes of dozens of friends. I know several other families who bemoan being priced out of CH, because it's where they really want to live.

Says the idiot who hasn't contemplated school or simply doesn't give a darn.... OP, I'm in Columbia Heights now and looking for a way out. The neighborhood is lovely for young couples, those with infants, twenty-somethings fresh out of college, gay couples with no kids, etc... but it loses it's charm once your kid hits pre-school age. Tubman is awful, so most area parents scramble in the lottery shuffle for a decent OOB DCPS or charter. Some luck out. Most don't. We're in private right now, but can't afford it forever, so we'll continue to play the lottery while we try to move away. Already been to a bejesus number of open houses in VA and MD and all of the house hoppers have DC license plates. In just a few short convos, we've discovered we're all DC expat wannabes. Sad, but true. Don't stage the house with children in mind. Better to keep it neutral.

You know, for every one of you in Columbia Heights, there are also families who are perfectly happy to stay there, with kids of school age. I'm one of them, and I know at least 4-5 other families personally who are not leaving any time soon.

I do agree about neutral staging, though.

[Anonymous]

PP, where do you send your kids to school? Just on the playground last week all of the parents came to the realization that not one of our kids went to the same school. It was really sad. That said, some are planning to stay because their situation can't handle a move right now, some have been trying to move for a while now and some hadn't thought about it yet because their kids won't be ready for school until 2014, so they haven't found out about the lottery BS yet. I'm in the group who will move once I get my ducks in a row. Hoping to make a trade in for something WofP or MoCo.

[Anonymous]

As someone who has gone through hell w lotteries and bad schools I can tell you that for most people Columbia Heights is not a viable option if you need public schools. We finally were able to get the money together and move. Beat thing we ever did. You don't want to screw w your kids education regardless of how progressive and liberal you think you are. We found out the hard way. Yes MoCo is more boring but we are happy to be here.

[Anonymous]

MoCo has budget issues and is not always the panacea. We actually moved from a well regarded Bethesda elementary to
Janney in AU Park and are very happy.

[Anonymous]

Is Columbia Heights Near Howard University safe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, where do you send your kids to school? Just on the playground last week all of the parents came to the realization that not one of our kids went to the same school. It was really sad. That said, some are planning to stay because their situation can't handle a move right now, some have been trying to move for a while now and some hadn't thought about it yet because their kids won't be ready for school until 2014, so they haven't found out about the lottery BS yet. I'm in the group who will move once I get my ducks in a row. Hoping to make a trade in for something WofP or MoCo.

I kind of love that my kid has more than one circle of friends! She has her (charter) school friends, who are scattered around the city (east of the park, almost entirely, I think). And she has the neighborhood kids, at least six within a year of her age living in a three-block radius.

I acknowledge that the charter lotteries offer no guarantee. But once a family is in to a DCI feeder school, many will be actively seeking a house in CH, for the overall convenience of course, and for the ease of getting to the Walter Reed campus.

[Anonymous]

We just moved to CH. Have two school age kids. We were able to get into a charter and found a house we liked in CH. Not much of a yard but you have the trolley park and Upshur park. Getting to Carter Barron for sports is so easy! Great place to be if you have the school situation figured out.

[Anonymous]

I would not stage with crib. If I were a young couple looking at the house and saw a crib, I would tell myself that now that the owners have had kids, they feel they need to move. I think that a lot when I see kids' rooms in marginal school districts (i.e. now that the kids are school age, the owners need to move). If you plan ahead, the would not be attractive to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not stage with crib. If I were a young couple looking at the house and saw a crib, I would tell myself that now that the owners have had kids, they feel they need to move. I think that a lot when I see kids' rooms in marginal school districts (i.e. now that the kids are school age, the owners need to move). If you plan ahead, the would not be attractive to you.

I agree with this. I think cribs signify bad for families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not stage with crib. If I were a young couple looking at the house and saw a crib, I would tell myself that now that the owners have had kids, they feel they need to move. I think that a lot when I see kids' rooms in marginal school districts (i.e. now that the kids are school age, the owners need to move). If you plan ahead, the would not be attractive to you.

Good insight. I certainly think that when I see houses listed in my neighborhood with cribs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just moved to CH. Have two school age kids. We were able to get into a charter and found a house we liked in CH. Not much of a yard but you have the trolley park and Upshur park. Getting to Carter Barron for sports is so easy! Great place to be if you have the school situation figured out.

Only people who get in to charters are cheerleaders for Columbia Heights. There's many more of us who haven't/won't get in and are looking for a way out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just moved to CH. Have two school age kids. We were able to get into a charter and found a house we liked in CH. Not much of a yard but you have the trolley park and Upshur park. Getting to Carter Barron for sports is so easy! Great place to be if you have the school situation figured out.

Only people who get in to charters are cheerleaders for Columbia Heights. There's many more of us who haven't/won't get in and are looking for a way out.

Is this an invitation to a pity party?? Because it isn't an answer to OP's question.