Pros and Cons of Moving to DC Area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what will your income be?

As I said previously, sufficient to afford a good neighborhood and schools. That should not be the focus.

Wow, you are a treat. I really want to help you. OK, SE DC is GREAT now! Live there.

+1

Bossy, bossy, bossy. You know you're asking people to take their time to help you, right?

Yeah, you'll fit right in. Come on back.

I certainly apologize to all you would-be helpers for any personal offense, but is it polite to ask "what will your income be?" It certainly is not polite to ask someone "how much do you earn?" in most places. Is this something that I should be aware of, that these type of personal questions are commonplace in DC? Will we get asked often "what do you make"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived in the DC metro area once before, and are considering a move back for professional reasons. Would you currently recommend this area as a place to live? How is traffic now? How are the people (still competitive)? How is the current cost if living and quality of life? Is it getting too built up or crowded? We could afford a nice neighborhood and good schools, but even then is life stressful?

I adore DC - I think it is the best place in the united states to raise kids and is without a doubt the least stressful location for us. That said, we have grandparents in town who are extraordinarily helpful - both with their time in taking care of our kids, doing errands for us, and being generally supportive and with their money (of which there is lots). My husband has a very strong legacy at a "Big 3" and he has a trust to pay for our kids to go there from K through 12, but as a back-up we live in a NWDC neighborhood with a fabulous elementary school. This means our commutes are easy so no traffic headaches to speak of. To top it off, we both work in flexible, interesting, high paying jobs that we couldn't have anywhere else. We also have a beach house we inherited from my grandparents and a legacy membership to two country clubs. Now I realize that none of this is helpful because it all only applies to me and my family, but since you don't seem to care for any of the objective measures of comparison I figured I'd share our limited experience.

I love you PP.
Dear OP, I live in a big White House on Penna ave. No commute to speak of, but I would say it is pretty stressful here. There's never beltway traffic when I am on it. Hope this limited experience helps too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what will your income be?

As I said previously, sufficient to afford a good neighborhood and schools. That should not be the focus.

Wow, you are a treat. I really want to help you. OK, SE DC is GREAT now! Live there.

+1

Bossy, bossy, bossy. You know you're asking people to take their time to help you, right?

Yeah, you'll fit right in. Come on back.

I certainly apologize to all you would-be helpers for any personal offense, but is it polite to ask "what will your income be?" It certainly is not polite to ask someone "how much do you earn?" in most places. Is this something that I should be aware of, that these type of personal questions are commonplace in DC? Will we get asked often "what do you make"?

It would not be polite if we were having a conversation face to face. However, this is an anonymous forum. We're asking not to judge you, but because if you want a house 10-15 minutes away from downtown DC, you will likely need a very expensive house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived in the DC metro area once before, and are considering a move back for professional reasons. Would you currently recommend this area as a place to live? How is traffic now? How are the people (still competitive)? How is the current cost if living and quality of life? Is it getting too built up or crowded? We could afford a nice neighborhood and good schools, but even then is life stressful?

I adore DC - I think it is the best place in the united states to raise kids and is without a doubt the least stressful location for us. That said, we have grandparents in town who are extraordinarily helpful - both with their time in taking care of our kids, doing errands for us, and being generally supportive and with their money (of which there is lots). My husband has a very strong legacy at a "Big 3" and he has a trust to pay for our kids to go there from K through 12, but as a back-up we live in a NWDC neighborhood with a fabulous elementary school. This means our commutes are easy so no traffic headaches to speak of. To top it off, we both work in flexible, interesting, high paying jobs that we couldn't have anywhere else. We also have a beach house we inherited from my grandparents and a legacy membership to two country clubs. Now I realize that none of this is helpful because it all only applies to me and my family, but since you don't seem to care for any of the objective measures of comparison I figured I'd share our limited experience.

OP here. Then it sounds like our children might be in school together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is beltway traffic? Are people generally stressed out and competitive, or is it a laid back vibe? Is the emphasis on money and success, or is there a real diversity of interests and goals? Is there a lot of socioeconomic segregation? Are people generally happy? Is it a good place for older kids, or generally a fairly intense environment? Is a 10-15 minute commute to work downtown out of the question?

I 10 to 15 minute commute to downtown is pretty much out of the question unless you live in DC or right by a metro in CC MD or Arlington (and even then, if you don't work on that same metro line and need to transfer, forget about it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is beltway traffic? Are people generally stressed out and competitive, or is it a laid back vibe? Is the emphasis on money and success, or is there a real diversity of interests and goals? Is there a lot of socioeconomic segregation? Are people generally happy? Is it a good place for older kids, or generally a fairly intense environment? Is a 10-15 minute commute to work downtown out of the question?

I 10 to 15 minute commute to downtown is pretty much out of the question unless you live in DC or right by a metro in CC MD or Arlington (and even then, if you don't work on that same metro line and need to transfer, forget about it).

Why would you assume OP isn't looking to live in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what will your income be?

As I said previously, sufficient to afford a good neighborhood and schools. That should not be the focus.

Wow, you are a treat. I really want to help you. OK, SE DC is GREAT now! Live there.

+1

Bossy, bossy, bossy. You know you're asking people to take their time to help you, right?

Yeah, you'll fit right in. Come on back.

I certainly apologize to all you would-be helpers for any personal offense, but is it polite to ask "what will your income be?" It certainly is not polite to ask someone "how much do you earn?" in most places. Is this something that I should be aware of, that these type of personal questions are commonplace in DC? Will we get asked often "what do you make"?

It would not be polite if we were having a conversation face to face. However, this is an anonymous forum. We're asking not to judge you, but because if you want a house 10-15 minutes away from downtown DC, you will likely need a very expensive house.

Thank you, in that case you are free to assume that we would want the best commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is beltway traffic? The belt way is decent...depending on where you're coming from
Are people generally stressed out and competitive, or is it a laid back vibe? it varies but the level depends on where you are coming from.
Is the emphasis on money and success, or is there a real diversity of interests and goals? For sure, the emphasis is on... ah, it really depends on where you're coming from
Is there a lot of socioeconomic segregation? The level if which depends on where you're coming from.
Are people generally happy? Happy. Well, it really depends on where you draw the line, where are you coming from again?
Is it a good place for older kids, or generally a fairly intense environment? Intensely good depending on where you're coming from.
Is a 10-15 minute commute to work downtown out of the question? Not out of the question but it's hard to compare without knowing how long 15 minutes is where you are coming from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what will your income be?

As I said previously, sufficient to afford a good neighborhood and schools. That should not be the focus.

Wow, you are a treat. I really want to help you. OK, SE DC is GREAT now! Live there.

+1

Bossy, bossy, bossy. You know you're asking people to take their time to help you, right?

Yeah, you'll fit right in. Come on back.

I certainly apologize to all you would-be helpers for any personal offense, but is it polite to ask "what will your income be?" It certainly is not polite to ask someone "how much do you earn?" in most places. Is this something that I should be aware of, that these type of personal questions are commonplace in DC? Will we get asked often "what do you make"?

Dude, you're an ass. This is an anonymous message board. No one is asking You what your income is. They are responding to your relative questions by asking for more info, and a key piece of how life is in DC depends on your income level. No one needs to know down to the dime, but roughly- are you expecting you'll make 50K? 100K? 350K? ANswners to each of your questions do depend on knowing that. Each question you ask depends on your frame of reference. DC is very expensive to live. Yes, I think a 15-20 minutte commute is worth it - but if I worked on Capitol Hill, I couldn't afford 15 minutes and get good schools and a good neighborhood. My commute would have to be longer. But if I work in Tyson's, and can afford a house priced around 1M, then 15 minutes is do-able, but public transportation is not. Etc. The DC area IS HUGE. There is no one answer to each of your questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what will your income be?

As I said previously, sufficient to afford a good neighborhood and schools. That should not be the focus.

You'll fit perfectly here. You're already full of yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is beltway traffic? Are people generally stressed out and competitive, or is it a laid back vibe? Is the emphasis on money and success, or is there a real diversity of interests and goals? Is there a lot of socioeconomic segregation? Are people generally happy? Is it a good place for older kids, or generally a fairly intense environment? Is a 10-15 minute commute to work downtown out of the question?

I 10 to 15 minute commute to downtown is pretty much out of the question unless you live in DC or right by a metro in CC MD or Arlington (and even then, if you don't work on that same metro line and need to transfer, forget about it).

Why would you assume OP isn't looking to live in DC?

Maybe because her first question was about beltway traffic? If you plan to live 10 minutes from downtown, you will likely never have a reason to go on the beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived in the DC metro area once before, and are considering a move back for professional reasons. Would you currently recommend this area as a place to live? How is traffic now? How are the people (still competitive)? How is the current cost if living and quality of life? Is it getting too built up or crowded? We could afford a nice neighborhood and good schools, but even then is life stressful?

I adore DC - I think it is the best place in the united states to raise kids and is without a doubt the least stressful location for us. That said, we have grandparents in town who are extraordinarily helpful - both with their time in taking care of our kids, doing errands for us, and being generally supportive and with their money (of which there is lots). My husband has a very strong legacy at a "Big 3" and he has a trust to pay for our kids to go there from K through 12, but as a back-up we live in a NWDC neighborhood with a fabulous elementary school. This means our commutes are easy so no traffic headaches to speak of. To top it off, we both work in flexible, interesting, high paying jobs that we couldn't have anywhere else. We also have a beach house we inherited from my grandparents and a legacy membership to two country clubs. Now I realize that none of this is helpful because it all only applies to me and my family, but since you don't seem to care for any of the objective measures of comparison I figured I'd share our limited experience.

OP here. Then it sounds like our children might be in school together.

I'd say if you can afford to send your kids to private school with no worries then you will like living in DC as much or more than you would like any other city. The stresses here tend to be 1) having too little money and 2) the competition between moms - if you can send your kids to private with no worries then you bypass both of those things and will love being back in DC.

[Anonymous]

Pps are right. Without a ballpark number for your income it's hard to answer your questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what will your income be?

As I said previously, sufficient to afford a good neighborhood and schools. That should not be the focus.

Wow, you are a treat. I really want to help you. OK, SE DC is GREAT now! Live there.

+1

Bossy, bossy, bossy. You know you're asking people to take their time to help you, right?

Yeah, you'll fit right in. Come on back.

I certainly apologize to all you would-be helpers for any personal offense, but is it polite to ask "what will your income be?" It certainly is not polite to ask someone "how much do you earn?" in most places. Is this something that I should be aware of, that these type of personal questions are commonplace in DC? Will we get asked often "what do you make"?

Dude, you're an ass. This is an anonymous message board. No one is asking You what your income is. They are responding to your relative questions by asking for more info, and a key piece of how life is in DC depends on your income level. No one needs to know down to the dime, but roughly- are you expecting you'll make 50K? 100K? 350K? ANswners to each of your questions do depend on knowing that. Each question you ask depends on your frame of reference. DC is very expensive to live. Yes, I think a 15-20 minutte commute is worth it - but if I worked on Capitol Hill, I couldn't afford 15 minutes and get good schools and a good neighborhood. My commute would have to be longer. But if I work in Tyson's, and can afford a house priced around 1M, then 15 minutes is do-able, but public transportation is not. Etc. The DC area IS HUGE. There is no one answer to each of your questions.

We can afford to live close-in, Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, or McLean, and we can afford the private schools in DC and the surrounding areas. As with many people who relocate to DC we would be doing so because there is a strong economic incentive. I hope that this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived in the DC metro area once before, and are considering a move back for professional reasons. Would you currently recommend this area as a place to live? How is traffic now? How are the people (still competitive)? How is the current cost if living and quality of life? Is it getting too built up or crowded? We could afford a nice neighborhood and good schools, but even then is life stressful?

I adore DC - I think it is the best place in the united states to raise kids and is without a doubt the least stressful location for us. That said, we have grandparents in town who are extraordinarily helpful - both with their time in taking care of our kids, doing errands for us, and being generally supportive and with their money (of which there is lots). My husband has a very strong legacy at a "Big 3" and he has a trust to pay for our kids to go there from K through 12, but as a back-up we live in a NWDC neighborhood with a fabulous elementary school. This means our commutes are easy so no traffic headaches to speak of. To top it off, we both work in flexible, interesting, high paying jobs that we couldn't have anywhere else. We also have a beach house we inherited from my grandparents and a legacy membership to two country clubs. Now I realize that none of this is helpful because it all only applies to me and my family, but since you don't seem to care for any of the objective measures of comparison I figured I'd share our limited experience.

OP here. Then it sounds like our children might be in school together.

If you can afford to live in Upper Ward 3, any stress in your life is entirely within your control. Given how you bristled at innocuous (for this forum) questions such as household income, I suspect you bring a good deal of stress upon yourself.