Relocating from Chicago -- Neighborhood Recommendations in DC, MD and VA?

[Anonymous]

So you're moving here, but won't have commutes? Move as far out as you can. With that budget, you won't be getting much close-in and it doesn't seem necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you're moving here, but won't have commutes? Move as far out as you can. With that budget, you won't be getting much close-in and it doesn't seem necessary.

Which then begs the question, why bother moving at all? Higher cost of living, not higher income.

[Anonymous]

Del Ray (Alexandria) is a cool neighborhood, very walkable with good schools and a young family scene. I don't think you will be able to afford a home at that price level, but rent is affordable.

[Anonymous]

I read your other thread. If you are willing to move to MD or VA, it doesn't seem you are wedded to an urban lifestyle. Have you thought about moving to a Chicago suburb? You'll find everything you're looking for in a school and have local control - something you won't have in DC, MD or VA. MCPS, FCPS and DCPS are all huge bureaucracies similar to Chicago Public Schools. We were in MCPS for 6 years and I so missed my local Chicago suburban district. We are now in a different state but in a suburb with local control. Makes a huge difference. And the places people are suggesting for you -- Herndon, Chantilly etc are fine but imho you'd be better off in Northbrook, Deerfield, Clarendon Hills, Glen Ellen or many other places with your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read your other thread. If you are willing to move to MD or VA, it doesn't seem you are wedded to an urban lifestyle. Have you thought about moving to a Chicago suburb? You'll find everything you're looking for in a school and have local control - something you won't have in DC, MD or VA. MCPS, FCPS and DCPS are all huge bureaucracies similar to Chicago Public Schools. We were in MCPS for 6 years and I so missed my local Chicago suburban district. We are now in a different state but in a suburb with local control. Makes a huge difference. And the places people are suggesting for you -- Herndon, Chantilly etc are fine but imho you'd be better off in Northbrook, Deerfield, Clarendon Hills, Glen Ellen or many other places with your budget.

But if she wants a wicker park feel, deerfield and the like will fail miserably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read your other thread. If you are willing to move to MD or VA, it doesn't seem you are wedded to an urban lifestyle. Have you thought about moving to a Chicago suburb? You'll find everything you're looking for in a school and have local control - something you won't have in DC, MD or VA. MCPS, FCPS and DCPS are all huge bureaucracies similar to Chicago Public Schools. We were in MCPS for 6 years and I so missed my local Chicago suburban district. We are now in a different state but in a suburb with local control. Makes a huge difference. And the places people are suggesting for you -- Herndon, Chantilly etc are fine but imho you'd be better off in Northbrook, Deerfield, Clarendon Hills, Glen Ellen or many other places with your budget.

But if she wants a wicker park feel, deerfield and the like will fail miserably.

Oh, I get that! But if schools are your top priority sometimes you can't have everything. And since she's willing to move to MoCo (as she said in the other thread, Gaithersburg doesn't have a Wicker Park feel either (and, unfortunately, that is the closest in they'll be with a 575,000 budget). Also, at 3 you don't know what kind of student your child will be so it is ridiculous to move to Fairfax on the off chance your child will get into TJ (not that op is doing that, someone else suggested it).

[Anonymous]

Good god. Reston!? Not anything like Oak Park or Roscoe Village.

Del Ray comes close. I have no idea re: schools there, though.

[Anonymous]

So, I think something the OP might not yet fully "get" is how big the school districts are here. Montgomery County is one district with about 150,000 students. So, the district is huge and the best way to narrow down neighborhoods is by high school pyramid, but even then there are some pretty big swings when it comes to elementary and middle schools within a single high school "pyramid."

The other thing is that a budget of 575K cannot get absolutely everything on her list. On that budget you can either have walkability and an urban feel with GS 4-7 schools (Takoma Park and Silver Spring) OR more highly ranked schools but less walkability (Olney, a small place in the part of Kensington zoned for a W school).

I literally cannot think of a neighborhood that checks ALL of the boxes, and none that are analogous to Oak Park. The closest neighborhood to Oak Park is probably Takoma DC, I think. Beautiful craftsman homes, easy commute to the city, lots of stuff within walking distance, but the school situation is not solid.

If the OP had more money, I'd suggest Shepherd Park, which is a great part of DC with a clear school trajectory but I don't think you can get into that neighborhood for under 800K at this point.

[Anonymous]

If you WAH and are self-employed, then why oh why would you relocate here? Maybe you have clients here? But if you don't have to commute to meetings/clients regularly enough to need to consider that in your neighborhood selection, then why not just fly from chicago to here if it's occasional? There are plenty of direct flights every day...

We had friends who relo'd to Chicago from here and ended up in Oak Park. They lived in S Arlington here, along Columbia Pike (Penrose, Westmont area). Still could take a looong walk and make it to Clarendon.

[Anonymous]

donewithchicago wrote:My husband and I are self-employed and work from home, so we are flexible in terms of where we live. We plan to rent initially, but when we buy the upper limit of our budget is $3000/month mortgage or $575,000 purchase price for a single family home.

You said in a different thread that you make $400k/yr, right? Just noting that we make half that and spent more on a house than you are allowing for in your budget. I don't believe that we are outliers in making this decision in this area. You might find a house you love in your perfect neighborhood for $575k, but I am really, truly skeptical.

[Anonymous]

You may want to see if you can stay in Chicago. That, or be prepared for some gun play in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

donewithchicago wrote:My husband and I are self-employed and work from home, so we are flexible in terms of where we live. We plan to rent initially, but when we buy the upper limit of our budget is $3000/month mortgage or $575,000 purchase price for a single family home.

You said in a different thread that you make $400k/yr, right? Just noting that we make half that and spent more on a house than you are allowing for in your budget. I don't believe that we are outliers in making this decision in this area. You might find a house you love in your perfect neighborhood for $575k, but I am really, truly skeptical.

+1, I also saw the 400K HHI in the other thread. If OP is the same, I'd up the price to *at least* 700-800K in order to get what most people would consider good (not even stellar) schools, with all the other attributes you want (safe, walkable, good schools, etc.). Also, it will be hard to get all of those things AND cultural diversity in the DC area. For diversity and acceptable schools, I'd say some parts of Takoma Park, Shepherd Park, and perhaps some parts of Silver Spring. Not as familiar with VA, but doubt there are many areas that meet all of these criteria, at any price range.

Oh, and one last thought--I'm not sure if anywhere has a "strong small business community" with all the other characteristics. What do you consider "small?" If successful business owners, perhaps Potomac, MD, and Mclean, VA? Schools are good, but they're not walkable or diverse, and you'd generally need a budget of at least $1million.

[Anonymous]

OP, I feel like you're not doing a great job of researching this move. You want to move to the DC area but want great schools and want to spend less than $600k? Why on earth would you move here? Have you taken a look at Redfin to see what you get for $600k? You're not going to get what you want unless you move far, far out. Why wouldn't you use some of that high earner disposable income and the proceeds from the sales of your two properties and live in a more expensive house closer in to the city?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look near Rockville Town Center.

+1. I was going to post this, exactly. Homes that feed to Richard Montgomery High School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the VA side, the affordability plus really good schools part is going to limit you to Burke or Hendon/Chantilly if you want a SFH. Vienna is a nice idea, but there is no way to buy a SFH house you would live in under 600k. Reston is nice, but the parts that can be bought into under 600k feed to less desireable schools. South Lakes seems to be doing well after rezoning, but lots of the feeders aren't great.

You are probably looking for houses that feed into Robinson SS or Lake Braddock SS on the Burke side, or Carson or Franklin for MS and Chantilly or Oakton or HS. There might also be pockets in this price range in Fairfax/Fair Oaks that feed to Woodson.

I personally would never do South County, and don't know a lot about it, but the secondary school has an okay reputation and the housing prices are still pretty reasonable.

Here is where housing is in your price range, but you want to avoid based on schools-- Annandale, Alexandria, parts of Falls Church and Springfield, especially schools feeding to Lee, Stuart, Mt. Vernon and Annandale.

DC public school are just bad once you get out of the ES charters. I don't see buying in your budget and going public.

I'm sure Maryland folks have other ideas.

Add in West Springfield HS/West Springfield to the Burke/LB/Robinson recommendations.

Other than WS having middle and high school ok separate campuses, those three pyramids are really interchangeable.