Tell me about Aspen Hill, MD and near Westfield Wheaton

[Anonymous]

^ this raises a key question OP...how old are your kids and are you aiming to do public? This is one of the most important issues and we are mostly assuming they are or will be ES age and that you want to use public school. even if you do not use public though you will want to be in a neighborhood that feels like a good fit - my kids played the most with kids of neighbors we were friendly with as grown ups too. Not because we required it but because we were more likely to get together as families and so the kids saw each other more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the person who lives in 20906, and I go to Wheaton and eat out and shop,etc. It's not as bad as some people are portraying, at least now. They've been working on redeveloping.

But, would not live on some of the streets where I would be the only English speaker and the only non-hispanic. We did tour some of the areas and look at a couple houses; people would come out to stare at us becasue we were such a novelty. Packed with people--look for large nubmers of trash cans and an excessive number of cars, if you want to see which houses are essentially boarding houses.

I used to live in 20906, and before that I lived a couple streets away from Bushey Drive.

The neighborhood where Bushey is located is nowhere near Wheaton Plaza. It's south of Aspen Hill and it is literally 100% newly arrived immigrants doubled/tripled up. It makes 20906 look like Potomac.

OP here. What's going on to cause 100 percent newly arrived immigrants? Where are the old residents moving too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the person who lives in 20906, and I go to Wheaton and eat out and shop,etc. It's not as bad as some people are portraying, at least now. They've been working on redeveloping.

But, would not live on some of the streets where I would be the only English speaker and the only non-hispanic. We did tour some of the areas and look at a couple houses; people would come out to stare at us becasue we were such a novelty. Packed with people--look for large nubmers of trash cans and an excessive number of cars, if you want to see which houses are essentially boarding houses.

I used to live in 20906, and before that I lived a couple streets away from Bushey Drive.

The neighborhood where Bushey is located is nowhere near Wheaton Plaza. It's south of Aspen Hill and it is literally 100% newly arrived immigrants doubled/tripled up. It makes 20906 look like Potomac.

OP here. What's going on to cause 100 percent newly arrived immigrants? Where are the old residents moving too?

The neighborhood over by Bushey started to turn over in the 80s. That neighborhood was quite diverse even in the 70s and 80s, with nearly equal parts white, black, Asian, Latino (from South America rather than central), Indian, etc. When Olney started building new neighborhoods in the 80s, people from that area (and elsewhere) began to trade up. Once it became majority minority in the 90s and early 2000s, that was that. The housing stock is small and inexpensive, and the shopping centers on Veirs mill road cater exclusively to immigrants.

I grew up in that neighborhood, and my family left in the 80s (we were the last of our neighborhood friends to leave). Everyone moved to Olney or north Potomac except us (we moved to another part of Silver Spring: 20906).

Now that I'm an adult, I live in the Olney area. My husband and I bought a starter home in Foxhall/20906, but we moved before our oldest started kindergarten (2007/2008). What was a lovely street with beautiful brick homes started to transition. Multiple homes flipped to rentals with multiple families, lots of break-ins/theft, and we observed some open air drug dealing and weapons. The kicker was a call from the police at 4am telling us to stay inside and away from our windows---which prompted us to immediately look out our window and watch 20+ police and swat teams kick down the door to the rental where the drug dealing was happening. We put our house on the market shortly thereafter. Just a few very elderly original owners have stayed behind; everyone else moved.

[Anonymous]

I am a white woman, making 6 figures, and have lived there for a while and haven't experienced any of the rampant crime that seems to be occurring in the neighborhood.-- I guess I should be terrified of my neighborhood. While there are some run down houses that aren't kept up with so called "multiple families" --the majority of residents are kind, hard working people who take care of their property. My neighbors are white, Asian, Hispanic, and African American. Unlike most posters I'm not afraid to live among people who don't look exactly like me

When you think about it--Aspen Hill is a great area to invest in right now- the houses are well built, and many are much bigger on the inside than they looks- and they're affordable-- one of the last few places in MoCo where housing can be considered "reasonable" and an area that will be gentrified in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

Of the two listed, one feeds to Rock View and Einstein according to Redfin. I would check that to be sure, but that's a much better option than some of the other elementaries in the area.

A little further south west of Georgia zoned for Oakland Terrace is another option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I am a white woman, making 6 figures, and have lived there for a while and haven't experienced any of the rampant crime that seems to be occurring in the neighborhood.-- I guess I should be terrified of my neighborhood. While there are some run down houses that aren't kept up with so called "multiple families" --the majority of residents are kind, hard working people who take care of their property. My neighbors are white, Asian, Hispanic, and African American. Unlike most posters I'm not afraid to live among people who don't look exactly like me

When you think about it--Aspen Hill is a great area to invest in right now- the houses are well built, and many are much bigger on the inside than they looks- and they're affordable-- one of the last few places in MoCo where housing can be considered "reasonable" and an area that will be gentrified in the coming years.

+1, it amazes me the racism and assumptions about money and race. You can have the same issues in other neighborhoods. Lots of crime and issues going on in Chevy Chase right now.

[Anonymous]

I would worry that I wouldn't get my investment back in only 5 years (how long OP wants to stay). For 15-20 years, sure, and you might make a ton of money. But short term can be trickier.

[Anonymous]

What is your budget? Do you need to be walking distance to the mall bc of Metro?

Theses homes in Four Corners are similar to the homes you linked. We live nearby and really like the neighborhood. It's only a few miles south of the mall, if you have a need to go there.

You can easily catch a number of buses to either DTSS or Forest Glen metro, if that's a concern. I think you might see a slightly higher ROI here than in the other neighborhoods you considered. That said, these homes are on the small side, even for this neighborhood, so could be a tougher resell.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/10028-Brunett-Ave-20901/home/10984086

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/9901-Markham-St-20901/home/11070102

[Anonymous]

I lived in 20902 (about a mile from Westfield Wheaton) for several years, as a first-time homeowner. I am a white female, and was single (living alone) at the time. Its not exactly as scary as PP's are making it out to be. I used to walk to Target, Giant, etc and never had a problem (other than men honking car horns and yelling incomprehensible things at me). That being said, its not the safest place you could buy a home, and a security system is a must (though that is not unusual for much of the DC area). The worst part about living there, is that all of the houses were tiny, and none of the neighbors talked to each other. Zero sense of community/neighborhood. Hated it. Oh, I wasn't the only white person on my street (though I may have been the only single white female).

[Anonymous]

If you can go slightly further south to the part of 20902 near the Forest Glen metro, you might be happier. There are a lot of small-ish SFH there with only one family living in them, as well as some nice townhomes and apartments (Americana Finmark comes to mind). Yes, still many immigrants, but this is not in itself a bad thing. I live close to the Metro and most SFHs house only one family.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I lived in Aspen Hill, a little further down in a townhouse for about 6 years, we left in late 2014, which are now renting. We never encountered any issues of violence, etc. and our street was a busy one with lots of apartments nearby. We always stayed aware of our surroundings late at night, but again never encountered any physical harm or break-ins--and we did not have a security system in our place w/ a street level entrance. Although I do remember that 2 neighbors had their cars broken into during our time there.

However, when we lived in an apartment off of Connecticut Ave in Upper NW 8 years ago, there were a number of car and apartment break-ins (including ours). Our experience, particularly during the daytime, is that everyone was actually working and the neighborhoods were pretty quiet.

I agree that Bel Pre at Strathmore is a really great neighborhood and there are others nearby the Plaza Del Mercado shopping center going toward the Aspen Hill Tennis Club as you go north on Bel Pre and Layhill.

There are definitely lots of working class immigrants nearby, and other people of color. So if that scares you, then it's definitely not the neighborhood for you.

It's very close to Kensington and downtown Wheaton (which appears to be getting more revitalization) and about 15 min to downtown silver spring and Rockville Pike (once you learn the back road short cuts).

Bethesda or McLean it's not, by any stretch of the imagination. Definitely look closely at the schools if you have young kids. I think the ones toward Bel Pre are better, but we did not have a child at the time.

For better or worse, it's just a working-class neighborhood with a lot of immigrant families.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I lived in Aspen Hill, a little further down in a townhouse for about 6 years, we left in late 2014, which are now renting. We never encountered any issues of violence, etc. and our street was a busy one with lots of apartments nearby. We always stayed aware of our surroundings late at night, but again never encountered any physical harm or break-ins--and we did not have a security system in our place w/ a street level entrance. Although I do remember that 2 neighbors had their cars broken into during our time there.

However, when we lived in an apartment off of Connecticut Ave in Upper NW 8 years ago, there were a number of car and apartment break-ins (including ours). Our experience, particularly during the daytime, is that everyone was actually working and the neighborhoods were pretty quiet.

I agree that Bel Pre at Strathmore is a really great neighborhood and there are others nearby the Plaza Del Mercado shopping center going toward the Aspen Hill Tennis Club as you go north on Bel Pre and Layhill.

There are definitely lots of working class immigrants nearby, and other people of color. So if that scares you, then it's definitely not the neighborhood for you.

It's very close to Kensington and downtown Wheaton (which appears to be getting more revitalization) and about 15 min to downtown silver spring and Rockville Pike (once you learn the back road short cuts).

Bethesda or McLean it's not, by any stretch of the imagination. Definitely look closely at the schools if you have young kids. I think the ones toward Bel Pre are better, but we did not have a child at the time.

For better or worse, it's just a working-class neighborhood with a lot of immigrant families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I am a white woman, making 6 figures, and have lived there for a while and haven't experienced any of the rampant crime that seems to be occurring in the neighborhood.-- I guess I should be terrified of my neighborhood. While there are some run down houses that aren't kept up with so called "multiple families" --the majority of residents are kind, hard working people who take care of their property. My neighbors are white, Asian, Hispanic, and African American. Unlike most posters I'm not afraid to live among people who don't look exactly like me

When you think about it--Aspen Hill is a great area to invest in right now- the houses are well built, and many are much bigger on the inside than they looks- and they're affordable-- one of the last few places in MoCo where housing can be considered "reasonable" and an area that will be gentrified in the coming years.

You live in the neighborhood by Bushey Dr? The small area bordered by Connecticut, Veirs Mill and Randolph? Because my post focused on that area. It's not Aspen Hill (which is further north), and it's nowhere near Wheaton plaza.

I understand why you might be confused because the op (and others) is talking about very different neighborhoods nowhere near each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I lived in Aspen Hill, a little further down in a townhouse for about 6 years, we left in late 2014, which are now renting. We never encountered any issues of violence, etc. and our street was a busy one with lots of apartments nearby. We always stayed aware of our surroundings late at night, but again never encountered any physical harm or break-ins--and we did not have a security system in our place w/ a street level entrance. Although I do remember that 2 neighbors had their cars broken into during our time there.

However, when we lived in an apartment off of Connecticut Ave in Upper NW 8 years ago, there were a number of car and apartment break-ins (including ours). Our experience, particularly during the daytime, is that everyone was actually working and the neighborhoods were pretty quiet.

I agree that Bel Pre at Strathmore is a really great neighborhood and there are others nearby the Plaza Del Mercado shopping center going toward the Aspen Hill Tennis Club as you go north on Bel Pre and Layhill.

There are definitely lots of working class immigrants nearby, and other people of color. So if that scares you, then it's definitely not the neighborhood for you.

It's very close to Kensington and downtown Wheaton (which appears to be getting more revitalization) and about 15 min to downtown silver spring and Rockville Pike (once you learn the back road short cuts).

Bethesda or McLean it's not, by any stretch of the imagination. Definitely look closely at the schools if you have young kids. I think the ones toward Bel Pre are better, but we did not have a child at the time.

For better or worse, it's just a working-class neighborhood with a lot of immigrant families.

I live off Layhill near Strathmore at Bel Pre. I'm white and it's fine. Very diverse. Will our property values shoot up anytime soon? Probably not. But as long as you maintain your house you should break even. And, OP can probably find a house with a garage and won't need to build one on the property. Sometimes there are deals to be had in the low 400s and 300s if you are willing to put some work into the property. There are also parts of Wheaton which are being revitalized, and I actually go there more often now than I did 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am a white woman, making 6 figures, and have lived there for a while and haven't experienced any of the rampant crime that seems to be occurring in the neighborhood.-- I guess I should be terrified of my neighborhood. While there are some run down houses that aren't kept up with so called "multiple families" --the majority of residents are kind, hard working people who take care of their property. My neighbors are white, Asian, Hispanic, and African American. Unlike most posters I'm not afraid to live among people who don't look exactly like me

When you think about it--Aspen Hill is a great area to invest in right now- the houses are well built, and many are much bigger on the inside than they looks- and they're affordable-- one of the last few places in MoCo where housing can be considered "reasonable" and an area that will be gentrified in the coming years.

You live in the neighborhood by Bushey Dr? The small area bordered by Connecticut, Veirs Mill and Randolph? Because my post focused on that area. It's not Aspen Hill (which is further north), and it's nowhere near Wheaton plaza.

I understand why you might be confused because the op (and others) is talking about very different neighborhoods nowhere near each other.

OP also mentioned 20902, and the listing she posted was only a few blocks from where I lived.