Where to live for best public schools

[Anonymous]

Falls Church, 22043. I prefer Shrevewood over Lemon Road neighborhoods and they both go to Kilmer and Marshall.

[Anonymous]

Waynewood zip code 22308 South Alexandria has a great elementary school and most houses are in a range 650-800 thousand$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church, 22043. I prefer Shrevewood over Lemon Road neighborhoods and they both go to Kilmer and Marshall.

The nicest Lemon Road neighborhoods in 22043 go to Longfellow and McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why people knock South Arlington schools. If moving weren't such a big hassle, I would sell my N. Arlington house and move to S. Arlington in a heartbeat. I bet you could find a single family in South Arlington on your budget.

It'd actually be very hard to find a nice SFH in South Arl for less than 700. You could, but there will def be something odd about the house that you'll just have to live with, and it'll be right at 700 when all is said and done.

If you want to be zoned to an elementary school that isn't over 60 percent disadvantaged, in south Arlington, you'll pay more. Arlington county board has been stuffing affordable housing into one corner of the county for several years and the schools that serve the SW corner really struggle. Valiant efforts by the teachers, an if my parents had brought me to this country from poverty in another country it'd be as good as it gets. But ithey aren't schools with strong PTAs or many of the niceties that are a given in north Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps W. Springfield 22152 for a good school/home price/commute balance?

[Anonymous]

We live in Reston 2 miles from the Wiehle metro. Our elementary is Sunrise Valley, middle is Langston Hughes, and high school is South Lakes. I currently have a child in each of the 3 schools. We've had a great experience. It would be a longer metro trip, but we love the sense of community in Reston, with lots of nature trails, pools, and Reston Association offers a lot of programs for children. The homes in our neighborhood, right near the elementary school, range from the low 600's to the high 800's. Houses sell fast here when they come up.

[Anonymous]

1. Where do you work and what do your hours look like? This is the biggest question because it will dictate whether Maryland or VA or living on the metro or along the VRE lines makes sense. You haven't given us enough information to help you.

2. A 700K budget is going to land you either a townhouse in an expensive area or a house a bit further out (Rockville, West Springfield for example). You need to understand where your houses are and what your money can buy. That's basic research.

3. Use a rebate realtor because if you can do the leg work yourself, you can land a check for over 10K after closing.

GL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean work off of.

I can get off on the red or orange line.

[Anonymous]

Finland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Define best?

Your kid is little.

What might be an outstanding high school pyramid today might not be by the time your kid makes it to high school.

Signed,
9 school pyramid

True.

A solid performing school. When I was looking at Montgomery county, I considerd thr “W” schools the best. They have had a solid peformance for years. I just don’t want an up and rising school and then we end up having to pay for private school. We want something with a solid AP program and college prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Hi All,

I’m sure this thread has been done before but I can’t find it. We’re buying a home. We have a toddler. I’m lazy and don’t want to move several times for schools. Where in NoVa is a good cluster? We max out at $700k and work in downtown DC so we’d like a not heinous commute. I’m on redfin and I’m seeing high schools in the 1’s and 3’s, WTF? That can’t be right. Am also looking at MoCo but people keep saying VA is a better buy than MD. We’re currently renting in Van Ness DC and would like to buy something by December. Please help. Thanks!

You're not looking very hard.

Feel free to give me a link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to prioritize what you want. Do you want a house or would you be happy with a town home? North Arlington schools are great, but you can't buy a house on that budget unless you will be happy with an old home or one far from the metro. South Arlington schools generally aren't as good as North Arlington ones. Falls Church schools are great, but the homes are expensive with limited inventory. Fairfax County has great schools, but your commute will be longer (and you will likely have to drive/bus to the metro). Alexandria schools aren't great. Obviously there are exceptions to each of these generalizations, but hopefully that's a overview for you. I would recommend you focus your search on North Arlington or Fairfax.

We prefer a townhome. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why people knock South Arlington schools. If moving weren't such a big hassle, I would sell my N. Arlington house and move to S. Arlington in a heartbeat. I bet you could find a single family in South Arlington on your budget.

Seconded - so nuts that people say this. We ended up buying in north Arlington because we got a great opportunity but south Arlington was our preference - more diversity, less crazy moms, still great schools. People knock Wakefield but in my opinion it is 100% because they are inherently bias that it isn’t majority white kids. My friends mom does teacher training, observing teachers in all Arlington schools and says hands down she would pick Wakefield for her kids if she had to do it again. Metro access from south Arlington is probably the bigger problem

But OP - there is so much personal preference here! Unfortunately I don’t think you can get what you want from this thread. You’re going to have to do the work. Arlington is close in, good metro access, good schools. It’s easy to get around and you won’t spend your life sitting at traffic lights. But it’s expensive and we have an overcrowding problem. So there are pros and cons. Fairfax schools can be good too but it’s huge - hard to give you specific recommendations. Schools are often pretty big there so that’s a preference thing too. Commute will be longer and it will require more driving. But you can get more house. And you might find people a tad more laid back. So there’s a lot of prioritizing. We prioritized walkability, ease of driving and shorter commute and live in a two bedroom old house (that we love) in Arlington. There are definitely houses under $700k in south Arlington but they won’t have close metro access.

I realize it’s hard if you don’t have experience with the area, great schools is not a great indicator. Maybe pinpoint a couple areas you’re interested in based on what you want to prioritize (how much house, how close in etc) and then search the board or ask specifically about those schools here. That might help you get a sense.

I appreciate your detailed response. I’ll look into Arlington and specific school reviews on this board. Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps W. Springfield 22152 for a good school/home price/commute balance?

I have a few co-workers who live in Springfield and they love ot but the school scores scared me off. I guess the consensus is that the great school scores are to be ignored. Compared to Montgomery county they’re awful for NoVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Where do you work and what do your hours look like? This is the biggest question because it will dictate whether Maryland or VA or living on the metro or along the VRE lines makes sense. You haven't given us enough information to help you.

2. A 700K budget is going to land you either a townhouse in an expensive area or a house a bit further out (Rockville, West Springfield for example). You need to understand where your houses are and what your money can buy. That's basic research.

3. Use a rebate realtor because if you can do the leg work yourself, you can land a check for over 10K after closing.

GL.

I’m near 15th and M in NW DC
We want a townhome and are considering Rockville and the W cluster schools but inventory is low and we’re not really seeing anything we want so we’re looking at Virginia as well.

We are, but thanks!