Pregnant and looking to move - where to buy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Mt. Pleasant? Backs up to Rock Creek park, walkable to Columbia Heights, buses or metro to downtown. Bancroft - Deal - Wilson for school. Check boundaries carefully, though - you can do a search on Redfin with your preferred school, and also enter the address in the DCPS boundary finder.

Thanks! As the other poster said, I think we are priced out of Mt Pleasant unfortunately. I'm surprised I should already be thinking about middle school at this point- definitely something I had not considered.

It comes at you fast, OP. Lack of a good middle school means people start leaving your elementary school in 3rd-5th and performance suffers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Mt. Pleasant? Backs up to Rock Creek park, walkable to Columbia Heights, buses or metro to downtown. Bancroft - Deal - Wilson for school. Check boundaries carefully, though - you can do a search on Redfin with your preferred school, and also enter the address in the DCPS boundary finder.

Thanks! As the other poster said, I think we are priced out of Mt Pleasant unfortunately. I'm surprised I should already be thinking about middle school at this point- definitely something I had not considered.

I'll disagree with this somewhat. We followed this advice when we bought 7 years ago, and ended up buying IB for Deal and Wilson. HOWEVER, if I were pregnant today, I'd be willing to take a bit more risk, given how rapidly things are changing in DC. Over a decade from now when you're looking for middle schools, I'd bet money that there will be at least a few more IB middle schools that will be considered acceptable, and possible additional charter options as well. So again, I think it depends on how risk averse you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Mt. Pleasant? Backs up to Rock Creek park, walkable to Columbia Heights, buses or metro to downtown. Bancroft - Deal - Wilson for school. Check boundaries carefully, though - you can do a search on Redfin with your preferred school, and also enter the address in the DCPS boundary finder.

Thanks! As the other poster said, I think we are priced out of Mt Pleasant unfortunately. I'm surprised I should already be thinking about middle school at this point- definitely something I had not considered.

I'll disagree with this somewhat. We followed this advice when we bought 7 years ago, and ended up buying IB for Deal and Wilson. HOWEVER, if I were pregnant today, I'd be willing to take a bit more risk, given how rapidly things are changing in DC. Over a decade from now when you're looking for middle schools, I'd bet money that there will be at least a few more IB middle schools that will be considered acceptable, and possible additional charter options as well. So again, I think it depends on how risk averse you are.

I was a pregnant buyer in 2012. Chose Eckington and am still loving it.

[Anonymous]

I think Whittier is your best bet, OP. The new middle school is showing potential, and Whittier itself is really an excellent school. Also Shepherd Elementary if you can find anything in your budget.

Take the "I'd take more risk" PPs with a grain of salt. It's very easy to say you'd be willing to take risk when you haven't actually been in the position of spending years playing the lottery and not knowing if it will ever work out. That's stressful and not everyone ends up winners. And another PP is correct that if your elementary doesn't have a strong feeder, it will start clearing out in 3rd and 4th grade. I would look at the enrollment statistics and see whether there are big declines in upper elementary. Even if you are okay with private or moving for middle, it's still hard on your kid to lose all of their friends and destabilizing for the learning environment.

[Anonymous]

At your price point you are not looking at your "forever" home, most likely. With that in mind, you can easily try for an up and coming neighborhood knowing that you may need to move for middle school. I think that is a perfectly good plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Whittier is your best bet, OP. The new middle school is showing potential, and Whittier itself is really an excellent school. Also Shepherd Elementary if you can find anything in your budget.

Take the "I'd take more risk" PPs with a grain of salt. It's very easy to say you'd be willing to take risk when you haven't actually been in the position of spending years playing the lottery and not knowing if it will ever work out. That's stressful and not everyone ends up winners. And another PP is correct that if your elementary doesn't have a strong feeder, it will start clearing out in 3rd and 4th grade. I would look at the enrollment statistics and see whether there are big declines in upper elementary. Even if you are okay with private or moving for middle, it's still hard on your kid to lose all of their friends and destabilizing for the learning environment.

Our kids attend Whittier and we absolutely love the neighborhood. Close to Takoma Park and Silver Spring, Petworth, Columbia Heights. We can walk to the Takoma rec center and run into friends from school. We’re cautiously optimistic about Wells. You could get a nice renovated house for your budget in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Whittier is your best bet, OP. The new middle school is showing potential, and Whittier itself is really an excellent school. Also Shepherd Elementary if you can find anything in your budget.

Take the "I'd take more risk" PPs with a grain of salt. It's very easy to say you'd be willing to take risk when you haven't actually been in the position of spending years playing the lottery and not knowing if it will ever work out. That's stressful and not everyone ends up winners. And another PP is correct that if your elementary doesn't have a strong feeder, it will start clearing out in 3rd and 4th grade. I would look at the enrollment statistics and see whether there are big declines in upper elementary. Even if you are okay with private or moving for middle, it's still hard on your kid to lose all of their friends and destabilizing for the learning environment.

I am the Eckington poster, and I did take the risk and had crap lottery numbers until 1st grade. But our IB was fine-- actually better than fine-- and it worked out by the time we needed it to. I bought the house knowing this would be the plan, and I have no regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Whittier is your best bet, OP. The new middle school is showing potential, and Whittier itself is really an excellent school. Also Shepherd Elementary if you can find anything in your budget.

Take the "I'd take more risk" PPs with a grain of salt. It's very easy to say you'd be willing to take risk when you haven't actually been in the position of spending years playing the lottery and not knowing if it will ever work out. That's stressful and not everyone ends up winners. And another PP is correct that if your elementary doesn't have a strong feeder, it will start clearing out in 3rd and 4th grade. I would look at the enrollment statistics and see whether there are big declines in upper elementary. Even if you are okay with private or moving for middle, it's still hard on your kid to lose all of their friends and destabilizing for the learning environment.

I am the Eckington poster, and I did take the risk and had crap lottery numbers until 1st grade. But our IB was fine-- actually better than fine-- and it worked out by the time we needed it to. I bought the house knowing this would be the plan, and I have no regrets.

We're at a mediocre charter that people generally stay at for a few years while playing the lottery. Most families eventually get in somewhere "good enough," but I see families every year that move to Wilson or MoCo for 2nd or 3rd grade. If you buy low and have appreciation, then that plan can make sense. But you should really not buy at the top of the market unless you're willing to lose money if you have to move.

[jsteele]

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/947122.page