Apartment hunt induced panic!

[Anonymous]

agree w/ pp: "not good" means very diverse in terms of both race and socioeconomics (ie: many schools in the tp/downtown ss area are majority low-income and minority students). While tp has the historical perception of being very liberal and small-townish, it also has serious issues w/ crime. All of my friends and colleagues who lived there for years moved on once the schools began to decline -- blaming things on the increase of renters in the area.

[Anonymous]

I would also consider even further out suburbs, that still have metro access. I think Greenbelt may be a better choice, dollar wise.

I am from the Albany area, and while property taxes are much better here, the cost of everything else is worse.

[windnwater3]

PP - what do you mean by "everything else"? Gas? Utilities? Groceries? all of the above?

Thanks all for insights (OP, here)~ any landlords out there who have my very cute and affordable apartment?

I hope to hear more feedback...

[Anonymous]

Not sure, but I think gas in NY is usually higher. I do always get mine at Costco though, since it is cheaper than most other places. I paid $3.18 today, when I looked elsewhere yesterday, it was as high as $3.25.

The cost of living here is just higher. My folks just sold a house in NY for $100,000, and in this area it would cost $500,000. Rent in NY for one of the ever popular war era flats, are often about $700, here for something that large, it is more than twice that. Groceries tend to be more, and so is public transportation. Daycare is another expense as well. I am lucky, I found a learning center daycare that is $200 a week (per child) with a 10% sibling discount for the other. Usually it's $300 a week or more. There are also waiting lists for daycares, and nannies cost a minimum of 40 grand a year.

[Anonymous]

Sligo Creek Elementary School in downtown SS is a wonderful elementary school. Silver Spring's reputation as "not good" is a few too many years old...things have changed a lot around here. Don't let the people who have never been here scare you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sligo Creek Elementary School in downtown SS is a wonderful elementary school. Silver Spring's reputation as "not good" is a few too many years old...things have changed a lot around here. Don't let the people who have never been here scare you.

How does one figure out what's a "good" school and a "not so good school?"