Thinking of moving to Germantown

[Anonymous]

We're trying to find a place with good schools, a sense of community and affordable housing. Germantown looks good on paper but I'm wondering if anyone has had real experience and could let me know what it's like.

FYI, I'm a SAHM and we are a liberal, lightly crunchy family

[Anonymous]

I used to live there and miss my Germantown days. Bus transportation varies in different areas. The north of Germantown has good elementary schools, I have heard good things of Matsunaga. Roberto Clemente is good if your kid is in the program. Nortwest High is great.
Seneca Valley not so good, but that is changing with the IB program.
Otherwise everything is nearby. Movies, restaurants, stores, DSW. The 270 corridor has been growing with new corporations moving there so if you have a job in Germantown, Gaithersburg or even as far Bethesda then it is OK. The library is new.

[Anonymous]

Strip malls, seven-lane roads, chain stores, chain restaurants, big plastic houses.

Go for it.

[Anonymous]

is there no question on DCUM that doesn't bring out a rude commenter?

[Anonymous]

We spent a year in Germantown while we looked for a house in the D.C. area. I won't beat around the bush. We hated everything about it. We've lived all over this country (including D.C. and NoVA) and in several overseas locations. I've never lived anywhere that we didn't find at least something to like about....until Germantown. I had kids at both the elementary and high school levels. And we were very disappointed in the schools. Crime was a real problem even in the nicer areas. The commute into D.C. was hellish. We could not get out of there fast enough. The day we found a house in Fairfax Country, we left. I spent a week in a hotel while we waited to close on the house even though we could have stayed in our rental Germantown.

And we lived in what is considered the nicer part of Germantown. Before you consider Germantown, read the local crime reports.

[Anonymous]

I've also wondered about Germantown. I've heard/read some less-than-stellar comments about the city, such as for school quality, and that the area has no real cultural center. Otherwise, driving through, I've had a nice impression in general (looks clean, nice green spaces, etc).

[Anonymous]

Check the crime rates there-lots of crime it is not your mothers Germantown anymore it has become the biggest crime area of the county in the past 5 years, the yneed to divide the area into two districts because the area is a lot bigger then it used to be but still lots of crime.

es su madre's Germantown

[Anonymous]

www.crimereports.com

I love the area near the Soccerplex though, and would live there.

[Anonymous]

We lived in a rental townhouse development (99-2003). At first the neighborhood was great, lots of kids playing, families, hardly any crime, very safe. In 2002 the rental development gave us the little things you put on your windows to prevent break ins. We were wondering why they suddenly decided to provide those to us. I found out why, new management had taken over and they now accepted vouchers. Slowly the neighborhood began to change. My husband and I started to notice whenever we were off during the day there would be people that sat on their porch all day. When we came home there would be a gang of older kids just hanging in the parking lot sitting on cars, sitting near the mailbox. Gradually all the families moved out. We began to look for a place to buy. We found one in the fall of 2003 and moved January 2004. It was just in time. Would you believe the rental development circulated notices to all tenants saying that it would evict those tenants who sell drugs or those that harbor individuals that do." There were a couple of other things in the notice that I dont remember but that was the one that stood out. My husband and I got out of there not a moment too soon. As I was taking our last bag of trash out during our move, 3 cop cars pulled up and arrested 6 people. My husband and I look back on our Germantown experience and are amazed at how quickly the neighborhood changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to find a place with good schools, a sense of community and affordable housing. Germantown looks good on paper but I'm wondering if anyone has had real experience and could let me know what it's like.

FYI, I'm a SAHM and we are a liberal, lightly crunchy family

Why not move a bit further out and live in downtown Frederick? (I'd be hesitant to commute in further than Rockville by car, though.)

Or: (1) Where do you live now and do you like it and (2) Where will commutes be?

[Anonymous]

I love the Waters Landing area, the amenities are abundant and pretty well tended. Parks, pools, trails, playgrounds, community centers, etc. The homeowners in the townhouse part keep their properties very tidy and nice.

The residents seem like (true) middle class professionals. Not "DC middle class = $200,000 and above," but the kind of middle class some of us remember growing up. It seems diverse just from observation.

I don't know too much about the schools for this area, though.

[Anonymous]

If you want to be out that way consider Clarksburg. No amenities yet, but more of a community feel and the crime is minimal.

[Anonymous]

Alan Keyes says hello!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check the crime rates there-lots of crime it is not your mothers Germantown anymore it has become the biggest crime area of the county in the past 5 years, the yneed to divide the area into two districts because the area is a lot bigger then it used to be but still lots of crime.

es su madre's Germantown

Germantown is where all the people went to escape the Rockville suburbs when they went downhill in the 90s and 00s. Now Germantown is going downhill, and everyone's either going to Fredrick or moving closer inside the Beltway.

Suburbanization of Poverty.

[Anonymous]

FYI to

new management had taken over and they now accepted vouchers

PP, landlords have been required to "accept vouchers" since Montgomery County made source of income a protected class in 1991, and if that landlord didn't do so until 2002 they were in clear violation of the law for more than a decade.