Relocating to DC...what's life like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you wedded to DC? As a person who loved living in London, I'd strongly suggest going back there if you can. London is a much nicer place to raise kids (and I say this as a mom who spent time in both cities with small children).

DC is perfectly fine, but I'd rather live in Chicago if I wanted to prioritize living in a city.

OP here - Actually, we could theoretically live anywhere, just near a decent airport. Chicago would be great, if we didn't have to pay astronomical property taxes. It's a great city, but unfortunately, has some sizeable challenges. Currently, my husband travels a lot to DC, so we thought DC made sense. Additionally, we thought it would give a good sense of "international/diversity" to our children, we loved the thought of world-class museums and cultural attractions, better weather than Midwest, proximity to other cities/beaches/mountains....in short, things to do. Our current lifestyle that we find "uneventful" is that although we live outside a medium city, because we live in the suburbs, we hardly go to the city. If we live outside the city again, is it worth a move? Seems it would end up being a similar lifestyle at double + the price. P.S. Would move to London tomorrow, but for now, we are here

If you live in the DC burbs, the lifestyle will be 1/5 and nice for 3x the price.

OP here - that's a big concern of mine/feeling. Thanks for the post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why so many Ohioans gravitate to this area, it's unreal.

Ohio is hell on earth.

As the PP who is from Ohio, ha! It's true, there are so many of us here. For many of us Ohioans, it's DC or Chicago if you want a big city and job opportunities. For my extended family, the people that stayed in Ohio are either medical/dental professionals who have their own practice, were taking over a family business, or are stay at home moms. For the millennial women in my family, we all left for job opportunities and prefer being in bigger cities and in jobs surrounded by other working women, especially in leadership roles.

Are your extended family members happy back in Ohio? That’s all that matters.
All of the Ohioan millennials I’ve met around here sound just like you. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

OP here - Interesting change on the thread. I think you've started something as fewer people seem to be discussing NW after this. I did read about the Brookings research findings. For sure, my kids are in that "vanilla experience" at the moment. Nothing terribly wrong, but once I left the Midwest several years ago, I told myself I wanted more diversity/exposure/urban "skills" for my own kids, but I ended up back in this area (not a native Wisconsinite, but Midwesterner). Again, I'm not overly familiar with DC, which is why I'm on DCUM and I really appreciate you mentioning these other areas to consider. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for this post and POV. Looking forward to visiting DC in the spring. Haven't been to DC since the middle school trip many years ago. My husband visits multiple times a month, so I'll ask him his opinion on the comment regarding "bohemian coffee shop". Funny, but can completely understand it.

DC in the spring is gorgeous, and I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised at the city you find when you visit. It's especially nice to find spring already here if you're coming from the upper midwest when it hasn't quite arrived yet.

If you haven't already, you might want to follow https://dcist.com/ for hyperlocal news. The front page tends to be covid news and local politics, but if you dig into the food and arts/entertainment sections, you'll get a sense of what's happening on the fun side of DC life.

OP here - Thank you for the website. Will definitely follow and dive in. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you will eventually leave DC for a close by suburb, but you won't be persuaded otherwise. This is NOT London, New York, etc. Not a glamorous city. It was actually a really edgy city until 15 or so years ago. I just think you will be disappointed. But surely it's got to be better than Minnesota. I'd take DC any day if those were the options.

OP here - Yes, the suburban life is definitely more "fluffy" in that you typically have a larger house, backyard, potentially less traffic, etc. It's what I currently live. I appreciate your comparison to other cities and the "glamour" bit. NYC would be fun, however, I think on avg., the housing prices are at a different level altogether. It feels like 7 degrees here (weather) outside at the moment, so DC weather is certainly a plus! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

LOVE this post. I'm in Dupont with kids and it is shocking to me no one before you has mentioned any of these neighborhoods and the DC experience you could have. I am a transplant (from NYC for whatever that's worth, and I've lived in 8+ major capitol cities overseas) and I have a LOT of what OP is describing living here. All of these recs are for a suburban-like experience, but that's not what I'm getting OP is looking for. The, "you'll HAVE to keep your car!" comment struck me as particularly false. I think Capitol Hill is a good recommendation, but I'd also look at the highlighted above.

OP here - Glad to hear a parent's POV here on Dupont. I'm not biased towards any area, hence my original post here, but I obviously am interested in providing quality education to my kids and having a house in a relatively safe area. Additionally, love the walkability and nearby stores and parks. I didn't have a car when I lived abroad and didn't miss it at all! I hate owning a car, but it's an absolute necessity where I currently live. Appreciate your input!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why so many Ohioans gravitate to this area, it's unreal.

Ohio is hell on earth.

As the PP who is from Ohio, ha! It's true, there are so many of us here. For many of us Ohioans, it's DC or Chicago if you want a big city and job opportunities. For my extended family, the people that stayed in Ohio are either medical/dental professionals who have their own practice, were taking over a family business, or are stay at home moms. For the millennial women in my family, we all left for job opportunities and prefer being in bigger cities and in jobs surrounded by other working women, especially in leadership roles.

Are your extended family members happy back in Ohio? That’s all that matters.
All of the Ohioan millennials I’ve met around here sound just like you. Lol.

Sure, they're happy. We tried living in Ohio and it wasn't for us- lack of job opportunities, wanted more of a city life. Yes, we compromised house size and not living near family. There's a reason why all the Ohioan millennials you've met sound like me. That's exactly what I'm trying to tell OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why so many Ohioans gravitate to this area, it's unreal.

Ohio is hell on earth.

As the PP who is from Ohio, ha! It's true, there are so many of us here. For many of us Ohioans, it's DC or Chicago if you want a big city and job opportunities. For my extended family, the people that stayed in Ohio are either medical/dental professionals who have their own practice, were taking over a family business, or are stay at home moms. For the millennial women in my family, we all left for job opportunities and prefer being in bigger cities and in jobs surrounded by other working women, especially in leadership roles.

Are your extended family members happy back in Ohio? That’s all that matters.
All of the Ohioan millennials I’ve met around here sound just like you. Lol.

Sure, they're happy. We tried living in Ohio and it wasn't for us- lack of job opportunities, wanted more of a city life. Yes, we compromised house size and not living near family. There's a reason why all the Ohioan millennials you've met sound like me. That's exactly what I'm trying to tell OP.

And just to add on, all of the things you pointed out and I agree with are why DC isn't like NYC, London, Hong Kong etc.

[Anonymous]

OP, have you envisioned what it would be like to ride the subway with your family's groceries? Or, you can drive to grocery store, park on level 3, ride elevator, then take cart back into elevator, go to your car to unload, take cart back to elevator, back into store, then ride back down the elevator to your parking level. . (you get the idea?)

By contrast, if you live near Tysons Corner, you can get a haircut, go to the mall, 3 other stores (not mall), grab something to eat all in 2 hours. Convenience is priceless. You couldn't pay me to move into DC limits. Not everything is "walkable" unless you happen to live right next to your usual anchor stores, such as grocery.

Plus there's the whole school problem, getting into the "right" charters, etc.

Screw it. I'd rather live in a close in suburb and take a short ride into DC to look at museums or a ball game. In a good school district. Like McLean if you can afford it. Or Vienna or Falls Church City. The subway goes there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1 to all of this. If you can afford to live in Dupont/Logan/Shaw, the walkable/bikeable quality f life is fantastic.

I agree with this suggestion BUT don’t entirely understand why OP needs to relocate to a completely different part of the country. Surely there are urban walkable neighborhoods in Chicago? Why uproot your family and move again? It takes years to put down roots. OP mentions she has moved countless times with is a red flag to me. These types are often looking for the move to solve problems that it never does.

OP - sounds like you dislike the suburbs and driving around. I get it. Simply move to a neighborhood nearby where you have greater walkability. You can avoid relocating to a different part of the US.

OP here - Agree and Chicago is a great city, however, we don't like Chicago Public Schools (maybe Lincoln Park is OK) or the astronomical property taxes. Completely understand your "red flag" comment. I'm sick of moving, however, in the past, we made quick decisions to relocate without fully researching. Our kids remained in the same daycare throughout, so their world really wasn't impacted too heavily. I think the reason for our moving is that we keep trying to force the Midwest lifestyle upon ourselves, but there is something missing in our view. In the Chicago area, we lived in Lake County and we barely made it into the city. In Wisconsin, we live in the suburbs. There is nothing wrong with our house and subdevelopment. Lots of kids, good enough schools, etc., but we aren't really Packers/Brewers/Bucks fans, hunters, fisherman, campers, etc., so we really haven't found our "groove" here. There is a lot of great stuff about this state, but, we struggle to adopt the hobbies that most of the residents enjoy. Maybe we are just lacking knowledge on our state, but a more urban living environment and warmer weather are enticing to us. Really appreciate your post as it pushes me to keep thinking and researching where we do want to "put down roots". We only want to make one more move, if at all, as it gets tough for relationship building (kids and adults)

[Anonymous]

Fast paced and very competitive. People move and transfer out of the area frequently, so it is hard to form lasting friendships. Lots of fun and interesting things to do though. You will never be bored. First class stores and restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, have you envisioned what it would be like to ride the subway with your family's groceries? Or, you can drive to grocery store, park on level 3, ride elevator, then take cart back into elevator, go to your car to unload, take cart back to elevator, back into store, then ride back down the elevator to your parking level. . (you get the idea?)

By contrast, if you live near Tysons Corner, you can get a haircut, go to the mall, 3 other stores (not mall), grab something to eat all in 2 hours. Convenience is priceless. You couldn't pay me to move into DC limits. Not everything is "walkable" unless you happen to live right next to your usual anchor stores, such as grocery.

Plus there's the whole school problem, getting into the "right" charters, etc.

Screw it. I'd rather live in a close in suburb and take a short ride into DC to look at museums or a ball game. In a good school district. Like McLean if you can afford it. Or Vienna or Falls Church City. The subway goes there.

Every single place that you have just described is awful. Also, you can have groceries delivered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1 to all of this. If you can afford to live in Dupont/Logan/Shaw, the walkable/bikeable quality f life is fantastic.

I agree with this suggestion BUT don’t entirely understand why OP needs to relocate to a completely different part of the country. Surely there are urban walkable neighborhoods in Chicago? Why uproot your family and move again? It takes years to put down roots. OP mentions she has moved countless times with is a red flag to me. These types are often looking for the move to solve problems that it never does.

OP - sounds like you dislike the suburbs and driving around. I get it. Simply move to a neighborhood nearby where you have greater walkability. You can avoid relocating to a different part of the US.

OP here - Agree and Chicago is a great city, however, we don't like Chicago Public Schools (maybe Lincoln Park is OK) or the astronomical property taxes. Completely understand your "red flag" comment. I'm sick of moving, however, in the past, we made quick decisions to relocate without fully researching. Our kids remained in the same daycare throughout, so their world really wasn't impacted too heavily. I think the reason for our moving is that we keep trying to force the Midwest lifestyle upon ourselves, but there is something missing in our view. In the Chicago area, we lived in Lake County and we barely made it into the city. In Wisconsin, we live in the suburbs. There is nothing wrong with our house and subdevelopment. Lots of kids, good enough schools, etc., but we aren't really Packers/Brewers/Bucks fans, hunters, fisherman, campers, etc., so we really haven't found our "groove" here. There is a lot of great stuff about this state, but, we struggle to adopt the hobbies that most of the residents enjoy. Maybe we are just lacking knowledge on our state, but a more urban living environment and warmer weather are enticing to us. Really appreciate your post as it pushes me to keep thinking and researching where we do want to "put down roots". We only want to make one more move, if at all, as it gets tough for relationship building (kids and adults)

OP, do you like Evanston? In DC, that would be comparable to Chevy Chase DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1 to all of this. If you can afford to live in Dupont/Logan/Shaw, the walkable/bikeable quality f life is fantastic.

I agree with this suggestion BUT don’t entirely understand why OP needs to relocate to a completely different part of the country. Surely there are urban walkable neighborhoods in Chicago? Why uproot your family and move again? It takes years to put down roots. OP mentions she has moved countless times with is a red flag to me. These types are often looking for the move to solve problems that it never does.

OP - sounds like you dislike the suburbs and driving around. I get it. Simply move to a neighborhood nearby where you have greater walkability. You can avoid relocating to a different part of the US.

OP here - Agree and Chicago is a great city, however, we don't like Chicago Public Schools (maybe Lincoln Park is OK) or the astronomical property taxes. Completely understand your "red flag" comment. I'm sick of moving, however, in the past, we made quick decisions to relocate without fully researching. Our kids remained in the same daycare throughout, so their world really wasn't impacted too heavily. I think the reason for our moving is that we keep trying to force the Midwest lifestyle upon ourselves, but there is something missing in our view. In the Chicago area, we lived in Lake County and we barely made it into the city. In Wisconsin, we live in the suburbs. There is nothing wrong with our house and subdevelopment. Lots of kids, good enough schools, etc., but we aren't really Packers/Brewers/Bucks fans, hunters, fisherman, campers, etc., so we really haven't found our "groove" here. There is a lot of great stuff about this state, but, we struggle to adopt the hobbies that most of the residents enjoy. Maybe we are just lacking knowledge on our state, but a more urban living environment and warmer weather are enticing to us. Really appreciate your post as it pushes me to keep thinking and researching where we do want to "put down roots". We only want to make one more move, if at all, as it gets tough for relationship building (kids and adults)

Most people in the Milwaukee area are not hunters or fisherman. LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love DC and I’ve lived in NYC and multiple international cities. The architecture is beautiful, the height restriction lends a tranquil quality, the access to culture for free is amazing between the museums and the embassy events, it’s much cleaner than NYC or Paris, and there are so many genuinely interesting people here. Rock Creek Park beats Central Park any day.

My personal favorite neighborhoods are Kalorama and Cleveland Park but I can’t afford them. I also absolutely love 16th Street Heights, Logan Circle, Mount Pleasant, Takoma, and Petworth. University Heights/Brookland has charming parts too. I’m not a huge fan of Dupont but to each their own.

Most people who post on this forum do not actually spend any time in DC, they do not leave northern Virginia.

OP here - Appreciate your post and thank you for the additional areas to research! Glad to read both the positive and negative...people love it or really dislike it! Thanks