Is Arlington the Best Place to Live in the DC Area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The debate between Bethesda and Arlington is really one about preferences and commute (which varies depending on where you work).

+1

But don't we all telework now, so commute is moot.

[Anonymous]

I live in virginia (Old Town) but I would move to Bethesda/Chevy Chase in a heartbeat if it made sense for our commute. I only live in Old Town because I work in Old Town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McLean is the best place to live, or City of Falls Church or if you can't afford either, just live in Pimmit Hills.

Not if OP wants sidewalks and walkability.

There are sidewalks in all of these places and Metros.

Not in most of McLean neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Depends. If you like curry or bud light the answer is yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here it comes, OP. 14 pages of people telling you that Arlington SUCKS and place XYZ is far superior.

FWIW, I live in the Westover part of Arlington and I really like it. I've also lived in Shirlington and Ballston. I liked those spots too. It's expensive because it's the closest place to DC. Some of the neighborhoods are ugly and people say that the schools are going downhill, but I think people just like to complain or rationalize expensive decisions they've already made.

Best of luck!

Ballston is dicey. Shirking ton is for the poors. Westover is nice but you will need a car. You have 1. Whatever get on to great falls and mclean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homes PP posted seem pretty similar to the homes in the Clarendon area. Beyond that it seems like personal preference for which area is better, along with work/commutes.

If you don’t consider crime, housing stock, schools, and quality of walkable retail then yes, Clarendon and Bethesda are similar.

Washington Liberty is a 5/10, BCC is a 7/10, and Whitman is a 9/10. You can get a $2M house on the eastern edge of the Whitman boundary near Glenbrook Roar and Wilson Lane and walk to Bethesda Row and the Metro in around 15 minutes. There is nothing similar in Arlington because there isn’t a HS in Arlington nearly as good as Whitman.

The houses in Chevy Chase and Bethesda are also nicer and Bethesda has about half the crime rate of Arlington.

+1

Nicer but then you know who you’d have to live with

We don’t have that problem in Arlington.

What is this supposed to mean?

[Anonymous]

Arlington is a nice area; very walkable near the metro line.

It is super liberal and ultra competitive. It is most expensive land/price per square foot for a reason.

Really depends on what you are looking for, OP. 95% of people posting do not live in Arlington; it is a very small area of the dmv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homes PP posted seem pretty similar to the homes in the Clarendon area. Beyond that it seems like personal preference for which area is better, along with work/commutes.

If you don’t consider crime, housing stock, schools, and quality of walkable retail then yes, Clarendon and Bethesda are similar.

Washington Liberty is a 5/10, BCC is a 7/10, and Whitman is a 9/10. You can get a $2M house on the eastern edge of the Whitman boundary near Glenbrook Roar and Wilson Lane and walk to Bethesda Row and the Metro in around 15 minutes. There is nothing similar in Arlington because there isn’t a HS in Arlington nearly as good as Whitman.

The houses in Chevy Chase and Bethesda are also nicer and Bethesda has about half the crime rate of Arlington.

+1

Nicer but then you know who you’d have to live with

We don’t have that problem in Arlington.

What is this supposed to mean?

Think about who lives in MoCo

[Anonymous]

You couldn't pay me to move to Arlington. It would not even make my top 3 list. It's like a city, minus anything to do. So you get all the congestion, crime, lesser schools, and roach filled restaurants just so you can tell people it's "walkable" to a handful of stores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is a nice area; very walkable near the metro line.

It is super liberal and ultra competitive. It is most expensive land/price per square foot for a reason.

Really depends on what you are looking for, OP. 95% of people posting do not live in Arlington; it is a very small area of the dmv.

It’s sad when people bring up the price of land/square foot. It speaks to the value of real estate, not the quality of life. People actually spend more money, on average, in other places with nicer houses where they get more space.

- former Arlington resident

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is a nice area; very walkable near the metro line.

It is super liberal and ultra competitive. It is most expensive land/price per square foot for a reason.

Really depends on what you are looking for, OP. 95% of people posting do not live in Arlington; it is a very small area of the dmv.

It’s sad when people bring up the price of land/square foot. It speaks to the value of real estate, not the quality of life. People actually spend more money, on average, in other places with nicer houses where they get more space.

- former Arlington resident

DP. Right. The “value” of real estate is based on market supply/demand. The demand for smaller, close-in homes is higher relative to supply than demand for larger homes in BFE relative to supply.

If you do an apples-to-apples comparison, people pay more to live in Arlington than they do farther out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homes PP posted seem pretty similar to the homes in the Clarendon area. Beyond that it seems like personal preference for which area is better, along with work/commutes.

If you don’t consider crime, housing stock, schools, and quality of walkable retail then yes, Clarendon and Bethesda are similar.

Washington Liberty is a 5/10, BCC is a 7/10, and Whitman is a 9/10. You can get a $2M house on the eastern edge of the Whitman boundary near Glenbrook Roar and Wilson Lane and walk to Bethesda Row and the Metro in around 15 minutes. There is nothing similar in Arlington because there isn’t a HS in Arlington nearly as good as Whitman.

The houses in Chevy Chase and Bethesda are also nicer and Bethesda has about half the crime rate of Arlington.

+1

Racists from Eastern Europe?


Nicer but then you know who you’d have to live with

We don’t have that problem in Arlington.

What is this supposed to mean?

Think about who lives in MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is a nice area; very walkable near the metro line.

It is super liberal and ultra competitive. It is most expensive land/price per square foot for a reason.

Really depends on what you are looking for, OP. 95% of people posting do not live in Arlington; it is a very small area of the dmv.

It’s sad when people bring up the price of land/square foot. It speaks to the value of real estate, not the quality of life. People actually spend more money, on average, in other places with nicer houses where they get more space.

- former Arlington resident

DP. Right. The “value” of real estate is based on market supply/demand. The demand for smaller, close-in homes is higher relative to supply than demand for larger homes in BFE relative to supply.

If you do an apples-to-apples comparison, people pay more to live in Arlington than they do farther out.

And yet the median and average sale prices for single-family homes are higher elsewhere (and those places are hardly BFE).

Enjoy your dirt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The homes PP posted seem pretty similar to the homes in the Clarendon area. Beyond that it seems like personal preference for which area is better, along with work/commutes.

If you don’t consider crime, housing stock, schools, and quality of walkable retail then yes, Clarendon and Bethesda are similar.

Washington Liberty is a 5/10, BCC is a 7/10, and Whitman is a 9/10. You can get a $2M house on the eastern edge of the Whitman boundary near Glenbrook Roar and Wilson Lane and walk to Bethesda Row and the Metro in around 15 minutes. There is nothing similar in Arlington because there isn’t a HS in Arlington nearly as good as Whitman.

The houses in Chevy Chase and Bethesda are also nicer and Bethesda has about half the crime rate of Arlington.

+1

Just an FYI. Great school scores are not comparable across states. The number is where the school falls relative to other schools on that state. I don’t even think MD and VA use similar standardized tests as I believe one is common core and the other is not.

[Anonymous]

If you have a very high income and estate tax concerns then VA > MD. If you commute to the majority of the areas in downtown dc Arlington provides the best option for driving or potentially metro. The fact that Bethesda and CC etc are only on the redline is a huge drawback.

Now if you are the type of person who wants to send your kids to private school MoCo or somewhere in dc proper seems more convenient.

There also seems to be more recent economic growth in NoVa. But the housing stock is awful because the majority of the houses were built during the absolute nadir of architectural innovation.