Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This thread is fascinating

Are you not entertained

It’s a lot of trolling/sock puppeting. Not much to glean here, except how much time some people seem to have (and how pathetic they are to be trolling a school forum).

This is the most pathetic post of all.

NP. Seems like they struck a nerve, huh? Go back to the Eskay thread. Your trolling there is better.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

We don't walk more than ten minutes to the metro, or the supermarket, or one of 5 coffee shops, or our great middle school here in Arlington. We didn't really start over socially, we kept our old friends and made new ones. We have a yard and pay about $1000/year for someone else to take care of it (we save at least that much in taxes). Sounds like the Hill worked for you because of the scholarships, but honestly I do think some people assume that life outside of the Hill is some kind of suburban hellscape, when it can still be very walkable and pleasant. Our kids are in the car much less since we moved than they were before. And yes, real estate near a metro stop is expensive - but so is the Hill.

I live 2 blocks from Eastern Market, so it’s pleasant, but if I lived in Hill East like so many young families do these days, I’d have moved years ago. So much of the Hill is near nothing and is very inconvenient.

It is adorable how old timers on the Hill think Eastern Market is the epicenter of area amenities.

I actually think near NE in the LT zone is the sweet spot for amenities. Eastern Market, west side of Lincoln Park, or south of Capitol South within easy walking distance to WF/pretty close to Navy Yard are the other good spots. Near Potomac Ave metro/the Roost/new Safeway also not bad. But Hill East (14th/15th & East) slightly farther north/Maury zone is actually pretty inconvenient to any amenities. Maury is a great school, but that part of the Hill really isn’t very walkable.

We bid on a row house literally opposite the Maury playground but we were outbid. Is that not a good location?

It’s a fantastic location. You can walk to h street and Lincoln park. In my opinion the LT area is a dump. There is a lot of crime, lots of public housing, and the houses are too small, and you are not near that many parks except for the LT park and Sherwood rec. Ludlow isn’t great and there aren’t any middle schools on the hill worth attending.

LOL what? The housing stock IB for Maury and IB for LT is the same, and the LT neighborhood is closer to transit, shops and a bunch of parks. Are you even from DC?

It is so funny to me that you seem to actually believe that the falling down Victorian worker housing in the ludlow Taylor area is similar to the gorgeous Victorians around Lincoln park and eastern market. Sure. Okay!

I hate to contribute to this discussion, but I think you must be confusing Maury for a different school.

LT: https://www.redfin.com/school/159511/DC/Washington-DC/Ludlow-Taylor-Elementary-School

Maury: https://www.redfin.com/school/118348/DC/Washington-DC/Maury-Elementary-School

So they basically share a border for the more expensive part of the Maury zone, while LT extends west and Maury extends east from there. LT zone is pretty small and has multiple houses going for over $2 million currently. It goes no further north than H and no further east than 12th. Most of it is only a few blocks to Stanton Park or a few blocks to Lincoln Park. Where is the magic part of it that's a green space deprived dump? I think the Western part of the Maury zone is very nice and well-located, but there's way more of the Maury zone that's near nothing and not very nice than the LT zone. They seem to be equidistant to Eastern Market.

Yeah, you’re 2.5 bedroom home with no basement is identical to the Maury zone around Lincoln park. Sure. Definitely!! And everyone knows ludlow Taylor is on par with Brent and Maury too. And by the way, there are so many parks, no housing projects and no crime.

As an amendment to my previous comments, add “delusional people” to reasons why the ludlow Taylor district is undesirable.

What are you talking about? A quick search on Redfin suggests no difference in the frequency of basements in the LT and Maury zones nor in the size of the houses (in fact, in houses for sale now at the above links, the average LT zone house is bigger). I think everyone agrees that the streets right around LP are very nice, but that’s the most expensive corner of the Maury zone and the houses on the South side of LP aren’t even IB for Maury. Maury is a fantastic school, but the average house in its IB is less nice & well located that in the LT IB because it stretches way East. People move to the Maury zone for Maury; not because 16th & C NE has a lot to recommend it housing stock or location wise.

Get. A. Life.

In the exchange of views in this thread & the tenor of the responses, you think it’s the immediate PP who is out of line?? OK.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

We don't walk more than ten minutes to the metro, or the supermarket, or one of 5 coffee shops, or our great middle school here in Arlington. We didn't really start over socially, we kept our old friends and made new ones. We have a yard and pay about $1000/year for someone else to take care of it (we save at least that much in taxes). Sounds like the Hill worked for you because of the scholarships, but honestly I do think some people assume that life outside of the Hill is some kind of suburban hellscape, when it can still be very walkable and pleasant. Our kids are in the car much less since we moved than they were before. And yes, real estate near a metro stop is expensive - but so is the Hill.

I live 2 blocks from Eastern Market, so it’s pleasant, but if I lived in Hill East like so many young families do these days, I’d have moved years ago. So much of the Hill is near nothing and is very inconvenient.

It is adorable how old timers on the Hill think Eastern Market is the epicenter of area amenities.

I actually think near NE in the LT zone is the sweet spot for amenities. Eastern Market, west side of Lincoln Park, or south of Capitol South within easy walking distance to WF/pretty close to Navy Yard are the other good spots. Near Potomac Ave metro/the Roost/new Safeway also not bad. But Hill East (14th/15th & East) slightly farther north/Maury zone is actually pretty inconvenient to any amenities. Maury is a great school, but that part of the Hill really isn’t very walkable.

We bid on a row house literally opposite the Maury playground but we were outbid. Is that not a good location?

It’s a fantastic location. You can walk to h street and Lincoln park. In my opinion the LT area is a dump. There is a lot of crime, lots of public housing, and the houses are too small, and you are not near that many parks except for the LT park and Sherwood rec. Ludlow isn’t great and there aren’t any middle schools on the hill worth attending.

LOL what? The housing stock IB for Maury and IB for LT is the same, and the LT neighborhood is closer to transit, shops and a bunch of parks. Are you even from DC?

It is so funny to me that you seem to actually believe that the falling down Victorian worker housing in the ludlow Taylor area is similar to the gorgeous Victorians around Lincoln park and eastern market. Sure. Okay!

I hate to contribute to this discussion, but I think you must be confusing Maury for a different school.

LT: https://www.redfin.com/school/159511/DC/Washington-DC/Ludlow-Taylor-Elementary-School

Maury: https://www.redfin.com/school/118348/DC/Washington-DC/Maury-Elementary-School

So they basically share a border for the more expensive part of the Maury zone, while LT extends west and Maury extends east from there. LT zone is pretty small and has multiple houses going for over $2 million currently. It goes no further north than H and no further east than 12th. Most of it is only a few blocks to Stanton Park or a few blocks to Lincoln Park. Where is the magic part of it that's a green space deprived dump? I think the Western part of the Maury zone is very nice and well-located, but there's way more of the Maury zone that's near nothing and not very nice than the LT zone. They seem to be equidistant to Eastern Market.

Yeah, you’re 2.5 bedroom home with no basement is identical to the Maury zone around Lincoln park. Sure. Definitely!! And everyone knows ludlow Taylor is on par with Brent and Maury too. And by the way, there are so many parks, no housing projects and no crime.

As an amendment to my previous comments, add “delusional people” to reasons why the ludlow Taylor district is undesirable.

What are you talking about? A quick search on Redfin suggests no difference in the frequency of basements in the LT and Maury zones nor in the size of the houses (in fact, in houses for sale now at the above links, the average LT zone house is bigger). I think everyone agrees that the streets right around LP are very nice, but that’s the most expensive corner of the Maury zone and the houses on the South side of LP aren’t even IB for Maury. Maury is a fantastic school, but the average house in its IB is less nice & well located that in the LT IB because it stretches way East. People move to the Maury zone for Maury; not because 16th & C NE has a lot to recommend it housing stock or location wise.

Get. A. Life.

In the exchange of views in this thread & the tenor of the responses, you think it’s the immediate PP who is out of line?? OK.

I don’t know what’s going on, but there have been a lot of unusually unhinged or obvious trolling posts lately. It’s derailing a good chunk of threads.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We raised our kids in Arlington too, after moving to the DMV from elsewhere, not really being city people, and knowing nothing about DC. We’ve now lived in the area for decades, and moved to the city as young empty nesters several years ago.

There’s no doubt that our kids had a nice upbringing in a safe area with good schools. And they have fond memories of their childhood. And they like the DMV well enough that they have all settled here.

But none of them (four) is even considering living or raising their families in a place like Arlington (and, yes, they could afford it). It’s just that after being out of it for a while it’s now painfully obvious just how white, sterile and insular it was, and none of them want that either for themselves or their kids.

Did your kids go to Yorktown? My kids are at Gunston. It is definitely not rich, white and entitled.

Correct. Also note that W-L is 45% white and Wakefield is 25% white.

If your kid does ES at Innovation or ASFS, they'll likely have lots of international families. A friend had a kindergarten in a class where >50% of classmates were ESL, with kids speaking a wide variety of languages.

We're in N Arlington (not Immersion) and our PTA meetings are always translated into Spanish because we have a big Hispanic population and a significant portion of the parents are not fluent in English.

The diversity is different than the Hill, but there are plenty of good diverse schools in Arlington if you seek them out.

Agree with the assessment of Innovation and ASFS. Then your kid gets to go to Hamm for MS and WL or Yorktown for HS. And there are neighborhoods zoned to ASFS and Innovation that are probably more walkable than CH, and definitely a heck of a lot safer (a PP mentioned Clarendon upthread, for example).

[Anonymous]

It seems like this thread has completely derailed, but for folks wanting to find a balance between density, walkability, and good schools, I highly recommend checking out the Rosslyn- Ballston corridor. It’s changed a LOT over the past decade, with more change to come. You’re going to find diversity, varied housing types, and the ability to live a car-free or nearly car-free lifestyle, if you choose. The county offers great youth rec classes and there are lots of parks and restaurants and other things to walk to. I think when people discuss the sterile Arlington, they are talking about 22207. I’m not going to claim Arlington schools are the best in the region (and I would be laughed off this board if I did) but for folks that don’t want to fully decamp to the burbs, it’s a great option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like this thread has completely derailed, but for folks wanting to find a balance between density, walkability, and good schools, I highly recommend checking out the Rosslyn- Ballston corridor. It’s changed a LOT over the past decade, with more change to come. You’re going to find diversity, varied housing types, and the ability to live a car-free or nearly car-free lifestyle, if you choose. The county offers great youth rec classes and there are lots of parks and restaurants and other things to walk to. I think when people discuss the sterile Arlington, they are talking about 22207. I’m not going to claim Arlington schools are the best in the region (and I would be laughed off this board if I did) but for folks that don’t want to fully decamp to the burbs, it’s a great option.

Thank you for this sane and actually useful suggestion.

Can you share the names of a few elementaries, or a HS triangle, that are fine (does not need to be the best at all) to give me a jumping off point for looking in that area? I know zip about the schools in that area but have socialized there and like it and can see what you mean.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

We don't walk more than ten minutes to the metro, or the supermarket, or one of 5 coffee shops, or our great middle school here in Arlington. We didn't really start over socially, we kept our old friends and made new ones. We have a yard and pay about $1000/year for someone else to take care of it (we save at least that much in taxes). Sounds like the Hill worked for you because of the scholarships, but honestly I do think some people assume that life outside of the Hill is some kind of suburban hellscape, when it can still be very walkable and pleasant. Our kids are in the car much less since we moved than they were before. And yes, real estate near a metro stop is expensive - but so is the Hill.

I live 2 blocks from Eastern Market, so it’s pleasant, but if I lived in Hill East like so many young families do these days, I’d have moved years ago. So much of the Hill is near nothing and is very inconvenient.

It is adorable how old timers on the Hill think Eastern Market is the epicenter of area amenities.

I actually think near NE in the LT zone is the sweet spot for amenities. Eastern Market, west side of Lincoln Park, or south of Capitol South within easy walking distance to WF/pretty close to Navy Yard are the other good spots. Near Potomac Ave metro/the Roost/new Safeway also not bad. But Hill East (14th/15th & East) slightly farther north/Maury zone is actually pretty inconvenient to any amenities. Maury is a great school, but that part of the Hill really isn’t very walkable.

We bid on a row house literally opposite the Maury playground but we were outbid. Is that not a good location?

It’s a fantastic location. You can walk to h street and Lincoln park. In my opinion the LT area is a dump. There is a lot of crime, lots of public housing, and the houses are too small, and you are not near that many parks except for the LT park and Sherwood rec. Ludlow isn’t great and there aren’t any middle schools on the hill worth attending.

LOL what? The housing stock IB for Maury and IB for LT is the same, and the LT neighborhood is closer to transit, shops and a bunch of parks. Are you even from DC?

It is so funny to me that you seem to actually believe that the falling down Victorian worker housing in the ludlow Taylor area is similar to the gorgeous Victorians around Lincoln park and eastern market. Sure. Okay!

I hate to contribute to this discussion, but I think you must be confusing Maury for a different school.

LT: https://www.redfin.com/school/159511/DC/Washington-DC/Ludlow-Taylor-Elementary-School

Maury: https://www.redfin.com/school/118348/DC/Washington-DC/Maury-Elementary-School

So they basically share a border for the more expensive part of the Maury zone, while LT extends west and Maury extends east from there. LT zone is pretty small and has multiple houses going for over $2 million currently. It goes no further north than H and no further east than 12th. Most of it is only a few blocks to Stanton Park or a few blocks to Lincoln Park. Where is the magic part of it that's a green space deprived dump? I think the Western part of the Maury zone is very nice and well-located, but there's way more of the Maury zone that's near nothing and not very nice than the LT zone. They seem to be equidistant to Eastern Market.

Yeah, you’re 2.5 bedroom home with no basement is identical to the Maury zone around Lincoln park. Sure. Definitely!! And everyone knows ludlow Taylor is on par with Brent and Maury too. And by the way, there are so many parks, no housing projects and no crime.

As an amendment to my previous comments, add “delusional people” to reasons why the ludlow Taylor district is undesirable.

What are you talking about? A quick search on Redfin suggests no difference in the frequency of basements in the LT and Maury zones nor in the size of the houses (in fact, in houses for sale now at the above links, the average LT zone house is bigger). I think everyone agrees that the streets right around LP are very nice, but that’s the most expensive corner of the Maury zone and the houses on the South side of LP aren’t even IB for Maury. Maury is a fantastic school, but the average house in its IB is less nice & well located that in the LT IB because it stretches way East. People move to the Maury zone for Maury; not because 16th & C NE has a lot to recommend it housing stock or location wise.

Get. A. Life.

In the exchange of views in this thread & the tenor of the responses, you think it’s the immediate PP who is out of line?? OK.

I don’t know what’s going on, but there have been a lot of unusually unhinged or obvious trolling posts lately. It’s derailing a good chunk of threads.

Yep. They come in 2s and 3s, clearly the same person replying to his own troll stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like this thread has completely derailed, but for folks wanting to find a balance between density, walkability, and good schools, I highly recommend checking out the Rosslyn- Ballston corridor. It’s changed a LOT over the past decade, with more change to come. You’re going to find diversity, varied housing types, and the ability to live a car-free or nearly car-free lifestyle, if you choose. The county offers great youth rec classes and there are lots of parks and restaurants and other things to walk to. I think when people discuss the sterile Arlington, they are talking about 22207. I’m not going to claim Arlington schools are the best in the region (and I would be laughed off this board if I did) but for folks that don’t want to fully decamp to the burbs, it’s a great option.

Thank you for this sane and actually useful suggestion.

Can you share the names of a few elementaries, or a HS triangle, that are fine (does not need to be the best at all) to give me a jumping off point for looking in that area? I know zip about the schools in that area but have socialized there and like it and can see what you mean.

I would want my kids at WL for HS and Dorothy Hamm for MS. Both are diverse and plenty of people think the brand new middle school Hamm is the best MS in Arlington. WL offers the IB program, and people county-wide try and transfer to WL for access to those IB courses. Arlington Science Focus and Innovation elementary schools will get you into those middle and high schools. One note- part of Rosslyn goes to Innovation ES, Hamm MS, and then splits off to Yorktown HS. Yorktown is the “not very diverse,” mostly wealthy, high-scoring high school in Arlington. Plenty of people like it, but if a rich-kid, travel-sports-heavy school isn’t your vibe, you may want to avoid it. And there are plenty of Yorktown kids wanting to transfer to WL for IB courses, so that goes to show that the test scores aren’t the be-all, end-all for a lot of people.

There are also lottery-based option schools in Arlington. Arlington Traditional (ATS) is the #1 public elementary school in Virginia and notoriously hard to lottery into.

There may be another elementary boundary change in the next few years to address population growth and shifts in Arlington, but I think you’ll be fine with any schools right along the Rosslyn Ballston corridor. If you want to balance a walkable lifestyle with schools, I think you couldn’t do much better. There’s so much to do there. Always something going on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like this thread has completely derailed, but for folks wanting to find a balance between density, walkability, and good schools, I highly recommend checking out the Rosslyn- Ballston corridor. It’s changed a LOT over the past decade, with more change to come. You’re going to find diversity, varied housing types, and the ability to live a car-free or nearly car-free lifestyle, if you choose. The county offers great youth rec classes and there are lots of parks and restaurants and other things to walk to. I think when people discuss the sterile Arlington, they are talking about 22207. I’m not going to claim Arlington schools are the best in the region (and I would be laughed off this board if I did) but for folks that don’t want to fully decamp to the burbs, it’s a great option.

Thank you for this sane and actually useful suggestion.

Can you share the names of a few elementaries, or a HS triangle, that are fine (does not need to be the best at all) to give me a jumping off point for looking in that area? I know zip about the schools in that area but have socialized there and like it and can see what you mean.

I would want my kids at WL for HS and Dorothy Hamm for MS. Both are diverse and plenty of people think the brand new middle school Hamm is the best MS in Arlington. WL offers the IB program, and people county-wide try and transfer to WL for access to those IB courses. Arlington Science Focus and Innovation elementary schools will get you into those middle and high schools. One note- part of Rosslyn goes to Innovation ES, Hamm MS, and then splits off to Yorktown HS. Yorktown is the “not very diverse,” mostly wealthy, high-scoring high school in Arlington. Plenty of people like it, but if a rich-kid, travel-sports-heavy school isn’t your vibe, you may want to avoid it. And there are plenty of Yorktown kids wanting to transfer to WL for IB courses, so that goes to show that the test scores aren’t the be-all, end-all for a lot of people.

There are also lottery-based option schools in Arlington. Arlington Traditional (ATS) is the #1 public elementary school in Virginia and notoriously hard to lottery into.

There may be another elementary boundary change in the next few years to address population growth and shifts in Arlington, but I think you’ll be fine with any schools right along the Rosslyn Ballston corridor. If you want to balance a walkable lifestyle with schools, I think you couldn’t do much better. There’s so much to do there. Always something going on!

Interesting. I work in Rosslyn and while I don’t hate it (and it is walkable), it doesn’t feel very… community-y in the way the Hill does. In fact, I struggle to think of where THs/SFHs are… Where do the people actually live? What is the housing stock like? What kind of price points?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like this thread has completely derailed, but for folks wanting to find a balance between density, walkability, and good schools, I highly recommend checking out the Rosslyn- Ballston corridor. It’s changed a LOT over the past decade, with more change to come. You’re going to find diversity, varied housing types, and the ability to live a car-free or nearly car-free lifestyle, if you choose. The county offers great youth rec classes and there are lots of parks and restaurants and other things to walk to. I think when people discuss the sterile Arlington, they are talking about 22207. I’m not going to claim Arlington schools are the best in the region (and I would be laughed off this board if I did) but for folks that don’t want to fully decamp to the burbs, it’s a great option.

Thank you for this sane and actually useful suggestion.

Can you share the names of a few elementaries, or a HS triangle, that are fine (does not need to be the best at all) to give me a jumping off point for looking in that area? I know zip about the schools in that area but have socialized there and like it and can see what you mean.

I would want my kids at WL for HS and Dorothy Hamm for MS. Both are diverse and plenty of people think the brand new middle school Hamm is the best MS in Arlington. WL offers the IB program, and people county-wide try and transfer to WL for access to those IB courses. Arlington Science Focus and Innovation elementary schools will get you into those middle and high schools. One note- part of Rosslyn goes to Innovation ES, Hamm MS, and then splits off to Yorktown HS. Yorktown is the “not very diverse,” mostly wealthy, high-scoring high school in Arlington. Plenty of people like it, but if a rich-kid, travel-sports-heavy school isn’t your vibe, you may want to avoid it. And there are plenty of Yorktown kids wanting to transfer to WL for IB courses, so that goes to show that the test scores aren’t the be-all, end-all for a lot of people.

There are also lottery-based option schools in Arlington. Arlington Traditional (ATS) is the #1 public elementary school in Virginia and notoriously hard to lottery into.

There may be another elementary boundary change in the next few years to address population growth and shifts in Arlington, but I think you’ll be fine with any schools right along the Rosslyn Ballston corridor. If you want to balance a walkable lifestyle with schools, I think you couldn’t do much better. There’s so much to do there. Always something going on!

Interesting. I work in Rosslyn and while I don’t hate it (and it is walkable), it doesn’t feel very… community-y in the way the Hill does. In fact, I struggle to think of where THs/SFHs are… Where do the people actually live? What is the housing stock like? What kind of price points?

Personally I would prefer the neighborhoods in or adjacent to the Courthouse and Clarendon blocks. You usually need at least 1.1M to get into a TH there, but I have occasionally seen things around 900-1M. SFHs are expensive everywhere in N Arlington and this area is no exception. It’s 1.5M and goes up considerably from there. Lower priced SFHs are usually a building lot or a big project.

I don’t know the particular streets that have condos and THs in Rosslyn (verses the high rises that you may work near). I’m a little out of my depth on advising on specific areas of the Rosslyn neighborhood other than to say I would prefer the neighborhoods uphill from Rosslyn as they are greener, have lower building heights, and have more family-friendly restaurants and retail, plus better grocery store options (IMHO).

(Also I’m not a realtor, just doing my best to throw out ideas).

[Anonymous]

^ Also- one more thing. Like a lot of places, inventory is low in N Arlington. So if you include this area in your housing search, you probably need to be prepared to wait it out and then jump on something if you’re on a budget. If you’ve looked at housing at all in the past 3 years, I’m sure this isn’t news! A healthy -ish TH budget would probably be up to 1.4M.

That’s all I know- good luck!

[Anonymous]

Sorry- last thing. Try “22201” as your zip code if you search housing. That should exclude Rosslyn and give you some of the other neighborhoods that may feel more “neighborhood-y” in that area.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! PP you're responding to here and I really appreciate your insight. I hate walking up the beginning of that hill to grab my South Block as it is, but maybe I'll keep walking one of these days and take a look around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry- last thing. Try “22201” as your zip code if you search housing. That should exclude Rosslyn and give you some of the other neighborhoods that may feel more “neighborhood-y” in that area.

DP. I searched all over and I don’t think there are any properties or even many apartments zoned for Dorothy Hamm that are the equivalent to the Hill. Someone touched on this upthread, but the Hill is actually relatively affordable for rentals and SFH compared to the “good” pyramids in NW, MoCo and NOVA. Most of us here don’t actually have $1.2 mil for a house especially not at current interest rates. The equivalent is more like the DCC in MoCo - and then you are comparing say McKinley Tech with Einstein, and it becomes less clear which is better.

There ARE a few pockets of value like Rosemary Hills (zoned for BCC with cheaper houses) or Downtown Bethesda (relatively affordable rent if you can do a 2 bedroom.) But when you really start drilling down, the notion that moving to MoCo for the DCC is your option really ends up favoring staying put on the Hill and seeing if SH or EH works, playing it out a little longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry- last thing. Try “22201” as your zip code if you search housing. That should exclude Rosslyn and give you some of the other neighborhoods that may feel more “neighborhood-y” in that area.

DP. I searched all over and I don’t think there are any properties or even many apartments zoned for Dorothy Hamm that are the equivalent to the Hill. Someone touched on this upthread, but the Hill is actually relatively affordable for rentals and SFH compared to the “good” pyramids in NW, MoCo and NOVA. Most of us here don’t actually have $1.2 mil for a house especially not at current interest rates. The equivalent is more like the DCC in MoCo - and then you are comparing say McKinley Tech with Einstein, and it becomes less clear which is better.

There ARE a few pockets of value like Rosemary Hills (zoned for BCC with cheaper houses) or Downtown Bethesda (relatively affordable rent if you can do a 2 bedroom.) But when you really start drilling down, the notion that moving to MoCo for the DCC is your option really ends up favoring staying put on the Hill and seeing if SH or EH works, playing it out a little longer.

Agree with all this. I was the one who posted interest in the Clarendon-Rosslyn corridor and was asking about schools. When I started plugging things into Zillow, it's all waaaaay out of our price range. There are things in the Einstein pyramid we could afford. I do think there is real value to living somewhere like that where the HS is for sure acceptable, if not the "best" school in the area, just for peace of mind. Whereas I really have no peace of mind with regards to Eastern. However, the elementaries and middle schools in that pyramid are no better than the ones on the Hill (in some places not as good), and as stressful as the lottery can be, it is in many ways more flexible and offers more options than the magnet programs and lottery options in MoCo.

We may still move. We'll look at Eastern MoCo in the hopes of finding something metro-accessible and reasonably dense/walkable since obviously that's what we like. But we'll probably also look at Howard and AA counties, knowing that would change our lifestyle entirely, but maybe we give up nice commutes and dense walkability in favor of neighborhood pools and big yards. Ok -- I think I'd probably ultimately be okay with that tradeoff, especially if it mean feeling good about the schools and not having to stress about the lottery anymore. But it's not such an obvious choice that I think it's crazy to stay in CH instead. I don't know if we will but the attitude some have that doing so is crazy, and that there are such perfect and similar choices in the suburbs that would offer all the same amenities at the same price... it's just not true.