Around 400k budget. Commute to Foggy Bottom and Gaithersburg. 1 child on the way. Where?

[Anonymous]

Brightwood/Takoma DC, 20011 or 20012 - you won't find 15 year old houses there but you can find totally renovated 3/2 houses close to that SF for around $400K. I commute to K Street from that area; takes about 15 minutes. Would be about 30 to Gaithersburg. For living purposes it's close to a rec center/park with a pool and tennis courts, the downtown Takoma Park area, Silver Spring shopping, and a quick drive to Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights/downtown. The number of young professional families is growing by the day. Not a lot of great inventory on the market on the moment but several houses are being totally reno'd right now and will probably list in the spring.

[Anonymous]

^^Should also mention the Takoma metro station is nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brightwood/Takoma DC, 20011 or 20012 - you won't find 15 year old houses there but you can find totally renovated 3/2 houses close to that SF for around $400K. I commute to K Street from that area; takes about 15 minutes. Would be about 30 to Gaithersburg. For living purposes it's close to a rec center/park with a pool and tennis courts, the downtown Takoma Park area, Silver Spring shopping, and a quick drive to Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights/downtown. The number of young professional families is growing by the day. Not a lot of great inventory on the market on the moment but several houses are being totally reno'd right now and will probably list in the spring.

And then OP's kids hit ES age, then MS age once that great charter runs out. And then someone's got to commute to Gaithersburg from the tippy top of DC. But in DCUM-land, reverse commutes aren't really commutes.

If your wife wants new, welcome to Urbana and welcome to a 90+ minute commute. Wife's going to have to get over this obsession with new unless Foggy Bottom commuter can make that Rockville + anything further out.

Renovated -- as in functional but maybe some garish colors -- might be had in Rockville city and zoned to RichMo for that budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brightwood/Takoma DC, 20011 or 20012 - you won't find 15 year old houses there but you can find totally renovated 3/2 houses close to that SF for around $400K. I commute to K Street from that area; takes about 15 minutes. Would be about 30 to Gaithersburg. For living purposes it's close to a rec center/park with a pool and tennis courts, the downtown Takoma Park area, Silver Spring shopping, and a quick drive to Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights/downtown. The number of young professional families is growing by the day. Not a lot of great inventory on the market on the moment but several houses are being totally reno'd right now and will probably list in the spring.

And then OP's kids hit ES age, then MS age once that great charter runs out. And then someone's got to commute to Gaithersburg from the tippy top of DC. But in DCUM-land, reverse commutes aren't really commutes.

If your wife wants new, welcome to Urbana and welcome to a 90+ minute commute. Wife's going to have to get over this obsession with new unless Foggy Bottom commuter can make that Rockville + anything further out.

Renovated -- as in functional but maybe some garish colors -- might be had in Rockville city and zoned to RichMo for that budget.

Well, true. It just depends on what is most important and how long OP and his wife plan to stay. I guarantee you they could buy in 20011/20012 now and sell at a profit in five years. The whole area is changing. So for the next five years they could have an affordable totally renovated house and decent commutes for both of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, true. It just depends on what is most important and how long OP and his wife plan to stay. I guarantee you they could buy in 20011/20012 now and sell at a profit in five years. The whole area is changing. So for the next five years they could have an affordable totally renovated house and decent commutes for both of them.

Are you asking OP to gamble on future gentrification?

To be fair Takoma DC is far, far, far from the worst OP and spouse can do. But OP has to go in with eyes open -- that the in-bounds schools aren't the greatest, that someone used to a 1/4 acre lot in a safe Northern VA/EOTP MoCo suburb is going to have HUGE culture shock, and that housing prices can go up and can go down. If they have the cash to stomach losing a bit of money and moving out to Ashburn/Urbana (like someone, somewhere -- but not on DCUM because those are just so un-hip places -- must be doing), it's worth a try.

How many of these young professional families actually (1) stay in DCPS/charters K-12 and (2) stay in Takoma/Brightwood for all those years.