where to look for $400K in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

*Friends Community School*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could you do Kensington (not proper so feeds into Einstein HS)? We live there now and our house is about 400k. I know Oakland Terr is well liked for elementary, but not sure about middle and high school. (We have young kids and plan to move before middle school so I've never paid much attention to school beyond OTES.)

Does OTES feed to Sligo MS, or Newport Mill? I hear iffy things about the former, good things about the latter.

RE Einstein, we have friends with kids there who are all very happy with it. We also know of lots of Einstein success stories (entrance to competitive colleges and success there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring isn't convenient to the edge cities (Frederick, Annapolis, Leesburg, Fredericksburg.) Car-free living is sort of possible there.

College Park, maybe? Does all of College park zone to Eleanor Roosevelt? There's some SFHs in that range. I don't know how many kids OP has. Some parts of Prince George's are such that you don't want to send your kids to school there but might be doable if you want private. No idea if they're places where errands can really be done on foot.

What aboot Columbia? Wasn't that designed to be like Reston, where you can sort of get away without having a car?

7:49 makes a good point, you might be zoned to Einstein, but if your immediate neighbors are cool, it's way more bearable.

If OP were willing to go with a TH (even an end unit), it'd open more doors so to speak.

What does this even mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you do Kensington (not proper so feeds into Einstein HS)? We live there now and our house is about 400k. I know Oakland Terr is well liked for elementary, but not sure about middle and high school. (We have young kids and plan to move before middle school so I've never paid much attention to school beyond OTES.)

Does OTES feed to Sligo MS, or Newport Mill? I hear iffy things about the former, good things about the latter.

RE Einstein, we have friends with kids there who are all very happy with it. We also know of lots of Einstein success stories (entrance to competitive colleges and success there).

Oakland Terrace now feeds completely to Newport Mill, then Einstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Hm. Where is this Kensington neighborhood where the average home price is $1 million? I can't picture it.

PP is probably talking about Chevy Chase View or Rock Creek Hills. I still think she's exaggerating, though. But not by much.

Yes, I'm talking about Rock Creek Hills and Chevy Chase view. And I didn't say the average home price is $1 million. I said the average home price is $750,000 to $1 million.

http://www.zillow.com/homes/recently_sold/Chevy-Chase-View-MD/

http://www.zillow.com/homes/Rock-Creek-Hills,-MD_rb/

[Anonymous]

Look in Close in Silver Spring, Four Corners:
The neighborhoods which might work
Northwood
Forest Knolls
South Four Corners
Woodmoor
Sligo Woods (may be too expensive)
Seven Oaks (ditto)
Indian Springs

I live in Northwood, Forest Knolls ES has a good reputation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look in Close in Silver Spring, Four Corners:
The neighborhoods which might work
Northwood
Forest Knolls
South Four Corners
Woodmoor
Sligo Woods (may be too expensive)
Seven Oaks (ditto)
Indian Springs

I live in Northwood, Forest Knolls ES has a good reputation.

Cut off Woodmoor, Sligo Woods, and Seven Oaks (unless something has never been renovated) from this list. Nothing livable under $400k in these hoods. Indian Springs will be tough to find something unless on a busier road or in bad condition....South FoCo tough too. But agree in general for "around" $400k these are all great, relatively close to transit options with decent schools.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the replies. We wouldn't be able to afford private school if we bought for $400K. We're currently living in DC in a neighborhood with terrible schools and daunting odds of getting into a good charter or out-of-boundary school. I'm honestly not sure how high my standards are for middle school and high school, partially because our DS isn't even in kindergarden yet. On the one hand, I feel like just about anything would be better than our current school prospects. On the other hand, I really would hate to get to middle school or high school and feel like we made a big mistake. We definitely don't need the best middle school or high school in MoCo--while we would go for that if we could afford it, I know we can't. What are the "worst" MoCo high schools? Are they only bad in comparison to other MoCo (and similarly wealthy suburban) high schools?

My non-driving wife currently works in Silver Spring, but may take a new job at some point, so somewhere that offers public transportation to a variety of places would be good. We don't need to live near somewhere where we can walk to do errands, although that is nice of course. I could drive to work if necessary.

[Anonymous]

Yes, living in Takoma Park means you pay city taxes. But with that, OP would get the desired location and highly regarded schools. You also get really great services. I live in TP and LOVE our police force, independent library, sanitation services, etc. etc. The fact that TP taxes are not comparable to NoVa is beside the point. The OP wants to live near Silver Spring, not in NoVa.

To the PP who mentioned the "PG part of Takoma Park," this is in error. There has not been a PG part of Takoma Park since the late 1990s, when all of TP was consolidated into Montgomery County. There are some listings with a TP zip code, but they are not within the city limits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring isn't convenient to the edge cities (Frederick, Annapolis, Leesburg, Fredericksburg.) Car-free living is sort of possible there.

College Park, maybe? Does all of College park zone to Eleanor Roosevelt? There's some SFHs in that range. I don't know how many kids OP has. Some parts of Prince George's are such that you don't want to send your kids to school there but might be doable if you want private. No idea if they're places where errands can really be done on foot.

What aboot Columbia? Wasn't that designed to be like Reston, where you can sort of get away without having a car?

7:49 makes a good point, you might be zoned to Einstein, but if your immediate neighbors are cool, it's way more bearable.

If OP were willing to go with a TH (even an end unit), it'd open more doors so to speak.

What does this even mean?

If you like the people in the immediate one or two block area, being zoned to Einstein or one of the less fashionable schools can be way more bearable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the replies. We wouldn't be able to afford private school if we bought for $400K. We're currently living in DC in a neighborhood with terrible schools and daunting odds of getting into a good charter or out-of-boundary school. I'm honestly not sure how high my standards are for middle school and high school, partially because our DS isn't even in kindergarden yet. On the one hand, I feel like just about anything would be better than our current school prospects. On the other hand, I really would hate to get to middle school or high school and feel like we made a big mistake. We definitely don't need the best middle school or high school in MoCo--while we would go for that if we could afford it, I know we can't. What are the "worst" MoCo high schools? Are they only bad in comparison to other MoCo (and similarly wealthy suburban) high schools?

My non-driving wife currently works in Silver Spring, but may take a new job at some point, so somewhere that offers public transportation to a variety of places would be good. We don't need to live near somewhere where we can walk to do errands, although that is nice of course. I could drive to work if necessary.

See page 3 of this document for a rough ranking of county high schools based on some America's Best High Schools rankings (out of 1848 high schools in the country that were considered):

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/poolesvillehs/homepage/NationalHighSchoolRankings.pdf

[Anonymous]

Or also, this is Washington area high schools in a ranking so it would likely include the DC high school you are currently zoned for as a comparison:

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/schools/2012/list/local/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring isn't convenient to the edge cities (Frederick, Annapolis, Leesburg, Fredericksburg.) Car-free living is sort of possible there.

College Park, maybe? Does all of College park zone to Eleanor Roosevelt? There's some SFHs in that range. I don't know how many kids OP has. Some parts of Prince George's are such that you don't want to send your kids to school there but might be doable if you want private. No idea if they're places where errands can really be done on foot.

What aboot Columbia? Wasn't that designed to be like Reston, where you can sort of get away without having a car?

7:49 makes a good point, you might be zoned to Einstein, but if your immediate neighbors are cool, it's way more bearable.

If OP were willing to go with a TH (even an end unit), it'd open more doors so to speak.

What does this even mean?

If you like the people in the immediate one or two block area, being zoned to Einstein or one of the less fashionable schools can be way more bearable.

My kids went to Einstein and it was not something we "bore." They loved it, and so did we. It is a good school (better now than when they were there actually), well-ranked nationally, with strong academics.

"Bearable" doesn't apply here.

[Anonymous]

I think this focus on the "worst" MCPS high schools is silly.

Sure there are schools in SSMD where there's a higher percentage of disadvantaged kids, or minority kids, or however you want to look at it.

Every single MCPS high school has good programs, AP available, activities, smart kids, and appropriate peer groups for all.

If you can't afford more than $400K, you either have to live really far out, or you will be in a SS school that has more challenges. But opportunities abound, and there are tons of nice, motivated, smart kids in these schools. Plus your kids will get a better experience with people from all background -- surely an important part of education? My son, in a MS in Silver Spring, has friends from many ethnic backgrounds who are terrific kids. My DD, in a magnet on the west side of the county, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this focus on the "worst" MCPS high schools is silly.

Sure there are schools in SSMD where there's a higher percentage of disadvantaged kids, or minority kids, or however you want to look at it.

Every single MCPS high school has good programs, AP available, activities, smart kids, and appropriate peer groups for all.

If you can't afford more than $400K, you either have to live really far out, or you will be in a SS school that has more challenges. But opportunities abound, and there are tons of nice, motivated, smart kids in these schools. Plus your kids will get a better experience with people from all background -- surely an important part of education? My son, in a MS in Silver Spring, has friends from many ethnic backgrounds who are terrific kids. My DD, in a magnet on the west side of the county, not so much.

+1