Tell me about your safe, vibrant, close-in neighborhood with great schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are seeking a vibrant family community in NW DC, Arlington or Bethesda. A place that is truly welcoming of new comers. A close-in village community where I can raise my elem school aged boys, and public schools are solid all the way through HS. Where they can ride their bikes or walk to school, pool or playground. Key here: I don't want to spend 2 hours/day commuting in traffic. Small detached home, town home, or condo is fine as long as we can walk to some amenities and it's truly a vibrant community.. Max budget $800k. Am I asking for too much?

22043 on the McLean/Arlington/Falls Church border (north of route 7, east of Haycock Road). You won't get a detached single-family home for that money, but townhomes and condos can be found if you look.

Also checkout the shreve and pimmit hills side if you want to get a SFH.

You can get a SFH for this amount in the Haycock-Longfellow-mclean part of 22043.

[Anonymous]

Look for an attached row house in Chevy Chase, DC for Murch or Lafayette. If attached, you should be able to find something for under $800K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any neighborhoods in the district that fit this criteria?

16th Street Heights, unless by "NW DC" you mean only West of Rock Creek Park. You can get a decent sized standalone house (3 or 4 BR / 2 BA or bigger) for $800K with reasonable proximity to transit. I recommend checking out the neighborhood elementary schools for yourself to figure out if they are a good fit (I'm happy to make some connections if you're interested). One downside is that the middle school / high school is a big question mark right now. Although if they are already in middle school, parts of the neighborhood are zoned for Deal and you can feed to Wilson from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any neighborhoods in the district that fit this criteria?

16th Street Heights, unless by "NW DC" you mean only West of Rock Creek Park. You can get a decent sized standalone house (3 or 4 BR / 2 BA or bigger) for $800K with reasonable proximity to transit. I recommend checking out the neighborhood elementary schools for yourself to figure out if they are a good fit (I'm happy to make some connections if you're interested). One downside is that the middle school / high school is a big question mark right now. Although if they are already in middle school, parts of the neighborhood are zoned for Deal and you can feed to Wilson from there.

16th street heights is a vibrant neighborhood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any neighborhoods in the district that fit this criteria?

16th Street Heights, unless by "NW DC" you mean only West of Rock Creek Park. You can get a decent sized standalone house (3 or 4 BR / 2 BA or bigger) for $800K with reasonable proximity to transit. I recommend checking out the neighborhood elementary schools for yourself to figure out if they are a good fit (I'm happy to make some connections if you're interested). One downside is that the middle school / high school is a big question mark right now. Although if they are already in middle school, parts of the neighborhood are zoned for Deal and you can feed to Wilson from there.

16th street heights is a vibrant neighborhood?

Define "vibrant".
I like the feel. It's got a few spots nearby - great brunch spot, good NYish pizza, and reasonably close to the fun things on Upshur st. and 11th st. (columbia heights). But at night, I hear crickets...

[Anonymous]

I live in Arlington Forest, walkable to Ballston (DD and nanny can walk to the library, pool at W-L, ice skating rink in the mall, and everything else in Ballston). Neighbors are extremely close and welcoming, we have block parties, a Halloween parade, going-away parties and housewarmings, community association picnic, a neighborhood babysitting exchange, and it's overall very "vibrant" -- lots of kids playing outside in their lawns, a couple playgrounds that are always busy, a mix of SAHPs, WAHPs, and WOHPs. Good schools, more diverse than the mostly all-white schools in Westover (if that's appealing to you - it was to us as our family is intercultural). Lots of cool families with different backgrounds (we are only one of a big range of families who are half American, half European/half Asian/half South American/half African, seems like a lot of foreign service people live around here). Lots of kids who know multiple languages. Lots of friendly and sweet older kids who are nice to toddlers on the playgrounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington Forest, walkable to Ballston (DD and nanny can walk to the library, pool at W-L, ice skating rink in the mall, and everything else in Ballston). Neighbors are extremely close and welcoming, we have block parties, a Halloween parade, going-away parties and housewarmings, community association picnic, a neighborhood babysitting exchange, and it's overall very "vibrant" -- lots of kids playing outside in their lawns, a couple playgrounds that are always busy, a mix of SAHPs, WAHPs, and WOHPs. Good schools, more diverse than the mostly all-white schools in Westover (if that's appealing to you - it was to us as our family is intercultural). Lots of cool families with different backgrounds (we are only one of a big range of families who are half American, half European/half Asian/half South American/half African, seems like a lot of foreign service people live around here). Lots of kids who know multiple languages. Lots of friendly and sweet older kids who are nice to toddlers on the playgrounds.

The only issue with all the foreign service kids is that they move every few years.

[Anonymous]

In the district, McLean Gardens.

[Anonymous]

Or Glover Park, also in DC. It's a very friendly neighborhood with a great walkable elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Or Glover Park, also in DC. It's a very friendly neighborhood with a great walkable elementary school.

[Anonymous]

OP here. 16th Street Heights, Glover Park and McLean Gardens are out ...b/c schools aren't solid through HS. It seems elementary would be fine in most places, but not MS and HS.

[Anonymous]

$800k it too low a budget for DC proper for a detached home with good schools. We live in NWDC (Glover Park) in a row house in a neighborhood with a good elementary school, and our house would go for around $850k. Most people move out of our neighborhood when their kids hit middle school, but the middle school is improving from what I understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Chevy Chase. Neighborhood pool, supermarket and Starbucks within walking distance, Capital Crescent Trail and Audubon Society for great nature walks and summer camps. Kids bike and walk to NCC elementary which runs grades 3 to 6. Commute downtown is easy by suburban standards (lots of different route permutations; street traffic rather than highway traffic; for someone like me with flex hours, off-peak times mean 25 mins door-to-door.) Under $800k will be a stretch but doable as long as you're okay with doing work. Same applies to the nearby parts of Kensington, although probably a bit less walking for most parts of the neighborhood.

I second all of this as an 11-year NCC resident.

I'm a five year resident of NCC and agree for the most part. However, I haven't found that it necessarily meets the OP's definition of "vibrant." When we moved in, we had a house warming party and learned that most of our neighbors didn't even know each other. I haven't found that neighbors really talk to each other and certainly haven't experienced a meal train when I had either of my kids. I see other women in the neighborhood with small children (mine are 2 and 8 months), but they never really seem open to talking. I'm hitting the pool this summer with my 2 year old and hope to make some friends there. But I've found it surprisingly difficult to get to know people outside of my direct neighbors, who are older and whose kids are older. But on paper -- our neighborhood is great. We have the pool, the trails, the Audubon, Chevy Chase Supermarket (and still very close to Kensington Safeway), walk to Bethesda on the trail (2 miles), Starbucks in walking distance, access to the red line or you can commute into down town DC via beach, Connecticut, Georgia, 16th Street, and more. We have Norman's Farm stand on Jones Bridge from Memorial Day to past Labor Day. Lots of parks. It's really great. I just wish people were friendlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. 16th Street Heights, Glover Park and McLean Gardens are out ...b/c schools aren't solid through HS. It seems elementary would be fine in most places, but not MS and HS.

If you don't think Wilson is a strong enough HS, then NW DC is not an option for you at all - you should stick with MD or VA, unless you are 100% certain your child will get into a DC magnet school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. 16th Street Heights, Glover Park and McLean Gardens are out ...b/c schools aren't solid through HS. It seems elementary would be fine in most places, but not MS and HS.

If you don't think Wilson is a strong enough HS, then NW DC is not an option for you at all - you should stick with MD or VA, unless you are 100% certain your child will get into a DC magnet school.

+1 million. Also, $800k isn't going to get you very far in that area anyway.