Silver Spring vs. Takoma Park

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, you'll want to focus on areas near the Red Line, then. I'd look at Takoma Park (walk to Takoma station), Downtown Silver Spring (walk to Silver Spring station), and the area around Forest Glen metro station.

The corresponding elementary schools are, I believe:

Rolling Terrace Elementary (K-5): Huge school with a high ESOL population, but an active PTA and a well-regarded Spanish partial immersion program. At least 22 kids per class outside the immersion program, though, and I'm not sure any of Rolling Terrace is walkable to the Metro but there are buses. Feeds to Silver Spring International Middle, which has a middle years IB program, and Blair High.

Takoma Park Elementary (K-2) and Piney Branch (3-5): Great schools with a gifted program, but huge with about 10 classes per grade and 22+ kids in a class. You will pay a good amount to live here, but the neighborhood is lovely and people are super nice. Feeds to Takoma Park Middle and Blair High, which are good schools for this side of the county.

East Silver Spring (K-5): Higher poverty school with corresponding lower test scores, but parents who are in the school are happy with it and there are middle class families in the school. The higher poverty population means they get extra funding for smaller class sizes. 4 classes per grade, 18 kids per class. Feeds into Takoma Park Middle and Blair.

Woodlin Elementary (K-5): Very well regarded elementary school with a high performing student body. Feeds to Sligo Middle School and Einstein High, both of which have fiercely loyal constituencies but have only recently begun to attract middle class families in any significant number. Einstein has a visual arts magnet that people love, but it is test-in (or, I guess, portfolio in)

Flora Singer Elementary (K-5): Brand new building, super popular principal, happy families. Feeds to Sligo MS and Einstein.

I'm sure there are other options that I'm missing, but those are the schools off the top of my head that might allow your husband to walk to Metro.

Sligo Creek Elementary School serves Downtown Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't make the same mistakes we made and buy into the hype and pay a premium for a small older house in TP without knowing what you are truly getting, scope out exactly where you will be living and come back at multiple times before deciding. The oldtown part of TP is cute but now kind of a pain to drive through and Carrol is just the worst. There are some cute neighborhoods in the historic parts but they turn shady and crappy quickly as you get closer to New Hampshire, University Blvd, Maple Ave (non-SFH part) and Flower Ave. The bane of TP is it really is right on the edge of what many would consider civilization, many don't agree with me but drive around the close by PG and the DC neighborhoods and judge for your self.


Silver Spring is huge and ranges from Ok to forgettable down to pretty bad with some of the worst being right on the edge of DTSS and TP like Piney Branch and University. Obviously you would want to close to downtown preferably south of Dale Dr or just north. Even then you have to be careful with school expectations as the best neighborhoods (Woodside and Woodside Park) goes to one of the lesser school clusters where the other decent neighborhood (Sligo Park Hills) has a very sub par elementary school and is on the far edge of what could be consider walkable. There are a few compromise neighborhoods (Woodmore and Forest Glen) that are cheaper and rightly so but offer decent options for the area if your budget is south of 600k.

The problem with the DTSS area is it is just recovering for decades of being the dumping ground of low income housing and neglect form the county and while it is going though a transformation it still has many of the cons of poorer urban areas and the cons of the suburbs.

This is a matter of informed opinion, not a matter of fact, the people who settled here are in denial and don't share the opinion even if everybody else does.

FIFY

[Anonymous]

don't believe the hype, both areas have large concentrations of minority poverty with quite a bit of crime.

The best bet is to stay in bethesda or chevy chase

http://www.areavibes.com/silver+spring-md/crime/
http://www.areavibes.com/silver+spring-md/demographics/

http://www.areavibes.com/takoma+park-md/crime/
http://www.areavibes.com/takoma+park-md/demographics/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:don't believe the hype, both areas have large concentrations of minority poverty with quite a bit of crime.

The best bet is to stay in bethesda or chevy chase

http://www.areavibes.com/silver+spring-md/crime/
http://www.areavibes.com/silver+spring-md/demographics/

http://www.areavibes.com/takoma+park-md/crime/
http://www.areavibes.com/takoma+park-md/demographics/

Some people see that as a positive

[Anonymous]

People don't see crime as a positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don't see crime as a positive.

If you are a criminal it would be a positive

[Anonymous]

The best bet is to stay in bethesda or chevy chase

How is this helpful to the OP? She stated she wanted Takoma or Silver Spring! This thread is NOT about Bethesda or Chevy Chase! " Shocking", I know!

[Anonymous]

I heard about the House Hunters after the fact and they haven't rerun it! I'm dying to see it!

All the info is helpful. Moving in from out of state is STRESSFUL, and everything you guys are sharing is very much appreciated. We did a drive-through in July and I plan to come down again as we get closer to spring (or sooner, if the market heats up). Don't have budget #s yet because we're still getting our preapproval, but will share when we get them.

[Anonymous]

If you're the type of uninteresting person who enjoys cheesecake factory and needs to be close to the club, definitely stay in Bethesda or Chevy Chase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard about the House Hunters after the fact and they haven't rerun it! I'm dying to see it!

All the info is helpful. Moving in from out of state is STRESSFUL, and everything you guys are sharing is very much appreciated. We did a drive-through in July and I plan to come down again as we get closer to spring (or sooner, if the market heats up). Don't have budget #s yet because we're still getting our preapproval, but will share when we get them.

What's your budget? Most banks will pre-approve you for more than you can actually afford because they don't look at childcare expenses etc. You need to figure out what monthly payment you're comfortable with, with a little money to spare for inevitable home repairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard about the House Hunters after the fact and they haven't rerun it! I'm dying to see it!

All the info is helpful. Moving in from out of state is STRESSFUL, and everything you guys are sharing is very much appreciated. We did a drive-through in July and I plan to come down again as we get closer to spring (or sooner, if the market heats up). Don't have budget #s yet because we're still getting our preapproval, but will share when we get them.

What's your budget? Most banks will pre-approve you for more than you can actually afford because they don't look at childcare expenses etc. You need to figure out what monthly payment you're comfortable with, with a little money to spare for inevitable home repairs.

Agreed. They told us we could be per approved to buy a home up to $1 million. Ended up buying in the 750 K range--we knew how much wiggle room we wanted for extras, travel, etc., so the lower number made more sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, you'll want to focus on areas near the Red Line, then. I'd look at Takoma Park (walk to Takoma station), Downtown Silver Spring (walk to Silver Spring station), and the area around Forest Glen metro station.

The corresponding elementary schools are, I believe:

Rolling Terrace Elementary (K-5): Huge school with a high ESOL population, but an active PTA and a well-regarded Spanish partial immersion program. At least 22 kids per class outside the immersion program, though, and I'm not sure any of Rolling Terrace is walkable to the Metro but there are buses. Feeds to Silver Spring International Middle, which has a middle years IB program, and Blair High.

Takoma Park Elementary (K-2) and Piney Branch (3-5): Great schools with a gifted program, but huge with about 10 classes per grade and 22+ kids in a class. You will pay a good amount to live here, but the neighborhood is lovely and people are super nice. Feeds to Takoma Park Middle and Blair High, which are good schools for this side of the county.

East Silver Spring (K-5): Higher poverty school with corresponding lower test scores, but parents who are in the school are happy with it and there are middle class families in the school. The higher poverty population means they get extra funding for smaller class sizes. 4 classes per grade, 18 kids per class. Feeds into Takoma Park Middle and Blair.

Woodlin Elementary (K-5): Very well regarded elementary school with a high performing student body. Feeds to Sligo Middle School and Einstein High, both of which have fiercely loyal constituencies but have only recently begun to attract middle class families in any significant number. Einstein has a visual arts magnet that people love, but it is test-in (or, I guess, portfolio in)

Flora Singer Elementary (K-5): Brand new building, super popular principal, happy families. Feeds to Sligo MS and Einstein.

I'm sure there are other options that I'm missing, but those are the schools off the top of my head that might allow your husband to walk to Metro.

That should be inside the immersion program. The class sizes outside of the immersion program are smaller - similar to East Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Person who referenced Bethesda and Chevy Chase,

You are exactly who I'm trying to avoid by moving there. Pompous attitudes and blatant classism feels unsafe to me.

And btw I'm a teacher at a high performing Chevy Chase school where I would never send my kid....the curriculum and test scores provide opportunities for students excel at basic academic skills bit for deep learning, language learning, leadership skills, and something extraordinary you won't find that at a bethesda or Chevy Chase school. They are solid public schools, but nothing I can think of is special or great about them...

But I suppose from your classist comments, you are looking for some narrow and sheltered ....and frankly not too contextually stimulating.

[Anonymous]

Typo...meant who I'm try to avoid by steering clear of Chevy chase

[Anonymous]

First of all, it’s Woodmoor. Not Woodmore. It’s a perfectly nice neighborhood. True that you can’t walk to the Metro from there, but there’s nice housing stock and lots of families with younger kids.

OP, we live in one of the Woodside neighborhoods (there are a bunch; all are south of the Beltway and I think zoned for either Woodlin or Sligo Creek ES). TKPK is more charming. That’s just fact. But we have a lot of the advantages you get in Takoma Park: access to green space, nice neighbors, involved civic associations. Walkable to the Metro and to downtown Silver Spring.

Our neighbors have/have had kids at Woodlin and Sligo. All are happy. The Woodliners are going to Sligo. Most (not all, but this is going to be true of any neighborhood HS) of the older kids go to Einstein and are having good experiences there.

One elementary school I haven’t seen mentioned is Oakland Terrace. I believe (but correct me if I’m wrong) they’re piloting a different type of immersion program. I have friends up there and they are really happy with the school. Their kids aren’t in immersion, though.

As far as crime ... it occurs anywhere near a big city. It happens in Bethesda, too. I take normal precautions but I don’t feel unsafe in my neighborhood.