Relocating from Chicago -- Neighborhood Recommendations in DC, MD and VA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I think something the OP might not yet fully "get" is how big the school districts are here. Montgomery County is one district with about 150,000 students. So, the district is huge and the best way to narrow down neighborhoods is by high school pyramid, but even then there are some pretty big swings when it comes to elementary and middle schools within a single high school "pyramid."

The other thing is that a budget of 575K cannot get absolutely everything on her list. On that budget you can either have walkability and an urban feel with GS 4-7 schools (Takoma Park and Silver Spring) OR more highly ranked schools but less walkability (Olney, a small place in the part of Kensington zoned for a W school).

I literally cannot think of a neighborhood that checks ALL of the boxes, and none that are analogous to Oak Park. The closest neighborhood to Oak Park is probably Takoma DC, I think. Beautiful craftsman homes, easy commute to the city, lots of stuff within walking distance, but the school situation is not solid.

If the OP had more money, I'd suggest Shepherd Park, which is a great part of DC with a clear school trajectory but I don't think you can get into that neighborhood for under 800K at this point.

We are moving to DC from Oak Park this summer for DH's job and you are making me even more sad to leave. We are looking at Silver Spring/Takoma Park so at least this thread and others makes me think we're on the right track.

[Anonymous]

First, DC is not like Chicago. Apples and oranges. Here are your options:

You can up your budget and live in the city in a rowhouse - and compromise schools or go private.

You can live close-in in somewhere that's still a little funky like Del Ray, TP, or SS - and compromise schools or go private.

You can up your budget (a lot) and live in Arlington or Bethesda - both have good schools.

Or you can move to the suburbs. You will have your good schools, and you can drive to DC, but you'll probably realize that's a pain in he ass and spend all your time close to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, DC is not like Chicago. Apples and oranges. Here are your options:

You can up your budget and live in the city in a rowhouse - and compromise schools or go private.

You can live close-in in somewhere that's still a little funky like Del Ray, TP, or SS - and compromise schools or go private.

You can up your budget (a lot) and live in Arlington or Bethesda - both have good schools.

Or you can move to the suburbs. You will have your good schools, and you can drive to DC, but you'll probably realize that's a pain in he ass and spend all your time close to home.

Arlington and Bethesda are the suburbs. The schools are uniformly good in Bethesda, but Arlington has some good schools and some of the lowest performing schools in NoVa, such as Wakefield HS. And people who live further out don't necessarily drive to DC.

Just because you bombard OP with "details" doesn't mean you're actually being honest or making any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I think something the OP might not yet fully "get" is how big the school districts are here. Montgomery County is one district with about 150,000 students. So, the district is huge and the best way to narrow down neighborhoods is by high school pyramid, but even then there are some pretty big swings when it comes to elementary and middle schools within a single high school "pyramid."

The other thing is that a budget of 575K cannot get absolutely everything on her list. On that budget you can either have walkability and an urban feel with GS 4-7 schools (Takoma Park and Silver Spring) OR more highly ranked schools but less walkability (Olney, a small place in the part of Kensington zoned for a W school).

I literally cannot think of a neighborhood that checks ALL of the boxes, and none that are analogous to Oak Park. The closest neighborhood to Oak Park is probably Takoma DC, I think. Beautiful craftsman homes, easy commute to the city, lots of stuff within walking distance, but the school situation is not solid.

If the OP had more money, I'd suggest Shepherd Park, which is a great part of DC with a clear school trajectory but I don't think you can get into that neighborhood for under 800K at this point.

This isn't entirely true. OP can find a happy medium in Rockville, in neighborhoods with homes zoned to Rockville HS, or Richard Montgomery HS. Schools will be higher ranked than Silver Spring/Takoma Park, and homes can be walkable to Town Center/metro. I'm sure the neighborhoods aren't like Oak Park (which sounds like it has beautiful older homes), since most homes in that part Rockville were built in the 50s-60s. However, in the Richard Montgomery area there is still the possibility of living around historic Victorian homes, or even picking up an older 20's bungalow for that price.

[Anonymous]

Op, I would look out of the beltway because you work from home. So you are not tied to daily commute or to public transport. We live close in and close to public transport for the commute. If I worked from home I would look in oakton or Vienna or somewhere equivalent in MD. The areas of DC with good schools (depending how good you want them to be and your tolerance for risk with charters and oob) would mostly be above your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First, DC is not like Chicago. Apples and oranges. Here are your options:

You can up your budget and live in the city in a rowhouse - and compromise schools or go private.

You can live close-in in somewhere that's still a little funky like Del Ray, TP, or SS - and compromise schools or go private.

You can up your budget (a lot) and live in Arlington or Bethesda - both have good schools.

Or you can move to the suburbs. You will have your good schools, and you can drive to DC, but you'll probably realize that's a pain in he ass and spend all your time close to home.

Arlington and Bethesda are the suburbs. The schools are uniformly good in Bethesda, but Arlington has some good schools and some of the lowest performing schools in NoVa, such as Wakefield HS. And people who live further out don't necessarily drive to DC.

Just because you bombard OP with "details" doesn't mean you're actually being honest or making any sense.

I wasn't trying to bombard OP with details - I was trying to do the opposite, actually, and boil it down. I assume OP can use the Internet to figure out what parts of Arlington have the "good" schools from K to 12.

DC itself is pretty small. Parts of Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, SS, and TP are reasonably urban, and you can pop in and out of DC pretty easily (10-15 minute metro ride). When I think of the DC suburbs, I think of places like Springfield, Burke, and Fairfax. And yes, you can metro in to DC from some parts of the suburbs; it will just take longer.

[Anonymous]

Relocated from Chicago couple of years ago. There are no comps. Not bc one is better or worse than the other, the two areas are just very different. We were raising kids in the city in chicago and came here and opted for close in (TP/SS) for walkability, diversity, etc. -- just things we are used to to make transition smoother for us. One thing I will say is that this board can give you a pretty skewed view of n'hoods, or maybe folks around here are more sensitive to things. But the crime folks complain of in places like SS and TP and other places close in that are not in the very wealthy areas is really nothing if you're used to WP / West Town or anything like that. The crime stats are easily found on the internet. We lived in West Town and were raising kids and considered it fine. Crime in the close in burbs around here is really nothing worth even considering in your choice. I'm totally comfortable with kids riding bikes around neighborhood, etc. I can't speak much for the district itself. Also, some folks are a bit panicky about schools here (probably in Chicago, too -- just didn't hear it as much). There are some crowding issues, but people I have met with kids in lower rated schools (which appears usually to just be schools with more ESOL and lunch kids) seem generally happy. If you're an involved parent a few points on that ridiculous GreatSchools thing won't matter at all. There is a magnet system, too, but like in Chicago, it's a crap shoot. Bottomline, if you want to have some urban feel but maybe not be in the city itself, there's plenty of close-in options in your budget. And I will say that being on the DC border area is nice bc it is so easy to pop in to do things with the kids or on date night. The traffic is gnarly here so I don't know if we would do that as much if we were further out. Best of luck and go Hawks!

[donewithchicago]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I feel like you're not doing a great job of researching this move.

Posting in this forum is part of the research. The feedback I've received thus far has helped me tremendously to narrow things down and adjust my expectations.

[donewithchicago]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you're moving here, but won't have commutes? Move as far out as you can. With that budget, you won't be getting much close-in and it doesn't seem necessary.

Which then begs the question, why bother moving at all? Higher cost of living, not higher income.

Higher cost of living for a better quality region.

[donewithchicago]

Anonymous wrote:Relocated from Chicago couple of years ago.

How do you like it compared to Chicago? How do you feel the public school system compares to CPS? Which county are you currently in?

Also, do you feel the weather is milder?

[Anonymous]

Anne Arundel County, MD: Crofton, Davidsonville, Severna Park, Gambrills

[Anonymous]

donewithchicago wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relocated from Chicago couple of years ago.

How do you like it compared to Chicago? How do you feel the public school system compares to CPS? Which county are you currently in?

Also, do you feel the weather is milder?

NP, also former Chicagoan. The weather is hands-down milder than in Chicago. No question. That's one of the things I like best about this area. You can do many outdoor activities like biking, running and hiking throughout the year. That said, summers are absolutely miserable, especially compared to the Midwest. But overall, the weather out here is much better.

[Anonymous]

This is "Relocated a couple of years ago"

We like it so far. It's a lot different. We had always lived very close to downtown and that level of urban density doesn't really exist in residential areas here -- even in the district. I do like that in the SS/TP (Mont. Co) area where we are we have the mix of being able to walk to movies, restaurants, library, whole foods, some shops, and metro, while also being in a place where the kids can ride down to friends' houses with no problem. That's different for us (kids riding unsupervised in Chicago was a nono -- all those cars jumping out of alleys). Also having grass is a novelty. We think of where we are as a little like Evanston if Evanston were a little more like Rogers Park. The weather is great -- short winter and where we are it's easy access to bike trails to explore with the kids -- also you can get to a lot more interesting nature pretty quickly than in Chicago.

We're in MoCo and the schools are a lot better than CPS across the county. CPS had some decent neighborhood schools, especially at the elementary level (Bell comes to mind -- I think you mentioned Roscoe V), but as you moved up the ladder things got tougher and the magnet competition became fierce. I know a lot of folks who bolted CPS at middle school. Here, from everyone I have talked to there is generally good feeling about the schools in MoCo up and down. People will dig on some of the "clusters" or "pyramids" -- I'm still not clear on terminology but basically it's the schools that funnel up to a specific high school. I live near the Einstein and Blair clusters (those are the high schools) and folks seem to favor Blair, but then I have heard from a number of people that Einstein has its benefits because it's more challenging course selections aren't as overwhelmed. Something like, very very hard to get a spot in Blair's IB program, but easier at Einstein. Also, Einstein is stronger arts, Blair is more math and science (what I was told -- not first hand for me yet). The middle schools seem ok -- I find that middle school is always tough, just that age is challenging. Some have more struggles than others -- but the best thing there is to maybe find a realtor who can get you in touch with people at different schools -- for middle school I think first hand experience is always best. Elementary schools, like in most large school systems, are the best quality tier. It's pretty easy to find a good ES in your price point.

I'd say drive around a little and get a feel for different areas. It'll become pretty obvious pretty quickly how different it is and what aligns more with your past experiences and with what you might be looking for now. As I mentioned, we felt more comfortable on the DC line on the SS/TP side -- just made sense for us. Bethesda was a little too clean for us (I know that makes no sense, but whatever) and it's really expensive. We could have swung it but it felt like moving to Winnetka, which wasn't what we were looking for. DC itself was indistinguishable from Bethesda in some areas (which was interesting) and in other areas I just felt i didn't know enough to confidently pick a transitional neighborhood (we were native Chicagoans, so we had a lifetime of experience to draw on). We never checked Virginia -- just didn't seem like it was worth our time given what we were looking for, plus I didn't want to be looking forever.

[Anonymous]

Good advice from the PP.

One small neighborhood in SS to consider is Rosemary Hills. It is about a mile to downtown SS/Metro, but feeds into Bethesda-Chevy Chase (BCC) Cluster schools. Two current listings there are above your current budget but listings do come on the market at your budget from time to time.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/8706-Milford-Ave-20910/home/10997002

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/8707-Milford-Ave-20910/home/10997053

[Anonymous]

If you want diversity, good schools, some walkability, metro access, suburban amenities, good ethnic restaurants, try Rockville. Especially since you don't have to commute into DC for work.