got a job offer to relocate to DC! where should w stay for a weekend to get a taste of living here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hi! we are mid 30s, i haven't visited DC in something like 10 years but have family in the burbs, and i hear DC has changed a lot. looking for specific neighborhood/hotel recs for a weekend late spring to check out what it's all about. our priorities are, in no particular order: vibrant groceries/markets/restaurant options, down to earth people, green space (we'll have a car so it doesn't have to be everything walking distance), some ethnic diversity (we're both mixed), and we do want to have kids soon. i'd have to convince DH as well, so welcome really good suggestions!

I'd consider staying at The Line in Adams Morgan. New hotel, and one of the few that's in a real residential neighborhood (other than the stuff in West End, but that's all basically high rise apartment buildings). Super diverse, maybe a little more nightlife than you may want - but good to feel some real city buzz. Then I'd recommend from there going up towards Petworth and Columbia heights - both of which have close proximity to Rock Creek Park - the most amazing green space in the city. Both have farmers markets, an anchor grocery store or two.

If you're looking to rent or looking to buy, I'd make different suggestions - so its important to understand which. Also - do you want to have your own house/townhouse? Or is an condo/apt doable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hi! we are mid 30s, i haven't visited DC in something like 10 years but have family in the burbs, and i hear DC has changed a lot. looking for specific neighborhood/hotel recs for a weekend late spring to check out what it's all about. our priorities are, in no particular order: vibrant groceries/markets/restaurant options, down to earth people, green space (we'll have a car so it doesn't have to be everything walking distance), some ethnic diversity (we're both mixed), and we do want to have kids soon. i'd have to convince DH as well, so welcome really good suggestions!

I'd consider staying at The Line in Adams Morgan. New hotel, and one of the few that's in a real residential neighborhood (other than the stuff in West End, but that's all basically high rise apartment buildings). Super diverse, maybe a little more nightlife than you may want - but good to feel some real city buzz. Then I'd recommend from there going up towards Petworth and Columbia heights - both of which have close proximity to Rock Creek Park - the most amazing green space in the city. Both have farmers markets, an anchor grocery store or two.

If you're looking to rent or looking to buy, I'd make different suggestions - so its important to understand which. Also - do you want to have your own house/townhouse? Or is an condo/apt doable?

I think that this is a great recommendation but (I was the Bloomingdale/LeDroit PP) I STRONGLY recommend that you at least spend a day walking around the areas closer to Howard.

If you get good weather, what I would recommend is a walk down 18th Street, turn left on U Street and walk down to 7th (wander around the side streets as you go so you can get a sense of the area - especially around 14th because it's so dense with retail, and around 9th & V because that's near Howard), then walk through LeDroit on T Street and end at 1st & Rhode Island which is the middle of the Bloomingdale neighborhood. I'd walk up 1st Street to check out Bloomingdale then loop back over on Bryant to 7th St which will take you right through the Howard campus. Then you'll be exhausted so you can Uber back or to another part of the city to check it out.

[Anonymous]

You might like Mt. Pleasant--not too far from the Columbia Heights metro, some Latino grocery stores but also a safeway and harris teeter nearby, and the area zoned for Bancroft elementary feeds into the highest-scoring middle and high school in DC. It's an easy walk to Rock Creek Park and pretty diverse (yesterday I rode the 16th Street bus through there and there were black, white, latino, asian people including folks speaking spanish, tibetan monks in robes, African immigrants, etc. also on the bus).

Southwest and Navy Yard are also nice. SW is one metro stop closer to HUH but Navy Yard has a better-scoring elementary school (the school in SW guarantees preK spots to in-bounds students, while the one in Navy Yard has a waitlist). Both are close to the Anacostia Riverwalk trail, with SW a bit closer to the Mall and East Potomac Park/Hains Point. Safeway, Harris Teeter, and soon Whole Foods are close by; it's a little futher to Union Market, Eastern Market, or the ethnic grocery stores in the Virginia suburbs but it's doable by transit or car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that this is a great recommendation but (I was the Bloomingdale/LeDroit PP) I STRONGLY recommend that you at least spend a day walking around the areas closer to Howard.

If you get good weather, what I would recommend is a walk down 18th Street, turn left on U Street and walk down to 7th (wander around the side streets as you go so you can get a sense of the area - especially around 14th because it's so dense with retail, and around 9th & V because that's near Howard), then walk through LeDroit on T Street and end at 1st & Rhode Island which is the middle of the Bloomingdale neighborhood. I'd walk up 1st Street to check out Bloomingdale then loop back over on Bryant to 7th St which will take you right through the Howard campus. Then you'll be exhausted so you can Uber back or to another part of the city to check it out.

Thank you so much for the detailed plan. I'm making notes and will definitely try to do this. Just curious what would be a starter home price range here for a big 2 bedroom or small 3 bed? Is it more row homes or condos?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bloomingdale!! It's right next to Howard and young, fun, diverse, family friendly, close to nightlife. It's awesome. The schools are a little iffy past first grade or so but you are years from worrying about that.

If you want a more urban environment then maybe 14th street could be fun.

I can't believe people are recommending suburbs to you. Please don't listen. Come to the city.

I'm the Del Ray poster. I recommended it because they are mid-30s and want to have kids soon. If they were in their 20s and years from kids I'd definitely say stay in DC, but Del Ray is a fantastic neighborhood for young families. So many playgrounds, kids' groups, kid-friendly restaurants. Plus, while it is a suburb, it is very walkable (I can and do walk to groceries, restaurants, dry cleaner, pharmacy) and a lot greener than most parts of DC, which they mention as a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that this is a great recommendation but (I was the Bloomingdale/LeDroit PP) I STRONGLY recommend that you at least spend a day walking around the areas closer to Howard.

If you get good weather, what I would recommend is a walk down 18th Street, turn left on U Street and walk down to 7th (wander around the side streets as you go so you can get a sense of the area - especially around 14th because it's so dense with retail, and around 9th & V because that's near Howard), then walk through LeDroit on T Street and end at 1st & Rhode Island which is the middle of the Bloomingdale neighborhood. I'd walk up 1st Street to check out Bloomingdale then loop back over on Bryant to 7th St which will take you right through the Howard campus. Then you'll be exhausted so you can Uber back or to another part of the city to check it out.

Thank you so much for the detailed plan. I'm making notes and will definitely try to do this. Just curious what would be a starter home price range here for a big 2 bedroom or small 3 bed? Is it more row homes or condos?

The housing mix will vary a lot by neighborhood (some are condos, some are rowhouses) but I think you're looking at $800k+ for a place that fits that criteria. If that's way out of budget, I would still recommend making this walk because it will show you what life is like in the city, but there are some neighborhoods a little bit further north or east that are more affordable (Brookland, NoMa, Petworth come to mind)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bloomingdale!! It's right next to Howard and young, fun, diverse, family friendly, close to nightlife. It's awesome. The schools are a little iffy past first grade or so but you are years from worrying about that.

If you want a more urban environment then maybe 14th street could be fun.

I can't believe people are recommending suburbs to you. Please don't listen. Come to the city.

I'm the Del Ray poster. I recommended it because they are mid-30s and want to have kids soon. If they were in their 20s and years from kids I'd definitely say stay in DC, but Del Ray is a fantastic neighborhood for young families. So many playgrounds, kids' groups, kid-friendly restaurants. Plus, while it is a suburb, it is very walkable (I can and do walk to groceries, restaurants, dry cleaner, pharmacy) and a lot greener than most parts of DC, which they mention as a priority.

Yeah sorry I should have clarified more. I think Del Ray is awesome and was more responding to the people suggesting that she stay in a hotel in, like, McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay in DC for sure! Why not? There are tons of nice AirBnBs in my neighborhood (Capitol Hill) and staying in someone’s house will give you a good sense of what a neighborhood feels like.

Just looked at Capitol Hill on a map. It doesn't seem like there's much green or park space on first glance? Just trying to learn more about it.

DC doesn't really have green space or park space.

It absolutely does, relative to other cities:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/best-city-parks-in-us-trust-for-public-land-ranking-2016

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might like Mt. Pleasant--not too far from the Columbia Heights metro, some Latino grocery stores but also a safeway and harris teeter nearby, and the area zoned for Bancroft elementary feeds into the highest-scoring middle and high school in DC. It's an easy walk to Rock Creek Park and pretty diverse (yesterday I rode the 16th Street bus through there and there were black, white, latino, asian people including folks speaking spanish, tibetan monks in robes, African immigrants, etc. also on the bus).

Southwest and Navy Yard are also nice. SW is one metro stop closer to HUH but Navy Yard has a better-scoring elementary school (the school in SW guarantees preK spots to in-bounds students, while the one in Navy Yard has a waitlist). Both are close to the Anacostia Riverwalk trail, with SW a bit closer to the Mall and East Potomac Park/Hains Point. Safeway, Harris Teeter, and soon Whole Foods are close by; it's a little futher to Union Market, Eastern Market, or the ethnic grocery stores in the Virginia suburbs but it's doable by transit or car.

+1

I live in Mt Pleasant and while our walkable grocery options are not the greatest, there are enough options we can walk to that if we ran out of an ingredient, we can probably walk to get it at one of the markets on Mt Pleasant Street. Other than that, we have pretty much everything else you are looking for -- diversity, good schools, green space nearby (Rock Creek Park is our backyard), walkable to restaurants, bars, and other stuff on Mt P St, in Columbia Heights, and Adams Morgan, and it would be an easy commute to your work if it's near Howard. I would get an AirBnB in Mt Pleasant or stay at The Line in Adams Morgan, which is an easy walk to Mt Pleasant.

[Anonymous]

OP check out Glover Park or Palisades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that this is a great recommendation but (I was the Bloomingdale/LeDroit PP) I STRONGLY recommend that you at least spend a day walking around the areas closer to Howard.

If you get good weather, what I would recommend is a walk down 18th Street, turn left on U Street and walk down to 7th (wander around the side streets as you go so you can get a sense of the area - especially around 14th because it's so dense with retail, and around 9th & V because that's near Howard), then walk through LeDroit on T Street and end at 1st & Rhode Island which is the middle of the Bloomingdale neighborhood. I'd walk up 1st Street to check out Bloomingdale then loop back over on Bryant to 7th St which will take you right through the Howard campus. Then you'll be exhausted so you can Uber back or to another part of the city to check it out.

Thank you so much for the detailed plan. I'm making notes and will definitely try to do this. Just curious what would be a starter home price range here for a big 2 bedroom or small 3 bed? Is it more row homes or condos?

Half of a mixed race couple here. We lived in Shaw/U Street until 2012 when we moved to the Calvert Hills neighborhood of College Park to start our family. We wanted to stay in the city for a few more years but couldn't afford to buy where there was green space and everything we wanted. Very happy to have landed here. I'd also check out Hyattsville on the MD side and Brookland/Woodridge/Ft. Totten/Michigan Park on the DC side. What's your budget?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay in DC for sure! Why not? There are tons of nice AirBnBs in my neighborhood (Capitol Hill) and staying in someone’s house will give you a good sense of what a neighborhood feels like.

Just looked at Capitol Hill on a map. It doesn't seem like there's much green or park space on first glance? Just trying to learn more about it.

DC doesn't really have green space or park space.

It absolutely does, relative to other cities:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/best-city-parks-in-us-trust-for-public-land-ranking-2016

Yeah, I was wondering where the PP was coming from...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay in DC for sure! Why not? There are tons of nice AirBnBs in my neighborhood (Capitol Hill) and staying in someone’s house will give you a good sense of what a neighborhood feels like.

Just looked at Capitol Hill on a map. It doesn't seem like there's much green or park space on first glance? Just trying to learn more about it.

DC doesn't really have green space or park space.

It absolutely does, relative to other cities:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/best-city-parks-in-us-trust-for-public-land-ranking-2016

LOL thank you for the receipts! People on this forum are so absurd sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP where is your job?

near Howard University

OP, check out Shepherd Park/Colonial Village off of 16th St. Not to stay here when visiting--it's completely sleepy, residential, and quiet--but to drive up and check out. Pretty much all SFHs. Not super walkable, but it's near downtown Silver Spring and about a mile walk to the metro there. However, it's a good location to buy in for physicians who work near Howard (like my spouse), so there are many health professionals here. Also very diverse, with lots of black, white, and a pretty high concentration of interracial families. Lots of rainbow flags and signs in yards. Overall--sleepy neighborhood, good schools, good people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you get here, what's your approximate budget? You can get all of that lots of places, from Silver Spring to Arlington to the Hill to AU Park, but the price points are going to be very different.

Thank you. My family is in VA so probably would have a slight preference for close in CA or DC proper. We're both physicians but unfortunately only a couple years into full fledged salaries, so good combined income but not so much savings, will sell our tiny condo for prob around $200k.

Try Arlington. Stay at the Westin in Ballston if you want to house hunt in the area you think you might want to live. Not DC proper, but pretty close.

Right by metro, and you can check out the areas all along the orange line corridor: Rosslyn, Courthouse, VA Square, etc.

Not for "Down to Earth" people!