S/O: Brookland VS Hyattsville
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Anonymous
Hyattsville main walkable commercial area is the Arts District/Downtown the area of Route 1 around Jefferson Street to Farragut Street. West of there you have a lot of historical homes. Hyattsville is also in the process of redeveloping areas around the Metro stations, PG Plaza and West Hyattsville to make them more walkable but with limited success. Mt Rainier main commercial area is on Route 1 (Rhode Island Ave) and 34th Street areas. There aren't as many restaurants and shops as in Hyattsville though. |
Anonymous
Yeah, downtown Hyattsville. PG Plaza isn't walkable, it's for cars. The walking around West Hyattsville is a total mess, although it's easy to get there on the bike path which is nice. If you live in Mt Rainier it's great to be able to walk to Glut, the juice place and Sweet and Natural and hopefully the new restaurant if it ever opens, but not as many options as Hyattsville for sure. |
Anonymous
If your kids are infants and you are up for serious sweat equity, I'd choose Brookland. If your kids are approaching kindergarten or you don't have the time/energy/know how to do or supervise home repairs yourself, I would choose Hyattsville. Because in that price range, you're looking a very small place (2 bedroom, maybe a condo) or a total fixer in Brookland. If you have small/preschool kids, you might also want to consider houses in Woodridge, Brentwood, Edgewood (maybe too expensive already) or between Brightwood, Takoma, and Ft. Totten, where you could get something that won't need any work at around $500K. |
Anonymous
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If you can stretch your budget, I'd shoot for this home in Brookland.
https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/4431-14th-St-NE-20017/home/10093235 |
Anonymous
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This one is also doable and under your max budget.
https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/4633-12th-St-NE-20017/home/10089906 |
Anonymous
Funny, I got free pre-K3 and 4 and it wasn’t income based and I’m in PG. pgcps operates 3 Montessori schools that you can lottery in at age 3. They have several language immersion and many test in TAG/performing arts programs. And almost everyone I know is willing to send their child to the local elem. it’s only at middle and high school where it gets dicey. Not saying that’s GREAT, but people act like “the schools” are the reason DC is more stable than PG when ...it’s obviously not. |
Anonymous
Okay, but DC has a huge, free preschool system. And, more importantly, they tell people about it. Does PG? I don't think so? But maybe they do? Who knows really? When I was considering buying in PG county, I tried to research the schools. Totally opaque on the web at least. The schools may not be the major reason for big differences between DC and PG real estate. But then again, the lack of decent web presence of PG schools options combined with longer commutes in PG may indeed be. |
Anonymous
Huh. Everyone I know knows about it. No secret. |
Anonymous
Of course everyone you know *in PG* knows about it. The point is that prospective buyers and people outside of PG simply don't. Whereas the free DC preschools are widely known. And also more widely available. |
Anonymous
| Okay guys, pp figured it out! All the socioeconomic segregation and redlining is due to “the lack of decent web presence” of pgcps! |
Anonymous
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Oh and the “longer commutes,” duh. My neighbors over eastern avenue in Wooldridge have a 30 second shorter commute and surely that translates to $400,000 in value.
But then, what about the ones who technically have a longer walk to the G8 or G9? |
Anonymous
Is this really Brookland? And even if it is, what’s walkable in this part of the neighborhood? Seems like looking at the Brookland v Hyattsville checklist you lose access to a lot of the amenities in this location, but maybe I’m missing something. We’re in a fixer way down across the tracks in Brookland/Edgewood and it’s hard to imagine the neighborhood stretching this far north. |
Anonymous
Here is some PGCPS Pre-K data. There are a total of 5143 children in the various Pre-K 3 and 4 programs. That includes kids with special needs who attend the Early Childhood Centers, kids that qualify for FARMS and attend local elementary schools and the kids who go to the three Montessori schools. There are 351 children in the Pre-K classes at the Montessori schools. The rest of the Pre-K kids are either have IEPs or are FARMS eligible (income based). So if you are super lucky and win one of the 300 slots left after sibling preference, you are golden. If not, you don't get free Pre-K in PGCPS unless your kid qualifies. Also, as far as I know all the Pre-K 3 programs are half day. For reference there are 9600 students enrolled in K this year....so less than half of the kids in PGCPS are offered Pre-K services. PGCPS does a lot of things right but access to Pre-K isn't one of them. |
Anonymous
Be serious PP, the lottery for the free pre-k3 Montessori school is like 300 people long and they have 12 spots per year. There’s no comparison to universal pre-k3. Pre-k has like two openings. You were lucky, but your one data point does not refute the above comparison. |
Anonymous
Actually there are around 150 slots for Pre-K 3 so your odds are even worse. |