If you had $450k to spend, wanted a decent commute to Metro Center, good public schools, suburbs,

[Anonymous]

and either a SF or TH is fine, where would you move? I am moving from NYC but we're over the "city living" and need more space for our growing family (will be 4 of us). We are looking for a door to door commute less than an hour, good public schools, parks, community swimming pool for summer, decent shopping, a sense of community. My oldest will start elementary school in 2 yrs - we are a young family. Any suggestions/thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks. I stumbled upon this site and this is my first time posting.

[Anonymous]

Kensington MD in either the BCC or Walter Johnson cluster. My commute is 45 min. from my house to Metro Center via Forest Glen Metro. Parkwood is a nice subdivision near Rock Creek Park with a walkable elementary school (in WJ cluster), community pool and depending on what end of it you're on, it's possible to walk to Grosvenor or Medical Center metro. I've lost touch with housing values in Parkwood but I think your budget is close for a small house there.

[Anonymous]

If you're interested in VA, I'd look at Fairfax City. They have a great commuter bus (the CUE bus) that will take you to the Vienna Metro station and prices there are a little less than other areas near Virginia metro stations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kensington MD in either the BCC or Walter Johnson cluster. My commute is 45 min. from my house to Metro Center via Forest Glen Metro. Parkwood is a nice subdivision near Rock Creek Park with a walkable elementary school (in WJ cluster), community pool and depending on what end of it you're on, it's possible to walk to Grosvenor or Medical Center metro. I've lost touch with housing values in Parkwood but I think your budget is close for a small house there.

Can you really get houses that cheap there?

[Anonymous]

Yes, in Parkwood. NP here.

[Anonymous]

15:29 here. We moved years ago but we once lived in Kensington Estates (north end of Parkwood Dr.) which is right next to and largely indistinguishable from Parkwood. The name doesn't quite have the cachet of Parkwood so it is even a bit cheaper. I just looked at Gary Ditto's site and he has a rambler on Warner for 465, so it can be done.

[Anonymous]

Another fans of Parkwood (which straddles Bethesda and Kensington) and the adjacent neighborhoods of Kensington Estates. The great public school is Kensington Parkwood Elementary School. This site will let you map the area served by any particular MoCo school, so you can get a sense of the geography:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/gis/facilityInformation.asp

There certainly aren't many houses listed in this area in the 400s, (more in the 500s and 600s, plus new builds for more), but it's worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

I would recommend the City of Falls Church. It is a nice community, the schools are very good, it's walkable, and you would have an easy commute to Metro Center. You might spend closer to 500-550K for an older fixer-upper type single family, but it might be possible to find an older townhouse in your range. If that doesn't work, the PP who recommended Fairfax/Vienna had some good suggestions, too.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of these recommendations.

For the PP recommending the City of Falls Church, when I check the MLS listings, if it says "Falls Church" is that the same as "City of Falls Church"? I know that Fairfax and Fairfax City seem to be two separate places and I was wondering if Falls Church/City of Falls Church was the same situation.

For the Parkwood/Kensington PPs, can you name any streets that are specifically in Parkwood or Kensington Estates? I am having a hard time finding that area on homesdatabase.com.

Thanks again. This site is a great resource.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't know anything personally about these neighborhoods but there are people on these boards who rave about Cheverly and Greenbelt. They are not as elite as some suburbs of DC (thus more affordable) but they do have metro access downtown and people who live there and comment on DCUM seem to love it. Might be worth doing a search on DCUM to see it's the kind of place that might suit you.

[Anonymous]

If you're coming from NY, you would probably prefer MD to VA.

[Anonymous]

Re Parkwood, if you look here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=parkwood+drive+kensington+md&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.452734,56.25&ie=UTF8&ll=39.027019,-77.081494&spn=0.01747,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=addr

You'll have to scroll around a bit, but the area I'm talking about has boundaries of Parkwood Dr., Cedar Lane (where it is west of Summit Ave.), Summit Ave. (where Summit and Cedar merge), and Knowles Ave. That would encompass Parkwood (both Bethesda and Kensington), Kensington Estates, and some other indistinguishable subdivisions like Warners Additions.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much! I am checking the map out now. I am not sure if I am finding much inventory in my price range in that area on homesdatabase but I will keep it on the radar.

Also, to the PP who thinks I'd prefer MD to VA, why?

Also, regarding Cheverly and Greenbelt, it looks like that is in Prince George County.. How are the schools there?

Also, does anyone know anything about Germantown? Someone recommended that area to me, but it looks so far out. Would that be a terrible commute?

[Anonymous]

There's a Parkwood map through the neighborhood association page:

http://www.geocities.com/parkwoodneighbor/index.html

Some streets:

Parkwood Dr
Woodfield Rd
Oldfield Dr
Everett St
Glenridge St
Amherst Ln
Cedar Ln


It's just outside the beltway. If you're coming from DC, it's between Wisconsin Avenue and Connecticut Avenue.

[Anonymous]

Re Parkwood again, I would also look east of Connecticut Ave. in the actual town of Kensington AS LONG AS the house is in the Walter Johnson or BCC cluster. You wouldn't be able to walk to school but the town is kind of fun to walk in.