Are there other benefits to living in McLean besides the excellent schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we never once considered sending our kids to cooper or langley. quite frankly, we live in great falls for the open greenery, large lots, and equestrian activities. i understand that there are lower income, cookie cutter families who do choose to live in mclean for the good schools, but that’s far from the reality for people like us.

Mclean is large and has plenty of multi-million dollar custom luxury homes, plus townhome communities (some luxury), plus apartment buildings (some luxury). It's mixed. Stupid to compare to GF, which has a lot less density, larger lots, way more car dependent, and has a different appeal. Overall land is more expensive in Mclean than GF. .5 acre lot in premium areas goes over 1m in Mclean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do you think families live in bethesda? solely for the schools? this has to be one of the stupidest threads of all time

yup pretty much.
we just left Bethesda. Every year in our neighborhood as soon as a senior graduated from Whitman their parent's house would go on the market and they'd leave as fast as they could.

Why? I always thought Bethesda was extremely livable and pleasant, with walkability and access to transit and also nice small town vibe without fugly strip mall parking lots everywhere. I wish Mclean was more like Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do you think families live in bethesda? solely for the schools? this has to be one of the stupidest threads of all time

yup pretty much.
we just left Bethesda. Every year in our neighborhood as soon as a senior graduated from Whitman their parent's house would go on the market and they'd leave as fast as they could.

This also happens in McLean, but usually with the 50-year-old homes.

There are plenty of old empty-nesters in Mclean who don't seem to want to leave.. despite their kids already having their own families

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:most people in the wealthy parts of mclean go to privates anyway. no one is looking at the schools when they’re choosing to buy a 2.5 million+ home, especially in a place like mclean

lol this is dumb. I bought the house because of the schools/shared parental attitude already commented on in this thread.

you/they probably can’t afford private then. the families that live in mclean/great falls at our private never even considered the schools when buying in the area. trust me, you would be able to pick them out just by looking at their houses in mclean/bethesda.

and those houses are way more than 2.5. basically everyone buying 2.5-3 here is going to public school.

The price of the house doesn’t really say much. A family can stretch and allocate a greater portion of their income on mortgage or use handed down money to buy a 2.5-3 home. I would say most families that have a HHI of 500k+ are going to private, which is a good portion of some neighborhoods in Mclean.

Oh no. We make much, much more than this and live in McLean. I must have missed the secret meeting where we were informed we shouldn’t be going to public school. It’s worked out well anyway.

LOL, PP is way off. You cannot afford private schools and a McMansion on 500K HHI No way unless grandparents pay for private schools. Even if the house is paid off, there are taxes and house/landscaping/yard maintenance which costs what entire monthlies are in many areas. It gets very tight to afford private schools if you keep up with the Joneses, which is sort of expected, unless you lived there forever and care less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do you think families live in bethesda? solely for the schools? this has to be one of the stupidest threads of all time

yup pretty much.
we just left Bethesda. Every year in our neighborhood as soon as a senior graduated from Whitman their parent's house would go on the market and they'd leave as fast as they could.

Why? I always thought Bethesda was extremely livable and pleasant, with walkability and access to transit and also nice small town vibe without fugly strip mall parking lots everywhere. I wish Mclean was more like Bethesda.

The PP made that up. Maybe a small minority of families move when their kids graduate from Whitman, but that's not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do you think families live in bethesda? solely for the schools? this has to be one of the stupidest threads of all time

yup pretty much.
we just left Bethesda. Every year in our neighborhood as soon as a senior graduated from Whitman their parent's house would go on the market and they'd leave as fast as they could.

Why? I always thought Bethesda was extremely livable and pleasant, with walkability and access to transit and also nice small town vibe without fugly strip mall parking lots everywhere. I wish Mclean was more like Bethesda.

PP you're quoting. I know - I also wondered this. And often it is the nicer families with a greater degree of ethnic diversity. It's a shame they don't stay but I witnessed it happen every summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:most people in the wealthy parts of mclean go to privates anyway. no one is looking at the schools when they’re choosing to buy a 2.5 million+ home, especially in a place like mclean

lol this is dumb. I bought the house because of the schools/shared parental attitude already commented on in this thread.

you/they probably can’t afford private then. the families that live in mclean/great falls at our private never even considered the schools when buying in the area. trust me, you would be able to pick them out just by looking at their houses in mclean/bethesda.

and those houses are way more than 2.5. basically everyone buying 2.5-3 here is going to public school.

The price of the house doesn’t really say much. A family can stretch and allocate a greater portion of their income on mortgage or use handed down money to buy a 2.5-3 home. I would say most families that have a HHI of 500k+ are going to private, which is a good portion of some neighborhoods in Mclean.

Oh no. We make much, much more than this and live in McLean. I must have missed the secret meeting where we were informed we shouldn’t be going to public school. It’s worked out well anyway.

you weren’t responding to me. point being if you can afford it, one is entitled to either choice. if you want to go to falls church high or herndon high, no one’s going to stop you. no one cares frankly, we make more than the 500k threshold that PP was referring to, and we rather have our kid surrounded by people like us.

Gosh. I'm glad we chose Bethesda over McLean it seems full of insensitive types lacking in basic humility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:most people in the wealthy parts of mclean go to privates anyway. no one is looking at the schools when they’re choosing to buy a 2.5 million+ home, especially in a place like mclean

lol this is dumb. I bought the house because of the schools/shared parental attitude already commented on in this thread.

you/they probably can’t afford private then. the families that live in mclean/great falls at our private never even considered the schools when buying in the area. trust me, you would be able to pick them out just by looking at their houses in mclean/bethesda.

and those houses are way more than 2.5. basically everyone buying 2.5-3 here is going to public school.

The price of the house doesn’t really say much. A family can stretch and allocate a greater portion of their income on mortgage or use handed down money to buy a 2.5-3 home. I would say most families that have a HHI of 500k+ are going to private, which is a good portion of some neighborhoods in Mclean.

Oh no. We make much, much more than this and live in McLean. I must have missed the secret meeting where we were informed we shouldn’t be going to public school. It’s worked out well anyway.

you weren’t responding to me. point being if you can afford it, one is entitled to either choice. if you want to go to falls church high or herndon high, no one’s going to stop you. no one cares frankly, we make more than the 500k threshold that PP was referring to, and we rather have our kid surrounded by people like us.

Gosh. I'm glad we chose Bethesda over McLean it seems full of insensitive types lacking in basic humility.

DP, but you'd have to be lacking in basic intelligence to think any post on this forum is indicative of what people who live in any particular area really think or do. There's nothing that keeps someone from coming on here and pretending to live in Bethesda, Great Falls, McLean, etc.

[Anonymous]

For all I know, it’s the same two people making all these posts.

[Anonymous]

I live in north Arlington in a 2m dollar home. Our kids go to private- but really APS sucks so there is no real option.

I would move to McLean for public schools and in the 3m-4m home range if we could. But we cannot afford that.

Arlington works for an urban feel and best Virginia commute. Houses are expensive and you cannot have the land you get in McLean- but the trade offs are really at the upper end for a really nice house to live in a boring suburb with good public schools or live in a more modest house in more fun area and pay for private.

2m home in mclean, public schools and super boring area do not add up for us.
3-4m home in mclean, public schools and super boring place are more appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in north Arlington in a 2m dollar home. Our kids go to private- but really APS sucks so there is no real option.

I would move to McLean for public schools and in the 3m-4m home range if we could. But we cannot afford that.

Arlington works for an urban feel and best Virginia commute. Houses are expensive and you cannot have the land you get in McLean- but the trade offs are really at the upper end for a really nice house to live in a boring suburb with good public schools or live in a more modest house in more fun area and pay for private.

2m home in mclean, public schools and super boring area do not add up for us.
3-4m home in mclean, public schools and super boring place are more appealing.

are you saying 2m home in Mclean is too crappy to compare to your 2m in Arlington? I am confused. Are you going to be happy to forgo access to your favorite urban amenities as long as you can afford a big resort-like luxury mcMansion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in north Arlington in a 2m dollar home. Our kids go to private- but really APS sucks so there is no real option.

I would move to McLean for public schools and in the 3m-4m home range if we could. But we cannot afford that.

Arlington works for an urban feel and best Virginia commute. Houses are expensive and you cannot have the land you get in McLean- but the trade offs are really at the upper end for a really nice house to live in a boring suburb with good public schools or live in a more modest house in more fun area and pay for private.

2m home in mclean, public schools and super boring area do not add up for us.
3-4m home in mclean, public schools and super boring place are more appealing.

Even by DCUM standards this is one of the dumbest troll posts I’ve ever read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:most people in the wealthy parts of mclean go to privates anyway. no one is looking at the schools when they’re choosing to buy a 2.5 million+ home, especially in a place like mclean

lol this is dumb. I bought the house because of the schools/shared parental attitude already commented on in this thread.

you/they probably can’t afford private then. the families that live in mclean/great falls at our private never even considered the schools when buying in the area. trust me, you would be able to pick them out just by looking at their houses in mclean/bethesda.

and those houses are way more than 2.5. basically everyone buying 2.5-3 here is going to public school.

The price of the house doesn’t really say much. A family can stretch and allocate a greater portion of their income on mortgage or use handed down money to buy a 2.5-3 home. I would say most families that have a HHI of 500k+ are going to private, which is a good portion of some neighborhoods in Mclean.

Oh no. We make much, much more than this and live in McLean. I must have missed the secret meeting where we were informed we shouldn’t be going to public school. It’s worked out well anyway.

LOL, PP is way off. You cannot afford private schools and a McMansion on 500K HHI No way unless grandparents pay for private schools. Even if the house is paid off, there are taxes and house/landscaping/yard maintenance which costs what entire monthlies are in many areas. It gets very tight to afford private schools if you keep up with the Joneses, which is sort of expected, unless you lived there forever and care less.

Absolutely not necessary with one kid. And we do our own home maintenance.

[Anonymous]

What are the kids like in these neighborhoods? Judging by the posts on this forum, McClean has some of the softest, scared parents of anywhere in the country. What are these kids being raised as? Will they be able to face any real life when they have to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the kids like in these neighborhoods? Judging by the posts on this forum, McClean has some of the softest, scared parents of anywhere in the country. What are these kids being raised as? Will they be able to face any real life when they have to?

You’re right. Let’s all move to Anacostia to face real life and get our kids raised right.