Help a first time parent pick a neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Get over it, OP. A lot of the suburbanites you hate used to live in the city too. I lived in Logan Circle in the late 90s/early 00s, so I have way more city cred than you in your isolated tony capitol hood neighborhood and guess what? I live in Herndon now and LOVE it.

SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP.

[Anonymous]

We don't want you in Arlington anyways OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get over it, OP. A lot of the suburbanites you hate used to live in the city too. I lived in Logan Circle in the late 90s/early 00s, so I have way more city cred than you in your isolated tony capitol hood neighborhood and guess what? I live in Herndon now and LOVE it.

SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP.

That’s an oxymoron.

[Anonymous]

You’re not obligated to move to the burbs just because you have kids, just in case anyone forgot to tell you that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re not obligated to move to the burbs just because you have kids, just in case anyone forgot to tell you that.

Certainly not, but at a certain budget with two dogs and wanting a yard that is your best option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re not obligated to move to the burbs just because you have kids, just in case anyone forgot to tell you that.

Arlington recently passed the most liberal zoning law in the entire United States and it also contains the densest census tract in the entire DMV (Ballston).

It’s hardly the ‘burbs. I think people don’t realize how much it has changed and is still changing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you work in Arlington, and you want a SFH with a yard, it makes sense to live there. Your emotional revulsion is dumb.

+1. Check out South Arlington. You can get a nice house for $1.1M, and a house that needs works for even less. It's diverse and full of families.

If you don't want Arlington but want to commute to Arlington, then you'd need to look further out in VA. Vienna maybe. But if you are trying to hold onto some urban lifestyle, I don't think that will scratch that itch.

[Anonymous]

We still haven't heard from OP what the "emotional revulsion" to Arlington is. OP, I've lived in Arlington for over 20 years - one of my sons is about to graduate from HS here. We live 3 miles from the DC border, and drive into DC easily. Last weekend, we ate at St. James (delicious) on 14th Street and drove home from there in about 20 minutes. I think Arlington is the best of both worlds - safe, good schools, good county services, but still close enough to DC to enjoy all it has to offer.

[Anonymous]

Agreed with ppl above. You sound super self righteous and annoying. Please don’t move to Arlington, we don’t want you here. Enjoy the crime in DC.

[Anonymous]

I do wish OP would return and share more about what she is looking for and what she doesn't like. It's hard to be helpful without more information and I think people are reacting to the very specific revulsion to the most logical place without more explanation.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I love the roasting - I’ve been smiling while reading. To clarify, I know I’m being ridiculous for not considering Arlington. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing any options.

Re: staying on the Hill. We can’t stay in our current place on principle because our landlord is raising our rent $500/month and it isn’t a good setup for a baby (old/breaking appliances, super steep stairs, etc.). But after reading this, I’m tempted to consider Hill properties. I’m very worried about PPD, and I think a strong parent community would help significantly.

Re: emotional revulsion to Arlington.
Me - I work near Crystal City and it’s very soulless. Also, there actually are a lot more conservatives probably related to proximity to Pentagon.
My partner - I may not be describing this perfectly, but they went to college with a lot of kids from Arlington. Those kids were condescending/cookie cutter (but this was in the early 2000s).

As you have probably realized, I don’t know much beyond Crystal City. From the comments on here, it sounds like Westover is somewhere I should consider. I checked out Aurora Hills and it was way too close to Crystal City for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I love the roasting - I’ve been smiling while reading. To clarify, I know I’m being ridiculous for not considering Arlington. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing any options.

Re: staying on the Hill. We can’t stay in our current place on principle because our landlord is raising our rent $500/month and it isn’t a good setup for a baby (old/breaking appliances, super steep stairs, etc.). But after reading this, I’m tempted to consider Hill properties. I’m very worried about PPD, and I think a strong parent community would help significantly.

Re: emotional revulsion to Arlington.
Me - I work near Crystal City and it’s very soulless. Also, there actually are a lot more conservatives probably related to proximity to Pentagon.
My partner - I may not be describing this perfectly, but they went to college with a lot of kids from Arlington. Those kids were condescending/cookie cutter (but this was in the early 2000s).

As you have probably realized, I don’t know much beyond Crystal City. From the comments on here, it sounds like Westover is somewhere I should consider. I checked out Aurora Hills and it was way too close to Crystal City for us.

Don’t judge Arlington by Crystal City!! That’s crazy. Like PP said, Westover is nice. Also, Tara-Leeway, Waverly Hills, Cherrydale, Lee Heights, Waycroft-Woodlawn, Lyon Park, and Ashton Heights. All of those neighborhoods are close to the Clarendon-Ballston corridor, but have nice family friendly neighborhoods full of kids. As for your partner’s experience, North Arlington is certainly not the most diverse, but it still has a lot to offer.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the update OP. I can't really express how different Crystal City is from the vast majority of Arlington, holy cow. Definitely do not box yourself in based on that! I live in Arlington and grew up here, and also chuckled at your partner's college experience - was he at UVA? Depending on what college he was at will greatly impact what Arlington kids he was exposed to but yeah, there is certainly a portion of preppy, cookie cutter kids though you will find those in every suburb (and really any city too!).

Anyway - I think your smartest options are to rent on the Hill longer or consider Arlington. If you want to look into Arlington I would personally do the following:

Come to Westover on a nice weather Sunday morning and go to the Farmer's market. Go to the playground at the end of the farmers market and see how it all feels. Check out the little shop area right there, see how the vibe feels for you. The farmers market is a great time to get a sense of the community. Many of us head up there many Sundays, it is wonderful for impromptu hang outs with friends, the kids play and it makes you feel like you're really a part of a community because you're always running into friends. It's also hard to tell when you drive into the neighborhood, but there is a trailhead right near westover and you have access to basically all area bike trails. It is pretty amazing. I bike my kids many places we go.

I would also check out other neighborhoods in arlington that have different vibes - Cherrydale, Donaldson Run. Those are going to be closer to woods if that's important to you. Donaldson run is particularly less walkable, it's more if you want a slower vibe.

You could also check out Lyon park as another poster mentioned.

I think the hill is a great place to have a baby, certainly worth considering. But if you're really wanting to buy, Arlington is also a seriously great place to be a young mom so I wouldn't worry there. It is also hard to imagine prior to having your baby how much you will value having a family friendly neighborhood that makes your life easy. But the Hill can meet that criteria too, just likely requires a move later but there are some pros to that since you'll be farther along in parenthood and know what you want.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I should clarify, the move from the Hill is only related to budget but that could shift for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you work in Arlington, and you want a SFH with a yard, it makes sense to live there. Your emotional revulsion is dumb.

Yeah but $1.1 isn’t going to afford OP a SFH in many/most parts of Arlington. My N. Arlington neighborhood is walkable/bikeable, near metro, has great schools, and houses with yards. But it apparently “repulses” her and is above her budget anyway.