Looking to buy SFH in good neighborhood. Seeking recommendations. New Job is in Gaithersburg, MD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not Urbana too far and schools are not diverse.

Frederick same no. Commute will not be pleasant.

Kentlands is nice but schools are having some boundary changes and just ok. Kentlands is a planned community very nice, but construction on homes iffy. But there are playgrounds, pools, easy walking to shops. Lots of people love it , I’d do private school. Main HS is Quince Orchard, which is ok.

Rockville, North Potomac both fine. Even older parts of Potomac near Cold Spring elementary. Look for Wootton, Churchill, Richard Montgomery High School-clusters. Yes these can be over the top (pushy parents)but for public education all good.

No to NW high school or Seneca Valley and Montgomery Village.

Yes I’m biased I own that. Education one thing no one can ever take away.

Parts of Gaithersburg now called North Potomac. That gets a little confusing, which is why you should look up high school clusters and see where lower schools feed into.

+1
Decide what schools you want first and go from there.

But you should know that school boundaries are very much not set in stone. So pick a neighborhood/house/commute you like.

[Anonymous]

I love Frederick, but that commute would kill you. I would recommend Rockville.

You could find something nice in your price range in Woodley Gardens or College Gardens. Maybe also the West End for a smaller house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clarksburg is the most diverse neighborhood in the county, and safest. You can get a new construction home for less than 750k.

Here's a nice one and under budget. Not sure why its been on the market for so long.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Clarksburg/21916-Woodcock-WAY-20871/home/169640942

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Frederick, but that commute would kill you. I would recommend Rockville.

You could find something nice in your price range in Woodley Gardens or College Gardens. Maybe also the West End for a smaller house.

Frederick county is nice and the commute to Gaithersburg can be like 20 minutes to a property just north of Damascus. Urbana HS was #1 in AP test scores in the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greenbelt. Takoma Park. Glen Echo. Frederick.

? traffic would be a nightmare. You would be going with traffic on 270, and 495 would be horrible, too. You could take 200 toll road I suppose.

Someone coming from Cupertino is going to want their neighbors to be smart, quirky, and probably liberal. They are going to appreciate heritage homes. They are used to a certain type of green space. People who work at AstraZeneca in G'burg live in all of these cities. Especially with WFH options.

You don't know Cupertiono. That area is not quirky or have any heritage homes, nor does that area have much green space, for the most part.

-former Sunnyvale/Cupertino resident

Are you going on record and saying there are no Eichler homes in Cupertino? No other mid-century modern homes? No bungalows?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clarksburg is the most diverse neighborhood in the county, and safest. You can get a new construction home for less than 750k.

Here's a nice one and under budget. Not sure why its been on the market for so long.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Clarksburg/21916-Woodcock-WAY-20871/home/169640942

270 is a nightmare between Gburg and Clarksburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Frederick, but that commute would kill you. I would recommend Rockville.

You could find something nice in your price range in Woodley Gardens or College Gardens. Maybe also the West End for a smaller house.

Frederick county is nice and the commute to Gaithersburg can be like 20 minutes to a property just north of Damascus. Urbana HS was #1 in AP test scores in the state.

Insane. It’s not 20 minutes, not even close

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greenbelt. Takoma Park. Glen Echo. Frederick.

? traffic would be a nightmare. You would be going with traffic on 270, and 495 would be horrible, too. You could take 200 toll road I suppose.

Someone coming from Cupertino is going to want their neighbors to be smart, quirky, and probably liberal. They are going to appreciate heritage homes. They are used to a certain type of green space. People who work at AstraZeneca in G'burg live in all of these cities. Especially with WFH options.

You don't know Cupertiono. That area is not quirky or have any heritage homes, nor does that area have much green space, for the most part.

-former Sunnyvale/Cupertino resident

Are you going on record and saying there are no Eichler homes in Cupertino? No other mid-century modern homes? No bungalows?

My version of "heritage homes" is not mid century. CA is littered with mid century homes. I grew up in a midcentury bungalow in CA. I'm referring to old victorian homes that you see around here. You don't see old victorian homes in Cupertino.

[Anonymous]

Kentlands is a fun place to live, although more so if you are an extravert. There is a gigantic Halloween decoration cult that draws thousands from outside the neighborhood. It is *** the *** spot to hang out for many. The neighborhood has its own movie theater, too. Great place to grow up, but only if you don't mind people constantly walking by your house with a postage stamp size yard.

If that does not sound great, then North Potomac feeding into Travilah / Wootton is probably fairly secure for school assignments. We have this big redistricting bruhaha happening in MoCo in real time, which you may or may not support based on equity and social justice. However, if you buy in the desirable Wootton HS and are redistricted elsewhere, you will lose probably 100K off a 750K house. The area has a much more suburban feel, larger lots experience. Some homes feed directly to a large county park with many paths.

It's a great area overall. On weekends, you are 30-40 min drive to DC Zoo, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian museums, etc. Welcome.

[Anonymous]

Former Bay Area resident here.. I just re-read OP's post.. you have two ES kids.

A friend of mine from that area was telling me last year that many of the schools are underenrolled in that area, Saratoga, Campbell, etc... Don't know if Cupertino is like this, too, but word of warning.. MANY of MCPS schools are actually over crowded. The least over crowded cluster is Wootton, and it does skew heavily Asian American, which Cupertino does, too.

IMO, the Wootton (Rockville/N. Potomac) cluster is most similar to Cupertino cluster in terms of demographics and culture, especially the schools. But, it is very possible that in the near future (5 year?), there will be some redrawing of school boundaries so Wootton cluster may look a bit different than now, good or bad.

But here's the best part... MCPS is way better funded than CA schools. You won't have to "donate" much to your local schools here, other than the few PTA drives, but nothing like the annual "donation" for things like PE and art like they do in CA (we "donated" a few thousand when we were in the Bay Area).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kentlands is a fun place to live, although more so if you are an extravert. There is a gigantic Halloween decoration cult that draws thousands from outside the neighborhood. It is *** the *** spot to hang out for many. The neighborhood has its own movie theater, too. Great place to grow up, but only if you don't mind people constantly walking by your house with a postage stamp size yard.

If that does not sound great, then North Potomac feeding into Travilah / Wootton is probably fairly secure for school assignments. We have this big redistricting bruhaha happening in MoCo in real time, which you may or may not support based on equity and social justice. However, if you buy in the desirable Wootton HS and are redistricted elsewhere, you will lose probably 100K off a 750K house. The area has a much more suburban feel, larger lots experience. Some homes feed directly to a large county park with many paths.

It's a great area overall. On weekends, you are 30-40 min drive to DC Zoo, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian museums, etc. Welcome.

Many Kentlands homes have large backyards. It’s just that visitors don’t really see them.

[Anonymous]

I'd sell you my house in 20854. But fmv is probably $1.2. Public schools are Carderock/pyle/Whitman. Look in Carderock neighborhood for mid century modern that might be less expensive.

If I were doing it all over again, I might buy in Kentlands (since I ended up with kids in private school) Would love no or smaller yard. Love that Halloween! (which is also excellent in my neighborhood..........)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greenbelt. Takoma Park. Glen Echo. Frederick.

? traffic would be a nightmare. You would be going with traffic on 270, and 495 would be horrible, too. You could take 200 toll road I suppose.

Someone coming from Cupertino is going to want their neighbors to be smart, quirky, and probably liberal. They are going to appreciate heritage homes. They are used to a certain type of green space. People who work at AstraZeneca in G'burg live in all of these cities. Especially with WFH options.

You don't know Cupertiono. That area is not quirky or have any heritage homes, nor does that area have much green space, for the most part.

-former Sunnyvale/Cupertino resident

Are you going on record and saying there are no Eichler homes in Cupertino? No other mid-century modern homes? No bungalows?

My version of "heritage homes" is not mid century. CA is littered with mid century homes. I grew up in a midcentury bungalow in CA. I'm referring to old victorian homes that you see around here. You don't see old victorian homes in Cupertino.

Ummm, ok millennial. The DC area is one of the top stocks of arts and crafts homes in the county. So is the Bay Area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"We’ll agree to disagree. Test scores don’t lie. IMO Wootton students are much more competitive, focused and stressed, it’s both good and bad but there are differences."

Show me evidence that white and Asian kids at Wootton do better than white and Asian kids at QOHS.

The reality is they don't. The reason the overall test scores are lower at QOHS is because it's 20% FARMS.

You can delude yourself all you want, but that's the reality.

I have very little respect for people that can’t see any other side of an argument and instead point fingers and call people racist.
Multiple people on this thread have said school assignments for Kentlands are a negative of that area. Sorry that upsets you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greenbelt. Takoma Park. Glen Echo. Frederick.

? traffic would be a nightmare. You would be going with traffic on 270, and 495 would be horrible, too. You could take 200 toll road I suppose.

Someone coming from Cupertino is going to want their neighbors to be smart, quirky, and probably liberal. They are going to appreciate heritage homes. They are used to a certain type of green space. People who work at AstraZeneca in G'burg live in all of these cities. Especially with WFH options.

You don't know Cupertiono. That area is not quirky or have any heritage homes, nor does that area have much green space, for the most part.

-former Sunnyvale/Cupertino resident

Are you going on record and saying there are no Eichler homes in Cupertino? No other mid-century modern homes? No bungalows?

My version of "heritage homes" is not mid century. CA is littered with mid century homes. I grew up in a midcentury bungalow in CA. I'm referring to old victorian homes that you see around here. You don't see old victorian homes in Cupertino.

Ummm, ok millennial. The DC area is one of the top stocks of arts and crafts homes in the county. So is the Bay Area.

? I'm almost 50. cupertino homes are not "arts and crafts" home. Please. Stop embarrassing yourself. I said nothing about DC area not having artsy homes, but even much of the DC area burbs have bland colonial homes.