DC Expensive Real Estate causing Millennials to leave for the suburbs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get married and have kids, the 800K gentrifying row house with the crackhead or stabbing out front doesn't seem that great.

I'm married with two kids and a row house in a "gentrifying" neighborhood, and it is a great life. I sometimes wish for another bathroom, but I think the trade-off is worth it.

mmmm...I keep hearing about amenities, but what I really want to know is: what about the schools?

PP here--our DCPS is great. I know you don't want to believe it, but there are many DC parents who happily send their kids to excellent schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

Actually, what's irritating is some people's deliberate refusal to understand that "living in the city" doesn't mean simply putting your head down in any zipcode USPS classifies as belonging to the D. of C.

Do you not seriously understand that when people say "living in the city", they mean it as living in a particular set of circumstances and amenities that's qualitatively - not just geographically - different from suburbs? That some areas of DC, actually quite many of them, are qualitatively suburban by every measure that counts - lack of public transit, lack of sidewalks, lack of walkability, lack of things to which to walk, distance to the nearest grocery store, distance to work, library, school, restaurant, rec center, really anything? What argument is there for choosing these areas of DC over suburbs? The dubious honor of "living in the city"?

Commute? I mean, isn't it still easier to get downtown from, say, Woodridge than it is from Silver Spring or Arlington?

But overall I do agree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

Actually, what's irritating is some people's deliberate refusal to understand that "living in the city" doesn't mean simply putting your head down in any zipcode USPS classifies as belonging to the D. of C.

Do you not seriously understand that when people say "living in the city", they mean it as living in a particular set of circumstances and amenities that's qualitatively - not just geographically - different from suburbs? That some areas of DC, actually quite many of them, are qualitatively suburban by every measure that counts - lack of public transit, lack of sidewalks, lack of walkability, lack of things to which to walk, distance to the nearest grocery store, distance to work, library, school, restaurant, rec center, really anything? What argument is there for choosing these areas of DC over suburbs? The dubious honor of "living in the city"?

Commute? I mean, isn't it still easier to get downtown from, say, Woodridge than it is from Silver Spring or Arlington?

But overall I do agree with you.

That honestly depends on points A and B of your commute. I used to live near H Street and work near Van Ness. My commute would easily take an hour with the morning city traffic. After I moved to 22043, it would reliably be under 40 minutes (Beltway + River Rd).

Presently I work in Foggy Bottom. My commute is reliably under 40 minutes, less if I can take Rt 66. If I had to drive from H St., it would take longer. If I had to drive from AU Park, it would take probably a little less. If I had to drive from Capitol Hill, it would take more. There's no one answer.

[Anonymous]

Families have been leaving cities for the suburbs for many generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

Actually, what's irritating is some people's deliberate refusal to understand that "living in the city" doesn't mean simply putting your head down in any zipcode USPS classifies as belonging to the D. of C.

Do you not seriously understand that when people say "living in the city", they mean it as living in a particular set of circumstances and amenities that's qualitatively - not just geographically - different from suburbs? That some areas of DC, actually quite many of them, are qualitatively suburban by every measure that counts - lack of public transit, lack of sidewalks, lack of walkability, lack of things to which to walk, distance to the nearest grocery store, distance to work, library, school, restaurant, rec center, really anything? What argument is there for choosing these areas of DC over suburbs? The dubious honor of "living in the city"?

Commute? I mean, isn't it still easier to get downtown from, say, Woodridge than it is from Silver Spring or Arlington?

But overall I do agree with you.

That honestly depends on points A and B of your commute. I used to live near H Street and work near Van Ness. My commute would easily take an hour with the morning city traffic. After I moved to 22043, it would reliably be under 40 minutes (Beltway + River Rd).

Presently I work in Foggy Bottom. My commute is reliably under 40 minutes, less if I can take Rt 66. If I had to drive from H St., it would take longer. If I had to drive from AU Park, it would take probably a little less. If I had to drive from Capitol Hill, it would take more. There's no one answer.

Of course there is an answer, you take the metro dummy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also have known plenty who have sent their kids to DC public schools and they did not turn out poorly

As well as folks who sent their kids to BCC HS and they turned out no better than DCPS kids.

Parenting also has a lot to do with it! Some prefer the schools to parent while they do other things.

Good point. My kid has a friend who graduated from BCC who is a huge pothead and living off of mommy and daddy. My kid is drug and alcohol free and working hard and spent most of her school career in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One issue is that when you move in to a gentrifying area in DC there are a lot of hold outs and they are never on the same ground in terms of goals, education etc.. for your community.

I love those holdouts - when I moved into my neighborhood pre-gentrification, they were the lovely older folks who had lived here for years. I'm glad some of them stuck around because they are wonderful neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

*neighbors*

[Anonymous]

Posted this on a PG thread earlier - prices are really getting out of whack in DC proper, even in deep NE.

This one in NE DC for $649 -
http://www.homesnap.com/DC/Washington/3002-Franklin-Street-NE

Or this one for $630 -
http://www.homesnap.com/DC/Washington/3924-18th-Street-NE

Versus Hyattsville for $399 -
http://www.homesnap.com/MD/Hyattsville/5001-41st-Place

Or Mt Rainier for $375 -
http://www.homesnap.com/MD/Mount-Rainier/3008-Bunker-Hill-Road

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

Actually, what's irritating is some people's deliberate refusal to understand that "living in the city" doesn't mean simply putting your head down in any zipcode USPS classifies as belonging to the D. of C.

Do you not seriously understand that when people say "living in the city", they mean it as living in a particular set of circumstances and amenities that's qualitatively - not just geographically - different from suburbs? That some areas of DC, actually quite many of them, are qualitatively suburban by every measure that counts - lack of public transit, lack of sidewalks, lack of walkability, lack of things to which to walk, distance to the nearest grocery store, distance to work, library, school, restaurant, rec center, really anything? What argument is there for choosing these areas of DC over suburbs? The dubious honor of "living in the city"?

Commute? I mean, isn't it still easier to get downtown from, say, Woodridge than it is from Silver Spring or Arlington?

But overall I do agree with you.

That honestly depends on points A and B of your commute. I used to live near H Street and work near Van Ness. My commute would easily take an hour with the morning city traffic. After I moved to 22043, it would reliably be under 40 minutes (Beltway + River Rd).

Presently I work in Foggy Bottom. My commute is reliably under 40 minutes, less if I can take Rt 66. If I had to drive from H St., it would take longer. If I had to drive from AU Park, it would take probably a little less. If I had to drive from Capitol Hill, it would take more. There's no one answer.

Of course there is an answer, you take the metro dummy.

Not that poster, but come on. Everyone knows Metro isn't always faster, depending on where you're coming from and going to, and it certainly is a PITA.

And that's kind of the point -- lots of the neighborhoods in DC we're talking about in this thread aren't very close to Metro -- certainly not close enough to be a huge benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

Actually, what's irritating is some people's deliberate refusal to understand that "living in the city" doesn't mean simply putting your head down in any zipcode USPS classifies as belonging to the D. of C.

Do you not seriously understand that when people say "living in the city", they mean it as living in a particular set of circumstances and amenities that's qualitatively - not just geographically - different from suburbs? That some areas of DC, actually quite many of them, are qualitatively suburban by every measure that counts - lack of public transit, lack of sidewalks, lack of walkability, lack of things to which to walk, distance to the nearest grocery store, distance to work, library, school, restaurant, rec center, really anything? What argument is there for choosing these areas of DC over suburbs? The dubious honor of "living in the city"?

Commute? I mean, isn't it still easier to get downtown from, say, Woodridge than it is from Silver Spring or Arlington?

But overall I do agree with you.

That honestly depends on points A and B of your commute. I used to live near H Street and work near Van Ness. My commute would easily take an hour with the morning city traffic. After I moved to 22043, it would reliably be under 40 minutes (Beltway + River Rd).

Presently I work in Foggy Bottom. My commute is reliably under 40 minutes, less if I can take Rt 66. If I had to drive from H St., it would take longer. If I had to drive from AU Park, it would take probably a little less. If I had to drive from Capitol Hill, it would take more. There's no one answer.

Of course there is an answer, you take the metro dummy.

From Woodridge? From H Street? Who's the dummy now?

Why don't we run this experiment: you go to Woodridge, and I go to 22043. We both start at the same time to get to Foggy Bottom on the orange line. Who do you think will get there first?

[Anonymous]

Ok, I'll bite. I know this commute well. I live in Brookland/Woodridge, about .75 miles from the Brookland metro station. I can get to Foggy Bottom by transit in about 30. My commute to my office in Georgetown, door to door, via transit is about 45 minutes and driving it's 30 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I'll bite. I know this commute well. I live in Brookland/Woodridge, about .75 miles from the Brookland metro station. I can get to Foggy Bottom by transit in about 30. My commute to my office in Georgetown, door to door, via transit is about 45 minutes and driving it's 30 minutes.

If you live less than a mile from a metro station, you are not a part of this discussion. Honestly. What percentage of DC territory do you think is located within .75 of a metro station? This discussion is about DC neighborhoods that are well removed from the public transit options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also have known plenty who have sent their kids to DC public schools and they did not turn out poorly

As well as folks who sent their kids to BCC HS and they turned out no better than DCPS kids.

Parenting also has a lot to do with it! Some prefer the schools to parent while they do other things.

Good point. My kid has a friend who graduated from BCC who is a huge pothead and living off of mommy and daddy. My kid is drug and alcohol free and working hard and spent most of her school career in DCPS.

How often do you test her for doping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone talking about how they "can't afford anything" in DC it makes me wonder if they've only looked on U Street, in Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc. Sure there are lots of houses for sale in DC in that range, but there are houses in nice parts of NE (not talking about H Street) for under $300k, and friends have bought in Shaw for under $450k. It's not nothing, and yeah, you're still taking the charter school gamble but houses in the burbs aren't going for much less. If you really want to live in the city, you probably can. If you just want to live in the super hip area, then good luck.

What nice parts of NE?

I own a condo near H St and wouldn't dream of raising my son there.

What property did your friends buy in Shaw for 450K?

I don't think anyone argues that if you really want to live in the city, you can; it's just that the way you will live without a huge budget (cramped place, marginal neighborhood, school anxiety) is not appealing.

Again, not H street. Brookland, Riggs Park, parts of Michigan Park, Takoma (DC, not Takoma Park, MD). All of which have nice houses at reasonable prices close to the metro.

I hear you on the NE neighborhoods, but first, discussions are underway whether Riggs Park and Takoma are in fact nice. And secondly, most of these neighborhoods are completely suburban in nature. So why deal with suburban dreariness AND urban problems rolled into one property?

I believe the point that was trying to be made was that there are indeed affordable nice neighborhoods in DC. It is irritating to hear the city isn't affordable when it is really a matter of people not wanting to compromise on what they can afford vs. what they want.

In that case, why fault someone for choosing to live in (Falls Church/Silver Spring/Bowie) instead of a part of DC with no urban amenities and lots of problems?