Would you buy on H Street?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would. We bought in Bloomingdale 6+ years ago as dinks and a couple people told us it wasn't a good idea if we wanted kids soon. FF to now, we have a 2 yo and a baby and we love it here. And I'm SO glad we have 3 br so we're not feeling crowded out of the city like others that I know. Early education is pretty good in most DCPS as far as I can tell so we have a few more years before that's even a concern. Meanwhile, by the time we feel like we need to move we'll have a decade of appreciation on this house which is not insignificant in a neighborhood like this (and I would suspect H St.). One of the smartest decisions I ever made.

This is usually the argument: "the area has tons of young families!" Emphasis on YOUNG families. Having a 2-year old in a stroller is not the same thing as a 5th grader who wants to run outside and play. You can tick off all the appreciation, coffee shops, bars and expected redevelopment in the world, doesn't change the fact: H St is not a family friendly neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would. We bought in Bloomingdale 6+ years ago as dinks and a couple people told us it wasn't a good idea if we wanted kids soon. FF to now, we have a 2 yo and a baby and we love it here. And I'm SO glad we have 3 br so we're not feeling crowded out of the city like others that I know. Early education is pretty good in most DCPS as far as I can tell so we have a few more years before that's even a concern. Meanwhile, by the time we feel like we need to move we'll have a decade of appreciation on this house which is not insignificant in a neighborhood like this (and I would suspect H St.). One of the smartest decisions I ever made.

This is usually the argument: "the area has tons of young families!" Emphasis on YOUNG families. Having a 2-year old in a stroller is not the same thing as a 5th grader who wants to run outside and play. You can tick off all the appreciation, coffee shops, bars and expected redevelopment in the world, doesn't change the fact: H St is not a family friendly neighborhood.

What's wrong with buying in an area for young families when you are a DINK? I'm the PP you quoted and I think I made pretty clear that we probably would have to leave when my kid is older, for reasons you ar implying, but by that point we'll have had a decade in this house. I'm personally glad that I didn't race out of the city as soon as the stick turned pink like some people do, and that my house afforded me the chance to live in a young family friendly neighborhood, because I love it and I'm happy here.

Wherever I love with a 5th grader probably isn't where I want to retire but why buy for a life stage that is 10+ years in the future?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the PP who bought a rowhouse. I'd personally be comfortable buying at 13th or to 14th. I would not buy on Benning or in Carver-Langston (though I don't believe there are any condos there yet, just rowhouses).

The Starburst will be cleaned up quickly once someone redevelops the Hechinger Mall site, but probably not much will change until then. I haven't seen any plans for that redevelopment, though it's a huge site so I'm sure it's on developers' radar. My guess is that it'll be three to five more years or so. Once the Hopscotch bridge is replaced, I think there will be pressure to extend the streetcar at least to Gallery Place, and if that happens it will make the Hechinger site too attractive to pass up. If that doesn't happen, then the timeline could be a bit longer. But there's no lack of amenities now, and other than going to Jenks hardware, it's pretty easy to avoid the Starburst area.

As for safety more generally, I am pretty comfortable. As in any neighborhood where people go out drinking, muggers can target drunks, so if you're out very late it's smart to be cognizant of that when walking on quiet side streets. If you're right on H, that's not likely to be a big issue.

I don't think this area is going to change much at all anytime soon. There is are low-income apartments across the street where a lot of the recent crime in the area is stemming from.

A development plan was pitched for the Hechinger mall site awhile back, but still no word that the owner of the site planned to sell or develop the site. That being said, the closure of Payless and new area grocery competition for the Safeway may change things in the future.

https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/mixed-use/h-street-pitches-major-hechinger-mall-development-as-activity-moves-down-corridor-77921#ath

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would. We bought in Bloomingdale 6+ years ago as dinks and a couple people told us it wasn't a good idea if we wanted kids soon. FF to now, we have a 2 yo and a baby and we love it here. And I'm SO glad we have 3 br so we're not feeling crowded out of the city like others that I know. Early education is pretty good in most DCPS as far as I can tell so we have a few more years before that's even a concern. Meanwhile, by the time we feel like we need to move we'll have a decade of appreciation on this house which is not insignificant in a neighborhood like this (and I would suspect H St.). One of the smartest decisions I ever made.

This is usually the argument: "the area has tons of young families!" Emphasis on YOUNG families. Having a 2-year old in a stroller is not the same thing as a 5th grader who wants to run outside and play. You can tick off all the appreciation, coffee shops, bars and expected redevelopment in the world, doesn't change the fact: H St is not a family friendly neighborhood.

I'm not convinced. There are quite a few houses in the H Street area area with sizable backyards, moreso than the Hill or any EOTP NW neighborhoods South of Petworth. And, while the school options are imperfect, as with anywhere EOTP, the proximity to the Hill and downtown charters means that there are more options for making schools work than in many other comparably priced parts of the city. I've got neighbors with middle-school aged kids, and they seem pretty happy.

A big part of the reason that there are lots of young kids is that the most recent wave of gentrification and development is only a few years old. People tend to move before their children start school, and so most of those children just haven't had time to grow up yet.

[Anonymous]

Nope, not in a million years.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a 5th grader and a 7th grader who lives less than two blocks from the very corner mentioned in the OP, I can tell you there are plenty of families with older kids along H Street. Within one block, there are at least five families with kids in middle school. Two with kids in high school, even! And then tons with babies, toddlers, and elementary students. If you think H Street is all DINKs, you either have never been to the neighborhood or have only walked from a bar to pick up UBER out front. Other than the apartments right on H, this neighborhood is heavily populated with families. The houses are pretty large for the old city part of DC and many, including ours, have yards big enough to play in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader and a 7th grader who lives less than two blocks from the very corner mentioned in the OP, I can tell you there are plenty of families with older kids along H Street. Within one block, there are at least five families with kids in middle school. Two with kids in high school, even! And then tons with babies, toddlers, and elementary students. If you think H Street is all DINKs, you either have never been to the neighborhood or have only walked from a bar to pick up UBER out front. Other than the apartments right on H, this neighborhood is heavily populated with families. The houses are pretty large for the old city part of DC and many, including ours, have yards big enough to play in.

I lived off 6th & H up until about 18 months ago, and didn't do much Ubering to the bars. I stand by the previous statements. Just because you and those other 7 couples think it's a family friendly neighborhood doesn't make it so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader and a 7th grader who lives less than two blocks from the very corner mentioned in the OP, I can tell you there are plenty of families with older kids along H Street. Within one block, there are at least five families with kids in middle school. Two with kids in high school, even! And then tons with babies, toddlers, and elementary students. If you think H Street is all DINKs, you either have never been to the neighborhood or have only walked from a bar to pick up UBER out front. Other than the apartments right on H, this neighborhood is heavily populated with families. The houses are pretty large for the old city part of DC and many, including ours, have yards big enough to play in.

I lived off 6th & H up until about 18 months ago, and didn't do much Ubering to the bars. I stand by the previous statements. Just because you and those other 7 couples think it's a family friendly neighborhood doesn't make it so.

Tell us what exactly qualifies you to decide which neighborhoods are family friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader and a 7th grader who lives less than two blocks from the very corner mentioned in the OP, I can tell you there are plenty of families with older kids along H Street. Within one block, there are at least five families with kids in middle school. Two with kids in high school, even! And then tons with babies, toddlers, and elementary students. If you think H Street is all DINKs, you either have never been to the neighborhood or have only walked from a bar to pick up UBER out front. Other than the apartments right on H, this neighborhood is heavily populated with families. The houses are pretty large for the old city part of DC and many, including ours, have yards big enough to play in.

I lived off 6th & H up until about 18 months ago, and didn't do much Ubering to the bars. I stand by the previous statements. Just because you and those other 7 couples think it's a family friendly neighborhood doesn't make it so.

Tell us what exactly qualifies you to decide which neighborhoods are family friendly.

+1 since you did not have children and lived on one of the busiest one way north streets on the Hill, you might not have seen a bunch on your way to and from work or out on the weekends. I think you left before the Whole Foods, which has so many kids that I do not like going there. I also doubt you spent any time in Stanton Park from 4-6 on weeknights. Did you go over to 7th Street on Saturdays to see which little league teams were playing (they ran 2-3 games a day there in the fall and spring).

Just saying, people run in different cirecle and are also self absorbed. That does not make things true or untrue.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/realestate/a-dc-neighborhood-goes-from-kind-of-rugged-to-really-in-demand/2019/03/13/3bf83454-4121-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would. We bought in Bloomingdale 6+ years ago as dinks and a couple people told us it wasn't a good idea if we wanted kids soon. FF to now, we have a 2 yo and a baby and we love it here. And I'm SO glad we have 3 br so we're not feeling crowded out of the city like others that I know. Early education is pretty good in most DCPS as far as I can tell so we have a few more years before that's even a concern. Meanwhile, by the time we feel like we need to move we'll have a decade of appreciation on this house which is not insignificant in a neighborhood like this (and I would suspect H St.). One of the smartest decisions I ever made.

This is usually the argument: "the area has tons of young families!" Emphasis on YOUNG families. Having a 2-year old in a stroller is not the same thing as a 5th grader who wants to run outside and play. You can tick off all the appreciation, coffee shops, bars and expected redevelopment in the world, doesn't change the fact: H St is not a family friendly neighborhood.

This. We lived in the U Street neighborhood before moving to upper NW. There's a big difference between the baby/preschool ages when you're always with your kid when they're outside vs a 5th grader roaming the neighborhood with their friends unsupervised. We LOVED the former with very young kids, but the latter is better for schools and letting kids enjoy some independence. I say this as someone who thought we would never leave our beloved urban neighborhood, then it all changed when our oldest hit upper elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would. We bought in Bloomingdale 6+ years ago as dinks and a couple people told us it wasn't a good idea if we wanted kids soon. FF to now, we have a 2 yo and a baby and we love it here. And I'm SO glad we have 3 br so we're not feeling crowded out of the city like others that I know. Early education is pretty good in most DCPS as far as I can tell so we have a few more years before that's even a concern. Meanwhile, by the time we feel like we need to move we'll have a decade of appreciation on this house which is not insignificant in a neighborhood like this (and I would suspect H St.). One of the smartest decisions I ever made.

This is usually the argument: "the area has tons of young families!" Emphasis on YOUNG families. Having a 2-year old in a stroller is not the same thing as a 5th grader who wants to run outside and play. You can tick off all the appreciation, coffee shops, bars and expected redevelopment in the world, doesn't change the fact: H St is not a family friendly neighborhood.

This. We lived in the U Street neighborhood before moving to upper NW. There's a big difference between the baby/preschool ages when you're always with your kid when they're outside vs a 5th grader roaming the neighborhood with their friends unsupervised. We LOVED the former with very young kids, but the latter is better for schools and letting kids enjoy some independence. I say this as someone who thought we would never leave our beloved urban neighborhood, then it all changed when our oldest hit upper elementary.

I don't think anyone is really disputing this fact? The point is that, depending on when you buy, you still have a good decade of time between buying as a married couple with no kids and your kids being old enough to need a bigger house. If you're 30 with no kids and want them in the future, you don't have to buy a house suited for 12 year olds. The same way that when I buy a house suited for 12 year olds I'm not going to be thinking about whether it's a good retirement community. I love living in the city with my little kids, I know I'll have to move someday, but that doesn't mean I regret living here now. And in a place like H Street (or Bloomingdale) houses are appreciating enough that spending 10 years in a house before you need to move is probably going to pay off just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would. We bought in Bloomingdale 6+ years ago as dinks and a couple people told us it wasn't a good idea if we wanted kids soon. FF to now, we have a 2 yo and a baby and we love it here. And I'm SO glad we have 3 br so we're not feeling crowded out of the city like others that I know. Early education is pretty good in most DCPS as far as I can tell so we have a few more years before that's even a concern. Meanwhile, by the time we feel like we need to move we'll have a decade of appreciation on this house which is not insignificant in a neighborhood like this (and I would suspect H St.). One of the smartest decisions I ever made.

This is usually the argument: "the area has tons of young families!" Emphasis on YOUNG families. Having a 2-year old in a stroller is not the same thing as a 5th grader who wants to run outside and play. You can tick off all the appreciation, coffee shops, bars and expected redevelopment in the world, doesn't change the fact: H St is not a family friendly neighborhood.

This. We lived in the U Street neighborhood before moving to upper NW. There's a big difference between the baby/preschool ages when you're always with your kid when they're outside vs a 5th grader roaming the neighborhood with their friends unsupervised. We LOVED the former with very young kids, but the latter is better for schools and letting kids enjoy some independence. I say this as someone who thought we would never leave our beloved urban neighborhood, then it all changed when our oldest hit upper elementary.

I don't think anyone is really disputing this fact? The point is that, depending on when you buy, you still have a good decade of time between buying as a married couple with no kids and your kids being old enough to need a bigger house. If you're 30 with no kids and want them in the future, you don't have to buy a house suited for 12 year olds. The same way that when I buy a house suited for 12 year olds I'm not going to be thinking about whether it's a good retirement community. I love living in the city with my little kids, I know I'll have to move someday, but that doesn't mean I regret living here now. And in a place like H Street (or Bloomingdale) houses are appreciating enough that spending 10 years in a house before you need to move is probably going to pay off just fine.

And some of us manage to stay once our kids are in upper elementary. Just because it doesn’t work for 1 family doesn’t mean it won’t work for another.

[Anonymous]

Not going to go into detail because might not be hard to figure out who I am, but I was assaulted there. Pretty brutally. To say the least, I moved out of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a 5th grader and a 7th grader who lives less than two blocks from the very corner mentioned in the OP, I can tell you there are plenty of families with older kids along H Street. Within one block, there are at least five families with kids in middle school. Two with kids in high school, even! And then tons with babies, toddlers, and elementary students. If you think H Street is all DINKs, you either have never been to the neighborhood or have only walked from a bar to pick up UBER out front. Other than the apartments right on H, this neighborhood is heavily populated with families. The houses are pretty large for the old city part of DC and many, including ours, have yards big enough to play in.

I lived off 6th & H up until about 18 months ago, and didn't do much Ubering to the bars. I stand by the previous statements. Just because you and those other 7 couples think it's a family friendly neighborhood doesn't make it so.

Tell us what exactly qualifies you to decide which neighborhoods are family friendly.

I guess I'm about as qualified as you are...