For Westchester New York Transplants Which neighborhoods are most similar in NoVA and MD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re Jewish and are looking for temples and Hebrew school, look at Potomac and Bethesda. You won’t get a huge house, though.

+1. I think you'd like Bethesda. There is a substantial Jewish community, and lots of NY transplants. There is a nice downtown area with more charm than in VA. But you'd need a bigger budget than what you're saying.

Compared to Bethesda, you get more house for the money out in Potomac. But it's not really walkable.

Mantua in Fairfax has a large Jewish population and decent 60s middle classs homes. If you are looking for UMC you would want McLean, Bethesda, Potomac, Great Falls or Chevy Chase (MD)

Potomac, Great Falls, Chevy Chase, etc. are Upper Middle Class? If so, where do the upper class people live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your problem is that you grew up UMC, but you only have a MC budget for DC. Schools are much worse here than in those towns, but we don’t have the high taxes like Westchester does. I don’t think anything is really comparable here with the town center feeling. Maybe Vienna or DelRay.

Schools are much worse where? They certainly aren't much worse in Fairfax or Loudoun County.

No offense pp, but I'd say the schools in places like Scarsdale or Bronxville are definitely better than the ones in Fairfax and Loudoun.

Let niche, Scarsdale is #74 in the US and Langley (which OP can’t afford) is #234.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda MD and I agree with the property tax; look at redfin calculations and bump up your budget. I'm in VA and I don't think VA is similar to anything closer to NY or New England. Maybe City of Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re Jewish and are looking for temples and Hebrew school, look at Potomac and Bethesda. You won’t get a huge house, though.

+1. I think you'd like Bethesda. There is a substantial Jewish community, and lots of NY transplants. There is a nice downtown area with more charm than in VA. But you'd need a bigger budget than what you're saying.

Compared to Bethesda, you get more house for the money out in Potomac. But it's not really walkable.

Mantua in Fairfax has a large Jewish population and decent 60s middle classs homes. If you are looking for UMC you would want McLean, Bethesda, Potomac, Great Falls or Chevy Chase (MD)

Potomac, Great Falls, Chevy Chase, etc. are Upper Middle Class? If so, where do the upper class people live?

DC or not in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get Old Town or Takoma Park. That’s it. We were New England transplants that suffered through 4 years in Nova. We finally threw up the white flag and went home.

+1

There is virtually no charm anywhere in this area.

This is what people who either have no flexibility or can't afford better neighborhoods say to make themselves feel better.

And this is what people who haven't lived anywhere with a true sense of place and charm say to make themselves feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your problem is that you grew up UMC, but you only have a MC budget for DC. Schools are much worse here than in those towns, but we don’t have the high taxes like Westchester does. I don’t think anything is really comparable here with the town center feeling. Maybe Vienna or DelRay.

An 850K house in this area signals a middle class budget?

Yes it’s basically two fed workers. That’s pretty much the definition of middle class.

[Anonymous]

This is very Chevy Chase like, but seems like Scarsdale is cheaper.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/30-River-Rd-Scarsdale-NY-10583/33093648_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your problem is that you grew up UMC, but you only have a MC budget for DC. Schools are much worse here than in those towns, but we don’t have the high taxes like Westchester does. I don’t think anything is really comparable here with the town center feeling. Maybe Vienna or DelRay.

An 850K house in this area signals a middle class budget?

Yes it’s basically two fed workers. That’s pretty much the definition of middle class.

No, federal workers are highly compensated compared to the private sector, and every household does not have two high income workers. I know many federal households that only have one worker in the GS-13/GS-14 range.

In northern VA the median household income is about $125K a year. That is your middle class right there, from about $60K to about $160K. And that lines up with the median home price of about $550K.

[Anonymous]

Chevy Chase is the closest you will get for neighborhood feel but you may have to adjust your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your problem is that you grew up UMC, but you only have a MC budget for DC. Schools are much worse here than in those towns, but we don’t have the high taxes like Westchester does. I don’t think anything is really comparable here with the town center feeling. Maybe Vienna or DelRay.

Schools are much worse where? They certainly aren't much worse in Fairfax or Loudoun County.

No offense pp, but I'd say the schools in places like Scarsdale or Bronxville are definitely better than the ones in Fairfax and Loudoun.

+1

People who have never been to Scarsdale or Bronxville have still heard of them from tv,movies,pop culture, etc. as being very nice.

Not true for Fairfax Co.

Such a weird flex. I'm on my 40s, well educated, well read, and well traveled, and I've never heard of Scarsdale or Bronxville. Not everyone is from the Tri-State region...

I'm not sure it's only a Tri-State region thing. It may be more of a thing for educated people with a Boston-DC orientation. I have a college roommate who lives in Scarsdale and a partner at my law firm lives in Bronxville. Of course I know about those parts of Westchester, and similar areas like Short Hills in NJ, Great Neck on LI, etc. When they found out we moved to McLean, they congratulated me, because they are also familiar with McLean, Bethesda, and Chevy Chase. Do they know anything about Burke? Probably not. But they know about the expensive DC suburbs.

+ 1

It's a wealthy East Coast thing. Everyone has heard of Scarsdale or McLean. Who hasn't heard of Sidwell or Spence or Chapin or Dalton. I can go on and on.

I thought the same thing, to be honest. I'm surprised that anyone who is affluent in DC hasn't heard of Scarsdale or Bronxville.

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle then? I've heard of all the Westchester towns, but I would never be able to tell you which ones are nice and which are not, both because I've never spent any time in them, and because I don't really care. Makes me wonder who's been trying to name drop while I stand there totally oblivious.

And maybe this is my New England showing, but who keeps track of day schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your problem is that you grew up UMC, but you only have a MC budget for DC. Schools are much worse here than in those towns, but we don’t have the high taxes like Westchester does. I don’t think anything is really comparable here with the town center feeling. Maybe Vienna or DelRay.

Schools are much worse where? They certainly aren't much worse in Fairfax or Loudoun County.

No offense pp, but I'd say the schools in places like Scarsdale or Bronxville are definitely better than the ones in Fairfax and Loudoun.

Let niche, Scarsdale is #74 in the US and Langley (which OP can’t afford) is #234.

At the top, minor differences drive the rankings, whether it's Niche or US News.

Latest US News has Langley at #126, McLean at #236, and Scarsdale Senior at #776. There are probably at least 25,000 high schools in the country, so we're talking about the top 3-4% either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your problem is that you grew up UMC, but you only have a MC budget for DC. Schools are much worse here than in those towns, but we don’t have the high taxes like Westchester does. I don’t think anything is really comparable here with the town center feeling. Maybe Vienna or DelRay.

Schools are much worse where? They certainly aren't much worse in Fairfax or Loudoun County.

No offense pp, but I'd say the schools in places like Scarsdale or Bronxville are definitely better than the ones in Fairfax and Loudoun.

Let niche, Scarsdale is #74 in the US and Langley (which OP can’t afford) is #234.

At the top, minor differences drive the rankings, whether it's Niche or US News.

Latest US News has Langley at #126, McLean at #236, and Scarsdale Senior at #776. There are probably at least 25,000 high schools in the country, so we're talking about the top 3-4% either way.

Yes, the better schools in northern Virginia are comparable to the wealthy towns in Westchester or suburban NJ and Long Island. But the taxes are massively lower.

Certainly the idea that a student in Fairfax County Schools is going to suffer appreciably compared to a student in one of the better districts in Westchester is absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get Old Town or Takoma Park. That’s it. We were New England transplants that suffered through 4 years in Nova. We finally threw up the white flag and went home.

+1

There is virtually no charm anywhere in this area.

This is what people who either have no flexibility or can't afford better neighborhoods say to make themselves feel better.

And this is what people who haven't lived anywhere with a true sense of place and charm say to make themselves feel better.

Trite phrases like "true sense of place and charm" just prove the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you adjusted your affordability to DC area property taxes? They are significantly lower than DC such that you can purchase a lot more house.

I am not sure what school district you are moving from - but from friends in Westchester in those areas they are paying more than double in property taxes than you do here - so you can probably afford $1K more a month in mortgage (~ 200K more house)

As long as you choose to drive old or cheap cars, yes this is true.

How expensive is your car? My $30k car has like a $1500 annual tax bill. Is that cheap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get Old Town or Takoma Park. That’s it. We were New England transplants that suffered through 4 years in Nova. We finally threw up the white flag and went home.

+1

There is virtually no charm anywhere in this area.

This is what people who either have no flexibility or can't afford better neighborhoods say to make themselves feel better.

And this is what people who haven't lived anywhere with a true sense of place and charm say to make themselves feel better.

Trite phrases like "true sense of place and charm" just prove the point.

Trite is generous.