Thoughts on Petworth for a young family?
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Anonymous
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We're in the market for a 3 bedroom place. We have a 1 year old. School location isn't a consideration for us right now. We'd really love a place with some outdoor space, and saw that Petworth seemed to have some nice renovated rowhouses, some of which even have finished basements on top of 3 bedrooms. What are your thoughts on Petworth as a family-friendly neighborhood? It seems like a lot of young families have moved there recently. Our budget is $750k, which I know limits our options, but it did seem like there were a few places in Petworth at the top of our budget.
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Anonymous
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Why are you not concerned about schools? Are you moving in 3 years OR will you have private paid for?
I would absolutely consider what schools the home feeds into. I have friends who are at Bruce Monroe b/c they struck out with the lottery and they are looking to move. |
Anonymous
| Petworth is a great area if you have young kids, although you might be a little further from the metro at that price. Great library, playgrounds, weekend jazz festivals at the 8th & Taylor park, and family-friendly restaurants in the general area. Lots of kids. I'm not sure why schools aren't a consideration for you right now -- are you planning to move? -- but if that's the case, you have a lot of freedom and Petworth is a nice place to be. |
Anonymous
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I'm not a fan of Petworth 20010 because you're super close to a huge public housing project at Mcmillans Reservoir or you're right on Georgia Ave which has its own major thoroughfare issues - crime, litter, drugs etc.
I'd go with north of Georgia-Ave/Petworth metro station at 20011. You can also get a lot more for your money in 20011. 200010 https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/438-Manor-Pl-NW-Washington-DC-20010/478435_zpid/ 200011 https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/609-Farragut-St-NW-Washington-DC-20011/484233_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5003-5th-St-NW-Washington-DC-20011/485692_zpid/ |
Anonymous
Why aren't schools a consideration now? If your kid is 1, you might be researching schools and playing the lottery a year from now for PK3 options. |
Anonymous
| Can the school pack calm down? They say schools aren't a consideration, so it isn't a consideration. Let them live their lives. |
Anonymous
Parts of northern 20010, around Spring Rd, would probably be fine, but that area isn't really Petworth. All but a tiny bit of Petworth is in 20011, so that's probably the area the OP is thinking of. Not to split hairs, but the Manor Place house is in Park View, and the McMillan Reservoir is south of Michigan Ave -- nowhere near Petworth. Maybe you're referring to Park Morton? But that's pretty easy to avoid. |
Anonymous
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Petworth is fine for families. Not awesome (far from downtown, some bad crime issues, not as charming as some other DC neighborhoods) but gets you a decent house for your money. To avoid those negatives, you generally need a higher budget. So with your budget, sure, petworth is a pretty good option.
All that said, don't be dumb and ignore schools. Even if you're thinking you'll do private, you need to think about what your petworth commute looks like to the private schools - which are all north and west of Cleveland Park, and not a happy commute from petworth (assuming you have to go into the city after that). PK3 lottery will be on you in no time.... rent for two more years, and try the lottery and then move to either petworth or brookland depending on if you get in somewhere good. Or more likely, you will be like ALL of my friends/kids' classmates other than literally one person I know, and you won't get in anywhere viable, so you will have to move to glover park or chevy chase or MD/VA for kindergarten. |
Anonymous
| Petworth is crawling with young families and we really love our neighbors (although we live in Brightwood Park, so not exactly where you are looking for). Powell and West EC are both good options for schools for ECE (sorry, it's hard not to touch on the schools thing if you have a 1 year old). |
Anonymous
| You should ask the Prince of Petworth what he thinks of living in Petworth with a young child. |
Anonymous
So is Truesdell, which is the neighborhood school for most of Brightwood Park. |
Anonymous
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Petworth is fine and you will have less cost overhead than if you were in a comparable location with better schools. In our case that made private school more economically viable. Actually, we would not be able to afford private school in the white part of NW DC, Arlington, or Bethesda.
We live near Petworth and send our kids to privates near Cleveland Park. Your commute from Petworth to Cleveland Park will be better than the many parents from MD and VA who attend our child's private school. |
Anonymous
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We're in North Petworth/Brightwood Park and it's fabulous for small kids. There's a baby boom and half a dozen kids within a few months of my one year old in the two block radius. Activities, playgrounds, and friendly neighbors. Where we are, we leave all kinds of kid stuff on the porch and no issues with security.
I love it for small kids, but schools. We'll try the lottery, but are prepared to move if that doesn't work out. Even if schools aren't a concern for you, know that they are for 99% of families, so the friends your kid makes now may not be around in 5 years. |
Anonymous
He moved a while ago. I live North of Petworth and see tons of families in Petworth these days. I believed he moved for schools. |
Anonymous
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It's great. I moved away from DC to be closer to family, but if family stuff had not come up, we were planning to stick it out until our oldest was through elementary school or so then re-evaluate.
You should probably be thinking about schools with a 1yo. Unless you're committed to private schools for some reasons. Bruce-Monroe gets somewhat mixed reviews but I suspect their preK program is fine (or even great - we weren't zoned for BM). Powell seemed stronger, and Petworth is convenient to a number of great charter schools if you luck out in the lottery. More on the Columbia Heights side, people LOVE Tubman, at least for the younger grades. All in all, I suspect you would be well set for 5 years or so at least. Maybe longer, depending on the lottery and which school you were zoned into. Everyone agrees DC public schools get dicey by middle school, but there are a lot of efforts underway to improve things. |