If you moved to the suburbs to raise a family…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:…and now those kids are grown, have you considered moving back to the city?

Although I have loved our time here raising our family, now that my youngest is off to college soon, I find myself experiencing increasing discontentment here. I wonder if others who grew up in the city and came to the suburbs to raise a family have felt this way too and what you chose to do.

We have two kids in College and both think living is the Suburbs is pretty boring. Sure, they have great memories and still see some friends around but they hate the quietness and driving distances. According to them all their old friends from High School hate it too...

I grew up in Arlington and loved it, specially when I was College age so I understand my kids.
Unfortunately, Arlington is extremely expensive. If we could financially, I would trade our single family home for a nice 3BR Condo in Arlington.
Close enough to DC and Alexandria!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's seems odd that some posters think there's a "right answer" here when there are so many variables, including just these few:

Where in the suburbs are we talking about? In the DMV there are big differences between, say, Lyon Village in Arlington, Reston, and Herndon. Those differences include walkability, access to public transit and bike trails, driving distance to "city" (this also needs to be defined).

Does your city offer a mix of restaurants you like, theaters or places to hear music that you enjoy?

How long have you lived in your suburb? Are you friends with neighbors? Do you participate in community activities there that you enjoy and find meaningful and would miss if you moved to the city?

Do you use and enjoy rec facilities in your suburb? Would you be able to find affordable and accessible substitutes for these facilities in the city?

Do you want to have extra space in your home for an office (e.g., if you're doing consulting work), or hobby?

Do you like gardening and enjoy your yard, porch, patio, etc?

Do you have a dog and want to be able to walk the dog?

Do you enjoy hosting your adult kids, grandchildren, and extended family and friends from out of town?

The only place in the DMV outside of DC itself that comes close to qualifying as "city" living is Old Town Alexandria. Lyon Village is not the city.

Bethesda qualifies…and it’s much easier to get into the heart of DC as well.

If Bethesda "qualified" then it wouldn't matter that from Bethesda "it's much easier to get into the heart of DC."

Because Bethesda doesn't "qualify." Living in Bethesda is not "city living."

It’s more of a city than Old Town Alexandria…that’s the comparison.

[Anonymous]

I’m from a major urban city in another state and currently live in the DC exburbs. It was a pretty extreme lifestyle shift, to put it mildly. After reading this thread, I feel great clarity about my desire to return back to city life and I’m also quite proud of myself for sticking it out here (and mostly happily) for as long as I have!

[Anonymous]

If you are specifically talking about the DMV, I think it really depends on which suburbs. Darnestown/North Potomac/Potomac huge house on 1+ acres or boonies outer Fairfax is very different from Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda or Tacoma Park. If you have a close in house that you can age in place in with enough space to host adult kids and their spouses/kids but quickly accessible to all the activities in DC that is the best possible scenario.

[Anonymous]

We recently moved on to CDS in the suburbs.
All nine original owners are in their eighties.

I don’t know how they’re going to manage much longer.

One couple did move to a senior apt bldg though.

[Anonymous]

DH and I both like city living - we moved to the close-in suburbs for the public schools, and thinking about moving back once they are done with college. We love being able to walk everywhere and just the hustle and bustle of higher density living.

Honestly, our big concern is that our whole social circle is here in our suburban community. We have a number of close friends, our church community, and our volunteer efforts are all based close to our home. We have been here 15 years and expect to stay another 14-15 before heading back to the city.

We had kids later, and have a big family, so by the time the last one is done with college, DH and I will be in our mid-60s. I don’t think that’s too old to make new friends and find a new community, but it also feels hard to imagine moving away from relationships developed over 20 years.

And while some of those friends will leave the area, our neighborhood is full of older people (75+), so I know that many, many people stay. We worry about losing those relationships if we move into the city - the goal is not to move to the city and then to be commuting out to the suburbs to see everyone.

We still have time to decide, but now wondering if we will just move to a higher density part of our suburb- sort of splitting the baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's seems odd that some posters think there's a "right answer" here when there are so many variables, including just these few:

Where in the suburbs are we talking about? In the DMV there are big differences between, say, Lyon Village in Arlington, Reston, and Herndon. Those differences include walkability, access to public transit and bike trails, driving distance to "city" (this also needs to be defined).

Does your city offer a mix of restaurants you like, theaters or places to hear music that you enjoy?

How long have you lived in your suburb? Are you friends with neighbors? Do you participate in community activities there that you enjoy and find meaningful and would miss if you moved to the city?

Do you use and enjoy rec facilities in your suburb? Would you be able to find affordable and accessible substitutes for these facilities in the city?

Do you want to have extra space in your home for an office (e.g., if you're doing consulting work), or hobby?

Do you like gardening and enjoy your yard, porch, patio, etc?

Do you have a dog and want to be able to walk the dog?

Do you enjoy hosting your adult kids, grandchildren, and extended family and friends from out of town?

The only place in the DMV outside of DC itself that comes close to qualifying as "city" living is Old Town Alexandria. Lyon Village is not the city.

Lyon Village is more dense and walkable than some parts of NW DC.

[Anonymous]

We raised our kids in DC but are thinking of moving to Arlington when they leave, so interesting that you are thinking of the reverse.