Brooklanders…where do you send DCs to school and how is your commute?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if I get into my dream charter, if I can also find a dream home in brookland. My current house would sell for between $1 and $1.2 mil. My wish list in brookland would be:
1) coffee shop I could walk to in under a mile
2) 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths-- which would include an inlaw suite plus a playroom
3) parking and maybe even a garage
4) a wooded lot or a lot overlooking woods
5) space and enough room left on the budget to install a nice swimming pool.

Does this kind of thing exist in brookland?

tIa.

This seems like a joke. With all due respect to Brookland, why would anyone live there if they had one million to spend? It is mostly a low-income/middle-income neighborhood, with lots of strenths but lots of weaknesses. If you had that much money to spend why would you move to Brookland?

Is this response a joke? I live in Brookland and I have that budget to spend on a home. I like the suburban-like feel, and my big house on a big lot. I love the historical nature of this neighborhood. There are new homes selling in Brookland and surrounding areas for close to $1M. Not everyone wants coffee shops and cafes at their front door. Some of the ppl on this board need to get off the computer and get in to the real world. Brookland is a great neighborhood for those who want the lifestyle it offers ($1M or not).

Please. People ready willing and able to buy a home for $1 million, who have been approved by the bank and have the down payment in cash do not choose Brookland as their top pick. Also, I've worked in Brookland for years and the prevalence of $1M home sales is microscopic, if not non-existent. There was that one grey round architect's house that was 800k, maybe one other further north ...

Agree. Let's be realistic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in Woodridge, so next to Brookland, and we love it. Our kids go to YY, which we have also been really pleased with and we are thrilled to be able to walk/bike to school when we want to. Buying a house below what we could afford means that we have the flexibility to spend money on other priorities. One spouse works part-time to allow for more time with the kids, getting things done around the house etc. No way we could do this if we bought at the top of our budget.

There are lots of two-earner, high income families in Brookland who have done just that (we are another one). Not being "house poor" allows us to work flexibly, spend more time with kids, take great vacations, and save more. We love living near so many other families who have the same priorities in life. Sure, we could have bought a house for many more $100Ks elsewhere but are perfectly happy to have the house we do and the extra $$ each month. Oh, and we were lucky enough to get into an awesome charter. Everyone we know also ends up somewhere they are happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in Woodridge, so next to Brookland, and we love it. Our kids go to YY, which we have also been really pleased with and we are thrilled to be able to walk/bike to school when we want to. Buying a house below what we could afford means that we have the flexibility to spend money on other priorities. One spouse works part-time to allow for more time with the kids, getting things done around the house etc. No way we could do this if we bought at the top of our budget.

There are lots of two-earner, high income families in Brookland who have done just that (we are another one). Not being "house poor" allows us to work flexibly, spend more time with kids, take great vacations, and save more. We love living near so many other families who have the same priorities in life. Sure, we could have bought a house for many more $100Ks elsewhere but are perfectly happy to have the house we do and the extra $$ each month. Oh, and we were lucky enough to get into an awesome charter. Everyone we know also ends up somewhere they are happy.

This sounds great. It also sounds like every (white) family in Brookland ends up in an "awesome" charter and is "very happy" at all times. And has a "great" house on a "huge" lot.

Have you eve noticed everyone describes living in Brookland the exact same way? I have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in Woodridge, so next to Brookland, and we love it. Our kids go to YY, which we have also been really pleased with and we are thrilled to be able to walk/bike to school when we want to. Buying a house below what we could afford means that we have the flexibility to spend money on other priorities. One spouse works part-time to allow for more time with the kids, getting things done around the house etc. No way we could do this if we bought at the top of our budget.

There are lots of two-earner, high income families in Brookland who have done just that (we are another one). Not being "house poor" allows us to work flexibly, spend more time with kids, take great vacations, and save more. We love living near so many other families who have the same priorities in life. Sure, we could have bought a house for many more $100Ks elsewhere but are perfectly happy to have the house we do and the extra $$ each month. Oh, and we were lucky enough to get into an awesome charter. Everyone we know also ends up somewhere they are happy.

This sounds great. It also sounds like every (white) family in Brookland ends up in an "awesome" charter and is "very happy" at all times. And has a "great" house on a "huge" lot.

Have you eve noticed everyone describes living in Brookland the exact same way? I have.

It's heaven over here! We have a disproportionate number of Stokes, IT, LAMB and Yu Ying families because they're all Ward 5 or former Ward 5. Also Brookland is a sizable neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in Woodridge, so next to Brookland, and we love it. Our kids go to YY, which we have also been really pleased with and we are thrilled to be able to walk/bike to school when we want to. Buying a house below what we could afford means that we have the flexibility to spend money on other priorities. One spouse works part-time to allow for more time with the kids, getting things done around the house etc. No way we could do this if we bought at the top of our budget.

There are lots of two-earner, high income families in Brookland who have done just that (we are another one). Not being "house poor" allows us to work flexibly, spend more time with kids, take great vacations, and save more. We love living near so many other families who have the same priorities in life. Sure, we could have bought a house for many more $100Ks elsewhere but are perfectly happy to have the house we do and the extra $$ each month. Oh, and we were lucky enough to get into an awesome charter. Everyone we know also ends up somewhere they are happy.

This sounds great. It also sounds like every (white) family in Brookland ends up in an "awesome" charter and is "very happy" at all times. And has a "great" house on a "huge" lot.

Have you eve noticed everyone describes living in Brookland the exact same way? I have.

Then join us and drink the kool-aid!

[Anonymous]

Heh, I am a Brooklander. We are at an awesome charter but our lot is not huge and our old house has Issues. We like it nonetheless but different story.

[Anonymous]

I would also check back on this thread after the PS3 lottery this year. There has been a bumper crop of Brookland babies, starting with the blizzard babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We send our kids to Yu Ying. Takes about 20-25 minutes to drive from Brookland to downtown, depending.

Confused.....Yu Ying is no longer downtown, right, or is that school across from Carroll not Yu Ying?

[Anonymous]

YY is in Brookland. Assume PP means getting downtown for WORK after dropping off kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YY is in Brookland. Assume PP means getting downtown for WORK after dropping off kid

Yes, correct. Sorry for confuision. OP was asking about commute times.

[Anonymous]

I don't live in Brookland so I don't have a view on if Brookland is awesome and everyone has a huge lot and a pool, or whatever. But there do seem to be many people on this board (and particularly over in Real Estate) who really can't believe that not everyone is dying to live west of the park. There are a lot of us in the area who are high earners and don't love Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, etc. for a variety of reasons. And especially when your budget is around $1 million, neighborhoods like Brookland, Crestwood and 16th Street Heights can be much better choices. You get way more house for your money and many of us would rather have a bigger house in a less established neighborhood than have the littlest house on the street in Cleveland Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't live in Brookland so I don't have a view on if Brookland is awesome and everyone has a huge lot and a pool, or whatever. But there do seem to be many people on this board (and particularly over in Real Estate) who really can't believe that not everyone is dying to live west of the park. There are a lot of us in the area who are high earners and don't love Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, etc. for a variety of reasons. And especially when your budget is around $1 million, neighborhoods like Brookland, Crestwood and 16th Street Heights can be much better choices. You get way more house for your money and many of us would rather have a bigger house in a less established neighborhood than have the littlest house on the street in Cleveland Park.

And then I always wonder about commute? I have lived in Columbia Heights and Brookland. When looking at summer camps, I looked at a couple of things in Tenlytown and Cleveland Park, and I just thought "NO WAY do I want to have to drive a) from Brookland over there, but b) from there to downtown. What is the commute from those neighborhoods to downtown like? Do most people metro or do a lot of people drive?

I like being able to get on N. Capitol and just get to where I need to go (including DC's charter school). Maybe WOTP is pretty cool, but it seems so far away from everything I like/want to do, it just seems too far out of range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't live in Brookland so I don't have a view on if Brookland is awesome and everyone has a huge lot and a pool, or whatever. But there do seem to be many people on this board (and particularly over in Real Estate) who really can't believe that not everyone is dying to live west of the park. There are a lot of us in the area who are high earners and don't love Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, etc. for a variety of reasons. And especially when your budget is around $1 million, neighborhoods like Brookland, Crestwood and 16th Street Heights can be much better choices. You get way more house for your money and many of us would rather have a bigger house in a less established neighborhood than have the littlest house on the street in Cleveland Park.

Different people have different priorities. I live in a dreaded WOTP neighborhood and I don't care at all about a big house. Our priorities were proximity to metro, shortest possible commute, ability to attend neighborhood school, and nearby commerce. I don't get more house for my money, but I get a better commute and less time in the car going to and from schools and activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't live in Brookland so I don't have a view on if Brookland is awesome and everyone has a huge lot and a pool, or whatever. But there do seem to be many people on this board (and particularly over in Real Estate) who really can't believe that not everyone is dying to live west of the park. There are a lot of us in the area who are high earners and don't love Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, etc. for a variety of reasons. And especially when your budget is around $1 million, neighborhoods like Brookland, Crestwood and 16th Street Heights can be much better choices. You get way more house for your money and many of us would rather have a bigger house in a less established neighborhood than have the littlest house on the street in Cleveland Park.

And then I always wonder about commute? I have lived in Columbia Heights and Brookland. When looking at summer camps, I looked at a couple of things in Tenlytown and Cleveland Park, and I just thought "NO WAY do I want to have to drive a) from Brookland over there, but b) from there to downtown. What is the commute from those neighborhoods to downtown like? Do most people metro or do a lot of people drive?

I like being able to get on N. Capitol and just get to where I need to go (including DC's charter school). Maybe WOTP is pretty cool, but it seems so far away from everything I like/want to do, it just seems too far out of range.

I live in North Cleveland Park, and everyone I know that works downtown takes the metro so I don't know what the driving commute would be.

As far as being close to things, you just adjust to where you live. When I go to Brookland I feel like it is so far away from anything I'd want. From my house I have access (by foot) to my kids' school, 2 supermarkets, several parks, Rock Creek Park, a great swimming pool, and I can be downtown in 20 minutes on the metro. If I want to go to the Hill or a Nats game by car it takes me 20-30 minutes via Rock Creek Parkway, so it's no big deal. And I've always lived in NW (Adams Morgan and Dupont previously) so I'm just used to what is in these neighborhoods. I know that other places are cool (Union Market, etc.) but I don't feel like I miss is because it's just not one of my normal places. If I want to go out in Columbia Heights or U Street I take a bus or cab.

[Anonymous]

People go to what is good and close by, no matter what the neighborhood. What's nice is that we're starting to get some of the same amenities in NE that have always been accessible to NW.