Silver Spring versus Bethesda & Chevy Chase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Much more difficult resale in SS than in other areas mentioned.

Cite your source for this. Also, what do you mean by "SS"? It encompasses a lot of zip codes and is different from one area to the other.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think Silver Spring is ghetto and I wouldn't live there but then again I grew up in the Whitman district.

Must be a kick in the ass to have to live in Rockville now that you are less successful than your parents.

Not the PP, but it's such a sad irony that so many people are MORE successful than their parents, but can't afford their childhood neighborhoods.
That said...hey, Rockville's looking pretty good these days.

Eh, I think you're seeing a restructuring. Plenty of young people are moving to new places, kind of making their own way. I doubt there are many 25 year olds that would want to live in Bethesda anyway, if we're being brutally honest...

Um, well yeah, because those 25 year olds don't have families yet. Let's see how they feel when they're 35 or 45 with school-age kids. I don't live in Bethesda myself, but I can't say that I wouldn't have at least considered it, had I been able to afford it.

Right. But the 25 year olds don't have families right now, that's the point. In 10 more years, with time in the job market, I'm sure a good portion of kids who grew up in the Whitman district will be able to afford it. That's one of the advantages of family wealth, as unfortunate and unfair as that may.

I grew up in the BCC cluster and went to a private school in DC. I know tons of families who can't afford either, and we are way past 25.

How old are you?

I'm not PP, but same exact situation. I'm 40. Bethesda was lots of lawyers and government employees then.

[Anonymous]

Actually those right around 40 years old also got screwed. Look at the economy within the first years when they came out of college, especially if they went to grad school right away and then tried to work -- remember the recession? History shows that most wages don't recover if they start low (which is the same concern we have today for Milllenials starting at low salaries).

And then today, many of those right around 40 are stuck in the middle because of non-retiring baby boomers. It's definitely a public/private issue.

[Anonymous]

To OP: Woodside Park in SS has houses in the range (some higher -- but they do come up in the 700s to low 800s). Elementary school there is Woodlin, which is well regarded (and it is diverse). Middle School is good, too, talking to people with kids actually there (got a bad rep a few years back after apparently some poor leadership -- but has had new folks in place for a couple of years now and I don't know anyone not happy with it -- but frankly, some kids in 20910 also go magnet or private during mid-school (I think some of this just has to do with the fact that middle school is a tough age in general and the experience is often more challenging, no matter how "good" the school)). High School is Einstein -- but kids pick high schools anyway so I don't know why it matters so much. Einstein is the arts school, so kids from different clusters select it for that. If your kids want something different then they would go for the corresponding school. If it's 8 years away, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Neighborhood is walkable to downtown SS and Metro. Schools are diverse and that attracts people seeking that to the neighborhood (mixed race families, LGBT families). Someone mentioned Takoma and you can get a very similar set up there - but the price per square foot walkable to metro is higher and the bidding war scenario is always in play. Bethesda is a great town with great schools and I would never bad mouth it (or anyone's home for that matter). Walkable to town and metro will tend to be higher per square foot than both SS and TP. When we made the decision amongst these places that (trying to be a one car family) and our own family's need for diversity (mixed race) were the deciding factors. 800 to a million just doesn't go as far in Bethesda -- but you can still get a great house there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually those right around 40 years old also got screwed. Look at the economy within the first years when they came out of college, especially if they went to grad school right away and then tried to work -- remember the recession? History shows that most wages don't recover if they start low (which is the same concern we have today for Milllenials starting at low salaries).

And then today, many of those right around 40 are stuck in the middle because of non-retiring baby boomers. It's definitely a public/private issue.

I don't think this is true at all. We had the lowest number of kids ever. It was easy to get into good colleges and there were plenty of jobs when we graduated. In 1995, I was making $10/hr in an internship. That was decent back then. I was earning 10% in the bank. DH and I bought our first places when we were 27 and 29. When we sold them 3 and 6 years later (one before the crash and one at the end of it) we made a 1/2 milion dollars in appreciation tax free.

[Anonymous]

It might not have been your personal experience, but that doesn't mean the early 2000s recession didn't happen.