where to live on HHI of 170 so kids are economically in the middle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$170k HHI, should be able to afford more home than $500k-$600k...especially if you move to better school district and switch out of private?

no wonder so many people claim to be broke. our HHI is $230k and I wouldn't dream of buying a $600k house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington Forest.

No. Wakefield HS district is like moving to Wheaton.

+1 for south Arlington. Our HHI is $200k and we have a 40s colonial. I have no idea where Wheaton is, but I doubt it is 8 miles from our K Street office.

The OP wants good schools in case her kids switch to public. Wakefield does not fit the bill.

She also needs to get to Bethesda, not K Street. Silver Spring has better schools than South Arlington and is more convenient.

I live in N Arlington in Arl Forest. School is Washington-Lee, not Wakefield.

+1 for Northside Arlington Forest

Our HHI is close to yours and I feel like we are right in the middle zone for the neighborhood and school (Barrett). There are plenty of professional coples who earn more than us, and plenty who earn less. Northside Arlington Forest also meets your needs in terms of kids not having an oppressive amount of homework and second graders not running around with iPods/iPhones. There are a few houses in your price range although they may need some work. Up to 650-675k would get you a home in better condition or with better location (further from busy streets, closer to park, etc).

[Anonymous]

WL ain't so hot http://www.greatschools.org/virginia/arlington/133-Washington-Lee-High-School/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kentlands in Gaithersburg

30 min to Bethesda almost impossible during rush hours
Otherwise - great neighborhood

170 would be poor in Kentlands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$170k HHI, should be able to afford more home than $500k-$600k...especially if you move to better school district and switch out of private?

no wonder so many people claim to be broke. our HHI is $230k and I wouldn't dream of buying a $600k house.

Do you have lots of debt/high daycare/private tuition? We have HHI 250k and bought a $675k house and live very well. Well funded college/retirement, nice vacations, newer cars (not financed). Our only debt is the mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Rosemary Hills, or somewhere else around Silver Spring (esp. towards Bethesda) would be my suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Town house is doable for us though I'd prefer a row house or small bungalow.

Re our budget. We can afford more than 600,000 except my dh is in the tech field and we are nervous about his long term viability (lots of agism in the industry - it is possible his earning potential will decrease radically in the future) plus my income (about 65 before taxes and benefits) is now going to childcare and preschool and will in the future be slated for education (private school and college savings).

Private school is mostly about the kind of education we want for our kids. We both went to not great (not terrible) public schools and did just fine, but I'd like my kids to have something different. My friends are in publics (mostly Arlington) and happy enough, but their kids are doing a lot of homework in early grades and confined to desks, and one boy, according to his mother, has come to hate writing and reading because he was pushed in it too hard too young (it is better this year because they are doing a lot of collaborative learning stuff, and he is super social and so liking school more); I have two very active boys and I just don't see it as a good fit for them right now. So we are doing Montessori-type education for a while. Plus, I want a place where they love to learn and am not so interested in academic achievement or test scores; teaching college, I see VERY little of any love of learning in my students who basically just care about grades. I do think our education system causes at least some of this. But it is likely we will cycle in and out of public and private as our fiances and inclinations change - I'd just like a house that gave us the option of private, which means 600,000 or less.

And I'd also like my kids not to be in neighborhood schools where kids have way more material possessions and vacations than they will ever have; my friends in Arlington public schools already face quite a bit of this - second graders with iphones etc. I am personally fine with being lower SES than others in my neighborhood - I love my career and life and don't feel, except for a house, like there is anything I want I can't have. I am not terribly social and don't crave fitting in. But I grew up in a small new-money town (oil money in the deep south) and dread my kids wanting things "everyone else" has that they won't. It sucked in jr. high!

Silver springs and Takoma are definitely neighborhoods we are considering - was just hoping for recommendations a bit closer to Bethesdsa/va since that commute can be a bear. The neighborhoods behind ballston also seems doable, though I'm hesitant to move to VA (somehow it feels more suburban than silver springs). I am not sure, commute-wise, if a neighborhood like rock creek forest (is that its name - right above Rock creek Park over the line from DC), for which I've seen some houses in our price range, is more commutable than Takoma (from Takoma, you can cut through the park from Aspen drive whereas I'd being stuck doing the east-west HYW from Rock Creek Forest) and I'm not sure if the neighborhood is, with just a couple of housing exceptions, above our pay grade.

AU park would be great but, I haven't seen a single house come on the market we can afford (have been casting around for last month or two).

Thanks everyone for helping me think this through!

I have never met anyone who sounded so much like me. Wish I knew you, OP!

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't really understand your objections to public school and if you are worried about the influence of rich kids in the 'hood, buckle your seatbelt before dropping your kids at private school.

FYI, it is Silver Spring, not Silver Springs.

You are pretty much priced out of Bethesda and Kensington and are likely looking at Silver Spring or Wheaton, maybe Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh yes, yes they are. You couldn't pay me enough to move to FFX country. Love ALL of Arlington.

Signed, HH with 2 highly educated parents (one from an Ivy), HHI 200K.

I'll see your Ivy and raise you one. From FFX COunty (McLean), HHI 800k. Whatever. FFX County is fine.

Puke. People who cite their Ivys are such douches. You do know it does not equate to your value or intelligence? So sick of people in this area talking about their degrees, it is so pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh yes, yes they are. You couldn't pay me enough to move to FFX country. Love ALL of Arlington.

Signed, HH with 2 highly educated parents (one from an Ivy), HHI 200K.

I'll see your Ivy and raise you one. From FFX COunty (McLean), HHI 800k. Whatever. FFX County is fine.

Puke. People who cite their Ivys are such douches. You do know it does not equate to your value or intelligence? So sick of people in this area talking about their degrees, it is so pathetic.

I find it hilarious, as if the degree somehow makes the point valid. Next time I post in the Food and Cooking forum I'm going to end "signed Ivy grad"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$170k HHI, should be able to afford more home than $500k-$600k...especially if you move to better school district and switch out of private?

no wonder so many people claim to be broke. our HHI is $230k and I wouldn't dream of buying a $600k house.

Do you have lots of debt/high daycare/private tuition? We have HHI 250k and bought a $675k house and live very well. Well funded college/retirement, nice vacations, newer cars (not financed). Our only debt is the mortgage.

None of the above, and we are savers, but if I want to make a lifestyle change or if one person were to get laid off, I don't want to be prisoner to my house.
I realize I am more paranoid than the average person

[Anonymous]

Given your commute to Bethesda I'd say Takoma Park or Silver Spring. However, I just bought in 22042 with a similar wish list. If VA isn't too far for you, check it out. LIke you, I wanted somewhere safe, good schools, where my kids wouldn't be the poorest or the richest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given your commute to Bethesda I'd say Takoma Park or Silver Spring. However, I just bought in 22042 with a similar wish list. If VA isn't too far for you, check it out. LIke you, I wanted somewhere safe, good schools, where my kids wouldn't be the poorest or the richest.

22042 schools especially high aren't that great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm puzzled that more people haven't suggested Rockville. There are some very middle-class areas (Manor Woods comes to mind) with good schools. And that's a fairly easy commute to Bethesda.

+1 Why would someone going to school in Bethesda want to move to VA? and do a double commute?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh yes, yes they are. You couldn't pay me enough to move to FFX country. Love ALL of Arlington.

Signed, HH with 2 highly educated parents (one from an Ivy), HHI 200K.

I'll see your Ivy and raise you one. From FFX COunty (McLean), HHI 800k. Whatever. FFX County is fine.

Puke. People who cite their Ivys are such douches. You do know it does not equate to your value or intelligence? So sick of people in this area talking about their degrees, it is so pathetic.

Haha, yes, I'm a douche. And not intelligent, nor do I have any value. I also don't really care about your opinion, and you don't know me IRL anyway. Snicker.