DC neighbourhood suggestions for British family

[Anonymous]

New to this forum, so please be gentle..

I will be re-locating with my family from London to DC over the coming months and we are visiting next week to have a look at a few neighbourhoods, pre-schools and houses.
Although I have briefly driven around NW DC previously I would really value any perspectives from locals to inform our decisions.

To provide a flavour of our circumstances here is a summary of salient facts:

1. We have two children aged 3 and 5 months. We would envisage that the eldest starts a morning/afternoon pre-school from Sept 2010 although I'm concerned that all the application deadlines will have passed. We're both in our mid-30s.

2. I will be nominally based at Tysons Corner which seems like a disaster to get to by car - although I would quite happily cycle there having heard good things about the Custis Trail. Otherwise, I will use a downtown office on K street. Good access to Dulles and Regan would also help me.

4. My good lady won't work initially (although she has eligibility as an L-2 visa holder) so her priority is building a good network of professional mums with children and getting into the 3hole kids scene. As a comparator, we live in Richmond, West London now and liked the feel of Park Slope in NYC.

4. We plan to spend around $5,000/month to rent a house but are torn between the ability to walk places (i.e Georgetown) versus getting a reasonable size house with a yard further out. If the latter, I was thinking about areas such as Palisades, AU Park, Cleveland Park or up to Chevy Chase. The prospect of having to get in the car and drive everywhere is a somewhat alien concept to us, but we'll convert if we can see the benefits.

Many thanks for any advice

[Anonymous]

Your "good lady" is interested in the 3hole kid's scene? What is that?

[Anonymous]

$5K is a very good budget, but the stock of rental accomodations is somewhat limited here, so you might want to avoid narrowing down your search too much.

You might want to consider the British School, which has rolling applications, especially if you plan to return to Blighty. This might make being near Georgetown attractive. Georgetown is very pleasant, with a European feel, but students are a menace west of Wisconsin. Glover Park is also very nice - mainly rowhouses, only a few have decent sized yards. not on metro but good bus service.

Palisades is tedious and not at all walkable. Cleveland Park is good- some nice restaurants and the zoo, plus metro. Woodley Park is also good but limited housing stock. Otherwise, Chevy Chase DC or even MD are child friendly and walkable in parts (i.e. near metro).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your "good lady" is interested in the 3hole kid's scene? What is that?

Obviously 'whole'. And there was a request to be easy on him!!

Welcome. We're also from the UK and have been here a few years. I think you are on the right track with the areas you are looking at. Parking in Georgetown is a nightmare, so you should probably look north of there along the Wisconsin Ave & Connecticut Ave corridors. The amount you're willing to pay in rent will get you something good. BUT it is really tricky finding a nice rental. The quality of interiors is not generally as good as you'll be used to. So I would keep the area you're looking at very wide and jump on anything good that comes up. As for schools, we missed the boat with applications but went with the British School of Washington nursery class for 3 year olds (they have rolling admissions). It's not part-week, though, so may not fit with what you are interested in. They do have a part-time option (5 half-days). Regardless of whether you end of going to the BSW, they have an informal group for toddlers & carers called "Little Acorns" on Wednesday mornings where your wife could meet other parents. We have friends who liked the Washington Hebrew school (which has part-time options) - they are not Jewish and said that wasn't an issue. There are plenty of other things your wife could do to meet people including Music Together classes, ballet, gymboree, library hours, etc.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You may also want to consider the inner stops along the Metro Orange line in Arlington County (well it was part of D.C. until 1840). That would make getting to the Tysons Corner areaeasier and there are plenty of places walking or bicycling distance from the Metro stops.

[Anonymous]

VA would be better for your commute, but I wouldn't recommend it. It is pretty ugly, and even the "nice"parts are pretty souless - chain stores, big roads etc. It would make you pine for Richmond.
Although Old Town Alexandria is quite nice, if a little twee.
VA is also a lot less international than DC or Bethesda/Chevy Chase.

[Anonymous]

I also vote for Arlington.
Ballston, Clarendon, Rosslyn are pretty close to GGtown and DH bikes to work every day from here.

[Anonymous]

Kent, off Macarthur Boulevard

[Anonymous]

I think Palisades would work for you. The commute to Tysons is quick and it is right on the Capital Crescent Trail, which will take you to either Georgetown or Bethesda. It is family friendly and walkable to grocery stores, library, parks, and a few preschools. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Keep Spring Valley (20016 zip code) on your radar too. If we had $5k/month to spend, that is where I would choose.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind you will go through withdrawal when it comes to a good curry. We have been here five years and haven't found anywhere local that we love.

[Anonymous]

First of all, thank you for posting your budget. You wouldn't believe how many people ask for housing help and neglect to include how much they are going to spend.

I can tell you about Georgetown as that is where I am currently living with a 2 year old. Gtown is great in that there is a lot to walk to and some wonderful parks for kids.

As far as pre-k goes, you are right you have probably missed the boat on getting in full time somewhere close. But if you do a little digging on some of the other message boards on this site, you can probably find some good part time play group and summer camp openings in the neighborhood.

Getting to Tyson's by bicycle is almost out of the question. Metro & bus is not a great option from Gtown and I believe the Metro doesn't go all the way out to Tysons. However, since you would be going against the commute it wouldn't take more than 20 - 30 mintues to get to Tyson's form Gtown which is a pretty good commute in these parts.

Depending on what part of K Street you going to, Gtown would be within walking/biking distance.

Bad part about Gtown is there is not Metro stop. Closest one is about a 20 min walk. And with 2 small kids, that would be difficult.

I am renting a 3 bed / 2 bath home in Gtown now but will be moving next week. We have a small yard and a parking spot, which is extremely important in Gtown. We pay about $3500, but I'm not sure what they will be renting it for. If you are interested contact Channing or John http://chatelrealestate.com/ as it is not listed yet.

(BTW - I am not getting a kick back or anything for helping to rent it out, just trying to help.)

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

For 5K, you could get a nice flat in Georgetown with parking--but, you are far from Metro. I'd recommend Cleveland Park.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if $5K will work in Dupont for your needs (but I would think it might for a large apt), but I'd recommend Dupont. It is so centrally located and feels very international due to the embassies. You can walk to K St, U St, Logan Circle, and Gtown from there. I live in Dupont and adore it.

If you decide on Adams Morgan, you MUST ensure that you have a parking spot. It hasn't been suggested, but I thought I'd mention it. Not essential for all DC neighborhoods (like Dupont) but really nice if you will be driving every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For 5K, you could get a nice flat in Georgetown with parking--but, you are far from Metro. I'd recommend Cleveland Park.

We lived in East village of Gtown for 5 years and never had a parking problem...further up from M...at least above Dumbarton-up to R St-- btwn 27th-30th sts.