No ad hominems on my thread, please!

Thanks for the hope, 21:57. What about MARC from Union Station (and living near there)?

We didn't even consider Baltimore, to be honest. The Wire is a really effective show. As are these graphics: http://www.cityrating.com/crime-statistics/maryland/baltimore.html#.UXSVhSvF3e4 Does the city just get a bum rap?

45 minutes is tough, but so is living with a bitter me. On the other hand, I do like him and would appreciate seeing him for dinner at nights... This has been quite a reality check, DCUM-ers!

We live in Fort Greene, and I realize I can't replicate it (plus, I've seen what happens to posters who try), but I'd like to be able to walk to a couple of decent restaurants, one place that gets my latte right (ech, I hate myself for saying that), and maybe a couple of stores that don't exist anywhere else?

REALLY REALLY? I have to give up and move to the suburbs? There's no reasonable alternative in DC metro?

OP here-- best options for me career-wise are with the government, so we're going to have to compromise on DC. Plus, we have a few contacts in DC, and absolutely no one in Baltimore.

I now see that my post comes at the heels of a dozen or more previous posts looking for the NYC-to-DC transition sweet spot. I guess it's a debate as old as time.

OP here-- I'm worried that I won't be able to handle the transition from NYC to a suburb, so was hoping to move to a lively, busy area-- is Silver Spring city-ish?

Hello,

My husband and I will be moving to DC this summer, at which point I will be 5+ months pregnant with our second. I am an attorney and would love to find a position in a federal agency or on the Hill, but our timing is obviously a little tricky. My initial instinct was to wait until #2 is a couple of months old before starting the search, but a couple of people have told me that I shouldn't wait-- I should start the interview process ASAP, and not feel bad about my "situation" (especially since employers shouldn't be taking it into account when making hiring decisions). I'm not so sure I agree... On the other hand, it would be much easier for us as a family if we had two salaries and possible maternity benefits. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the quick response! Agreed re: transaction costs, though amortized over 3 years (the length of husband's initial term), it may still be cheaper than renting! Plus, we're worried that mortgage rates may not stay this low if we waited a year... That being said, we have no clue what real estate taxes look like in DC.

Re: schools, 2 year old just turned 2, will be 29 months-ish in September. So no go on the public school option. We've been looking at JCC, Co-op Gan in Capitol Hill, and Adas Israel. Will be posting a message on that issue on another forum!

Hello forum,

Sorry for the long post-- please bear with me, as we need your help!

My family and I (husband, 2 year-old, and me) are re-locating to DC from Brooklyn, NYC this summer. We don't know DC very well and would love assistance from the hive mind about housing alternatives. We're looking for the following, in order of most to least important:

- 3+ bedrooms, 1.5+ baths
- Walkable commercial area (mama needs her coffee fix)
- Under 35 minute rush-hour commute to Columbia, Maryland (where husband will be working)-- we're thinking this means easy access to highway
- Close metro access
- Other young families

We aren't sure whether we will need to rent or buy at this point. We are keeping our NYC apartment just in case the new gig doesn't work out, so our first thought was renting, but I am not seeing much in the rental market right now. Ideally, we'd like to rent for under $4500, but doing some quick, back-of-the-envelope math the other day, we realized we would likely spend less than that if we bought something in the 700K-800K range. Is it a pipe dream to find something in that price range in a neighborhood that fits the above criteria?...

Thanks in advance for any thoughts-- Moving is hard!