Reply to Considering Move from Cap. Hill/Hill East to Silver Spring--Am I crazy?

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Reply to "Considering Move from Cap. Hill/Hill East to Silver Spring--Am I crazy?"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I moved from the HIll to a similarly priced older home not far from where you're looking - this was 10 years ago. I've never regretted it for a second. But I'd point out a couple of things you should consider:

1) Your commute is going to SUCK. Sorry for the language and the hard truth. But there's no way I'd do the Beltway from SS to Mclean every day with two kids involved unless I had total flex hours or a live-in nanny. For me, the change wasn't a big deal because I work downtown and with traffic and lousy metro issues, I probably have the same commute from close-in SS/CCMD to downtown DC. Not true if you need to get on the Beltway at rush hour.
2) Busy roads SUCK. I'm on one, so I know. Ours isn't nearly as bad as Colesville, but it's pretty bad. I am happy with the trade off - we couldn't afford the neighborhood otherwise - but it also locks us into this house, because in a decade our house has appreciated reasonably well, but nowhere near what another house in this area would have, off the busy street. 
3) Major kitchen / back renos (fill in the blank - won't use the word again here!) Take whatever number you have in your head and double it. Plus think about the fact that if the kitchens and baths are old, the furnace, water heater, electrical system, plumbing and windows probably are too. We have put in 50k to our house without doing anything remotely aesthetic, and there is still endless amount to do. And our house had been mostly renovated in the 80s.
4) Finally, this is controversial here, but I'd dig hard to try to find something in a suburban school district that has a better HS. I'm biased, but my kids are in elementary now and the quality of the schools matters immensely. If you're set on MoCo (maybe it gives your husband a decent commute?), I'd poke around the Rosemary Hills neighborhood, there are often small older Capes near the school that are in the 400s. Rosemary Hills is in the BCC district. I know Highland Park has a good rep, but if you're moving out of the city for the burbs you may as well try to get the best schools possible. [/quote]

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