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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don't make the same mistakes we made and buy into the hype and pay a premium for a small older house in TP without knowing what you are truly getting, scope out exactly where you will be living and come back at multiple times before deciding. The oldtown part of TP is cute but now kind of a pain to drive through and Carrol is just the worst. There are some cute neighborhoods in the historic parts but they turn shady and crappy quickly as you get closer to New Hampshire, University Blvd, Maple Ave (non-SFH part) and Flower Ave. The bane of TP is it really is right on the edge of what many would consider civilization, many don't agree with me but drive around the close by PG and the DC neighborhoods and judge for your self.

Silver Spring is huge and ranges from Ok to forgettable down to pretty bad with some of the worst being right on the edge of DTSS and TP like Piney Branch and University. Obviously you would want to close to downtown preferably south of Dale Dr or just north. Even then you have to be careful with school expectations as the best neighborhoods (Woodside and Woodside Park) goes to one of the lesser school clusters where the other decent neighborhood (Sligo Park Hills) has a very sub par elementary school and is on the far edge of what could be consider walkable.  There are a few compromise neighborhoods (Woodmore and Forest Glen) that are cheaper and rightly so but offer decent options for the area if your budget is south of 600k.

The problem with the DTSS area is it is just recovering for decades of being the dumping ground of low income housing and neglect form the county and while it is going though a transformation it still has many of the cons of poorer urban areas and the cons of the suburbs.  
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I would agree with some of these comments. I do not agree that the homes close to New Hampshire are crappy. There is a just a bit more diversity as it relates to homeowners.  Put more plainly, there is a higher percentage of Black and Hispanic SF homeowners than in the historic district which is uber expensive 100% white, and a bit over hyped. Not saying this is an issue for you, but if being around people of color, or low income families is an issue for you, then Takoma Park is NOT the place you want to search. Unlike places west of the county like Bethesda and such, interacting with them in your schools and everywhere else in the area is absolutely unavoidable.

Before buying in TKPK 5+ years ago, we did a lot of research on the area as well as SS (for months). Ultimately we settled on TKPK because we really liked the neighborhood we bought in (not the historic district), the schools are good, crime isn't really much of an issue, and we are close to the city for our commutes (40-45 mins door to door). Also, both DH and I are city folks and TKPK doesn't have that "sleepy suburb" feel like say Woodmore. Five years in, even with the ability to cash out, we are very happy with our decision and do not plan on moving anytime soon.

There are definitely some cons to TKPK, with the largest for me being the taxes. Someone posted on here that the rate swings wildly from year to year. Thats not true at all. But its definitely more expensive tax wise than SS. Wherever you look, just look at the county records.  There also some annoying issues like the process required for cutting down a tree, or laws against using weed killer. Various quality of life/environment laws that are passed that, depending on your political leanings, may annoy you (DH is republican so sometimes he struggles with this).

You can get more bang for your buck in places like Forest Glenn and Woodmore IMO, however its a longer trip on the Metro. We weren't fans of the neighborhoods, but we know many people who are and who love it.  Wheaton is also another popular place, but I'm not sure about the schools.

If looking in TKPK be aware of which schools you are zoned to. Almost everyone(someone correct me if I'm wrong) is zoned to TKPK MS and Blair for MS and HS, both good schools IMO. For elementary school some are zoned to Rolling Terrace (k-5) and others are zoned to TKPK ES (K-2) and Piney Pranch ES (3-5).  Rolling Terrace was an out for us, although we have heard great things about their Spanish immersion. TKPK is a bit overcrowded, but is very good. Piney Branch is good as well, but folks on here generally bash it since it has a higher FARMS % (35-40%ish) and correspondingly doesn't have the best test score results.

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