Reply to Relocating from Chicago -- Neighborhood Recommendations in DC, MD and VA?

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[quote=donewithchicago][quote=Anonymous]This is "Relocated a couple of years ago"

We like it so far.  It's a lot different. We had always lived very close to downtown and that level of urban density doesn't really exist in residential areas here -- even in the district. I do like that in the SS/TP (Mont. Co) area where we are we have the mix of being able to walk to movies, restaurants, library, whole foods, some shops, and metro, while also being in a place where the kids can ride down to friends' houses with no problem.  That's different for us (kids riding unsupervised in Chicago was a nono -- all those cars jumping out of alleys). Also having grass is a novelty.  We think of where we are as a little like Evanston if Evanston were a little more like Rogers Park. The weather is great -- short winter and where we are it's easy access to bike trails to explore with the kids -- also you can get to a lot more interesting nature pretty quickly than in Chicago.

We're in MoCo and the schools are a lot better than CPS across the county.  CPS had some decent neighborhood schools, especially at the elementary level (Bell comes to mind -- I think you mentioned Roscoe V), but as you moved up the ladder things got tougher and the magnet competition became fierce.  I know a lot of folks who bolted CPS at middle school.  Here, from everyone I have talked to there is generally good feeling about the schools in MoCo up and down. People will dig on some of the "clusters" or "pyramids" -- I'm still not clear on terminology but basically it's the schools that funnel up to a specific high school.  I live near the Einstein and Blair clusters (those are the high schools) and folks seem to favor Blair, but then I have heard from a number of people that Einstein has its benefits because it's more challenging course selections aren't as overwhelmed.  Something like, very very hard to get a spot in Blair's IB program, but easier at Einstein. Also, Einstein is stronger arts, Blair is more math and science (what I was told -- not first hand for me yet). The middle schools seem ok -- I find that middle school is always tough, just that age is challenging.  Some have more struggles than others -- but the best thing there is to maybe find a realtor who can get you in touch with people at different schools -- for middle school I think first hand experience is always best.  Elementary schools, like in most large school systems, are the best quality tier.  It's pretty easy to find a good ES in your price point.

I'd say drive around a little and get a feel for different areas.  It'll become pretty obvious pretty quickly how different it is and what aligns more with your past experiences and with what you might be looking for now.  As I mentioned, we felt more comfortable on the DC line on the SS/TP side -- just made sense for us.  Bethesda was a little too clean for us (I know that makes no sense, but whatever) and it's really expensive. We could have swung it but it felt like moving to Winnetka, which wasn't what we were looking for.  DC itself was indistinguishable from Bethesda in some areas (which was interesting) and in other areas I just felt i didn't know enough to confidently pick a transitional neighborhood (we were native Chicagoans, so we had a lifetime of experience to draw on). We never checked Virginia -- just didn't seem like it was worth our time given what we were looking for, plus I didn't want to be looking forever. 
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This response is so perfect!! Thank you!!!![/quote]

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