Reply to Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?

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Reply to "Capitol Hill families - If you moved to NW or burbs for school, do you have any regrets?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most people on CH can’t afford to move or go private, so they are really stuck. However there are more charter high schools than the ones DCUM finds acceptable and many families I know send their kids to these high schools. [/quote]

Total BS. Whether a family rents or buys on CH, the same money spent on rent and equity/mortgage payments could be spent on housing in the DC burbs. No middle-class family is stuck with mediocre or bad schooling options in Ward 6.[/quote]

No, housing is relatively cheaper on the Hill. Many of us can’t trade up that easily. [/quote]

Cheaper as compared to where? North and Central Arlington 3-bedroom houses and Hill houses are priced comparably (we've done lots of searching).  Same with 3-bedroom rentals.  Almost all of Fairfax and Falls Church and at least half of MoCo are cheaper than the Hill. [/quote]

Not for schools that are clearly better.

NW DC, Arlington, Falls Church and MoCo zoned for the “good” schools have almosr nothing under $1m. 20002/20003 currently have 150+ 2br+ properties for under $1 mil. Fairfax is better but you start getting really deep into the burbs and trading off time for money.

This leaves families contemplating a move to the DCC or Richard Montgomery HS. At that point many Hill families will stick it out a bit longer to hope that Walls or McKinley or a cheaper Catholic HS will work out.

[/quote]You keep saying this.  But you've been told over and over again that things sell quickly in these areas so you just won't ever see lots of inventory at any price point.  (At least not in the 7 years I've lived in Arlington.)  There are never ever 150+ properties on the market in a single price range.  You have to watch when things come up and pounce.  It doesn't mean that there aren't options.  It just means that they don't sit around.  [/quote]

This is not even remotely limited to Arlington. Houses in the Dc area sell fast. And i don’t know where you’re finding homes under 1 million on Capitol Hill. They don’t really exist.

As a final note- Arlington middle schools are not good. [/quote]There's some poster who is convinced there are >150 properties on the Hill for sale for less than $1m.  That doesn't seem right to me, but I'm not going to waste my time checking.  She has some crazy notion that there are endless cheap options on the Hill, but nothing at all is affordable in Arlington.  (Of course her reference for Arlington is that nothing is listed the last week of July--literally the worst time to look for real estate in the DMV.). [/quote]

“I don’t believe you and I’m not going to check but you’re wrong for sure.”

truly amazing[/quote]

I checked. There is exactly 1 (one) 3 bedroom home on Capitol Hill under a million dollars. One. And the reason for the low price has mostly to do with the condition of the home. If you remove the filter for 3 bedrooms and choose 2 bedrooms and up, there are 5 homes for sale, and 4 of them are condos.

So whoever you are, stop being crazy and pretending there are tons of homes on the hill for sale for under a million. I wish there were- I would happily buy one![/quote]

Huh? You’re not using Redfin correctly or you have a very restricted definition of Capitol Hill. Try again because you’re wrong.

Signed, someone who will be selling a Maury-zoned house soon for around 900k. [/quote]

NP. Out of morbid curiosity, I just looked on Redfin for 3 beds 2 bath on the Hill sold for under $1 million in the last 6 months. I came up with 7 properties, four of which sold for over $950k. [/quote]

Who said we all live in 3br/2ba homes? And you’re probably not searching the entire SH/EH cachement (an extended definition of the Hill).

The reason this line of discussion came up here is to point out that “move to N Arlington where the schools are better” is not financially feasible for many Hill families facing down MS/HS (or upper elementary in the case of some schools). Many of us do not live in $1mil houses. Cashing out our home equity means either a) moving way out to Fairfax to get “good” schools or b) making a trade up to MoCo where it’s arguable whether the DCC HS are that much of an upgrade over waiting to see if something works out in DC. [/quote]

Uhm, the EH boundary includes the entire Maury, Miner & Payne boundaries… That is way beyond even an extended definition of Capitol Hill. All the way out at like 24th & Benning?? No wonder people are saying CH real estate is cheap. CH means the Historic district + maybe out to the Starburst in NE & Congressional Cemetery in SE if we’re going with outer boundaries of neighborhood feel. In no world is 21st & anything “Capitol Hill.”[/quote]

Most Payne and Maury families and many Miner consider themselves “Capitol Hill” families. And the situation is the same because we all face the same MS/HS dilemma.  But sure, if you want to define away the problem, go ahead ….

[/quote]

“Most” Payne and “many” Miner… Probably the ones who live on or at least near Capitol Hill, or perhaps the ones sucked by real estate agents. It’s not defining the problem (which Ward 5 has as well) away to say that almost a mile from the Capitol Hill historic district does not equal Capitol Hill. Geographically Chinatown is closer to the Hill than 24th & Benning, that doesn’t make it Capitol Hill.

Also, when there’s a big discussion on whether people on the Hill could afford to sell their houses and move to Arlington, there’s obviously a huge difference in the answer for folks with houses in the Historic District ($1 million minimum with a few exceptions) and folks living out in an area where the average house seems to be $600K way on the other side of the Starburst. Defining everyone into Capitol Hill actually masks that people have very different options.[/quote]

Newsflash, the list of people who care about the "historic district" designation includes the following:
-Septuagenarian and and octogenarian real estate agents who wear knits and ill fitting ankle length dresses
-Desperate people like you who want a cache that doesn't exist

For most families looking to buy homes for families the historic restrictions are a net negative. You seem sad and desperate. I'd also bet you $5k that you do not have and have not had school age kids at home for several years. [/quote]

You really think the author of this post was asking if folks previously living at 22nd & Benning regretted that they moved to the NW or burbs? Sure. Whatever. We can talk about everyone EOTP having middle school issues... that's absolutely true. That's still not "Capitol Hill," which is what this post was actually asking about.[/quote]

NP. That's a straw man. The entire point of this conversation is to discuss school options for people in Capitol Hill elementaries that feed to Eastern, which is viewed by most as a non-starter. EH, SH, and JA are viewed as borderline by some, unacceptable by many (though a major reason they are deemed unacceptable is specifically because they feed to Eastern).

So excluding families zoned for Maury, Payne, Tyler, even Van Ness or JO Wilson (neither of which are on the Hill but feed to schools on the Hill) makes little sense. The conversation obviously includes people in Hill East and really anywhere in Ward 6 where the feeder schools might prompt people to move.

This isn't about who gets to claim they live on the Hill (no one cares!), it's about how families who move because they are dissatisfied with educational options on the Hill, which are accessed by people outside the strict borders of not only the historic district (which is quite small) but even the broader Capitol Hill area. All these families face similar issues, regardless of whether they live at 4th and East Cap or 9th and I St NE or 4th and L SE.[/quote]

Or even those IB for Amidon-Bowen? I guess I just completely disagree. I don't think OP thought most people would regret leaving their less good elementary schools... They were wondering whether people would regret leaving their Capitol Hill neighborhood. Whether you actually live in that neighborhood and have that share experience with OP seems relevant. This isn't about exactly where the CH line is, but rather whether it is actually relevant to include schools and neighborhoods that no one would call Capitol Hill.[/quote]

^^ Sorry that should say less good middle & high schools (including SH, EH, Jefferson & Eastern).[/quote]

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