Reply to Relocating to DC...what's life like?

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I want to go back to your original question of 'what's it like?'

I think the simple answer is that DC and it's suburbs, especially the close-in ones, has a uniquely high-density (on a national or a  global scale) of highly-educated professional class people, and that's for better or for worse. The only places in the U.S. that approach that level of density of educated professionals are SF and Boston. Thinking a lot about what's appealing or revolting to you about those people will help quite a bit with understanding what you are getting into here.

HK and London, by contrast have a lower %-age (but still a lot) of educated professionals, but really, really  large %-ages of seriously rich and seriously cool culture-vulture types. There are some rich people around DC (mostly lower-end rich folks) and some cool culture-vultures (mostly second- or lower-tier stuff), but the loud chorus is of law review, Phd, former student body President, editor-in-chief folks, big fancy job title, etc. drown out the stuff that make London or HK or NYC, etc. unique on a global scale.

Furthermore, while many have said DC lacks true urban density, it does density with lots of green space nearby much better than almost any place. Looking at parts of DC near parks, especially parts with TH or condos/coops might be just the thing for you. Consider not just Georgetown and Burleith and Capital Hill but also as others have said, anything near Connecticut Avenue, including somewhat exotic options like the Kalorama/AdMo condo buildings, stuff near Rock Creek Park, and stuff near places like Soapstone Valley or Glover-Archibald Park.

Mentioning Connecticut Avenue makes me realize is that urban dc reflects strongly that DC has a lot of very-high responsibility first professional jobs. There's a huuuuge cohort of twenty-somethings that might do a few years in DC and then decamp to another city. I've personally known a few big players in NYC, HK, London, etc. who had first jobs in DC, at say, the Federal Reserve or the State Dept or on Capital Hill, in the WH or at the WaPo or WB/IMG.

Unfortunately, with a hot res RE market, your hand might be pushed by price. So being a little more open-minded about the possibilities  and trade-offs should help find something that works for you. But realize that highly-educated professional-class people, for better or for worse, will be everywhere.[/quote]

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