Anonymous wrote:As PPs have noted, public transit in this area is nowhere near as reliable as in NY. Most buses are scheduled for commuters, not leisure travel. For example the bus near my SIL in Alexandria runs every 10 mins from around 5:30am to 9am and then from 3:30pm to 8pm. In between, it only comes once an hour.

If you live anywhere outside DC, I can pretty much guarantee you'll be driving everywhere. Even in the city, if you can easily park near your home, you'll drive.

OP here. It's funny you said that. A friend of my DH is a single guy living in the very nice central part of DC and he drives everywhere when he goes out. Before we had kids we would come to visit and go out with him and his GF. They drove every.time. I could not understand why they would not take a metro a block away from their rowhouse or get a cab to go to the downtown clubs. They would also drive to Georgetown even though they could walk there in 20 min, I could never understand this. I think we walk a lot more in NYC.

We live in West End and have parking for our condo, we find ourselves driving a lot too when needing to go anywhere where we cannot walk to. Before baby I occasionally would take metro to go to museums and shopping at Friendship Heights or Pentagon. With the baby I honestly don't have time to do such things anymore and we use online shopping more than going to stores. I enjoy living within walking distance to many places including work more than I enjoy living close to metro, which I don't use anymore. Personally, I would settle for areas that are urban and have stuff nearby you can walk to with your double stroller or walk your kids when they are older. I personally don't see the appeal of places around WFC and EFC metro stops that have very low walkability save for the metro stop and don't have anything around. We have access to 3 metro lines around us and don't use them, think about living .5 miles away from a suburban station with one line running through it and delays and having to walk on boring, non-pedestrian friendly paths to get accross highways and parking lots to such stations. I would not pay premium for these place personally.

As PPs have noted, public transit in this area is nowhere near as reliable as in NY. Most buses are scheduled for commuters, not leisure travel. For example the bus near my SIL in Alexandria runs every 10 mins from around 5:30am to 9am and then from 3:30pm to 8pm. In between, it only comes once an hour.

If you live anywhere outside DC, I can pretty much guarantee you'll be driving everywhere. Even in the city, if you can easily park near your home, you'll drive.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We are getting ready for the lifestyle adjustment and having to rely on the car for the most part. We have a good network of friends/family in the area and have visited with kids on some weekends. My impression has been that DC area is not nearly as dense and crowded and plagued by traffic during weekends as NYC inside the Beltway. Beltway does get congested a few times we drove on it around Silver spring area on the weekend. We want to be close to DC area for easier drive into the city. DH is a great driver/expert parker, I am not so, that is why I still consider being close to metro. I know with DH we never will have trouble driving in the city and finding parking, he knows his spots, but I may have a hard time with that at first, probably will use paid garages.

I am looking to be close to public spaces that are child friendly (playgrounds, libraries, pools) in the burbs to be at least walking distance to necessities in case I feel like not driving. I wonder if I will feel stuck if DH is not there to drive me and kids unless I do get used to driving, which I am sure I eventually will. Also, what about the bus system? Some parts of Arlington (further from metro) and Mclean and Falls Church seem to have bus lines. Anyone living there can comment on how useful they are during weekends?

PP who lived 2 miles from metro stop. The buses that went from the metro to our neighborhood did not run at all on Sundays. The Saturday schedule was something around one bus per hour. They were rarely on time. Last winter, they also changed the routes and the times a bunch - still do not run on Sundays and Saturday schedule still is no good. I would check this sort of thing before you buy if you are concerned.

I moved from a place where I never had to drive either and am not a confident driver or parker. I have had to be since we moved, but it's still very stressful. People in DC are very aggressive drivers and that was very stressful to me at first.

OP here. We are getting ready for the lifestyle adjustment and having to rely on the car for the most part. We have a good network of friends/family in the area and have visited with kids on some weekends. My impression has been that DC area is not nearly as dense and crowded and plagued by traffic during weekends as NYC inside the Beltway. Beltway does get congested a few times we drove on it around Silver spring area on the weekend. We want to be close to DC area for easier drive into the city. DH is a great driver/expert parker, I am not so, that is why I still consider being close to metro. I know with DH we never will have trouble driving in the city and finding parking, he knows his spots, but I may have a hard time with that at first, probably will use paid garages.

I am looking to be close to public spaces that are child friendly (playgrounds, libraries, pools) in the burbs to be at least walking distance to necessities in case I feel like not driving. I wonder if I will feel stuck if DH is not there to drive me and kids unless I do get used to driving, which I am sure I eventually will. Also, what about the bus system? Some parts of Arlington (further from metro) and Mclean and Falls Church seem to have bus lines. Anyone living there can comment on how useful they are during weekends?

PP, I would not pay extra for metro accessibility in your situation. We live in Dupont Circle, about a 5 minute walk to the metro and we almost never use it on the weekends. DC is a lot more driveable than NYC and I find that we either stay in our neighborhood on the weekends or if we do go out, we drive. It's just too much of a pain to wrangle little kids on the metro if you don't have to. And trains are few and far between on the weekends which means you're going to add tons of time to whatever you're doing which is always dicey with kids.

Might want to consider being within a mile of a metro station for resale value. Houses close to a metro station will hold their value better, even in a downturn. And yes, we do feel the effects of recessions in DC.

We live three blocks from the metro so we use it all the time to go to the movies, theater, shopping, and out to dinner and love the convenience. But if we lived half a mile or a mile from the metro, we would use it to get to work but we would probably drive to go out. That said, we also live in Capitol Hill very close to downtown so our natural inclination is to go downtown. If you live in the burbs, that might seem like to much of a schlep even if you live near metro and you might just as well want to drive.

Didn't live here in the stroller days so I can't comment on that but it is very nice to live near metro as the kids get older and your kid can get around town without you driving him/her everywhere.

OP, for your purposes, it sounds like you don't really need that extra convenience of the metro. But if you do decide you want it, I would either buy a house very close or not bother at all.

Look at it this way.

1. Parking is not as pricey as NYC. $10-$20, instead of $40-80 like Manhattan.
2. Metro stations (usually!) have shops/cafes/grocery within walking distance or a short drive.
3. Traffic in DC and surrounding areas are just as bad as NYC, in my opinion.
4. Not all Metro stations have parking, so keep that in mind if you want to drive to Metro.
5. For enjoying the Mall and the museums/events around the area, Metro is hard to beat.
6. I can't think of any place that's double stroller friendly. Maybe airport? You're probably better off with a in-line stroller where the seats are place in front of the other instead of side by side. YMMV.

Personally, I don't think Metro location would be worth it for you (from what you wrote), but it does add value to a home and will add to your selling point. Also depends on how long you plan to live around here.

Tip - look into parks and especially public libraries within walking distance. I don't know about NYC, but local libraries are well kept and great place to visit with young kids.

It's very easy to drive and park at the metro station and take a stroller. Neither my husband nor I commute on Metro, but we live within 2 miles of two stations. I would say we use metro 1-2 times per month, not always with the kids though (e.g., one of us has a meeting or event downtown)

I'm the PP. I think you will also find that "walkability" in the suburbs and the walkability you've experienced in NYC are very different. I walked the ~2 miles between our old house and the metro exactly one time. The first 1/3 of the walk was down the side of a road that only had sidewalks for party of the way. The other part was through a suburban office complex parking lot. It was definitely not a stroller friendly walk.

As for the general convenience of metro, I found it to be a reliable way to get into the city most of the time. The times when it failed, however, resulted in rather epic delays. It also does not run as regularly on the weekends as it does during the week. It would be to your benefit to check on the exact times of trains and elevator statuses as well as any delays before leaving for the station. There are apps for that, as well as WMATA's shitty website. Parking is free on the weekends, however, so if you're planning on being a weekend traveler, driving to the metro and then heading downtown on the train might be good solutions. I used to do it all the time, both pre and post kids, though I hated using a stroller on metro so much that I just stopped doing it and opted for Ergo + toddler walks herself.

I am just wondering how often do you really use the metro for recreational purposes on weekends, going to museums/cultural events/sightseeing around DC or visiting friends/family that live in the district. Do you prefer to use the metro as opposed to driving into the city on the weekend with little kids? How convenient is this metro system for such recreational use?

We rarely use the metro on weekend, we usually drive in, even though we live two blocks from a station. The reason is that there seems to be perpetual track work on the weekend, which results in delays and long periods between trains. If it were not for that, we would use it. The metro in DC is much more stroller-friendly than the NYC subway.

Most metro stations in the burbs have parking lots, so you can always drive to Metro if you want to use it. (The lots fill early on weekdays, but not on weekends).

Get the house you want.

We used to live in a house that was ~2 miles from a metro stop and found that our friends who lived in the city and did not have cars were less likely to come over. I think it really depends on where your life is centered. It is possible to live in the DC area and have a life that's entirely centered in Gaithersburg such that it doesn't really matter that you're not walking distance to a metro. Based on your description of your lifestyle, I think that it should not be something that you prioritize heavily. It sounds like for you, offstreet parking and enough space for you to have a private office in your home are more important than living within walking distance of a metro.

We are planning to move from NYC to DC area in the next 6 months. Looking at what is out there now I notice that homes walking distance <1mile from metro tend to have around 200K extra premium built into the price over the similar properties >1 mile from metro. DH is transferring to suburban office and will commute by car, I am working from home. So, looks like it is unlikely we will be taking metro to work. If not taking metro to work, how important is the proximity to the station and is this worth to have to pay this much more for a home to be <1 mile away.

I am just wondering how often do you really use the metro for recreational purposes on weekends, going to museums/cultural events/sightseeing around DC or visiting friends/family that live in the district. Do you prefer to use the metro as opposed to driving into the city on the weekend with little kids? How convenient is this metro system for such recreational use? Disclaimer: we have toddler twins and a double stroller. In NYC we always walk if going anywhere <3 miles away or get a zipcar for further out trips. Subway is very stroller unfriendly especially with the double stroller.

I know Metro stations in DC area are equipped with elevators, so may not be an issue, but what about schedule/convenience of using metro for recreational purpose vs. driving, given DC area is not very large and traffic on weekends should not be as bad. I understand stroller issue is temporary, but I still want to get the idea whether it is worth it to pay extra to live near a station vs. getting a better home a bit further away but still same driving distance to DC amenities.