Do you really want to move here? It's an intense area, no less so for kids. I regret moving here myself, but we have unique circumstances so can't really generalize. Just be sure you know the area, culture, cost of living, pace of life, etc. Many people love it--just depends on your lifestyle.

Not sure what is an "acceptable" house, but less than $850 is going to be hard in most of those neighborhoods. The schools, however, all come with great reputations and you can search them pretty thoroughly on this forum.

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Best of luck on your move! As someone who has experience with MCPS, I would suggest thinking more about the high schools that the house is zoned for, rather than the elementary school. Elementary and middle schools are very important (they provide basic foundation for the future), but high school is easily the most important. The best schools in MCPS seem to be the W schools (Winston Churchill, Wootton, Walt Whitman, Walter Johnson), Poolesville (mainly because of it being a whole-school magnet), Quince Orchard (debatable), and B-CC. So you're definitely doing yourself a favor by looking in the Bethesda area. If you can't find anything good there, I'd say look around Potomac (and North Potomac), Rockville (RM & Wootton, though most Wootton kids are from NP), and some parts of Gaithersburg/Montgomery Village.

If you are considering Silver Spring, you might look into the Woodside Park area (Woodside, North Woodside etc..) that feeds into Woodlin ES. We love our neighborhood, walkability to DTSS (can't wait for Pete's and Le Madeline to open soon), diverse but excellent ES (MS is hopefully improving), and reasonable commute to DC/VA.

I would add the Wyngate/WJ neighborhoods to your list. Great schools and plenty in your price range. It's a little further, but closer to the beltway and 270. As you're still close to plenty of arteries like Old Georgetown and Wisconsin.

We live in Rock Creek Forest and love it. Very close in, easy to get to metro or 16th street if driving. I think the teachers are great. The school is very diverse racially and economically. Half of the school is Spanish immersion, which draws from throughout the county by lottery. The other half (English Academy) is from the neighborhood (Silver Spring and Chevy Chase).

Be aware, the school is scheduled to be demolished this summer and for the next 1.5 yrs the students will be at a holding school, while they build a new facility.

You should definitely be able to get a house in that range. The neighbors are nice too.

Good luck!

We have been dragging our feet but finally are thinking about moving out of DC to Montgomery County. I looked at the MoCo school map and the neighborhoods we probably would look at are those with Westbrook, Somerset, Woodacres, Bannockburn, Bethesda Elementary, Rosemary Hills, Bradley Hills, and Rock Creek Forest. Would also consider Silver Spring area but I don't know as much about the neighborhoods there. DC is a bright kid without special needs who will be starting kindergarten. Looking for a school with a good balance of great academics/diverse kids, and a neighborhood where we can walk to stuff, have friendly neighbors, not have a terrible commute to work in downtown DC, and get an acceptable house for <850K. Should I cross any of those schools/neighborhoods off the list? Any of those stand out? Any more I should add? Thanks!