Anonymous wrote:Hello, my husband and I are looking for our first house in MOCO and have been viewing houses in the part of Rockville east of the Pike. The homes, while older, fit into our budget at approx $300-$350. While I am not expecting quite yet (working on it!), we do expect to have a school aged child not too far down the road. Thus, general safety and schools are a concern. Ideally, we'd buy in an up-and-coming area, or at least one with potential to get better.
I understand these three schools have a high percentage of low-income students and receive poor ratings. Can anyone who lives in these neighborhoods give me a perspective of whether the schools are as bad as they sound, as well as the general safety of the area? Is there one school/area that's a bit better? Is the area getting better over time? Are there other young couples/families moving in? Or are these areas we ought to avoid altogether? The middle/high schools seem solid enough (either Rockville High or Richard Montgomery).
The area that you are looking at is not going to get better. At a minimum it will be 15 years before you have to worry about high school. Even if you do buy a house in that area there is no way that you will still be there in 15 years. By the way if you do buy brush up on your Spanish.