Anonymous wrote:We are officially moving but I don't even know where to begin... Tell me what neighborhood / block / elementary school you live in and love... here are my specific asks:

- Needs to funnel into a top PUBLIC high school (we don't have private school money) (I'm looking at Whitman, Wootton, BCC, Walter Johnson in MD and Langley, McLean districts in VA)
- Needs to be within commuting distance to Georgetown
- Needs to be densely populated (houses close together, super neighborhood feel, mature trees would be a plus, I need a yard but I don't want a big one)
- Needs to have a community that gets together a lot / kids outside playing / parents that like to have drinks together etc.
- A plus would be a pool that everyone goes to
- a bigger plus would be that most neighborhood kids go to the public school (rather than private)

I live in McLean near St John’s Catholic Church. The teardown houses are going for $1.2-$1.4m now- those generally get sold directly to the builders. Some of the teardowns are just older houses that have been lived in and kept up, some have not been kept up and need a ton of postponed TLC. Figure out which area you want and get a good real estate agent who will know when the kept up houses will go on sale. There will be competition. We have lived in our neighborhood since the mid-90’s and with the exception of about a year from late ‘08 to late ‘09, every house has had multiple offers.

The community you seek is hit or miss and goes block by block and changes frequently. Our neighborhood has gone through ups and downs - if there is a critical mass of children in the same age group AND there are several families willing to do the grunt work of organizing activities it will work. You need to be willing to do the grunt work, if you want it. It is fairly easy, but for some reason most will participate but not do anything to help organize.

Most send their children to public school. Get on the waitlists for the area pools and see which one moves the fastest.

Think about if you prefer an AP or an IB high school. Marshall, Meridian and Washington& Liberty are IB. McLean, Madison, Langley, and Yorktown are AP.

Anonymous wrote:Try Somerset in MD. It has a pool and feeds to BCC.

Great community for what OP wants, but may be hard on budget

Wood Acres or Westbrook

McLean near chain bridge

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Anonymous wrote:We are officially moving but I don't even know where to begin... Tell me what neighborhood / block / elementary school you live in and love... here are my specific asks:

- Needs to funnel into a top PUBLIC high school (we don't have private school money) (I'm looking at Whitman, Wootton, BCC, Walter Johnson in MD and Langley, McLean districts in VA)
- Needs to be within commuting distance to Georgetown
- Needs to be densely populated (houses close together, super neighborhood feel, mature trees would be a plus, I need a yard but I don't want a big one)
- Needs to have a community that gets together a lot / kids outside playing / parents that like to have drinks together etc.
- A plus would be a pool that everyone goes to
- a bigger plus would be that most neighborhood kids go to the public school (rather than private)

You want to be in the Walt Whitman zone if at all possible, much more Ethan the other schools you mention. Its by far the best public HS in MD (and one of the best in the country)

If you're going by rankings alone, Langley and McLean are on the same level as Whitman. But there is always more to consider than just rankings.

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Anonymous wrote:The Langley district in McLean doesn't have a neighborhood that meets all of those criteria. Arlington might.

aren't the schools bad?

Most of the houses are cheap in Arlington so you can send children to private schools.

Anonymous wrote:The Langley district in McLean doesn't have a neighborhood that meets all of those criteria. Arlington might.

aren't the schools bad?

The obvious answer is CCMD (the part that zones to CCES), but you need $$$

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Anonymous wrote:We were looking for many of the things in OP's list and chose to buy in upper NW. OP are you concerned about the DCPS? Because otherwise AU Park/ Friendship Heights/ Tenleytown/ Chevy Chase/ Glover Park etc. make sense, and would be an easy commute to Georgetown, esp with the Wisconsin Ave buses.

+1 although we haven't bought there yet. I've been looking for this type of neighborhood in the suburbs for years and finally just resigned myself to paying upper NW DC prices, because I can't find anything else I like.

Yes we bought (and spent $$) in North Cleveland Park after finally coming to terms with how lots of people have the same preferences and there are very few neighborhoods like it. That being said, prices on less shiny properties have really moderated over the past 4 months or so. Not sure what your budget is with the rate environment, but there are decent house going for less than 1.2 now. And I didn't see it in person, but this CP one look pretty nice for 1.27 (sq footage is on the smaller side, but that's generally how it goes here) https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3201-Porter-St-NW-20008/home/9984376.

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Anonymous wrote:If you don’t have private school money, how do you plan on purchasing a home in areas where the homes are all worth $1M+??

Take private school at a tuition of $45k/year per kid times two. That’s $90k per year in tuition. Plus you still have to live somewhere so probably another $3k/month minimum in housing. That’s $126k per year.

Now look at a $1.5mil house so a PITI of $5500/month. That’s $66k per year. Plus you’re building equity off of all of that and perhaps gaining appreciation as well.

What am I missing here?

$5500/month PITI for a $1.5M house? With what down payment/interest rate?

I was going off of 20% down and 2.5% because that’s my payment. You’re right that at current internet rates it’d be more but wouldn’t come near the private school amount above.

DP. There’s a huge difference between 2.5% and 6%.

+1. Literally over 1k in a monthly payment. That adds up unless you’re loaded.

30x12000 plus interest vs 4x60000. For 1 kid private would be cheaper.

First of all, the extra $1k we are talking about is interest so no “plus interest.” Second of all, why only x4 on the private school tuition. More likely x12.

Anonymous wrote:We were looking for many of the things in OP's list and chose to buy in upper NW. OP are you concerned about the DCPS? Because otherwise AU Park/ Friendship Heights/ Tenleytown/ Chevy Chase/ Glover Park etc. make sense, and would be an easy commute to Georgetown, esp with the Wisconsin Ave buses.

+1 although we haven't bought there yet. I've been looking for this type of neighborhood in the suburbs for years and finally just resigned myself to paying upper NW DC prices, because I can't find anything else I like.

Anonymous wrote:Try Somerset in MD. It has a pool and feeds to BCC.

Great suggestion, but it may be out of OP's price range. If I were OP, I would search close-in Bethesda/Chevy Chase (in 20816 and perhaps 20815), as those zip codes would meet all of OP's criteria (except that OP may need to accept a smaller house than could be had out in the distant suburbs). 20815 would include Somerset, if OP wants to try to find something within budget.

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Anonymous wrote:Look at Rock Creek Forest or Rosemary Hills.

Not OP. Would these neighborhoods work for a Latino family (not white, not rich) or are going to feel out of place?

Yes. It’s not super diverse there (not as diverse as say Woodside just around the corner), but yes.

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Anonymous wrote:If you don’t have private school money, how do you plan on purchasing a home in areas where the homes are all worth $1M+??

Take private school at a tuition of $45k/year per kid times two. That’s $90k per year in tuition. Plus you still have to live somewhere so probably another $3k/month minimum in housing. That’s $126k per year.

Now look at a $1.5mil house so a PITI of $5500/month. That’s $66k per year. Plus you’re building equity off of all of that and perhaps gaining appreciation as well.

What am I missing here?

$5500/month PITI for a $1.5M house? With what down payment/interest rate?

I was going off of 20% down and 2.5% because that’s my payment. You’re right that at current internet rates it’d be more but wouldn’t come near the private school amount above.

DP. There’s a huge difference between 2.5% and 6%.

+1. Literally over 1k in a monthly payment. That adds up unless you’re loaded.

30x12000 plus interest vs 4x60000. For 1 kid private would be cheaper.

Try Somerset in MD. It has a pool and feeds to BCC.