OP you just described the Woodacres neighborhood in Bethesda. 20816.

Anonymous wrote:As a prior poster said, the requested neighborhood sounds more like Arlington than McLean.

If you get a house in Arlington you can join the Knights of Columbus or Chesterbrook pools.

Arlington high schools are way overcrowded , and not top schools

Old Farm or North Farm off Montrose Road are in the WJ zone (for now, though they may be moved to Woodward), should be in your price range, houses not outlandishly large or far apart.

Are you okay with Lake Braddock/Robinson pyramids? Your request list perfectly describes my neighborhood in Burke, and you'd be way under 1.5 million.

As a prior poster said, the requested neighborhood sounds more like Arlington than McLean.

If you get a house in Arlington you can join the Knights of Columbus or Chesterbrook pools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on how many kids OP would need to be paying private school for. With 2 or more kids, I can see how someone could afford quite a lot of house but not be able to throw $100K+ in after-tax money at tuition.

I was thinking the list sounded like City of Falls Church.

Exactly. OP here -- I have three kids, our budget is up to 1.5M I am ok with a fixer upper -- but simply cannot throw 100k a year at private, I'd rather stretch a little on my monthly mortgage

Yeah op I'm not sure why your post went off the rails. It happens sometimes often for no good rhyme or reason. In my experience people seem to immediately jump to saying you can't afford to live close-in unless you have $2M which is absurd. Zero of my neighbors on my street paid even close to that much. Yes there are homes that cost that much, but I think folks are assuming everyone is looking for a new build 5 bedroom home. If you are flexible, and willing to live in an older home, there are options. You can certainly afford a suburb you will enjoy. I'm the arlington poster but agree that Falls Church City might meet your criteria well as well. My friends there are really happy as well.

Anonymous wrote:It depends on how many kids OP would need to be paying private school for. With 2 or more kids, I can see how someone could afford quite a lot of house but not be able to throw $100K+ in after-tax money at tuition.

I was thinking the list sounded like City of Falls Church.

Exactly. OP here -- I have three kids, our budget is up to 1.5M I am ok with a fixer upper -- but simply cannot throw 100k a year at private, I'd rather stretch a little on my monthly mortgage

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who can afford to buy a SFH in those districts has “private school money,” they just prefer to have a bigger mortgage and more house.

I'm the Arlington poster and definitely don't have private school money. We live in a small home (when we bought it it was two bedroom one bath, we've done a small addition to make it 3 bedroom 2 bath) with a small yard. We are both feds.

Fairlington.

Anonymous wrote:Jeez, all I’m reading are responses not addressing what OP is asking for - just respond with a neighborhood that meets the criteria agnostic of knowing budget. (Not OP btw)

OP asked for a neighborhood in a top pyramid that is walkable and has a neighborhood feel and that is an easy commute to Georgetown. There are tons of places that meet that criteria, but when you add in affordable to someone who doesn't have private school money, that list shrinks to zero. Lots of people have said McLean hamlet- does OP have the $2 million a home there?

Jeez, all I’m reading are responses not addressing what OP is asking for - just respond with a neighborhood that meets the criteria agnostic of knowing budget. (Not OP btw)

Anyone who can afford to buy a SFH in those districts has “private school money,” they just prefer to have a bigger mortgage and more house.

We have all of these things in the Westover neighborhood in Arlington. Most places in Arlington you're going to get that with a great commute to Georgetown. It doesn't make sense to me to live in MD with that commute. Cherrydale in Arlington would also be great to consider, there is a commuter bus that goes right there I believe from that area.

Mclean also doesn't meet some of your criteria as it's not as dense, lots are bigger. I think all of these places can be great, but I feel like you described Arlington.

Westover, Cherrydale neighborhoods, in response to your list - Yorktown and W-L high schools, maybe not as TOP TOP as Mclean but that is because there is more socioeconomic diversity which to me is a good thing. Easy commutes to Georgetown by car, CHerrydale probably better by public transport. Westover has quite dense housing which creates a really wonderful neighborhood feel. Sundays families walk up to the farmers market and then kids all play at the park at Cardinal elementary. It's like a small town when we're up there, running into friends, impromptu hang outs. We love how we have a nice flat back yard but it's small and easy to maintain. Westover isn't as pretty as Cherrydale. Pool is the only issue in arlington - they have long wait lists. So many in the neighborhood go to them and they are great, but when you move in a little later it can be a little tough so that is definitely a downside. But it has a wonderful community feel in my opinion.

Mclean you're going to have houses a little farther apart, more space which some people love.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Garrett Park, MD. Trees (check the google satellite view!), neighborly feel with close together houses, pool, WJ (ok, Woodward...). Checks your boxes.

Except that nowhere commutes well to G'town outside of G'town itself, but MARC and Metro get you into DC easily if you roll that way.

That would be a terrible commute, Garrett Park is way out there. Without a budget, we can imagine that OP could afford a lot better, a lot closer.

WJ was explicitly on OP's list.

Sounds like champagne taste on a beer budget