Sounds like you have your mind made up but FWIW, we are in Petworth with a 16 month old and I feel it's very walkable. I walk over to Target and the fountain,etc. several times a week and we have a nice new playground one block away. It's a 15-20 min walk to CH from 7th and Taylor.

OP here again. Poster 13:00, you made me laugh out loud and poster 12:45, I really appreciated your response. I appreciate all of these responses, so thank you!
I've read a few to my husband and I think it he gets it more now. It certainly didn't hurt that pretty much everyone had similar opinions. I definitely feel validated in my desire to be patient on the house hunt and keep looking until we find something in an area we like. I've decided I really don't want to sacrifice the neighborhood for the space. And now I'll have some time to do some more research on schools since apparently big box stores don't also educate kids. Who knew?
I love watching all the little ones enjoy that fountain so I can't wait to bring my own! It is such a fun feature of the renovations that seemed would never end.

No one has mentioned the fountain in Columbia Heights yet!

Frozen yogurt + fountain visit = toddler heaven!

We added onto our house last year, so we moved from a 4 BR house to a 1 BR apartment temporarily. It was DH, Dc (age 1), and me. DC slept in the BR and we slept in the living room on the pull out couch. To my surprise, we loved living in the 1 BR. It was so cozy to have every in close proximity, and the apartment had much more that was walkable. We really missed the apartment when we moved back to our house.

For what it's worth, my daughter and I spend a lot more time at the local parks and playgrounds than we do in our backyard. she's 2.5. I think as long as your child is too young to play unsupervised anyway, you don't really need a yard - you just need easy access to any green space. If you have access to a local park now, consider staying in your condo a bit longer. it really is nice to be able to put the baby in the stroller and walk to shopping.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to everyone for the advice. My gut has been to stay where we are (we are renting right now- I don't think I mentioned that), but I think I am letting myself get convinced we need more space by my husband.

I agree that you should trust your gut. With a baby, space is nice but not necessary--there are many other quality of life issues. DH and I stayed in our 2-bedroom apartment with 2 kids until our older one was entering kindergarten. We enjoyed being in a neighborhood where we could walk to the grocery store and several playgrounds.

You.are.nuts.

STAY PUT. Columbia Heights is a wonderful neighborhood for new parents. My daughter was six months old when the Target opened, and once it did, we were there four times a week. Once she started walking, we would go to the fountain, Giant, Target, etc pretty much every day, often without buying anything, just because it was a safe, climate-controlled, stimulating place for her to toddle in.

Buy your Petworth house in a year or two. Stay close to all the walking stuff for now, and keep saving for the house.

As for schools, I hear wonderful things about Barnard Elementary in Petworth. I don't trust anyone who makes blanket statements like "schools in CH and Petworth are not good".

OP, here's my $0.03.

I'm 30, married, mom to a 1 year old. Live in a house that we own but that is small and in the burbs. We want to move to the city, for many reasons. I think our situations are vaguely similar because of the following:

1. Both of us feel that it is important to get out of the house with the new baby. I spent my first maternity leave essentially stranded in my neighborhood with a new baby. Could I have gotten in the car and gone somewhere else? Sure, but where? Starbucks? The grocery store? Every time we came downtown, it felt like a huge production. Most of our friends live downtown (the burden of being the first couple to have kids), and I felt really cut off from my former life, my support network, and the dozens of fun things to do even with a small child. On the rare occasions that I packed up all the stuff needed for a full day out of the house, we went to mom/baby yoga, went on long walks, did a couple of meet ups with other new moms, etc. It was great, and I spent those times wishing that it was easier to do that sort of thing more often, without the 45 minutes in the car or on the Metro. Advice on this point: look at what sort of resources are within walking distance or a "commute" of 10-20 minutes from your potential house.

2. Both of us are married to people who are prioritizing the practical aspects of buying a house (interest rates, increased square footage) over the emotional and logistical aspects of the move. For me, this is actually okay, because he is responsive to my concerns. My feeling isolated during maternity leave last year was the driving factor behind our current house hunt. You guys are thinking about the move in different ways, and that is not a problem unless you are also not talking to each other.

3. I was concerned about schools too and still haven't fully resolved my concerns. I would suggest that you definitely get familiar with the schools that you would be guaranteed to get into in your neighborhood. Charter schools operate by lottery and are by no means a sure bet. If you are prepared to pay for private school, you might feel differently. We can't really afford private school.

Basically, right now, you are in a great position. You don't HAVE to move. You have time to shop around for exactly what you want. The interest rates are low now, but that should not in and of itself be a deciding factor for this decision. Look around a bit more, get to know the neighborhood at various times of day, visit the neighborhood schools and try to imagine yourself living there when the baby is 3 months old, when the baby is 3 years old and when the baby starts elementary school. Everyone's comfort zone with various neighborhoods is different. What is outside my comfort zone might be just fine for you, and vice-versa.

Good luck to you!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to everyone for the advice. My gut has been to stay where we are (we are renting right now- I don't think I mentioned that), but I think I am letting myself get convinced we need more space by my husband. He really wants to get into a house and loves the fact that we have been offered a really great interest rate. I understand all that, but I keep reminding him that I am the one who is going to be doing most of the childcare on my own for most of the day. I babysat my sister's kids in a REALLY small town for a long time and I remember feeling so starved for adult interaction during the day that I would be seriously MAD if she didn't get home on time and keep me company. And I watched waaaay too much tv. And gained weight from sitting on my butt. I know I wouldn't be totally secluded, but I live in a city so I can easily walk to the things I like.
And I have considered schools, but I was under the understanding that E.L Haynes and Bridges we very good charter schools in Petworth? I guess I'm going to have to do more homework.

adams morgan mom here. follow your instincts on this, op. i think you are 100% right. i know that petworth is not secluded, but it really is much, much different from what you have at your doorstep right now, esp for the baby days. because let's face it: they can be mind-numbingly boring!

also, the poster above who said you should wait until you experience parenthood before you decide what you need is totally right. in two years time, you will just have so much more information, including about schools.

Think about schools.

With two kids, I'm guessing that private school is likely to be out of reach ($60K tuition/year for two--in a few years, it could be up to $70K; and that figure does not include summer camps).

Charter schools are lottery, as is OOB. Given the baby population boom in DC, the odds are going to be worse, not better as your LOs grow up.

Think hard about schools before you buy.

Living near a charter school does not improve your odds of getting in it. The lottery for a charter school is open to all of DC without preference by neighborhood. Competition is fierce for slots in good charter schools and sounded really crazy for E.L. Haynes this year. You (and your husband) should read the DCPS/charter forum on DCUM. Good luck!

OP here. Thanks to everyone for the advice. My gut has been to stay where we are (we are renting right now- I don't think I mentioned that), but I think I am letting myself get convinced we need more space by my husband. He really wants to get into a house and loves the fact that we have been offered a really great interest rate. I understand all that, but I keep reminding him that I am the one who is going to be doing most of the childcare on my own for most of the day. I babysat my sister's kids in a REALLY small town for a long time and I remember feeling so starved for adult interaction during the day that I would be seriously MAD if she didn't get home on time and keep me company. And I watched waaaay too much tv. And gained weight from sitting on my butt. I know I wouldn't be totally secluded, but I live in a city so I can easily walk to the things I like.
And I have considered schools, but I was under the understanding that E.L Haynes and Bridges we very good charter schools in Petworth? I guess I'm going to have to do more homework.

Please please reconsider. Your life will change so much once baby arrives. Wait and see what your new lifestyle is and then decide where you want to live. I definitely side with those saying that with young kids walkability is key. And of course schools. But do not buy before you've experienced mommy-hood yourself, you will make a much more informed decision and could save yourself from making a big mistake! A 2bd condo is plenty for 1 baby. We waited to have both kids before moving out of ours. And by then we knew exactly what we wanted...

I am pregnant and bought in Petworth. I love it -- we have a yard, we have a vegetable garden, our neighbors are lovely, the area has some great restaurants/cafes -- and we're not thinking about moving. We're going to try for the lottery - and if not, are thinking about a home-schooling collective, or going private. That said, the school district was a big consideration and I'm not sure we would have made the same choice if we didn't have the option of sending our kids to private school.