Anonymous wrote:And those examples obviously don't include the $1-2 million dollar homes just around the corner:

http://franklymls.com/MC7984661

http://franklymls.com/MC7919907

http://franklymls.com/MC8133497

- I saw the third one, btw., not too ostentatious

I don't understand why DCUM blasts the outer burbs for McMansions when they're right in your own backyards. At least we have acres separating us. (not in a McMansion, however)

I saw this post and thought 'what the heck?' since the poster clearly thinks everyone at WJ is wealthy. That is not the case at all. AT ALL.

Anonymous wrote:WJ is indeed an economically diverse cluster. We live in a townhome off Tuckerman and probably fall solidy in the middle of the school community in terms of affluence. Our DC went to Tilden MS, which skews a little less wealthy than the other MS, North Bethesda. However PPs are right that there are pockets of wealth throughout Luxmanor. My child has observed that the kids at WJ from Wyngate seem the most "Bethesda-like."

My guess about Wyngate being the most "Bethesda-like" in WJ is because of the housing options. I don't think there are any apartments or condos that feed into Wyngate and limited townhouse options. There is no less expensive town nearby that feeds into Wyngate. That means the majority either own a SFH or are paying quite a bit to rent a SFH in the neighborhood.

I think your income level will put you in the middle of WJ. There are people with kids in HS that moved here before the housing boom. From my experience in the Wyngate neighborhood with many neighbors here pre-boom, in the part of town with older, small homes, neighbors aren't flashy, the kids don't have their own expensive cars and I never got the impression the parents "came from money".

What is interesting for me is to think my kids will be born and raised in Bethesda which is worlds apart from where I grew up and DH grew up. It's not that we plan to give our kids everything we didn't have materially speaking like a car, designer clothes etc. However, it's making sure they don't take for granted that they can do after school activities offered that costs $250 each, or going to a more expensive summer camp (though we try to budget and mix it up with less expensive camps), or having birthday parties (again, not talking over the top and we don't do them every year but still maybe $300-$400). Those things are probably, okay likely, my weaknesses of giving the kids the things my family couldn't afford to do. I see a security and confidence in my kids, not sure how much is financial and how much is being part of these different experiences, yet I want to make sure that they are prepared for life on their own, not taking things for granted, and have the desire/expectation to support themselves.

WJ is indeed an economically diverse cluster. We live in a townhome off Tuckerman and probably fall solidy in the middle of the school community in terms of affluence. Our DC went to Tilden MS, which skews a little less wealthy than the other MS, North Bethesda. However PPs are right that there are pockets of wealth throughout Luxmanor. My child has observed that the kids at WJ from Wyngate seem the most "Bethesda-like."

And those examples obviously don't include the $1-2 million dollar homes just around the corner:

http://franklymls.com/MC7984661

http://franklymls.com/MC7919907

http://franklymls.com/MC8133497

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of hidden (and not so hidden) wealth in the Luxmanor area.

Really? I like luxamanor but I would never say it is a wealthy area by the standards of this area. Solidly upper middle class sure...but it is Rockville.

Have you seen some of the homes there?

I provided examples. See above.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of hidden (and not so hidden) wealth in the Luxmanor area.

Really? I like luxamanor but I would never say it is a wealthy area by the standards of this area. Solidly upper middle class sure...but it is Rockville.

Luxmanor
http://franklymls.com/MC8193735
speechless

http://franklymls.com/MC8233533
my favorite - Please take time to scan the photos. I love the flyswatter on the fridge and bottles of booze lining the windowsill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of hidden (and not so hidden) wealth in the Luxmanor area.

Really? I like luxamanor but I would never say it is a wealthy area by the standards of this area. Solidly upper middle class sure...but it is Rockville.

Have you seen some of the homes there?

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of hidden (and not so hidden) wealth in the Luxmanor area.

Really? I like luxamanor but I would never say it is a wealthy area by the standards of this area. Solidly upper middle class sure...but it is Rockville.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I had no idea I lived in a census tract where the HHI is 240K+... when our HHI is below 100K. The lovely quasi-estates a few streets down must skew the median quite a bit. Our street with human-sized houses and kids running in every back yard must be the "poorest" in this census tract!

Median is the midpoint. So means that half the households in the tract are below the median. And half are above. The "lovely quasi estates" might skew the average but less likely to skew a median.

Except that these beautiful houses with grounds represent about half (maybe a little less) of the real-estate in my census tract... so they do very much skew the median. The rest are old houses that were built for the lower middle class in 1920, interspersed with new McMansions.

Skewing is typically outliers. Half the households are not outliers, they are the norm. But if the median is $240k is sounds like maybe the under $100k households are the outliers, not the high end. Or you have is a barbell effect - 50% wealthy and 50% poor, although that still wouldn't explain the median at $240k.

WJ is a very diverse area. Many apartment and Townhouse dwellers. My kid is in Ashburton ES, and the majority of her classmates (of course, one E.S. class example) are not in single family homes. The Wyngate and Luxmanor are part of the cluster, but Kensington Parkwood, Garrett Park, and I believe Farmland out in Rockville add diversity. Sure, in general anywhere in Bethesda is relatively wealthy, but there's as big a mix at WJ that you'll find.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that many people in my neighborhood are older and bought houses when they cost a fraction of what they cost now. So this doesn't really reflect the HHI of families now moving to the area.

Ummm, its based on 2010 census. It reflects the HHI of families currently in the area, whether they've been there for years or not. You are right, it does not reflect the HHI of families that moved into the area in the last two years (of (which probably moves the median only slightly) or who have not yet moved into the area. But it still gives a pretty accurate picture.

When houses prices increase dramatically in a few year period, as they did in this area, many people with modest incomes are priced out. So the people who moved here 10+ years ago can live much more comfortably on a lower HHI than people just moving to the neighborhood now. This is definitely the case in my neighborhood

There is a lot of hidden (and not so hidden) wealth in the Luxmanor area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I had no idea I lived in a census tract where the HHI is 240K+... when our HHI is below 100K. The lovely quasi-estates a few streets down must skew the median quite a bit. Our street with human-sized houses and kids running in every back yard must be the "poorest" in this census tract!

Median is the midpoint. So means that half the households in the tract are below the median. And half are above. The "lovely quasi estates" might skew the average but less likely to skew a median.

Except that these beautiful houses with grounds represent about half (maybe a little less) of the real-estate in my census tract... so they do very much skew the median. The rest are old houses that were built for the lower middle class in 1920, interspersed with new McMansions.

Anonymous wrote:I know that many people in my neighborhood are older and bought houses when they cost a fraction of what they cost now. So this doesn't really reflect the HHI of families now moving to the area.

Ummm, its based on 2010 census. It reflects the HHI of families currently in the area, whether they've been there for years or not. You are right, it does not reflect the HHI of families that moved into the area in the last two years (of (which probably moves the median only slightly) or who have not yet moved into the area. But it still gives a pretty accurate picture.