If you’re not married to a SFH, there are 3br condos in great school districts like this one that are less than $500k. You can get cheaper 3br condos in this school district, but they won’t be as nice.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/North-Bethesda/5812-Inman-Park-Cir-20852/unit-100/home/167005069

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. The houses in Kensington look nice! One of my co-workers said that if we move there, a lot of our neighbors would go to Catholic school rather than the neighborhood schools, which he finds to be a negative (as far as making friends). Is that generally true?

Do not move to the part of Kensington PPs are recommending. You’ll be closer to Wheaton, which will be a culture shock to you. Think Arlandria, but if it was separated by several dangerous thoroughfares, far more depressing, and not close to cute neighborhoods like Del Ray. If you’re going to buy in Kensington, look at the Walter Johnson school district.

Jesus Christ, the part of Kensington zoned for Oakland Terrace is not some kind of hellscape. With a budget of $650k there will be no options in the neighborhoods currently zoned for Walter Johnson.

Anonymous wrote:OP again. The houses in Kensington look nice! One of my co-workers said that if we move there, a lot of our neighbors would go to Catholic school rather than the neighborhood schools, which he finds to be a negative (as far as making friends). Is that generally true?

Do not move to the part of Kensington PPs are recommending. You’ll be closer to Wheaton, which will be a culture shock to you. Think Arlandria, but if it was separated by several dangerous thoroughfares, far more depressing, and not close to cute neighborhoods like Del Ray. If you’re going to buy in Kensington, look at the Walter Johnson school district.

OP again. The houses in Kensington look nice! One of my co-workers said that if we move there, a lot of our neighbors would go to Catholic school rather than the neighborhood schools, which he finds to be a negative (as far as making friends). Is that generally true?

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can also look at MD zip 20895 which is Kensington. There will be some giant McMansions for over $1M but there are also original homes in the $600-700k range. It looks like there are 2 available in the Homewood neighborhood which is zoned for Oakland Terrace ES.

Thank you! Since I WFH 100% of the time, I'm actually searching all of Montgomery County on Redfin to see what comes up, but my upper limit on budget is $650k, which means most of what comes up is in Silver Spring or pretty far north. I haven't been really looking at the ones that are farther north (like Germantown or Derwood, sometimes Olney). I like the looks of some of the houses in Rockville, but friends have told me that Rockville High has some issues at the moment. I'm open to being told otherwise, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring is a big place. Certain parts are popular with young families on DCUM and are likely to meet your parameters. I advise looking into those. Search by elementary - e.g. Woodlin, Flora Singer, Oakland Terrace.

Thank you. Are you able to give me a list of the elementary schools that are popular with young families? Is it the three above, or are there more?

Just no. You want to stay in Arlington. I moved from Arlington and regret it. Real estate (even condos) appreciate faster there, taxes are lower, public safety is better, law enforcement seems to follow-up, Arlington is a small school system vs MCPS large urban district, bike trails in Arlington can’t be beat, I could go on….

Make sure to study up on Arlington schools before believing that APS is a good school system. Here's the forum where you can read more:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/83.page

This is OP. I live in Arlington now! It's honestly a great school system. But our condo is 750 square feet with a condo fee that just cracked $800 per month.

OP, you can also look at MD zip 20895 which is Kensington. There will be some giant McMansions for over $1M but there are also original homes in the $600-700k range. It looks like there are 2 available in the Homewood neighborhood which is zoned for Oakland Terrace ES.

And it’s also just true that places like Bethesda and Silver Spring are way older than a place like Arlington. You see 20 and 30 somethings in Arlington while MoCo is increasingly becoming a retirement community. And with that comes a resistance to development, change, and economic progress.

The elephant in the room is that Silver Spring and Montgomery County at large is getting older demographically and not keeping up with places like Arlington. Compare places like Ballston and Crystal City in 2000 to Silver Spring and Bethesda and then compare them now. Bethesda was FAR nicer than Ballston and Crystal City in 2000 and Silver Spring was about as nice. Fast forward to the present day and, if you’re arguing in good faith, you’d have to acknowledge that Crystal City and Ballston have become far nicer compared to 2000 while Bethesda hasn’t made as much progress. Downtown Silver Spring has backslid since 2000.

Far more economic progress and development have come to Arlington compared to Montgomery County and I don’t see this trend reversing anytime soon because MoCo will keep electing people that are seen as anti business compared to Arlington and DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring is a big place. Certain parts are popular with young families on DCUM and are likely to meet your parameters. I advise looking into those. Search by elementary - e.g. Woodlin, Flora Singer, Oakland Terrace.

Thank you. Are you able to give me a list of the elementary schools that are popular with young families? Is it the three above, or are there more?

Just no. You want to stay in Arlington. I moved from Arlington and regret it. Real estate (even condos) appreciate faster there, taxes are lower, public safety is better, law enforcement seems to follow-up, Arlington is a small school system vs MCPS large urban district, bike trails in Arlington can’t be beat, I could go on….

Make sure to study up on Arlington schools before believing that APS is a good school system. Here's the forum where you can read more:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/83.page

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you didn’t give your budget, but this is a great house, zoned for Flora Singer ES and Blair HS, not in a “high crime” part of SS, and within an easy drive to anything you will need.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1000-Dennis-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20901/37292079_zpid/

OP, I’m the pp who moved from a nice condo in Arlington, and I actually moved into an old house about this size. No. Just no, you do not want this house nor the location.

What’s the downside?

That's a fairly busy road and neighborhood is steadily creeping towards multi family living ie lots of vans out front, not well maintained yards, etc

Anonymous wrote:Since you love Arlington, stay there. How big is your condo and how big is your family?

I moved from a 1250 sq foot condo in Courthouse to a 1475 foot house not too different from the one posted. My old condo in Arlington appreciated more than my house, and I really regret the move.

Guess what my kid’s number one choice for college is? UVA. $85k out of state, all in.

Are there any other options for you? Sorry the market here is so hard.

Did your commute improve? SIL did 2 test drives from each possible location plus both on the daily from Bethesda. From Silver Spring in a swatch to Rockville to Bethesda/CC. Arlington was a clear winner.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you didn’t give your budget, but this is a great house, zoned for Flora Singer ES and Blair HS, not in a “high crime” part of SS, and within an easy drive to anything you will need.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1000-Dennis-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20901/37292079_zpid/

OP, I’m the pp who moved from a nice condo in Arlington, and I actually moved into an old house about this size. No. Just no, you do not want this house nor the location.

What’s the downside?

Anonymous wrote:OP, you didn’t give your budget, but this is a great house, zoned for Flora Singer ES and Blair HS, not in a “high crime” part of SS, and within an easy drive to anything you will need.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1000-Dennis-Ave-Silver-Spring-MD-20901/37292079_zpid/

+1 that actually is a great house. It’s cute and has the deck. Priced like a townhouse

Since you love Arlington, stay there. How big is your condo and how big is your family?

I moved from a 1250 sq foot condo in Courthouse to a 1475 foot house not too different from the one posted. My old condo in Arlington appreciated more than my house, and I really regret the move.

Guess what my kid’s number one choice for college is? UVA. $85k out of state, all in.

Are there any other options for you? Sorry the market here is so hard.