PG is a killing ground. Once they raised the rent in Southeast from the new Nationals stadium the "riff-raff" had a mass exodus....and PG was the landing spot. Certainly could not afford going into VA.

20:24 here. My kids are at St. Peter School in DC, will stay there for elementary years. We both work in downtown DC, so the school is a bit closer to work, but not too far from home in Ft. Washington. We've done a couple of playdates with school friends at National Harbor which worked well, and 20 min away from Capitol Hill is not too far for sleepover drop offs in the next few years
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Alternatively, Potomac sends a bus through PG (stop in in Marlow Heights), I attended Potomac, took the bus K-8 (back then the stop was in Old Town). I acually loved the bus, became best friends with 2 other kids who took the same bus. If its a good fit, I hope my girls will go to Potomac for HS.

PP, what will you do regarding schools?

Best advice I have seen so far is to go visit and see for yourself if possible. Only thing I would add is, if you have children, go to a park with them on a Saturday and see how it feels. When I've taken my kids to the large, gorgeous Ft. Foote park, its been an absolute pleasure. Well behaved kids, friendly parents across the board.
I am AA grew up in Ft. Washington, attended private schools, and am moving out of the city (Capitol Hill) to raise my family there. The area close by National Harbor is lovely, safe, quiet and easily accessible to DC and VA. No whole foods or trader joe's, but shoppers food and safeway are fine by me for the basics, can do TJs in Alexandria or Wegman's in Woodmore now and again.
With the new outlet mall, there might even be too much shopping in Ft. Washington now

Have family there. Big homes, lots of affluent families. I lived there from 2007-08 in my family's basement (which was practically an apartment) while I saved up to purchase my home. The neighborhood went from predominately AA to about 20-30% Latino/Filipino overnight. The National Harbor will have the outlet malls over there soon so there will be plenty of shopping. I live in DC and go to restaurants over there all of the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are going to live in Fort Washington and send your kids to private school, you are not saving any money. Before you buy in the area, do a little research on the private school options. At least you get a tax break on your mortgage.

When I personally did the math, it does actually save a lot of money to live in PG and send my kids to private school. This is in addition to a much closer commute for our family. The mortgage interest deduction does not actually eliminate the fact that you pay interest on a mortgage, which can accumulate to a huge sum by the end of 30 years.

But every family's situation will be different.

it also depends how many kids. the house and mortgage is always one, if you have three or 4 kids, going private can be a pain

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are going to live in Fort Washington and send your kids to private school, you are not saving any money. Before you buy in the area, do a little research on the private school options. At least you get a tax break on your mortgage.

When I personally did the math, it does actually save a lot of money to live in PG and send my kids to private school. This is in addition to a much closer commute for our family. The mortgage interest deduction does not actually eliminate the fact that you pay interest on a mortgage, which can accumulate to a huge sum by the end of 30 years.

But every family's situation will be different.

Fort Washington is an awesome neighborhood, has two historic forts- Ft. Washington, Ft. Foote, parts of it overlook the Potomac River, there is an active marina comunity, Gaylord National Harbor which has tons of nice restaurants, shopping, traveling concerts, Cirque du Soleil, the National Children's Museum, and a new outlet mall is all 5-10 minutes away...having said that, our children attend private scool...