"I'd be cautious about those predicting a massive drop in real estate prices of close-in VA/MD and NW DC areas due to cuts in federal spending/workforce...as an earlier poster explained, the high-income strata here which range from IFIs (WB/IMF/IDB) to doctors/high-end scientists to IT entrepreneurs to Biglaw to lobbyists are pretty resilient even in the worst of times...also federal cuts are going to hit mid-level and lower federal workers a lot harder, the high end of the GS scale, SES, ES are not going to disappear, the UGS is still is a multi-trillion dollar per annum enterprise headquartered in Washington, DC no matter how bad the economy gets."

And also, according to the WaPo article this weekend, more than 1/3 of DC residents have over 50% equity in their homes, a good predictor of market stability.

I'd be cautious about those predicting a massive drop in real estate prices of close-in VA/MD and NW DC areas due to cuts in federal spending/workforce...as an earlier poster explained, the high-income strata here which range from IFIs (WB/IMF/IDB) to doctors/high-end scientists to IT entrepreneurs to Biglaw to lobbyists are pretty resilient even in the worst of times...also federal cuts are going to hit mid-level and lower federal workers a lot harder, the high end of the GS scale, SES, ES are not going to disappear, the UGS is still is a multi-trillion dollar per annum enterprise headquartered in Washington, DC no matter how bad the economy gets....

Anonymous wrote:As a former Capitol hill resident I'm going to advise against it. The crime is high. Really high. I've seen men in broad daylight troll the streets of East Cap looking for cars to break into. Tommy wells doesn't Care about schools or crime, he's interested in plasti bags and his walkable city. We lived on the hill for 5 years when we first moved here and were routinely surprised when people would pay a million plus. True the homes were nice, but criminals lived just down the street. All they had to do was walk over and break into your home. We ended buying in cathedral heights and we've never regretted it. A nice sfh near the park, at night it feels like we're in the woods. We were always planning to do private but as we're getting towards school age we might give our local elementary a shot.

I second the advice against Capitol Hill. DH & I lived there for years before moving to Chevy Chase because we were fed up with the crime (albeit, mostly petty crime), homeless people urinating in our garden, finding condoms and drug paraphernalia in the alley behind our house (and seeing the same in the parks first thing in the morning), etc. I remember reading about how many women had recently been robbed on the Hill while walking with strollers in the middle of the day and that's when I knew I didn't want to raise my kids there.

As a former Capitol hill resident I'm going to advise against it. The crime is high. Really high. I've seen men in broad daylight troll the streets of East Cap looking for cars to break into. Tommy wells doesn't Care about schools or crime, he's interested in plasti bags and his walkable city. We lived on the hill for 5 years when we first moved here and were routinely surprised when people would pay a million plus. True the homes were nice, but criminals lived just down the street. All they had to do was walk over and break into your home. We ended buying in cathedral heights and we've never regretted it. A nice sfh near the park, at night it feels like we're in the woods. We were always planning to do private but as we're getting towards school age we might give our local elementary a shot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Take your time - it's a buyer's market as much as it ever will be in this area, and will stay that way for a few years.
2. A good school district is your most important criteria, unless you go private.
3. The rest you can live with (long commute, tiny house, no yard, etc).

We looked at hundreds of houses for over a year (2010 with a similar budget) and chose a tiny fixer-upper in the best close-in school district we could afford. We have a 3 minute walk to the school, supermarket, shops, restaurants, and playground. We spent more than $150K in remodeling so do not underestimate the renovation costs!

Good advice. But it'll actually be a lot more of a buyer's market in a couple of years than it is now.

Maybe yes, maybe no. If OP is ready to buy now, there is no real reason to wait.

Anonymous wrote:1. Take your time - it's a buyer's market as much as it ever will be in this area, and will stay that way for a few years.
2. A good school district is your most important criteria, unless you go private.
3. The rest you can live with (long commute, tiny house, no yard, etc).

We looked at hundreds of houses for over a year (2010 with a similar budget) and chose a tiny fixer-upper in the best close-in school district we could afford. We have a 3 minute walk to the school, supermarket, shops, restaurants, and playground. We spent more than $150K in remodeling so do not underestimate the renovation costs!

Good advice. But it'll actually be a lot more of a buyer's market in a couple of years than it is now.

1. Take your time - it's a buyer's market as much as it ever will be in this area, and will stay that way for a few years.
2. A good school district is your most important criteria, unless you go private.
3. The rest you can live with (long commute, tiny house, no yard, etc).

We looked at hundreds of houses for over a year (2010 with a similar budget) and chose a tiny fixer-upper in the best close-in school district we could afford. We have a 3 minute walk to the school, supermarket, shops, restaurants, and playground. We spent more than $150K in remodeling so do not underestimate the renovation costs!

I would look at Takoma Park, MD, Downtown Silver Spring maybe Woodside in Silver Spring, and maybe Falls Church City and Vienna in VA

Anonymous wrote:OP, one thought based on my experience - when your baby is so young, it is easier to prioritize other things over space, but once the baby starts walking and gets a little older, space starts to matter more. We bought a cute tiny house when we had our first infant, and we would never have bought that same house a year later. Cute mattered less once the reality of living in it with a little kid sunk in.

And when your kids are even older, you realize that space matters less. All sports practices take place at school or on public fields, not at home. When your kids are teens, they are not going to use the yard as much as you think they would. Summer time is full of mosquitoes, and unless you are willing to use pesticides, you don't use the yard as much as other spaces. Location is always more important than space, given a certain minimum (which I would put at less than 2000 sq ft for a family of 4, when the space is used efficiently). Your kids should be within a short distance to their friends and activities, otherwise you spend way too much time on the road for playdates and lessons/practices.

OP, one thought based on my experience - when your baby is so young, it is easier to prioritize other things over space, but once the baby starts walking and gets a little older, space starts to matter more. We bought a cute tiny house when we had our first infant, and we would never have bought that same house a year later. Cute mattered less once the reality of living in it with a little kid sunk in.

Anonymous wrote:Brookland is worth a look if you really want to stay in the city.

There are plenty of homes in your price range in DC. It's only the posters who red-line the city in their heads who claim it's SO expensive.

What are the schools like in Brookland? I think people red-line the city because that's where the good schools are.

OP- the best way to decide is to find a patient realtor and go look at lots and lots of houses in your price range in many different areas. Unfortunately, with your budget you're going to have to sacrifice on something, be it size, location, schools, "cuteness" factor. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably try to find something in CC DC, CC MD or Bethesda and thus would be sacrificing walkability and size on your budget. Your priorities may be different, so you just need to look around and decide what feels right for you.

Brookland is worth a look if you really want to stay in the city.

There are plenty of homes in your price range in DC. It's only the posters who red-line the city in their heads who claim it's SO expensive.

Anonymous wrote:AU Park hands down. Admittedly the houses aren't as cute, but the schools are good and you will still feel like you are living in the city. There is a lot that is still walkable.

That said, I have friends that like Capital Hill. It checks all of the boxes (houses are way cuter than AU Park), but its never had the same city feel to me. If you like that area more than AU Park it may be a better bet for you.

VERY difficult to find in OPs price range.

Units in our Kalorama area condo complex sell in the OPs price range (including a parking spot/garage). We are in-district for Oyster, very walkable to shopping/gym/nightlife/coffee & book shops, and there are three nice parks within one block of us. It's tree lined and quiet and the commute downtown is 30 minutes on a bad day. Plus, with a condo, you don't spend your weekends doing yardwork. I think our units are all one and two bedroom though, so if you want three, this isn't for you.