greatschools.org uses test scores to rate schools.

Hi OP -- we are in a similar situation. Looking for a place around $400k, both work in Farragut, have one young child. We currently rent a townhome in Clarendon and LOOOOOVE it so much, but we know we should purchase now. We are (hopefully) settling on a place in the next week or two near Del Ray. The place we found needs some work, but not too much.

To address your school situation, we have toured a number of the schools in the areas that we are considering. There are websites to use (I think greatschools.com or something like that) but I actually wanted to see these schools for myself. We have a few years before DC starts school but I still wanted to see for myself what the situation was.

Good luck! Sounds like you guys are doing a lot of great legwork. OH and check out the West Villages at Shirlington -- newer construction that I really liked but DH hated. They have townhomes but for our budget we were looking at the two bedrooms + sunroom (the sunroom is large enough to be a guest room).

GOOD LUCK!

OP here.

Thanks all. I'm EXHAUSTED but feel like we learned a lot today. We saw Annandale, tons of Alexandria, Shirlington, West Falls Church, Falls Church, Del Ray (the part with townhouses), and probably some other places I don't even remember.

We own two one bedrooms that we don't want to sell. One we live in now and we just know we'll outgrow it in a year. The other is rented to a great tenant.

DH doesn't work at GW, I think someone just mentioned the parking prices there.

Comments on commute times and thinking out elementary schools are particularly useful. Thanks.

I'm not sure if I'll get anywhere, but I'll keep looking at 2bdrm, spacious upper NW condos...

Here's a FTM question--how do you all know whether a school is "good" is there a website with objective criteria? Telling DH that anonymous people on DCUM say that X schools are good or bad, doesn't get me far.

this post made me so curious about the arlington schools mentionned. Abingdon sounds like a wonderful school! I am jealous of the families with kids there after looking at the website. The curriculum and arts program sound amazing.

Not to mention, I'm jealous of the other options available to arlington families - I had looked at an immersion program for my daughter in FCPS, but they don't provide transportation to out of boundary students. At our old house, we were close enough to 3 programs that driving would have been OK. Where we moved to, I have had to give up on immersion programs just because the schools are now inconvenient. We are happy with our neighborhood school, other than class sizes, but I would still have an immersion school as an option if bussing were available.

http://franklymls.com/AR7694902

this one is in The Arlington, which is down the street from Fairlington. It has 3 BR and 2 BAs and is $350K. You might still be able to knock them down - it's been on the market a while.

you own other properties? I'm so confused. are they in other cities or something?

I don't think interest rates are going to skyrocket anytime in the near future, but we found that in monthly costs, we were just about even for buying or renting a similar property. If you want to save more, then I don't see why you can't continue to rent for a while. Prices in some neighborhoods still are headed downwards, although I think they are stablizing. Prices are not going to skyrocket anytime soon, either.

Does GW give metrocheck benefits? I still think that would work out better than driving/parking in most cases. I just think hoping for a 30 minute drive into the city at the hours you specified is going to be VERY hard to do.

I hope you like Fairlington/Shirlington. When I was living with a roommate, we lived right around the corner and she drove downtown to an office near FB in maybe 40 minutes at the times you specified? That was getting on the highway at the rt. 7 entrance.

12:26 back. I don't know current prices, but I know within the last 2-3 years there were some condos in the Palisades in your price range. I also know I've seen signs outside some of the condo buildings within the last year, but don't see online records of those sales at any price, and think some of them may have been FSBO. But I'll dig this thread back up and post if I see any listings this spring

Another area to consider would be Glover Park. Not the single family homes, but there are some nice leafy apartment buildings, great walkability to neighborhood amenities, relatively convenient to the areas you need for commuting, etc. And the new renovation of Stoddert looks amazing. I do think a lot of folks move out of the area once kids are older, but it seems like an incredibly small-child friendly neighborhood.

Of course, none of these areas will give you a ton of space, but I come down firmly in the shorter commute camp.

Anonymous wrote:we live in Reston. we commute together and leave around 7:30 and the drive can be anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour, although (knock on wood) it's been 40 minutes lately. our commute home is 30-40 minutes. HOV helps a lot. reston has tons of townhomes, $350,000 is totally doable and lots of sidewalks.

I don't believe this estimate door to door. No matter where you are in NOVA, you have 15-20 minutes commute time on average just crossing one of the bridges.

we live in Reston. we commute together and leave around 7:30 and the drive can be anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour, although (knock on wood) it's been 40 minutes lately. our commute home is 30-40 minutes. HOV helps a lot. reston has tons of townhomes, $350,000 is totally doable and lots of sidewalks.

I live near hyattsville arts district. Great area with lots of young kids nearby. I think st Jerome's is going Montessori. You are probably looking at 45 minutes + to foggy bottom during am rush. Perhaps a half hour for a late evening commute.

If you are going out to Falls Church area, you may want to also look at South Falls Church, Annandale and Merrifield.

Thanks 12:27. I'll look for those commuting lists and am interested in the Hyattsville info.

12:26--bahhhhh. I LOVE Palisades. That's where I hope to open a business. If you can show me something in our price range, I'll take you out to lunch! I never see condos along Macarthur listed and everything I see over there is way out of our price range. That's our "someday" neighborhood!

I can't speak to the commute to FB, but for anyone considering Hyattsville, I have heard a lot of great things lately about Hyattsville Elementary School. We live nearby and have many friends who have been very happily surprised by the school. Wish we weren't a couple of miles too far to send our own children there. For the record, we've heard the most positive things about the school from families with highly educated/academic parents.

OP, I'd also try to dig up some DCUM threads about commuting and quality of life. There was one a year or two ago where I posted a link about some research on the topic. People tend to vastly overestimate the pleasure they'd get from a larger home while also vastly underestimating how much a long commute damages their quality of life.

Another thought for you - how does your DH feel about biking? We live in the Palisades, and it's an easy, quick bike ride to Foggy Bottom from this area. Houses are expensive, but some of the condos along MacArthur might meet your price point criteria, and it's a lovely, leafy neighborhood with a good public elementary.