Anonymous wrote:Woodside not only trails the appreciation in NoVa and Hyattsville over the past 20-30 years, it also trails places with late 19th and early 20th Century SFHs like Brookland, DC. This was a MUCH less desirable neighborhood in the 1990s but now has 2,900 sq ft homes selling for almost $1.5m. Close to the same side of the Red Line and the schools are far worse than Einstein.

https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/1327-Newton-St-NE-20017/home/10091960

This isn’t just a NoVa thing. Silver Spring has not kept pace with a lot of places in the region.

I don't think appreciation is a good indicator for most DCUM buyers because it usually means the area was depressed. I mean there was a story a while back about how Trinidad had insane housing appreciation in the past few decades. That doesn't mean people are like dang, I wish I moved my family there in 1995. Or that they even want to live there now. That kind of appreciation game is for investment speculators, maybe. People buying a house in the burbs care about years 1-10ish. They aren't going to look for appreciation based on a neighborhood changing a ton in that period, because they don't want to be there during the "before." Silver Spring was a pretty good place for families then and it's a pretty good place for families now. No huge growth or swings. So it makes sense that the appreciation would be slow and steady.

From this thread, it sounds like Woodside is a bargain with more appreciation potential than other areas that are more expensive and have already fully appreciated. Sounds like a win to me. I mean, why would I want to buy in Arlington when its biggest employer has said that it wants to lay off a ton of people and, in the long term, keep replacing people with AI.

If your saying that Woodside is worse off in terms of development than Arlington I agree. But my point was that it's a pretty nice area in itself. Beautiful old houses, professional families, quite safe (not as safe as Bethesda maybe but safer than any city). So it's still a good buy.

Anonymous wrote:Okay but the house you just listed is selling at the same price it would in a lot of parts of Bethesda/North Bethesda. I dont see any evidence that Woodside has trailed Bethesda/Rockville in appreciation in any significant sense.


Your insisting that Woodside is one of the worst pars of the DMV when ordinary houses regularly sell for a million there.

And this should tell you a lot about how far Montgomery County has fallen behind. That area in Brookland was very rough in the 1980s and almost no one on this forum would want their DD or DS to go to where that house is zoned for (Eastern HS), even the people who defend Einstein would acknowledge that Eastern HS is problematic.

Now homes there are selling for as much as the best areas of MoCo. That area is not as walkable as Woodside and is in a much rougher areas with much worse schools. So what’s kept Woodside real estate from appreciating as much?

Okay but the house you just listed is selling at the same price it would in a lot of parts of Bethesda/North Bethesda. I dont see any evidence that Woodside has trailed Bethesda/Rockville in appreciation in any significant sense.


Your insisting that Woodside is one of the worst pars of the DMV when ordinary houses regularly sell for a million there.

Woodside not only trails the appreciation in NoVa and Hyattsville over the past 20-30 years, it also trails places with late 19th and early 20th Century SFHs like Brookland, DC. This was a MUCH less desirable neighborhood in the 1990s but now has 2,900 sq ft homes selling for almost $1.5m. Close to the same side of the Red Line and the schools are far worse than Einstein.

https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/1327-Newton-St-NE-20017/home/10091960

This isn’t just a NoVa thing. Silver Spring has not kept pace with a lot of places in the region.

https://censusreporter.org/profiles/15000US240317029001-bg-1-tract-7029-montgomery-md/

https://censusreporter.org/profiles/15000US240317028001-bg-1-tract-7028-montgomery-md/

https://censusreporter.org/profiles/15000US240317029002-bg-2-tract-7029-montgomery-md/

According to census reporter, median HHI in woodside neighborhoods is around 200k-250k, with per capita incomes around 85k-100k. This is upper middle class by any reasonable definition, and only slightly trails Bethesda (median HHi 190k, per capita 110k).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont understand calling Woodside a dump when its not a bad area by any stretch. Yes Georgia ave sucks but the neighborhoods are solidly affluent and mostly white. Your acting like its a ghetto when its filled with high income families who makes 250k a year.

$250k would be lower middle class at best in an more desirable areas like McLean, Bethesda, or Falls Church City and a lot of the DMV. Two Grade 10 GS-13s make almost $300,000 a year and no one thinks a family of two non managerial Feds is high income. $250,000 HHI will barely get you a $650,000 home at these interest rates today and at those prices you are looking at townhomes in good school districts. Hardly what I’d call high income.

OP was asking for advice about where to live. If OP cares about schools, her property appreciating, or getting new and better amenities by their house there are a lot of neighborhoods in the DMV that have much brighter futures. If you have some insider knowledge about plans to revitalize the SS to Wheaton corridor on Georgia Ave please us know, but there’s nothing promising on the horizon.

The area median income for a family of 4 in the DMV is around $150k. $250k is well above that. People who think $250k is "lower middle class" are trolls or wildly out of touch.

PP said lower middle class in affluent areas, not the entire DMV. $250,000 would be high income in Capital Heights, that’s for sure.

$250k is still above the median household incomes in the areas OP mentioned https://www.justicemap.org/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont understand calling Woodside a dump when its not a bad area by any stretch. Yes Georgia ave sucks but the neighborhoods are solidly affluent and mostly white. Your acting like its a ghetto when its filled with high income families who makes 250k a year.

$250k would be lower middle class at best in an more desirable areas like McLean, Bethesda, or Falls Church City and a lot of the DMV. Two Grade 10 GS-13s make almost $300,000 a year and no one thinks a family of two non managerial Feds is high income. $250,000 HHI will barely get you a $650,000 home at these interest rates today and at those prices you are looking at townhomes in good school districts. Hardly what I’d call high income.

OP was asking for advice about where to live. If OP cares about schools, her property appreciating, or getting new and better amenities by their house there are a lot of neighborhoods in the DMV that have much brighter futures. If you have some insider knowledge about plans to revitalize the SS to Wheaton corridor on Georgia Ave please us know, but there’s nothing promising on the horizon.

The area median income for a family of 4 in the DMV is around $150k. $250k is well above that. People who think $250k is "lower middle class" are trolls or wildly out of touch.

PP said lower middle class in affluent areas, not the entire DMV. $250,000 would be high income in Capital Heights, that’s for sure.