Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NWDC is friendly and a great place to raise kids, especially if you want them to have a sense of confidence in navigating cities as they grow into adolescence. A great mix of interesting people. I love living here. Good luck with your move!

Stressful, cut throat, superficial, competitive, sneaky, petty too when it comes to kids. The schools in NW can be pressure cookers. Works for some kids but if you have kid who are not top students they will feel behind.

[b]This has been our experience. Absolutely awful. My husband grew up here and so actually believes that kids' childhoods are supposed to be some kind of strenuous boot camp for life. His childhood in DC was basically an elitist pressure cooker under the thumb of a narcissit mother. Other than the narcissist mother, my poor children have experienced the same. They hate it and can't wait to go somewhere where real people live. They cannot believe how friendly people in the world are when they go to other places.

[/b]
NP. I need to know more, such as where you live, where your kids go to school , and what you and DH do for work and social activities

I am a fed lifer married to a high school teacher whose kids go to public school and who socializes with mostly other feds, teachers, nonprofit types. Neighbors mostly have similar type jobs-- even the lawyers are in public-interest fields. What you describe doesn't fit our experience.

My kdis grew up here, and are now at college elsewhere. They don't think this is true at all, and while they are enjoying their respective new locations (MA and MI), they like it ere and have found positives and negatives elsewhere. Perhaps your attitude rubbed off on your kids? People are very friendly in other places, but not necessarily actually any kinder or better people. The one thing they do like about this area is that people are much more well informed about the world outside of the US.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is the 5th largest city in the US but it’s not dense like NYC. It’s filled with highly educated people with elite and high paying jobs. That’s the demographic in the $2M range.

Thank you for this! That's what I'm gathering and there are definitely varying opinions on how people feel/experience that.

Anonymous wrote:DC can have a very suburban feeling. Most people in your bracket are not happy with DC schools. If you are set on public school Bethesda Mclean or private in DC. The lottery drives many parents crazy. Some international transplants are not happy that the central urban areas are very expensive/ walkable/ fun but the schools aren’t great. Some of the schools are but it takes luck. I personally didn’t want to rely on luck for my kids. Best to you. DC is a great place to live !

Anonymous wrote:DC is the 5th largest city in the US but it’s not dense like NYC. It’s filled with highly educated people with elite and high paying jobs. That’s the demographic in the $2M range.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I'm a SAHM, my husband works in digital/cloud consulting. Budget probably needs to be $1.8, although we'd LOVE to spend less!! The market is so tough for buyers at the moment, so we just might have to push the budget. We were going to relocate this year, but houses in DC would be pending in a few hours. If we don't live there, I don't know how we will be able to purchase. I'm sure our current house will sell quickly, however, I feel we'll have to live in an apartment in DC for a while as it would be a miracle to get the first house we make an offer on.

Anonymous wrote:I work around the corner from the Volta rec center and frequently walk the streets. I mostly see Nannie’s with kids or college students. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and far from the “touristy” section of Georgetown, but if I was a SAHM, I think I would feel lonely.

I wouldn’t rule out private. you can read all about DCPS. It wasn’t for us, but honestly, the publics in MCPS aren’t much better. Definitely not anything you will get like a true suburb, town school. That said, you may find more of that community and friendship you’re looking for.

People are friendly - more so than the Northeast, less so than the south. And everyone is die hard into politics and defining themself by what they do. It may not be a bad thing if that’s what you’re into.

Best of luck with the move.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people live in DC for work. Majority of people are career focused. DC isn’t a city you move to for other reasons besides a job.

DC is a great place to live for things beyond work. Free museums and zoo; close to beach and mountains for easy weekend getaways, college and pro sports, theater and the arts, great hikes and biking in DC proper and within the beltway; world class health care options. There is a lot here beyond "a job"

Thanks for this. Can completely understand the viewpoints, but so happy to read your post. Was hoping it was more than just a place to work, even if that is a MAJOR part of life

This board can be very negative about life in DC. It’s like most internet experiences— people who are unhappy about something are much more likely to go online to complain about it. DC has a lot of positives (as long as you don’t spend your time comparing it to places you lived before— for example you might not find the Mexican food you are used to in LA but try a Salvadoran pupusa instead)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NWDC is friendly and a great place to raise kids, especially if you want them to have a sense of confidence in navigating cities as they grow into adolescence. A great mix of interesting people. I love living here. Good luck with your move!

Stressful, cut throat, superficial, competitive, sneaky, petty too when it comes to kids. The schools in NW can be pressure cookers. Works for some kids but if you have kid who are not top students they will feel behind.

This has been our experience. Absolutely awful. My husband grew up here and so actually believes that kids' childhoods are supposed to be some kind of strenuous boot camp for life. His childhood in DC was basically an elitist pressure cooker under the thumb of a narcissit mother. Other than the narcissist mother, my poor children have experienced the same. They hate it and can't wait to go somewhere where real people live. They cannot believe how friendly people in the world are when they go to other places.

NP. I need to know more, such as where you live, where your kids go to school , and what you and DH do for work and social activities

I am a fed lifer married to a high school teacher whose kids go to public school and who socializes with mostly other feds, teachers, nonprofit types. Neighbors mostly have similar type jobs-- even the lawyers are in public-interest fields. What you describe doesn't fit our experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I want to go back to your original question of 'what's it like?'

I think the simple answer is that DC and it's suburbs, especially the close-in ones, has a uniquely high-density (on a national or a global scale) of highly-educated professional class people, and that's for better or for worse. The only places in the U.S. that approach that level of density of educated professionals are SF and Boston. Thinking a lot about what's appealing or revolting to you about those people will help quite a bit with understanding what you are getting into here.

HK and London, by contrast have a lower %-age (but still a lot) of educated professionals, but really, really large %-ages of seriously rich and seriously cool culture-vulture types. There are some rich people around DC (mostly lower-end rich folks) and some cool culture-vultures (mostly second- or lower-tier stuff), but the loud chorus is of law review, Phd, former student body President, editor-in-chief folks, big fancy job title, etc. drown out the stuff that make London or HK or NYC, etc. unique on a global scale.

Furthermore, while many have said DC lacks true urban density, it does density with lots of green space nearby much better than almost any place. Looking at parts of DC near parks, especially parts with TH or condos/coops might be just the thing for you. Consider not just Georgetown and Burleith and Capital Hill but also as others have said, anything near Connecticut Avenue, including somewhat exotic options like the Kalorama/AdMo condo buildings, stuff near Rock Creek Park, and stuff near places like Soapstone Valley or Glover-Archibald Park.

Mentioning Connecticut Avenue makes me realize is that urban dc reflects strongly that DC has a lot of very-high responsibility first professional jobs. There's a huuuuge cohort of twenty-somethings that might do a few years in DC and then decamp to another city. I've personally known a few big players in NYC, HK, London, etc. who had first jobs in DC, at say, the Federal Reserve or the State Dept or on Capital Hill, in the WH or at the WaPo or WB/IMG.

Unfortunately, with a hot res RE market, your hand might be pushed by price. So being a little more open-minded about the possibilities and trade-offs should help find something that works for you. But realize that highly-educated professional-class people, for better or for worse, will be everywhere.

After I wrote, I realized I should encourage you to look at few other areas. First, Wisconsin Avenue through DC into MD, including Tenleytown and FH. In addition to SFH, there are some condos. Simiarly, 16th Street into MD presents an interest option. North Arlington, especially stuff closer to the river, presents another set of interesting options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NWDC is friendly and a great place to raise kids, especially if you want them to have a sense of confidence in navigating cities as they grow into adolescence. A great mix of interesting people. I love living here. Good luck with your move!

Stressful, cut throat, superficial, competitive, sneaky, petty too when it comes to kids. The schools in NW can be pressure cookers. Works for some kids but if you have kid who are not top students they will feel behind.

This has been our experience. Absolutely awful. My husband grew up here and so actually believes that kids' childhoods are supposed to be some kind of strenuous boot camp for life. His childhood in DC was basically an elitist pressure cooker under the thumb of a narcissit mother. Other than the narcissist mother, my poor children have experienced the same. They hate it and can't wait to go somewhere where real people live. They cannot believe how friendly people in the world are when they go to other places.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people live in DC for work. Majority of people are career focused. DC isn’t a city you move to for other reasons besides a job.

DC is a great place to live for things beyond work. Free museums and zoo; close to beach and mountains for easy weekend getaways, college and pro sports, theater and the arts, great hikes and biking in DC proper and within the beltway; world class health care options. There is a lot here beyond "a job"

Thanks for this. Can completely understand the viewpoints, but so happy to read your post. Was hoping it was more than just a place to work, even if that is a MAJOR part of life

Anonymous wrote:Before the fundraiser I did, btw, raise an objection to making it a competition. The lovely women who'd given me a sourdough and a kombucha culture looked at me as if I was speaking ancient Sumerian, and turned back to her friend, who worked for a nonprofit, and they both chuckled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people live in DC for work. Majority of people are career focused. DC isn’t a city you move to for other reasons besides a job.

DC is a great place to live for things beyond work. Free museums and zoo; close to beach and mountains for easy weekend getaways, college and pro sports, theater and the arts, great hikes and biking in DC proper and within the beltway; world class health care options. There is a lot here beyond "a job"