Not sure why the SS residents are so defensive here. It's a cool town, and great commute into DC. Nice diversity too. But man, it seems every poster is adamantly defending the area like it's the second coming - and NOTHING critical can be said about it. SS has plenty of flaws as well. And OP isn't choosing between SS and Bethesda - she's choosing between Silver Spring and the more affordable parts of Arlington, which are far more similar than different.

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Not sure why the SS residents are so defensive here. It's a cool town, and great commute into DC. Nice diversity too. But man, it seems every poster is adamantly defending the area like it's the second coming - and NOTHING critical can be said about it. SS has plenty of flaws as well. And OP isn't choosing between SS and Bethesda - she's choosing between Silver Spring and the more affordable parts of Arlington, which are far more similar than different.

Because there is some lunatic who is telling OP that she's both endangering her investment and the future of her child if she chooses SS over Arlington. Why does that person care so much? If PP worked closer to Arlington, I would tell her to live in Arlington (that's what we did). But since she does not, SS is a better choice for her. It's better for all of us in the DMV and everywhere if people choose to live closer to their jobs. Arlington is not hurting for residents, and probably won't be in the near future. OP should move where it works best for her commute.

+1 I live in Arlington and agree a single mom working in Silver Spring should live in Silver Spring. There is no advantage to adding a commute and it will greatly simplify your life to live near work and your child's school.

+2
I'm one of the SS people, but if OP said she were working near Arlington or in Reston or something, I would absolutely tell her to live there. Of course SS has its drawbacks, as does every community. But those are nowhere near enough to preclude someone who *works there* to also live there. So, yeah, I will defend it when people who have zero experience with it claim that it's some kind of unlivable hellscape.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Not sure why the SS residents are so defensive here. It's a cool town, and great commute into DC. Nice diversity too. But man, it seems every poster is adamantly defending the area like it's the second coming - and NOTHING critical can be said about it. SS has plenty of flaws as well. And OP isn't choosing between SS and Bethesda - she's choosing between Silver Spring and the more affordable parts of Arlington, which are far more similar than different.

Because there is some lunatic who is telling OP that she's both endangering her investment and the future of her child if she chooses SS over Arlington. Why does that person care so much? If PP worked closer to Arlington, I would tell her to live in Arlington (that's what we did). But since she does not, SS is a better choice for her. It's better for all of us in the DMV and everywhere if people choose to live closer to their jobs. Arlington is not hurting for residents, and probably won't be in the near future. OP should move where it works best for her commute.

+1 I live in Arlington and agree a single mom working in Silver Spring should live in Silver Spring. There is no advantage to adding a commute and it will greatly simplify your life to live near work and your child's school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Not sure why the SS residents are so defensive here. It's a cool town, and great commute into DC. Nice diversity too. But man, it seems every poster is adamantly defending the area like it's the second coming - and NOTHING critical can be said about it. SS has plenty of flaws as well. And OP isn't choosing between SS and Bethesda - she's choosing between Silver Spring and the more affordable parts of Arlington, which are far more similar than different.

Because there is some lunatic who is telling OP that she's both endangering her investment and the future of her child if she chooses SS over Arlington. Why does that person care so much? If PP worked closer to Arlington, I would tell her to live in Arlington (that's what we did). But since she does not, SS is a better choice for her. It's better for all of us in the DMV and everywhere if people choose to live closer to their jobs. Arlington is not hurting for residents, and probably won't be in the near future. OP should move where it works best for her commute.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Not sure why the SS residents are so defensive here. It's a cool town, and great commute into DC. Nice diversity too. But man, it seems every poster is adamantly defending the area like it's the second coming - and NOTHING critical can be said about it. SS has plenty of flaws as well. And OP isn't choosing between SS and Bethesda - she's choosing between Silver Spring and the more affordable parts of Arlington, which are far more similar than different.

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Einstein student's are unprepared and struggle in college if they manage to make it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Einstein student's are unprepared and struggle in college if they manage to make it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Einstein student's are unprepared and struggle in college if they manage to make it

Anonymous wrote:We are Einstein cluster (Silver Spring/ Kensington) and in the past 3 years I have sent off son and daughter to one private Ivy and one public Ivy. So please stop denigrating our wonderful local high school.

My husband and i only halfway joke that we can afford these colleges partly because we bought a home in Silver Spring, not Bethesda, and saved a quarter million dollars.

Anonymous wrote:I'd check the crime maps. Crime has stayed pretty steady in Silver Spring but I think its been declining in Arlington. Your appreciation will be much better in Arlington than Silver Spring. Schools seem to be improving each year in Arlington while MCPS is a mess and Silver Spring is generally viewed as having the worst schools in the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is OP. The linked houses look great to me. Why is this so much less expensive than what I've been looking at in Arlington and Vienna? What am I missing?

1. The schools are bad, very bad. Everyone avoids the Silver Spring schools unless they can't afford anything else.

2. The jobs are in DC and in VA. There are very few jobs in Montgomery County and none on the horizon. There are so many commuters from MD to VA now that its almost impossible. The reserve commute is wide open. This is hurting the east and west.

3. Taxes are more of a problem now unless you are super rich. MD and Montgomery County taxes are higher and now that you can't deduct them its a bigger hit. Hoping that the Dems will repeal the tax bill.

4. Crime. Poverty has been out of DC and landed in Montgomery County. There is a concentration of no to low income housing in Silver Spring. Gangs are active in Silver Spring, Wheaton and Gaithersburg.

5. County revenue is not healthy. The county is losing tax revenue, property values are stagnate, no new businesses or losing businesses, and the population is shifting to be poorer. This means that county taxes will have to increase or services will need to be cut.

Hi there SS hater! We are a $300k family with well over a million in our portfolio who have lived in SS for 20 years and never left it because we love it here. Could definitely afford to live somewhere else or to send our kid to private, but we've been more than satisfied with our schools. Our kids test regularly in the 97-99% on standardized tests so they must be doing something right!

Also have never experienced any crime in the 20 years we've lived here. I hear about some car breaks-ins every so often but often nothing is taken.

Love our neighbors who are diverse and down to earth and friendly. Love DDSS. Love the AFI and the theaters and the Fillmore and the farmers market and easy access to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

Love that PP is not a member of our community.

Really? You don't remember the turf wars of 2002? South Four Corners vs Forest Glen. Everyone met in front of Santucci's and had a knife fight, it looked like the video for "Beat It." There was also the DTSS-Woodside feud of 1994 in which four LL Bean backpacks were lost, RIP.

DTSSer here: Also, lets not forgot the great Subaru showdown in the Whole Foods Parking lot in 2013.