Bowie, MD (Mitchelville) Vs Potomac, MD (Bethesda, Rockville: real estate, insurance, motel)

[howsitgoingdude3]

Let's take the wealthiest place to live in Moco and compare it to the most affluent place to live in PG. I'm sick of Iscalder calling Bowie/Upper Marlboro the Potomac of PG. It is more comparable to a place like Olney, MD (would be consider an affluent part of Moco) in Moco than Potomac, MD. Serious comparisons here please have facts to support your assertions.

If we are discussing "wealth" that is totally different than "rich" or "affluent." Let's put some perspective on what "upper middle" means. I agree that Bowie/Mitchellville/Upper Marlboro are upper class areas, but they are on the low end of upper middle class. They do not compare to "wealthy" zip codes in the area nor should they be compared to or referred to in the same breathe.

For simplicities sake and this will be debated let's say upper middle class stretches from;

$150k Lower End
$250k Middle End
$300k High End

Rich to Wealthy Stretches from

$500k+ to upwards of Millions upon hundreds of millions in income


Now Lets Compare Mitchellville, Fort Washington, Upper Marlboro, Olney, Potomac, Great Falls, VA, and Mclean, VA

Household Medium Income:

Upper Marlboro, MD $84,479
Mitchellville, MD $94,000
Fort Washington, MD $94,495
Olney, MD $113,000
McLean, VA $138,000
Potomac, MD $141,000
Great Falls, VA $193,000

Percentage of Individuals Earning between $150k -250k

Upper Marlboro, MD 8.78%
Fort Washington, MD 14.15%
Mitchellville, MD 17.05%
Olney, MD 20.75%
Potomac, MD 24.10%
McLean, VA 24.26%
Great Falls, VA 24.77%

Percentage of Individuals Earning between $250k -500k

Fort Washington, MD 1.57%
Upper Marlboro, MD 1.59%
Mitchellville, MD 2.08%
Olney, MD 5.03%
McLean, VA 11.26%
Potomac, MD 12.32%
Great Falls, VA 16.487%

Percentage of Individuals Earning $500k or more

Fort Washington, MD 0.24%
Mitchellville, MD 0.44%
Upper Marlboro, MD 0.80%
Olney, MD 1.73%
McLean, VA 9.27%
Potomac, MD 10.42%
Great Falls, VA 18.78%

Iscalder, currently there is not an area in Prince Georges that is comparable to Potomac, Great Falls, or McLean. However, there are areas of PG that are equally as comparable to other “affluent” parts of both Moco and Fairfax. May be one of these days there will be an area equally comparable to the “wealthy” areas in of Moco and Fairfax, but as of now there are none that exist. When 20% of your neighborhood starts making over 500,000 thousand dollars you can be as snobby as you want, but until that day you’re no better off than most of the “middle and lower middle class” people you put down. This would also lead me to believe most of your neighborhood works for the Government as I think most top government jobs cap out around 130-150k. This would also lead me to believe that there are a far larger number of non-government workers in Potomac, Great Falls, and McLean.

[lscalder]

Here are two website one from cnnmoney which rank both Potomac and Bowie as best places to live for 2006. Average median income doesnot prove a whole lot. Example true story: My son god father and his wife live in Bowie they own 3 different business one cleaning company and two real estate company. The cleaning franchise gross over 500k a year. The company brings home 50k a year,on paper this looks good. Just to let you know in My Community 95% of us owe our own business. Potomac average ge is well over 40 in Bowie the average age is 36. Here are my facts below:
Here is the information for Potomac from CNN Money website:
Website:http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/snapshots/P2463300.html (broken link)
Here is an idea of Real Estate in Potac from the highest to the lowest
7.2 million highest
299k for 5bedroom townhomes in Scotland community zipcode 20854 2 full 1half
MLS#MC6521149 Lowest

BOwie:Website for CNNMoney
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2006: Bowie, MD snapshot

Real Estate
2.2 million bowie woodmoore highest active sale
Lowest Sale: 299k 2bedroom town house/2full bathMLS#: PG6546480

For my money I would purchase in Potomac because if I can get a 5bedroom for 299k vs a 2bedroom is Bowie.

[howsitgoingdude3]

Iscaler, all i was saying is that Bowie or any location in PG is not comparable to a Potomac, Great Falls, or McLean, so they should not be compared to places where the wealthy reside. It is not a fair comparison and makes it easy for people to attack your assumptions. I was merely saying you'd be better served making arguments and comparing like places. Both Mitchellville and Olney are affluent areas one is in Pg and the other is in Moco. I mean it would be silly to attempt to compare Olney to Potomac, Great Falls or McLean wouldn't it? So it is equally as silly to call Bowie "the potomac" of PG. It is not remotely close on any any levels.

To answer you question about median income I also provided a detailed description on the different levels. You can clearly see the bulk of the people in the PG area's are contained in the 150-250 a year range. However in the wealthier areas the percentage of people that make over 500k is huge when compared to both Olney and PG locations. This is the difference in "affluent" and "wealth." I'd go on to assume this would probably explain why "wealthy" blacks (Bob Johnson BET FOUNDER his Ex Wife etc, Michael Jordan, a lot of the Black Enterprise 100 list reside in Northern VA and Moco) and typically do not take up residence within PG. This is obviously not an attack on PG or black as there probably are a lot that make more than 500k in the dc metro they obviously do not all choose to reside in PG. In fact there's a signifcantly large black population in Potomac, MD.

[laurelengineer]

You.are.comparing.apples.to.oranges.

There is a huge difference between potomac/great falls and bowie/ft wash:

It is called ZONING.

Potomac and Great Falls are mostly zoned for 1 house per 3 acres, even though they are both close-in neighborhoods. It is artificially expensive to live there. If PG wanted to play that game, it could simply re-zone Temple hills and District Heights for 1 house per 3 acres and, Voila!, both those undesirable place swould immediately become the most expensive zip codes in the county, instead of the cheapest.

It's all about zoning. Montgomery and Fairfax is dead wrong for keeping the low-density zoning there, despite being "pro growth." Much of Montgomery's expensiveness is due to it restricting land supply.

And you, my friend, are unintentionally being deceptive in your desire to show up Iscalder.

-LE

[lscalder]

Each county have their own wealthy city,areas. Montgomery county have Potomac and Pg county have Bowie. The wealthiest folks in Montgomery county lives in Potomac the wealthiest of folks in PG county live in Bowie. As far as comparing Bowie and Potomac they can be compared to each other. Bowie have the wealthiest folks in Pg county and so does Potomac. Bowie have the highest tax rate in Pg county so does Potomac. Bowie have the most expensive houses in Pg county, Potomac have the most expensive houses in Montgomery County. Bowie have plenty of wealthy people but maybe not as many as Potomac. The income gap between Potomac and Bowie is $40k base upon CNNmoney.com which is not an large gap all. I know it will take Bowie about 2-3yrs to get on the same level as Potomac. Here is the 2006 comparison of Potomac and Bowie on Cnn money.

City stats Best places average
Bowie
Median family income
(per year) $93,087 $76,893
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted) $68,396 $68,109
Sales tax 5.00% 6.55%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket) 4.75% 6.46%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket) 2.00% 2.74%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average for the state) $2,813 $2,207
Job growth %
(2000-2005) 8.52% 10.97%

Potomac;
CONTENDER
North Potomac, MD
Top 100 rank: N/A
Population:
Compare North Potomac to Top 10 Best Places

Financial
City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year) $134,302 $90,316
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted) $112,481 $82,867
Sales tax 5.00% 6.74%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket) 4.75% 6.38%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket) 2.00% 2.74%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average for the state) $2,529 $2,121
Job growth %
(2000-2006) 8.83% 13.41%
Housing

FYI: I can compare whatever city or county I choose. Bowie in PG county is the Potomac of Montgomery county.

[lscalder]

Howitgoingdowndude:
I think you take my quote way out of context. In Pg county Bowie is what Potomac maryland is to Montgomery county which is expensive living compare to the rest of county. Bowie in Pg county is the most expensive area to live in Pg county.
I can never say Bowie is just like Potomac but I can compare both city as what each city represent for both county. Upper Marlboro in my opinion is the Bethesda or Rockville of PG county. Every county have its own Potomac meaning in each county their is always one area or city that is the most expensive to live in that county.

[howsitgoingdude3]

Originally Posted by laurelengineer

You.are.comparing.apples.to.oranges.

There is a huge difference between potomac/great falls and bowie/ft wash:

It is called ZONING.

Potomac and Great Falls are mostly zoned for 1 house per 3 acres, even though they are both close-in neighborhoods. It is artificially expensive to live there. If PG wanted to play that game, it could simply re-zone Temple hills and District Heights for 1 house per 3 acres and, Voila!, both those undesirable place swould immediately become the most expensive zip codes in the county, instead of the cheapest.

It's all about zoning. Montgomery and Fairfax is dead wrong for keeping the low-density zoning there, despite being "pro growth." Much of Montgomery's expensiveness is due to it restricting land supply.

And you, my friend, are unintentionally being deceptive in your desire to show up Iscalder.

-LE

Are you retarded? Your argument might make more sense if you referred to a supply and demand theory based on the fact, that both Fairfax County and Montgomery County have population either over 1 million people or extremely close to it. The supply demand theory may support your claim of high housing prices simply, because demand exceeds the amount of available land. However, we all know that is not remotely true in either of three counties as there is plenty of land everywhere especially in Prince Georges, so you reference to plot size still does not explain why Upper Marlboro, Mitchellville or some of the less populated large plot of land areas in Prince Georges county do not demand housing prices upwards of 5 million dollars. The simple and most obvious answer is they do not bring in the clientele to support these kind of housing prices DUH!

Further more get off your conspiracy theory about me attempting to slam Iscalder. I merely pointed out exactly what the thread was about in my opening topic. She is free to compare whatever she wants and in the basic theory of what she is saying it is correct, that every county has an affluent area. However, my point was simple and you obviously are too vapid a poster to get it. I simply stated that on a serious place to place comparison these two areas are not remotely comparable and they're not remotely comparing for all the facts that i listed.

Affluent people live in Fairfax Station, Darnestown, Olney, Bowie, Upper Marlboro, and Fort Washington (majority are affluent making at least upwards of 100k but not many are making more than 250k and most if not all in some cases are not making close to or over 500k)

Rich to Wealthy people live in the Clifton, McLean, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and Great Falls (these areas have significantly higher populations of residents making over 500k a year and housing prices that reflect that rich-wealthy demand and clientele)

I did not even bring up the other external factors that affect neighborhood pricing like
*Low Crime
*Great Schools
*Access to Great Shopping etc

LE, what don't you get about this argument?