Kensington, MD? Older? Walkable neighborhood? (Bethesda, Frederick: house, best school, places to live)

[DC resident]

Todays examiner article has sparked my interest.

http://dcpaper.examiner.com/real_estate/?haspdf=1 (broken link)

So what's the deal with Kensington? Is it a place with older type homes in a park like setting (Rock Creek Park, that is) with a little downtown? I hear the downtown is focused on antiques. Is there other retail, cafes, restaurants, etc? I'm looking for walkable places to live with a decent commute to DC (train or metro preferable). I understand there is a MARC stop Kensington. Are the schools good in Kensington. Todays examiner article has sparked my interest. I wish there was a place like Frederick, MD that was closer. I understand the MARC train to Union Station is about 1.5 hrs each way, that’s to bad because downtown Frederick liked pretty neat.

[dkf747]

How on earth can it take 1.5 hours on the MARC train? Kensington isn't that far from DC.

[DC resident]

1.5 hrs refers to Frederick not Kensington.

[kjg1963]

My neighbor grew up in Kensington. Her parents have lived in the same house for over 30 years. She was telling me that she basically grew up in a working class neighborhood and they were just like any other young families struggling to pay the bills. Now, that neighborhood is the place to be. She finds it amazing that the house her parents bought in the 60's for $40,000 is now worth over $500,000. She sometimes feels out of place when she goes to visit because the neighborhood has really changed from when she was a kid.

[bmurph123]

Kensington, MD is has many antiques. It is a very cute town and very walkable. I also recommend Garrett Park, MD just about a mile west of Kensington. Garrett Park has the train in the neighborhood as well. It has a restuarant in the town which has AMAZING food. But it doesn't have the shops near by. It has many parks, tennis courts, and even a pool! I would recommend Garrett Park as a more family type place. The house there are old and some look like castles which makes them in the 700,000 - 1 million dollar range. Kensington, has many restuarants. A new Safeway was just put up in February which is very nice. I would recommend Kensington for you! You'll love it.

[Kensington]

I live in Kensington, and it is a walkable community-- depending on where you live of course. It's nothing like downtown Frederick though. There is a grocery store, hardware store, plant nursery, coffee shop, a few mediocre restaurants and some other small retail antique and boutique shops. There is also a bunch of auto repair/bodyshop kinds of places that really are eyesores. There has been much discussion of improving the look of downtown Kensington, but a large amount of the junky looking retail space is owned by an out-of-town land lord who isn't really interested in putting money into improvements, or selling!

Kensington is divided between Walter Johnson, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, and Albert Einstein school clusters. Walter Johnson and Bethesda-Chevy Chase are among the best school clusters in Montgomery County.