Moving to or near Rockville MD (Germantown, Kensington: apartments, rental, crime)

[anadyr21]

Yet another one of these, I know.

We are an African American family with a job opportunity in the 20854 zip code. Our biggest priorities are schools and safety. Our son will be entering 3rd grade. We'd like to rent a 3bed/2 bath apt, home, or townhome with a maximum rent of $2,000 a month. (We can go higher if necessary, I'd just seriously prefer not too).

And yes, we like suburbia. Diversity is a plus, but I'm more interested in good schools. I'd rather not have to have a killer commute, if at all possible. Are we asking for too much? Do we need to narrow or broaden our parameters?

[Marilyn Emery]

You are going to have a hard time finding a rental home for that price. You may be able to find a townhouse rather than a single family. There are some in Rockville but the schools aren't the best in the county. You can go to the Montgomery county school website and look at the statistics for each school. It will give you demographics, test scores etc.

[tercel95]

Germantown is very rent friendly and in Montgomery county. The schools aren't the best there but they aren't the worst either...

[Bigbluelandrover]

Anady
Look in Kensington zip 20895 I just did a search on a popular website (can't post the name here) and I found homes for rent in that range. You may have to spend a lil more to be in the "better" part of that area.

[lovemd]

I would definately look into Rockville. The Schools that feed into Wootton high school and Churchill high school are great, usually in the top 100 in the country. While you might havse to spend a littel more I believe its worth it. I'm an african American female who graduated form wootton high school. I am now in pharmacy school, and wootton definately prepared me for that. I wouild really suggest rockville though. Downtown Rockville has some great new apartments that might be inyour price range.

[anadyr21]

Since some of you are saying the nearby schools are ok, but not great, where do we need to look for better schools? Any guesses on how much more we'd have to spend on rent? Thanks for the responses.

[chuckwoolery]

Originally Posted by anadyr21

Yet another one of these, I know.

We are an African American family with a job opportunity in the 20854 zip code. Our biggest priorities are schools and safety. Our son will be entering 3rd grade. We'd like to rent a 3bed/2 bath apt, home, or townhome with a maximum rent of $2,000 a month. (We can go higher if necessary, I'd just seriously prefer not too).

And yes, we like suburbia. Diversity is a plus, but I'm more interested in good schools. I'd rather not have to have a killer commute, if at all possible. Are we asking for too much? Do we need to narrow or broaden our parameters?

You will have no problem finding a rental in that price range. The schools are safe and the education is "good." There are a few neighborhoods to steer clear. Take a look at Welcome To CrimeReports.com. It is a great crime mapping program. It will break it down by streets.