Thoughts on Germantown (Bethesda, Frederick, Rockville: middle-class, real estate, apartments)

[rtc343]

I may be accepting a new job in DC very soon which is located in the northeast section, and have heard that Germantown is an area to consider. We are looking for a family friendly area with "reasonably" priced homes (under $400k). We are interested in an area that has a good school system, safe and has activities for the little ones, were a very active family. Any thoughts on this?

[kcmo]

I live there temporarily till my family moves to DC and we find a home.

I like it. It's a nice, suburban area. Quite diverse, very well maintained by the city, lots of bike trails and parks, and MARC commuter rail is great.

I have read on the forum that Germantown is dangerous etc. That's a bunch of BS. It's a quiet and rather nice semi upscale suburb.

Homes under 400k in Germantown are still very small though which might push us out further.

I have explored the entire area, Montgomery, Frederick, PG, Howard etc. I keep coming back to the 270 corridor, mostly because of the MARC line.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I live there temporarily till my family moves to DC and we find a home.

I like it. It's a nice, suburban area. Quite diverse, very well maintained by the city, lots of bike trails and parks, and MARC commuter rail is great.

I have read on the forum that Germantown is dangerous etc. That's a bunch of BS. It's a quiet and rather nice semi upscale suburb.

Homes under 400k in Germantown are still very small though which might push us out further.

I have explored the entire area, Montgomery, Frederick, PG, Howard etc. I keep coming back to the 270 corridor, mostly because of the MARC line.

Germantown does seem to be a sleepy bedroom community with a lot of strip malls, but by no means would it be considered "upscale." The schools there are average and not at the level of schools in Bethesda, Potomac, or lower Rockville. Germantown is pretty much McMansion city.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Germantown does seem to be a sleepy bedroom community with a lot of strip malls, but by no means would it be considered "upscale." The schools there are average and not at the level of schools in Bethesda, Potomac, or lower Rockville. Germantown is pretty much McMansion city.

I'm mostly speaking of the infrastructure. I find it to be sort of upscale compared to most areas.

Germantown is about 80% townhomes from what I can tell.

It's all extremely overpriced. I will never be able to accept what people pay for homes in the DC area. I guess I will have to soon enough.

BTW, a "mcmansion" in Germantown would qualify as a starter home in most of KC's suburbs.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I'm mostly speaking of the infrastructure. I find it to be sort of upscale compared to most areas.

Germantown is about 80% townhomes from what I can tell.

It's all extremely overpriced. I will never be able to accept what people pay for homes in the DC area. I guess I will have to soon enough.

BTW, a "mcmansion" in Germantown would qualify as a starter home in most of KC's suburbs.

Homes in Germantown are actually reasonable price wise....you can find a nice McMansion for about the high 400's/low 500's. That's about the same as PG Cty.

[mwruckman]

Twenty years ago Germantown was largely undeveloped Farm land. Route 355 was a two lane road and the Milestone Center hadn't been built. The same goes for the 118 corridor. The excesses of sub-prime mortages to finance expensively priced homes makes Germantown one of the hardest hit zip codes in Montgomery County for foreclosures and falling real estate values. The area is about as bad as the worst of Prince Georges County and NoVa counties like Prince William (Manassas). Something else Germantown has is a bunch of roads that need improvement because of the new demand put on them (eg. Clopper Road). Parts of Germantown have majority of black residents this is due to something you don't talk about called Red lining.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by mwruckman

Red lining.

Something to do with metro???

Seems like most of the blacks are fine, just middle class normal people.

I do find Germantown to be quite diverse. All races.

Is this the case in all areas of DC? Is northern VA diverse or mostly white/asian?

Oh and a decent home (I wouldn't even call them mcmansions), just normal homes where I come from) are 600k plus in Germantown. Tiny starter homes are 300-400k.

Stupid. I know it was much higher and other areas of DC are much higher.

Like I said. It's stupid. Min wage should be 25 bucks an hour here.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Like I said. It's stupid. Min wage should be 25 bucks an hour here.

If minimum wage was $25/hr, then most business wouldn't survive.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

If minimum wage was $25/hr, then most business wouldn't survive.

I know. Then I would have to make 220k plus my wife's 220k to pay for that 3.5 million dollar town home in the middle of nowhere rural montgomery county that is a half hour drive to the park and ride and my 1 hour train ride into the city.

I love this place!

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Germantown does seem to be a sleepy bedroom community with a lot of strip malls, but by no means would it be considered "upscale." The schools there are average and not at the level of schools in Bethesda, Potomac, or lower Rockville. Germantown is pretty much McMansion city.

I wouldn't call a suburb of 60,000 people "sleepy," but it does lack the hustle and bustle of urban downcounty. As for being upscale, Germantown on a whole is upper middle-class, but there are definitely very upscale areas of Germantown, especially near NW HS and the Soccerplex on MD-118, going the other way on MD-2, and heading towards Clarksburg on MD-355. Both of the high schools here (not counting recently built Clarksburg) are on Newsweek's best 1,000 list, and Northwest placed very high on the list and is a superb school. There are McMansions here particularly on Rifle Ford Rd towards Darnestown and near the Soccerplex, but the vast majority of dwellings in Germantown aren't sfhs (since most people wouldn't be able to afford them at the extremely high market prices here), they're townhomes and apartments/condos.