Arlington vs Alexandria? (Columbia: crime rates, houses, neighborhoods)
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Where on earth are you working in the government that your salaries average out to $120k each with just a few years' experience? Or does "for the government" mean contractor?
And to answer your question, I find Alexandria (Old Town and Del Ray) to be more charming than Arlington (which seems to be either blandly new or run-down post-war). But I am older than you, and not much into the "scene" these days. With your money, I'd live in upper NW or Bethesda.
Where on earth are you working in the government that your salaries average out to $120k each with just a few years' experience? Or does "for the government" mean contractor?
And to answer your question, I find Alexandria (Old Town and Del Ray) to be more charming than Arlington (which seems to be either blandly new or run-down post-war). But I am older than you, and not much into the "scene" these days. With your money, I'd live in upper NW or Bethesda.
One's a lawyer, and one's a chemical engineer--meaning PhD. Those types of degrees command starting salaries at (I'm guessing but am pretty confident) at least GS-13.
Upper NW is nice, but the middle schools and high schools are not. And the commute to downtown from NW DC or Bethesda takes longer than it does from N. Arlington, strange as that sounds.
There are large swaths of Arlington that consist of charming prewar Capes and Colonials with giant oak trees.
We have spoken to a realtor and he "strongly and absolutely" believes that we should look outside of DC as it will give us more options from which to choose.
Would that realtor be licensed only in VA by chance?
A lot of folks don't realize, even many around here, that the DC of today is nothing like what they have imprinted in their brains from 20 or 30 years ago. A lot of the crime has migrated out to the MD suburbs.
Would that realtor be licensed only in VA by chance?
A lot of folks don't realize, even many around here, that the DC of today is nothing like what they have imprinted in their brains from 20 or 30 years ago. A lot of the crime has migrated out to the MD suburbs.
There's still a fair amount of crime in neighborhoods that DC realtors and boosters like to call "up-and-coming," like Columbia Heights and Petworth. Some people want to believe that a neighborhood is safe simply because they've graced it with their presence, and that is not always the case.
DC may be a better place to live today than it was during the era when Marion Barry was Mayor and the crack wars were raging on the streets, but the OP's post suggested to me that they'd likely find Del Ray in Alexandria very much to their liking, assuming they get comfortable with the school choices for the niece.
One's a lawyer, and one's a chemical engineer--meaning PhD. Those types of degrees command starting salaries at (I'm guessing but am pretty confident) at least GS-13.
Upper NW is nice, but the middle schools and high schools are not. And the commute to downtown from NW DC or Bethesda takes longer than it does from N. Arlington, strange as that sounds.
There are large swaths of Arlington that consist of charming prewar Capes and Colonials with giant oak trees.
Plenty of professionals with advanced degrees start their government careers at GS 9-11. Reaching 13 in three or four years is not unheard of, of course, but generally is an option only in positions that require high-level security clearances (note both are foreign born), and even then the salary is only around $90k unless you're at the top step. Yeah, I'm going with contractor.
(Sorry, I am grumpy because I spent too much time this weekend reading too many dumb blog comments about how overpaid, underworked government employees are destroying the country and causing the debt to spiral out of control. This "overpaid" worker doesn't have time to check Facebook during the day, is attached to a Blackberry around the clock, and over a 20-30 year career will never reach the starting salaries my friends in the private sector were offered out of law school. But I digress.)
As for schools...they don't have children and are looking to rent. Picking a neighborhood based on middle and high schools is a little silly.
Buy a dog move to Shirlington. Best of both Arlington/Alexandria worlds.
We've pretty much decided on the Orange Line. I'm not sure exactly where, though. Carlingtonian, you think much like my husband, ha. How is yard space in general? We might get two dogs.
As for schools...they don't have children and are looking to rent. Picking a neighborhood based on middle and high schools is a little silly.
Neice may come to live with them so schools do matter. Orange Line Arlington may not be as charming as Old Town Alexandria but the schools aren't failboating in North Arlington.
Falls Church and Vienna both would have acceptable commutes and great schools, but not as much charm (IMO) as North Arlington.
Shirlington is nice, but it's definitely for folks who want lots of people around most of the time. Plusses are that you have restaurants right outside your door but no bars full of idiots. Minuses are the crappy (by NOVA standards) S. Arlington schools and a bear of a commute to DC via 395. (This is where all the people in Loudoun chime in and disagree. It's all relative.) No Metro in Shirlington--just buses. It makes sense if you work in Alexandria or Ballston (easily reached via George Mason Drive) and even more sense if kids are definitely never in the works. It's basically paradise for empty nesters.
If one of you works in the Rockville/Bethesda/Gaithersburg bio-med corridor, that means more reason to consider Bethesda. (That said, I used to commute to Rockville [Twinbrook] from Arlington, and it wasn't bad--way way better than it would've been commuting there from north of there.)
A lot also depends on *how* close to the action you want to be: walking distance? Driving distance? A bus ride? If you choose walking distance, you're going to sacrifice some yard space or pay a ton.
Plenty of big yards in N. Arlington. More of them the farther west you go. (And the farther north, but then you're paying a ton.) I think your best bets are Westover, Bluemont, Bon Air, Dominion Hills, and Madison Manor (all of which are between the Ballston and East Falls Church Metro stations). Boulevard Manor (between Wilson and Route 50) is not bad, but the houses are from the '50s and '60s--so you better like ramblers. These areas are a quick drive to the happening hotspots but not walkable to them (other than Westover, which has a tiny shopping area with a beer garden).
Going north of I-66, everything is pricier: Tara-Leeway and Overlee Knolls are gorgeous--as are Waverly Hills, Cherrydale, and Maywood. But most of the "smaller" homes (3BR or fewer) have been replaced by McMansions in those areas. Lee Heights/Woodmont are pretty much the best location in the entire region--but bring a big bag o' money! As in about 750-850 for a 3BR house--if you can find one.
Last edited by Carlingtonian; 08-04-2011 at 06:50 AM..
I think you should buy now. You have the income, and interest rates and house prices inside the Beltway will not ever be this low again. If you buy wisely--a house that's not overpriced, in Arlington or a nice part of Alexandria--your home value will only go up. All the stuff you read about plummeting home values does not apply inside the Beltway.
Government spending is the biggest factor propping up housing in this area...and the government just passed a bill that will cut spending by $2 trillion, with more to come.
It costs 6% to sell a house, plus other stuff like maintenance, non deductible property tax/interest. You really need to stay 5+ years (and hope your home value rises some) to start to see the benefits of owning.
I'm not saying don't buy a home, but to say stuff like "your home value will only go up" is completely ridiculous. Ask anyone who bought a home under the same thinking in 2005 how that turned out for them. "NOW" has always been a good time to buy, and always will be. It's only in hindsight that you see it may have not been such a good idea.
My anecdotal experience is consistent with the crime maps. Although I love meeting friends in Dupont, which is considered one of the "safer" and more upscale DC areas, there has not been one time that I have gone that someone hasn't approached me (walking alone) for money or something else. While that's not a crime, as a single woman, it is easy to envision something worse happening, when fewer people are around and this is borne out by crime maps. I work in a different (also upscale) part of DC and there have been assaults, robberies and burglaries in the area about every 10 days.
I would rather live in a more boring area that feels safer, than have to constantly watch around me, have to plan to have a friend walk with me everywhere, or be brusque to people, so I make that tradeoff and just plan ventures into the more fun areas. With kids at home, I'd feel even more that way. That's not the same for everyone, but I'm just saying I can certainly understand why the Realtor said what s/he did and why the OP feels as she does. I also understand that for many other people, there is nothing like the excitement of the city, that the city is getting better and better, and they're happy to make a different tradeoff.
I also agree with people who think it's a good idea to rent in the metro area before buying. You can really learn a lot about neighborhoods, commutes, expected changes, etc., quickly, and though moving twice is a huge hassle, it's so much nicer than buying a home in an area that you later wish you hadn't.
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