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Anyone made the move from NoVA (or Prince William Co.) into MoCo (or even PG) and just found it better than living in VA?
Seems to be a lot of people report it the other way (VA better than when they lived in MD). On the other hand, NoVA forums are just a lot more active than the MD ones.
I'm sure there are lots of people like that. MD has a lot of nice qualities. The biggest thing around here is commute time, so if living in MD gives you a shorter commute to work you're going to be very glad you made the move.
I am one of those. I moved from FFX County near Rt 1 (Alexandria area) to PG county and then later to MoCo (Gaithersburg).
Anyways, we left 12 years ago because my job was in PG, at the time. Now the job is in Arlington so we commute from Gaithersburg. When we moved, we went to Beltsville. I would rate that pretty much equal to the part of FFX that we lived in. Everything was similar, including housing costs and food. My kids started school in MD and I actually liked their school more than the one we would have used if we'd had stayed in Va. No real reason for that. It was just a feeling about that school. When my first kid got to Middle school age, we jumped to MoCo. We had looked in NoVa but could not find anything that worked for us. We found a place in Gaithersburg. This area is easily the best of the four places (forgot to mention College Park) that we have lived in the DC area. We ended up on the west side of 270 and we love it here.
Is this area better than NoVa? That depends. I've got to say that I have come to really like it here. Maryland roads seem better built (currently a construction mess in NoVa), public transport seems way better in MoCo than in Fairfax, the schools we are in are great, and disability services seem better. We don't pay the car tax here. Taxes may be higher, but at our income level we do not see much difference between the two states. Development is happening here but it seems well planned compared to NoVa's haphazard way of doing it. My kids are happy here and have good friends.
Despite all of those positive thoughts, we are considering a move to NoVa since most of our time is spent there lately. I often end up driving back and forth twice in a day, for various reasons. My family agrees that we should try to find something in NoVa with a reasonable commute, disability access (wheelchair), with equal or better schools, and costing close to what we pay now. We can't find anything in NoVa that beats what we have now. We'll keep looking though.
I used to live in the Route 1 area also in FFX and moved back to MD (first Germantown and now Bowie) back in '99. I like where I live now better than VA (more trees and rural feel, a not-bad commute most of the time, more affordable housing). However, there are parts of NOVA (and other parts of MD) I wouldn't mind living in if the need arose.
Between my wife and I, we have lived at various times in both NoVa and DC. Like you, we are currently overseas but expect to be back in the DC area soon. When we started looking for a house, we initially focused on Northern Virginia and the District and found plenty of places that looked fine. In Virginia we found places we liked within our budget in Clarendon, Ballston, Del Ray, and Old Town. But in the end, we bought a house in PG County.
As far as I'm concerned, parts of PG County deserve to be considered the Metro area's "best kept secrets." We found a house that is far more charming on a much larger and more beautiful lot than anything we could have afforded in Northern Virginia. The commute to my office in DC is 35 minutes. A similar property in Virginia, if we could find one, would cost us about twice what we paid in PG County and would involve a longer commute.
If I had taken all the negative generalizations about PG County as true, I would have missed out on a great house. Fortunately, I decided to visit and see for myself. The negative things people say about PG County turned out to be good for me personally. If people didn't have these negative impressions, my house would probably have cost more than I could afford.
I'm not saying that a home in PG County is necessarily right for you. For example, PG County public schools have a poor reputation and that may be a critical factor for you. It wasn't a big issue for my wife and me. What I am saying is that you should see for yourself and make up your own mind. You know from living in Japan that many Japanese who have never visited the US buy into misconceptions and innacurate stereotypes about America and Americans. Well, many people in the DC area buy into misconceptions and inaccurate stereotypes about PG County.
I would guess that the fact you're asking this question indicates that you are at least a little suspicious of the accuracy of some of the things people say. Just remember that PG County is too large and diverse to generalize about. PG County is 500 square miles and around 850,000 people (Washington DC is about 70 square miles and 600,000 people). The crime in the inner beltway is real, but it doesn't characterize all of the county any more than the crime in parts of Southeast characterizes all of Washington DC.
I am one of those. I moved from FFX County near Rt 1 (Alexandria area) to PG county and then later to MoCo (Gaithersburg).
Anyways, we left 12 years ago because my job was in PG, at the time. Now the job is in Arlington so we commute from Gaithersburg. When we moved, we went to Beltsville. I would rate that pretty much equal to the part of FFX that we lived in. Everything was similar, including housing costs and food. My kids started school in MD and I actually liked their school more than the one we would have used if we'd had stayed in Va. No real reason for that. It was just a feeling about that school. When my first kid got to Middle school age, we jumped to MoCo. We had looked in NoVa but could not find anything that worked for us. We found a place in Gaithersburg. This area is easily the best of the four places (forgot to mention College Park) that we have lived in the DC area. We ended up on the west side of 270 and we love it here.
Is this area better than NoVa? That depends. I've got to say that I have come to really like it here. Maryland roads seem better built (currently a construction mess in NoVa), public transport seems way better in MoCo than in Fairfax, the schools we are in are great, and disability services seem better. We don't pay the car tax here. Taxes may be higher, but at our income level we do not see much difference between the two states. Development is happening here but it seems well planned compared to NoVa's haphazard way of doing it. My kids are happy here and have good friends.
Despite all of those positive thoughts, we are considering a move to NoVa since most of our time is spent there lately. I often end up driving back and forth twice in a day, for various reasons. My family agrees that we should try to find something in NoVa with a reasonable commute, disability access (wheelchair), with equal or better schools, and costing close to what we pay now. We can't find anything in NoVa that beats what we have now. We'll keep looking though.
Does this help?
Yes, it does help!
Interesting the comparisons. By the way, how did you like College Park? It seems most everything is negative...but similar to RamblingMan's post, it is part of PG, yet it seems the prices certainly are lower for proximity to DC. Curious if you had any general feelings or advice about CP in general? I can't help but think that at the very least, the housing is low, and worst-case scenerio is you could always rent to students, and that demand would always be there.
The better roads and infrastructure...that does seem to be the theme with Maryland, and MoCo in particular I believe. When I view google maps, the Silver Spring areas within the beltway seem neighborhood-like, a bit more density to it. Until recently I had written off the idea of Silver Spring, but now I have it back on the list again, as well as putting Gaithersburg, as there seem to be so much 'expansion' there as conveyed by MDAllStars posts.
Actually there are parts of NoVA I think I would really enjoy living in - Falls Church in particular, or even Annandale or Springfield. But prices seem astronomical compared to Silver Springs or Gaithersburg. It doesn't seem to be lower priced anywhere in Fairfax County compared to parts of MoCo.
Having a kid myself, and possibly more later. I am getting the impression that any school in MoCo would be good. (I wasn't sure before, but getting that impression now as I've viewed other MoCo threads). I'm not personally interested in the very best schools, just wouldn't want to send kids to bad schools.
Between my wife and I, we have lived at various times in both NoVa and DC. Like you, we are currently overseas but expect to be back in the DC area soon. When we started looking for a house, we initially focused on Northern Virginia and the District and found plenty of places that looked fine. In Virginia we found places we liked within our budget in Clarendon, Ballston, Del Ray, and Old Town. But in the end, we bought a house in PG County.
As far as I'm concerned, parts of PG County deserve to be considered the Metro area's "best kept secrets." We found a house that is far more charming on a much larger and more beautiful lot than anything we could have afforded in Northern Virginia. The commute to my office in DC is 35 minutes. A similar property in Virginia, if we could find one, would cost us about twice what we paid in PG County and would involve a longer commute.
If I had taken all the negative generalizations about PG County as true, I would have missed out on a great house. Fortunately, I decided to visit and see for myself. The negative things people say about PG County turned out to be good for me personally. If people didn't have these negative impressions, my house would probably have cost more than I could afford.
I'm not saying that a home in PG County is necessarily right for you. For example, PG County public schools have a poor reputation and that may be a critical factor for you. It wasn't a big issue for my wife and me. What I am saying is that you should see for yourself and make up your own mind. You know from living in Japan that many Japanese who have never visited the US buy into misconceptions and innacurate stereotypes about America and Americans. Well, many people in the DC area buy into misconceptions and inaccurate stereotypes about PG County.
I would guess that the fact you're asking this question indicates that you are at least a little suspicious of the accuracy of some of the things people say. Just remember that PG County is too large and diverse to generalize about. PG County is 500 square miles and around 850,000 people (Washington DC is about 70 square miles and 600,000 people). The crime in the inner beltway is real, but it doesn't characterize all of the county any more than the crime in parts of Southeast characterizes all of Washington DC.
This post is confirming a lot for me as well. VA paying significantly more for the same thing. Kind of continuing from the previous post. But the only parts of VA that were affordable were when you get down to Prince William County.
It seems on the 'desireability' list, either NoVA or MoCo seem to dominate...than I suppose Prince William County VA a large notch down and then PG at the very bottom. It is interesting viewing the many threads about high home prices in the DC area, and I would definitely have to agree with those statements. However, it does seem there a few pockets here and there where the blanket statement 'DC prices are high' doesn't hold out.
Anyways, I will look into PG a bit more, from what I've looked at so far, the areas near MoCo seem interesting - Beltville, Greenbelt, College Park, Berwyn Heights, University Park.
Next time I get a chance to visit the U.S. again for awhile, I'll definitely be driving the car all around and throughout all of these areas Until then...
This post is confirming a lot for me as well. VA paying significantly more for the same thing. Kind of continuing from the previous post. But the only parts of VA that were affordable were when you get down to Prince William County.
It seems on the 'desireability' list, either NoVA or MoCo seem to dominate...than I suppose Prince William County VA a large notch down and then PG at the very bottom. It is interesting viewing the many threads about high home prices in the DC area, and I would definitely have to agree with those statements. However, it does seem there a few pockets here and there where the blanket statement 'DC prices are high' doesn't hold out.
Anyways, I will look into PG a bit more, from what I've looked at so far, the areas near MoCo seem interesting - Beltville, Greenbelt, College Park, Berwyn Heights, University Park.
Next time I get a chance to visit the U.S. again for awhile, I'll definitely be driving the car all around and throughout all of these areas Until then...
A question for you: While you are certainly entitled to your own opinion, I'd be interested in how you define"desirability" to conclude that NoVA and MoCo "dominate" and Prince William County is a "large notch down" and PG is "at the very bottom." I have a friend who is deeply into horses. Prince William County is deeply "desirable" for her because she can have a house on a 20 acre lot and stable her horses at home. For her, NoVA or MoCo don't "dominate." I have other friends who chose their houses based on being in the best school districts. For them, NoVA did dominate. If you work at NIH and don't want to spend half your day in a car, I suspect that MoCo will seem a lot more desirable than PG or NoVA. You can view PG as "at the very bottom," but for me, having waterfront property that lets me go sailing from my backyard and still live in reasonable commuting distance of DC made PG County far more "desirable" than almost anything in NoVA or MoCo. On the other hand, I have friends in DC who love urban life and would view life in my house in PG or any of the suburbs we're discussing as sheer misery.
The only legitimate way I can think of to quantify "desirability" is by price, in which case a $800,000 house in Prince William is more desirable than a $700,000 house in Potomac.
After reading a lot of these threads, I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that, except at the extremes, "better" or "worse" neighborhood isn't a very useful concept. Better or worse fit for the individual is much more relevant, particularly once priorities are made clear. And there's no accounting for personal taste. Personally, I cringe when I see McMansions that are architectural nightmares on tiny plots with no trees. And I think developments where the HOA tells you what color you have to paint your trim, what your mailbox has to look like, and ensures that nobody puts a basketball hoop up for his kid are just weird. But I don't have to live in those places and plenty of other people find them desirable or even prestigious. Good for them. It isn't for me to judge. I have a house in PG County that I love and it doesn't much matter to me what other people think of the house or the county.
Let me be clear that I'm not saying these things to criticize you. I'm just curious as to the thought process that created your list, particularly since I don't think you've actually been to any of these places yet.
BTW, enjoy Japan. Are you in Tokyo? I think Tokyo manages to be an incredibly vibrant and liveable place despite being an incredibly crowded megacity. When you come to America, you'll miss seeing things like very young children who can ride the subway alone.
The only legitimate way I can think of to quantify "desirability" is by price, in which case a $800,000 house in Prince William is more desirable than a $700,000 house in Potomac.
You are right, in that I was referring to 'the prices people are willing to pay for the house (based on geography)'. The more they are willing to pay, the more the perception of 'desirable'. Not my desirability, but one on an economic 'to live here is worth this much' type of scale.
I'm not adhering to the heirarchy, only acknowledging it.
Hi Tiger Beer,
When you come back to DC, please check Kentlands/ Lakelands area in MoCo. I am actually a recent mover from Arlington VA to Kentlands. I work in downtown DC so my commute is much much longer and more expensive than before, but still, I think the move worth every effort and I love the neighborhood very much! It's a master planned walkable community, you can walk to supermarkets (Whole Foods and Giant), cinema, doctor, dentist, restaurants (including a Japanese restaurant :-p), boutique stores, etc. In warmer months, we also have a farmer's market every Saturday.
People here are very nice. No crime. School is not the best best, but definately excellent (no experience myself, saw reviews only). The community also has quite a few fun events and activities and clubs going on.
If you would miss Japanese food sometime, Whole Foods carries quite a lot of Japanese food materials, including Bonito fish flakes , and Giant also has a dedicated section for Asian foods. Of course you can always drive to nearby Korean supermarkets to have more choices there.
I would highly recommend this neighborhood to anyone who wants to move to MD and who likes walkable community.
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Taxes may be higher, but at our income level we do not see much difference between the two states. Development is happening here but it seems well planned compared to NoVa's haphazard way of doing it. My kids are happy here and have good friends. 
Until then...
