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My boyfriend has lived in DC for a year & I am possibly relocating there from Houston. He lives in Alexandria, but we want to live in DC & it seems as though SE-Congress Heights in coming up. We have fallen in love with a recently built townhome...Are we making a wise choice or are we wrong about the area improving?
My boyfriend has lived in DC for a year & I am possibly relocating there from Houston. He lives in Alexandria, but we want to live in DC & it seems as though SE-Congress Heights in coming up. We have fallen in love with a recently built townhome...Are we making a wise choice or are we wrong about the area improving?
Congress Hts is rough. I have a friend that used to work at the Boys and Girls club down there, so I've spent some time there and he used to tell me a lot of stories of things going down. But he rode the bus there from the Anacostia metro (which has a bad reputation).
That part of DC is one of the worst. Up and coming is an understatement. Are you talking about the new townhomes built there across from the new Giant grocery store? It's a nice community, and the newly built shopping amenities are nice, but it's still an oasis surrounded by lots of subsidized apartments and that whole end of the green line has a much higher number of incidents. So, while your home and immediate neighborhood mihgt be nice, you still have to deal with the fact that your in a pretty rough part of the city when it comes to schools, buses, metro, and other city services.
Location: Ft. Washington/Oxon Hill border, MD (Prince George's County)
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I considered a new townhome that was about $200k over there at one point back in 2003. I was outbid on the contract and am now happy that I was outbid. I think at the time a lot of investors were buying them up to rent out. I got to meet some of the other neighbors and they were city employees, teachers, nurses, etc. It seemed like a nice group of hard working neighbors attracted to affordable brand new homes. Though the new townhome community was nice, I do agree that much of the surrounding community and its aesthetics was more of a concern. I admit beyond that initial getting to know the area when I was buying I haven't done much but drive by occasionally since then to visit other friends who purchased new townhomes in that area but from what I see it is pretty rough around the edges and not someplace I'd recommend anyone to buy into...especially someone not used to living in that ype of community. Now my other friend that lives in a new townhome over there is born and raised in DC and feels very comfy there.
When you have a budget under say $250k to buy a home and prefer newer construction and prefer not to live a zillion miles away in the boonies...you do have to make some compromises and for many these communities are an attainable option. Of course the more folks that take such chances transform a neighborhood over time...but many do not want to reside there before any transformation happens and some argue that such transformation for the better may never happen in that area.
Was it Henson Ridge that you liked? The townhomes are beautiful, but bullets crash through your windows. Read this-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/13/AR2009121302939.html
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyWicked
Was it Henson Ridge that you liked? The townhomes are beautiful, but bullets crash through your windows. Read this-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/13/AR2009121302939.html
I googled and watched the NBC 4 report on Henson Ridge. Paying $300k and having all that to deal with is enough to scare you away from home ownership.
There is always a chance that any neighborhood could turn into that type of neighborhood.
Not really... if the neighborhood has a terrible sense of self and community and the neighbors don't do everything to ensure it stays safe and livable, then yeah of course it'll become that.
If a good neighborhood suddenly had a few criminals move in, it would constantly call the cops at the slightest offense until the criminals finally leave. Or they'd go Gran Torino on 'em
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to deal with is enough to scare you away from home ownership.
