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My family is moving to the DC area from Mississippi. We have one little girl and another baby on the way. My husband is going to be using public transit to get back and forth to work in Bethesda, MD. I have been searching for about a week and I find that I need some help. We are keeping our house in Mississippi as well so we can come home often to visit family. Because of this we really need to find a 3 bedroom 2 bath in the 180,000 - 200,000 range. We don't care if it is a townhouse, condo, or single family home. Our biggest concerns are that my husband can get to and from Bethesda using public transit in 1 hour and half or less and most importantly that it is a safe area. Not being familiar with the area I find that I like some homes for sale and then I question if it is safe. We plan to come up in March or April to go looking at homes but I want to find a few general areas that I feel we should look in. I realize that the 180,000 is a low price range for this area but because of us keeping our house its the only option we have right now. I'm very nervous but excited about this move so any positive feedback would be great. Again... I know it will be hard to find something perfect but if anyone could just point me in the direction of safe areas near public transit that we could find a few homes, condos, etc... to look at that aren't above 200,000 that would be great. Thanks a lot and I appreciate any help I get.
This is the forum for DC the city proper. Your budget is way too low for DC or Bethesda. You are going to want to look into towns in Maryland north of Bethesda. You will get better help if you post in the Maryland forum or the Maryland suburbs of DC forum as most of the people knowledgeable about those areas won't be checking this forum.
Here's one time that I am going to suggest that you reconsider your move if that is your budget. What is this move for?
The median home price in Washington is $435,000. I'd have to think back to the mid-1990s to think of prices like you mention, and that was in pre-gentrified neighborhoods.
Live in Baltimore, MD and take the MARC train to Union Station and then red line to Bethesda is your only option. $286 monthly pass. About 90 minutes on trains.
I highly advise you against keeping your house in Mississippi.
I agree w/ all the other responders, Btoal. That budget point will make things difficult.
Get a copy of the D.C. Metro map and look at places in Prince George's County that are close to some of the stops along the Orange/Silver/Blue/Yellow/Green lines. Even then it may prove to be a challenge.
My family is moving to the DC area from Mississippi. We have one little girl and another baby on the way. My husband is going to be using public transit to get back and forth to work in Bethesda, MD. I have been searching for about a week and I find that I need some help. We are keeping our house in Mississippi as well so we can come home often to visit family. Because of this we really need to find a 3 bedroom 2 bath in the 180,000 - 200,000 range. We don't care if it is a townhouse, condo, or single family home. Our biggest concerns are that my husband can get to and from Bethesda using public transit in 1 hour and half or less and most importantly that it is a safe area. Not being familiar with the area I find that I like some homes for sale and then I question if it is safe. We plan to come up in March or April to go looking at homes but I want to find a few general areas that I feel we should look in. I realize that the 180,000 is a low price range for this area but because of us keeping our house its the only option we have right now. I'm very nervous but excited about this move so any positive feedback would be great. Again... I know it will be hard to find something perfect but if anyone could just point me in the direction of safe areas near public transit that we could find a few homes, condos, etc... to look at that aren't above 200,000 that would be great. Thanks a lot and I appreciate any help I get.
You are going to be looking in Maryland, and for places not near the metro but the MARC trains. Even then I am not sure you can find something in your budget. You are literally moving from the least expensive areas in terms of COL to one of the most expensive areas. You are going to get sticker shock out here, very hard sticker shock. You still have Mississippi price ranges in your head, but this is a very different, much more expensive area of the country.
As it was suggested, you need to sell your house to even make owning out here feasible, and even then your budget needs to go up quite a bit, even in PG county and the exurbs. You are looking at least a $300k outlay, likely for a small condo. I should note, if the area is close to public transit, the more expensive it will be.
This is not the deep south, the cost of real estate here is much higher. The better it is, in terms of both schools and transportation access, the more expensive it will be. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but for your budget I just do not see it happening for what you want. I guess you can find something east of the river inside DC, but that is literally the least safe area in the entire DMV. But that is what your budget suggests. Right now you are literally in that poor of shape in the DC area.
I should note, Bethesda is WAY out of your budget. Houses there typically go for over a million dollars.
That budget won't get you anywhere 'desirable' in DC. PG County or Germantown in Montgomery Co. would have homes in your price range. Of the two, I'd choose Germantown. Good luck
Yeah OP you're not in Mississippi anymore. You're moving to one of the most expensive regions in th country. You might need to rethink your plans, sorry and goodluck!
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