Arlington v Bethesda (apartment, how much, houses)

[vanyali]

Family with two young kids, two dogs, willing to live in a less-than-luxurious pad (yes, we've been looking at the prices) if we can have a square of yard in back for the dogs to poop on and if we can walk to things (Metro, restaurants, maybe a park).

Missing our old Brooklyn neighborhood terribly -- we lived a block off of a hip restaurant row in a neighborhood of row houses where everyone sat on their stoops and chatted with you as you passed by and there were kids EVERYWHERE. When you went into a clothing shop, the girl who owned the shop sat in back sewing the clothes, and would come out to ring up the sale, and probably lived in an apartment above the shop. The owners of a top-rated restaurant around the corner lived on the block and would bring duck confit to the block party, and a fireman up the block would bring a fire truck for the kids to see.

Been in Charlotte for the past 4 years though. Not going to miss this place at all, and I think just about anything north of Richmond is going to feel like a paradise to us, at least for a while.

Need good public schools from elementary on up, so DC proper is pretty much out of the question.

So what do you think? Arlington or Bethesda? Or neither? Why?

[claremarie]

You can find what you are looking for in either place. Also in the City of Falls Church in Virginia. You probably know already that if you want to be able to walk to Metro, restaurants and stores, you will pay more.

Where will you be working? That will make a big difference in choosing a home.

If you are planning to stay in the area indefinitely, and would like the option of sending your kids to a good state university, consider that Virginia has more options than Maryland.

[vanyali]

Yeah, I heard it can actually work against you to try to get into UVA from NOVA. But you're right, the VA colleges are way better than the MD ones. My oldest is 6 and my youngest 2, so I like to think college is a long time off, and I'll probably move again before then (at least just to VA for residency).

My husband is working at Tysons, and I don't have a job yet (might have to go back to school for a year, we'll see). I think either Bethesda or Arlington offers an acceptable commute for us. I haven't really looked at Falls Church too much. How "urban" is it really? I don't think of it as very urban and walkable, but that opinion isn't really based on much.

[claremarie]

Arlington is a MUCH better commute to Tyson's than is Bethesda.
Falls Church isn't really "urban," but it definitely has more of a town feel than many family neighborhoods in Arlington. It's only two square miles, so lots of people can walk from the residential neighborhoods to the drugstore, or the community center, or the library.
In Arlington, try looking at Westover. Arlington's Urban Villages: Westover

This is a fairly typical North Arlington neighborhood Most of the homes were built at least 50 years ago, and are relatively small by today's standards (many have no master bath/family room/garage), but many have been updated and/or expanded. There are lots of mature trees, and many streets have sidewalks. Your husband could drive to Tyson's in well under 30 minutes.

As for getting into U-Va, it's certainly more of a crapshoot now than it was even 5-10 years ago. My son is a high school senior, and some of his extremely qualified classmates were waitlisted there. But this is the peak of the baby boomlet; by the time your kids are ready for college, the competition will be much less intense because there just won't be that many applicants.

[vanyali]

Wow, I'm living in a neighborhood right now called "Eastover". How weird would it be to move from Eastover to Westover?

[DC's Finest]

Bethesda all day!

[TheseGoTo11]

If you're concerned about schools, make sure you look at North Arlington, which has excellent schools. South Arlington's a lot rougher.

Both A and B near a metro require a decent budget, but I prefer Arlington, because there's a longer run of shops and restaurants along Wilson Blvd. Bethesda's got an OK downtown, but it's all centered on one metro stop, where Arlington's runs along five.

[irisheyes13]

I don't know for sure how much it will affect the area but with the BRAC expansion of the National Naval Center at Bethesda, I would think it is going to get even more congested in that area. Just something to consider..

[TrippingJay]

Both are great areas. However; if your and your spouse are working in VA, Arlington might be the better option.

Personally, I think Arlington has better metro access and more nightlife. Also more younger professionals live in Arlington.
Bethesda has better restuarants and more upscale shopping options. I also find it has much easier access to DC neighborhoods such as Adams Morgan or Tenleytown than Arlington.

Also, Arlington covers a much larger area so I assume you would be going for North Arlington, as it seems much more comparable to Bethesda than Arlington as a whole.

[vanyali]

Yeah, I wasn't even considering South Arlington. I should have been more specific. South Arlington didn't even cross my mind.

I've been leaning toward Bethesda because of the easier Metro ride into the parts of DC I'd expect to want to go (I know I will NEVER take the kids to the zoo from Arlington, but probably would get there quite often from Bethesda). And because in my mind it just seems like it would be more "urban" feeling, but like I think I said above, I don't really know what I'm talking about, which is why I'm asking for your opinions.

I'm surprised to hear that you think there's a longer run of shops along Wilson Blvd. I'll go look at walkscore to try to check that out. I used to hang out around Ballston and such ages ago (in high school), but right now I'm stuck out of state (trying to sell a house, ick) and trying to re-acquaint myself with DC from afar, which is not easy. All I know is that all my favorite Vietnamese restaurants are gone and things are WAY DIFFERENT, but that doesn't mean I know much about how they are now!