Moving to Rockville, advice on housing!! (Silver Spring, Germantown: rent, how much, homes)

[claremarie]

How long would the drive to Manasas VA be from Rockville?

At least an hour. Probably more. Definitely not worth the commute. Rockville is a much nicer community.

[Bagira]

We live in rockville pm us if you'd like some info....450k is easily done in rockville for 3-4 bed 1-2 bath.....

[lind1550]

I don't think you'll find any truly nice townhomes in Rockville in the 450K range. For that much you can either buy a slightly run-down looking townhome built a decade ago or a 2 bedroom cottage (no garage) near Twinbrook metro station. Your best bets are probably Germantown or the "RIO" part of Gaithersburg if you can extend your budget into the low 500s. Check out the new development to be by Centex called the Aventiene, sometimes builders offer huge incentives at the beginning of a development.

[palmettogirl]

We just moved from Kensington and sold our home for that price. Kensington is a cute small townish sort of place and we enjoyed living there. Our house was small though although we had a nice sized yard and the elementary school was good. I have a good friend who lives in the Burnt Mills area of Silver Spring. She has a great street with terrific neighbors, tons of kids, and a great elementary school. That area is really changing as they revamp the whole downtown Silver Spring area.

[Bagira]

Originally Posted by lind1550

I don't think you'll find any truly nice townhomes in Rockville in the 450K range. For that much you can either buy a slightly run-down looking townhome built a decade ago or a 2 bedroom cottage (no garage) near Twinbrook metro station. Your best bets are probably Germantown or the "RIO" part of Gaithersburg if you can extend your budget into the low 500s. Check out the new development to be by Centex called the Aventiene, sometimes builders offer huge incentives at the beginning of a development.

With the recent downturn.....those 2-3bed near twinbrook metro stop aka between veirs mill and the pike go for 350k...up near Rockville high school you can get 3-4 bed 2 bath for 450k and a nice yard. Nice Area.

[Rob M]

Welcome to Rockville. There seems to be a lot of disagreement in these posts about what $450K can buy and where. I'm VERY much in the camp that you'll find it impossible to find a single-family home for that price within 30 minutes of Rockville that is in a safe area with good schools. Actually, even finding a townhome that meets those criteria could be a challenge (but probably doable). A lot will depend on where in Rockville you'll be working. I live in the southern part of Germantown, and commute to the southern part of Rockville, near the beltway, and it takes 40-45 minutes each way. On the other hand, there are parts of Rockville that are within 15-20 minutes of my neighborhood.

In my neigborhood, single-family homes on quarter-acre lots run from the low $700s to the low $800s. There are other neighborhoods that probably are in the $600s, but I think that it might be next to impossible to find single-family homes for less that $500K. One area that comes to my mind is Clarksburg. It's further north than here, and so may be out of the 30-minute commute range (others on here may be able to answer that, or I guess you could check Mapquest) but it is a rapidly-growing community with new houses going for considerably less than in Rockville and its immediate surroundings. One problem there is that many (all?) of the developments there are being built in the "new urbanism" style, with extremely small lots, and so that might not work for your dogs.

I'm sorry if I sound too discouraging, but I do wish you well.

[Merlander]

I have to agree with Rob M - not sure what 450k will get you in Rockville. I would strongly recommend against Manassas - I think the commute would be nightmarish The community is really not that nice, and is very overcrowded with tons of sprawl. I think Germantown is a good recommendation, but again finding something nice for 450k could be a challenge. You could get a lot of house for 400k in Frederick, but the commute would be...40 min in rush hour?

Try out this website, it should help:

HomesDatabase

[Bagira]

OK TIM....


- Property Finder (http://www.homesdatabase.com/cgi-bin/aa.fcgi?+OTBjMTQyMzFhZjQyNGFhZTczNWE0ZjFmMDQ3MmMyY TUSlI0iZbI78etCOGgOIaz1KfdiVte4iAHZ53bKEL9a+i%2fwL c3WRTH0ZsWmiCh6f1%2fLJfUZcCO2EVmh - broken link)

This is literally a 7 min. walk from us... this is very nice neighborhood and its 419k there is nothing wrong with this area at all.

Like I stated 450k in Rockville is EASILY done. I've seen 700k homes off of exit 5 as your coming off of 270 friend of ours lives there meh. NOT WORTH the extra @200-300k are you freaking kidding me.

[scottfs]

I think 450 can be done. There are a whole bunch of single family houses up for sale right now around the $450k range that I've seen in the Barnsley/Rock Creek valley ES areas off of Bauer Drive. They are well-built homes and a much nicer area than Kensington, Germantown, or Gaithersburg in my opinion.

[Bagira]

Originally Posted by scottfs

I think 450 can be done. There are a whole bunch of single family houses up for sale right now around the $450k range that I've seen in the Barnsley/Rock Creek valley ES areas off of Bauer Drive. They are well-built homes and a much nicer area than Kensington, Germantown, or Gaithersburg in my opinion.

Here...Here...

We currently rent, nearly across the street from Meadow Hall, the above link home which we really like and its a half a block from a park and 4-5 blocks from Elementary School. #1 is in K there and #2 is in the co-op pre-k next to it. If we don't buy in Twinbrook Forest neighborhood, we will buy in the above quoted Barnsley/Rock Creek Valley ES neighborhoods.