Anybody familiar with the Tantallon North neighborhood of Ft. Washington? (Potomac: middle-class, how much)

[Ksmart]

We're a young couple in our 20s looking to purchase a home in the area and are enticed by the deals we can get in the neighborhood.


We don't have any kids yet but it looks like we should be okay through elementary school and by the time they get to middle school we'd likely have either moved out or would put them in private school.



Just wondering what people's thought are on the area and even more so this specific neighborhood...build quality of homes? demographics of homeowners? etc.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by Ksmart

We're a young couple in our 20s looking to purchase a home in the area and are enticed by the deals we can get in the neighborhood.


We don't have any kids yet but it looks like we should be okay through elementary school and by the time they get to middle school we'd likely have either moved out or would put them in private school.



Just wondering what people's thought are on the area and even more so this specific neighborhood...build quality of homes? demographics of homeowners? etc.

Nice homes, pride in ownership,quality builds predominately black area

[slowlane3]

Some positives about the immediate neighborhood:

1. historic Fort Washington National Park - excellent for hiking, jogging, biking, kite flying, scenic river view

2. Harmony Hall Recreation Center - community theater ("Tantallon Players"), free concerts of all kinds/genres, fitness room, art classes, scout meetings, art exhibits

3. new PGC police station - will be built soon in Silesia, across the intersection from Harmony Hall

4. Riverview Road - very scenic, atrractive, flat place for jogging or biking

5. Metrobus service - routes P17, P18, and P19 go past Tantallon North, all day on weekdays

5. Tantallon golf course/ country club/ pool

Some drawbacks:

1. Somewhat far from any department stores, restaurants, metrorail, or colleges/ universities.

2. Children who are of any race besides African-American, will feel out of place in public schools.

[molukai]

Hi Ksmart,

My wife and I are also a couple in our late 20s that recently purchased into that area. Our thoughts are very similar to yours when it came to the trade-offs. If you are looking for new construction in the general area, DR Horton is building on a plot just southeast of the Tantallon Golf Club (it is where we bought our house). Great prices (wide range, upper 200s to mid 400s), and still some good plots left. New construction is your best bet if you're concerned about quality, especially with how much technology and regulations have improved in just the last decade. That specific community, like most of Fort Washington, is predominantly well-to-do middle-class/upper-class black professionals. There is more diversity in that specific community though, and my family is an example of that.

I provided the link to the community's website below.

Tantallon On The Potomac | New Homes in Ft Washington, MD

[Ksmart]

Originally Posted by molukai

Hi Ksmart,

My wife and I are also a couple in our late 20s that recently purchased into that area. Our thoughts are very similar to yours when it came to the trade-offs. If you are looking for new construction in the general area, DR Horton is building on a plot just southeast of the Tantallon Golf Club (it is where we bought our house). Great prices (wide range, upper 200s to mid 400s), and still some good plots left. New construction is your best bet if you're concerned about quality, especially with how much technology and regulations have improved in just the last decade. That specific community, like most of Fort Washington, is predominantly well-to-do middle-class/upper-class black professionals. There is more diversity in that specific community though, and my family is an example of that.

I provided the link to the community's website below.

Tantallon On The Potomac | New Homes in Ft Washington, MD

Thanks for this, we'll definitely be looking into that neighborhood.


What do you think of the build quality of DR Horton homes? We did look at a DR Horton neighborhood in Upper Marlboro a few weeks ago and they seemed okay. However, the main issue I had with them (and perhaps it was specific to that neighborhood) was that the guy selling the homes there had already designed each of the homes being built vs. allowing the buyers to do so. If we end up purchasing a new home we'd prefer to be able to hand pick the features we'd like to invest in.

Was that how things were with your new home?

[Ksmart]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

Some drawbacks:

1. Somewhat far from any department stores, restaurants, metrorail, or colleges/ universities.

2. Children who are of any race besides African-American, will feel out of place in public schools.

Thank you for the well thought out response. I have some questions about the drawbacks:

1. I've read a few places that shopping and dining are problems in this area. Can you please tell me where the nearest decent shopping/dining options are? I know National Harbor is nearby but that place is overpriced and most of the restaurants I've dined at there weren't even that good.

2. Are there private schools in the area that are not predominately black or are most of the private schools as well?

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Ksmart

Thank you for the well thought out response. I have some questions about the drawbacks:

1. I've read a few places that shopping and dining are problems in this area. Can you please tell me where the nearest decent shopping/dining options are? I know National Harbor is nearby but that place is overpriced and most of the restaurants I've dined at there weren't even that good.

2. Are there private schools in the area that are not predominately black or are most of the private schools as well?

1. There are some carry outs like Wendy's, McDonald's, KFC and Subway nearby and small sit down restaurants and non-chain carry outs. Anything outside of those things, you would typically have to go to Waldorf, Alexandria, Oxon Hill or further to meet your dining needs. As far as shopping there is a Safeway and Giant grocery store. To be honest, both are mismanaged and the Giant is inadequate for the area. You will likely find some people who will take the 20-30 minute drive to Lanham to Wegmans. Any department store/clothing store shopping is going to be in the towns I listed earlier. There are virtually none in Fort Washington.

2. A lot of the non-black school age kids in Fort Washington send their kids to private school, which is one of the reasons why the public school population isn't completely indicative of the diversity that Fort Washington actually has. There is one private school that I am aware of in Fort Washington, Beddow. There is also National Christian Academy that is on the border of Oxon Hill/Fort Washington, but I've heard of many people sending their kids to private school in places like Waldorf, Clinton and even Alexandria across the bridge.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

1. There are some carry outs like Wendy's, McDonald's, KFC and Subway nearby and small sit down restaurants and non-chain carry outs. Anything outside of those things, you would typically have to go to Waldorf, Alexandria, Oxon Hill or further to meet your dining needs. As far as shopping there is a Safeway and Giant grocery store. To be honest, both are mismanaged and the Giant is inadequate for the area. You will likely find some people who will take the 20-30 minute drive to Lanham to Wegmans. Any department store/clothing store shopping is going to be in the towns I listed earlier. There are virtually none in Fort Washington.

2. A lot of the non-black school age kids in Fort Washington send their kids to private school, which is one of the reasons why the public school population isn't completely indicative of the diversity that Fort Washington actually has. There is one private school that I am aware of in Fort Washington, Beddow. There is also National Christian Academy that is on the border of Oxon Hill/Fort Washington, but I've heard of many people sending their kids to private school in places like Waldorf, Clinton and even Alexandria across the bridge.

To piggy-back on answer 2 a lot of the private schools in the metro area provide transportation to and from hubs in or near fort Washington.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

2. Children who are of any race besides African-American, will feel out of place in public schools.

And you say this with certainty because you have polled all the current and future non-African-American children? Maybe they will and maybe they won't.

As for the area private schools, they may be diverse, but are they still majority African-American, which is of concern to the OP?

Unless or until Ft. Washington changes population-wise, there is going to be a black majority. That means the public schools are, and the private schools are very likely to be, majority black. OP, are you okay with that?

[RamblingMan]

I'm not in Tantallon, so I can't comment on the housing there, but I'm in nearby Indian Queen Estates and have the same shopping.

I agree with pgtitans and slowlane3 that the shopping and restaurant options aren't great. How much that matters will be dependent on your own lifestyle. The Giant and Safeway are nothing special. I'm unimpressed with the fruit and vegetables in both. There are only a few restaurants worth visiting in my view. On the other hand, with the opening of the new Woodrow Wilson bridge, Alexandria is a short drive any time outside of rush hour.

For groceries, we tend to stock up on staples with an occasional trip to Costco in Brandywine. (FWIW we far prefer the COSTCO in Brandywine to Arlington.) For fruit and vegetables and some other things, we like farmer's markets in season or make a run once a week or so to Trader Joe's in Alexandria. Safeway and Giant are fine for the few things we end up buying there. For fresh vegetables, we are also considering trying out a community supported agriculture plan, but that probably won't happen until next year.

There aren't a lot of sit down restaurant options locally, although we do occasionally go to a few places like Proud Mary's and Bangkok Golden. There are also one or two places in National Harbor that we like. When we do go out, we tend to find ourselves in clubs or restaurants in Old Town or DC. If we lived in most other suburbs, I think we'd wind up traveling just as much to go out for entertainment. If having an Olive Garden nearby is important to you, FW might not be your neighborhood. On the other hand, if you want to go to Twins Jazz or Blues Alley, FW is no less convenient than anyplace across the river.

Shopping is really weak. There are no malls or shopping centers and very few stores with goods or services that interest us. One exception is the Silesia wine and liquor store, which is pretty good. On the other hand, this hasn't been a major issue for us because our lifestyle doesn't involve a lot of shopping in malls. We do a lot of our shopping online, and I tend to buy about 95% of my clothes either online from Lands End or in person at Brooks Brothers. (I don't claim to be a fashion plate.) If we need to go to a Target or the like, it means a 20-30 minute drive to Alexandria or Waldorf. If a Target or WalMart and a high-end grocery store opened in the area, that would be enough for me. I don't really care if there's a Cheesecake Factory or a Nordstroms.

Public Schools are weak. A lot of people (including plenty of African Americans, I think) send their kids to private schools. I have heard good things about some of the local private schools, but there are options not far away with bus service to Fort Washington. My own child is a few years away from having to worry about this. When the time comes, we'll take a look at the local elementary school and make a decision. If we end up paying for private school, we'll accept it.

Anyway, the lack of some amenities in FW is real. How much they matter is something that only you can decide. I think that the very attractive prices in Fort Washington are based on some real issues. My personal view is that, for me, the advantages of Fort Washington (not just the relatively lower home prices) far outweigh the disadvantages, but that clearly isn't going to be the case for everyone.