Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Maryland > Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland
 [Register]
Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland Calvert County, Charles County, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 07-15-2020, 09:02 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,249 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Hey All,

My wife and I live in DC and are looking to buy our first home (budget around $500k, need 2-3b). Was hoping for some input on Riverdale Park, particularly west of the Anacostia.

What's the area like these days? Crime stats are high, but it seems relatively quiet when we've driven around during the daytime. Am I missing something? Prices seem to be pretty affordable and the Route 1 corridor is booming. Also considering Hyattsville and parts of NE DC, but Riverdale is still a bit of a mystery to me. Would appreciate any insights. Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-16-2020, 08:32 AM
 
Location: It's in the name!
7,069 posts, read 9,489,925 times
Reputation: 3778
Quote:
Originally Posted by abeaton View Post
Hey All,

My wife and I live in DC and are looking to buy our first home (budget around $500k, need 2-3b). Was hoping for some input on Riverdale Park, particularly west of the Anacostia.

What's the area like these days? Crime stats are high, but it seems relatively quiet when we've driven around during the daytime. Am I missing something? Prices seem to be pretty affordable and the Route 1 corridor is booming. Also considering Hyattsville and parts of NE DC, but Riverdale is still a bit of a mystery to me. Would appreciate any insights. Thanks!
Take crime stats with a grain of salt. Driving through and actually talking to those living and invested in the community will give you a far better picture than passively trying to gauge safety in a community.

There are safe neighborhoods all throughout the DC area that are hidden underneath seemingly troubling crime stats.

If you live in DC, then Riverdale Park should be no problem.

I live adjacent to the RT 1 corridor and spend a majority of my time there. Riverdale Park is a nice neighborhood. I would buy there. Especially with the Purple Line station being built.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-16-2020, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Germantown, Maryland
14 posts, read 17,405 times
Reputation: 31
I lived in Riverdale Park for 3 years (2013-2016). I never felt unsafe there. It wasn't necessarily my favorite place to live just due to my personal tastes but I was happy there overall. I wouldn't let the crime stats scare you and buying there will probably end up being a good investment.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-16-2020, 08:25 PM
 
2,203 posts, read 3,874,122 times
Reputation: 2030
My friend grew up in Riverdale Park in the late 1960s/1970s when it was a white, working class neighborhood. He sold his parents home just about a decade ago. He grew up in the small section of Riverdale Park west of Route 1. Imo, that's the best part of Riverdale Park. The houses are old and unique (not cookie cutter), and some lots can be fairly large and have large, shade trees. The Metro is nearby at PG Plaza.

One drawback is the town is not cohesive. It's divided by East-West Highway, Route 1 and the railroad tracks. And rush hour traffic is pretty heavy. East of Taylor Road is working class poor with a majority Hispanic population. The area between Taylor Road and Route 1 has nice homes and is quiet. Based on my observation, it appears a lot of young, white professionals have moved to this neighborhood. I've seen many walk, bicycle and jog thru the neighborhood or hang out at the Town Center Market.

I don't think the area is not safe. As for crime, I suspect most of it is probably property related. Crime has never stopped me from going to Riverdale Park. In fact, it never really crossed my mind.

I 've always liked the housing stock west of Route 1 in Hyattsville and Riverdale Park. One issue I have is the small apartment buildings located in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Another potential issue is Hispanic neighbors. Many immigrant Hispanics convert their homes into boarding homes. So, unless you have a long driveway, you may find the street overrun by large, work trucks owned by the renters.

If I were a buyer and looking at this area, I'd take a look at University Park.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-16-2020, 10:40 PM
 
340 posts, read 372,188 times
Reputation: 97
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude View Post
My friend grew up in Riverdale Park in the late 1960s/1970s when it was a white, working class neighborhood. He sold his parents home just about a decade ago. He grew up in the small section of Riverdale Park west of Route 1. Imo, that's the best part of Riverdale Park. The houses are old and unique (not cookie cutter), and some lots can be fairly large and have large, shade trees. The Metro is nearby at PG Plaza.

One drawback is the town is not cohesive. It's divided by East-West Highway, Route 1 and the railroad tracks. And rush hour traffic is pretty heavy. East of Taylor Road is working class poor with a majority Hispanic population. The area between Taylor Road and Route 1 has nice homes and is quiet. Based on my observation, it appears a lot of young, white professionals have moved to this neighborhood. I've seen many walk, bicycle and jog thru the neighborhood or hang out at the Town Center Market.

I don't think the area is not safe. As for crime, I suspect most of it is probably property related. Crime has never stopped me from going to Riverdale Park. In fact, it never really crossed my mind.

I've always liked the housing stock west of Route 1 in Hyattsville and Riverdale Park. One issue I have is the small apartment buildings located in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Another potential issue is Hispanic neighbors. Many immigrant Hispanics convert their homes into boarding homes. So, unless you have a long driveway, you may find the street overrun by large, work trucks owned by the renters.

If I were a buyer and looking at this area, I'd take a look at University Park.
I live in Riverdale Park currently, in the small section west of Route 1 sometimes called West Riverdale which was discussed above. The biggest advantage I'd give this part is zoning into University Park Elementary School, but we are also are not quite within reasonable walking distance to the nearest playground if you have kids and that matters to you. Living East of Route 1 would have the advantage in terms walkability bc you never have to walk across East-West nor Route 1 to get to the CP Metro, MARC, Future Purple Line Stops, Riverdale Park Town Center, Riverdale Park Station, the Arts District of Hyattsville, etc due to the Trolley trail. So, You can find homes throughout Riverdale Park that are beautiful and have various advantages. Physical safety is really not a concern at all, but there will be little quirky issues from time to time that are mostly preventable if you take reasonable precaution like locking your car doors if you are parking on the street overnight. Even if you forget to lock your car doors and you are parked on the street overnight, there is very very low likelihood you'd find your car had been explored, but it has happened. All in all, we sleep well at night, no safety concerns and when something happens, it's a surprise.

My search for a home 5 years ago was primarily focused on University Park, but also looked in Hyattsville, Riverdale Park, College Park...then Michigan Park, Brookland, Woodridge in NE DC so I think we were probably focused in on similar search areas as the OP. I'm super happy with where we landed, we love our home and enjoy the neighborhood.

Last edited by DoughLow805; 07-16-2020 at 11:24 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-17-2020, 11:24 AM
 
2,203 posts, read 3,874,122 times
Reputation: 2030
Regarding parks, if you enjoy bicycling, there's a path along the Anacostia River (more like a creek) that connects the Bladensburg (it may go to DC?) to Lake Artemesia in Berwyn Heights. In the mid-1990s, when I lived in Beltsville, I used to ride my bike along this path to Bladensburg.

Last edited by NJ2MDdude; 07-17-2020 at 11:33 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Maryland > Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top