Please help with Silver Spring neighborhoods (Bethesda, Potomac: apartments, foreclosure, to rent)

[quidnunc]

I am relocating with my family to take a new job at a federal agency in downtown D.C. (near Metro Center / Federal Triangle). We are attracted to Silver Spring, but know very little about the different neighborhoods. Can you offer some suggestions? If you can mention specific zipcodes and subdivisions in Silver Spring, that would be super. Here are our priorities:

1) A door-to-door commute by bus and metro to Metro Center of 45 minutes or less.
2) We want to rent a townhouse or single-family-home for $1600-$1900 / month.
3) We want to rent in or near an area where we'll later be able to buy a 3 or 4BR single family home for <$400,000 (not a fixer upper).
4) We want a safe, family-friendly neighborhood with a strong sense of community and some trees.
5) We want good to excellent local public schools (but could settle for less than the very best if necessary given our housing budget).

The areas that seem most promising to us at the moment are Northwood Park, Forest Estates, and Forest Glen to the east of Georgia Ave. But this is based on very preliminary research. I'd be grateful for any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks!

[lscalder]

Your housing budget is for 2 bedroom apartment not for single family or townhomes. If you want ok school you need to up your budget to $2500 for town homes and 3k to 4k for single family. The closer you live to metro the more expensive cost of living is. Your price range is way below budget. You will not find anything in that price range for townhomes or single family next to metro.

[Bigbluelandrover]

buy a 3 or 4BR single family home for <$400,000 (not a fixer upper).

Good luck with that one too.

Try $500k and even then you still might have to update the interior, paint, revovate. This area has some pitiful looking houses on the market.

[lek7583]

Well first of all. Silver Spring is huge! Its from the DC line all the way up to Norbeck Rd. in Upper Montgomery County.

On the Red Line there are FOUR metro stations all within 45 minutes of Metro Center/Federal Triangle.

The closes is Silver Spring in downtown Silver Spring. I think the zip is 20910 or 20901? Your budget is too low for this place. Its all apartments as well.

Same zips but about the same cost is Forest Glen and Wheaton. Significantly more expensive around Forest Glen. Your budget is too low for that place. Wheaton is within your budget but the area is "in transition." If you are brave and have a pioneer spirit you should consider that place otherwise its possible that you will witness crime or become a statistic yourself in Wheaton--visit the mall to see what I mean.

Then you come to Glenmont or the 20906 zip code and a little north the more ritzy 20905 zip code. This is exactly what you want but cannot afford on your budget at all. Like the other posters said--TH or SFH rent would be about 2500-3500 a month. TH go for around 3-400K and houses range from 400K for a serious fixer upper with no garage to 600K for something decent to $1M and up for the 20905 zip code which is considered Cloverly. That is a trip up GA Ave of Silver Spring neighborhoods.

A trip up NH Ave/US 29 is significantly cheaper but the same issues. Cloverly area is like Glenmont, Colesville is like Wheaton and Fairland is like Forest Glen. The issue is that the commute is longer. The only saving grace is that TH/SFH are around 400-500 in that area and TH rent for maybe 2500.

The schools criteria is tricky cause Silver Spring is so HUGE. Kennedy and Wheaton HS clusters are not as good as Blair and Blake HS clusters and I have no idea about Springbrook or Paint Branch HS clusters.

Given your financial issues you may want to look into PG county which has drastically lower housing costs, however safety, school quality and demographics are different than Montgomery County.

Good Luck with your search.

[selhars]

I didn't want to be the first to say - give it up - because your price range is too low for the area -- but lek7583 has pretty much laid out your options right on point.

BUT - I did zillow and realtor.com house listings in SS and there are some listed for UNDER 400-thou. Now, where - and whether - you could GET one for that is another story. And if it's NOT a fixer it would definitely be a foreclosure on a town house or something like that -- MAYBE.

[Bigbluelandrover]

Anything under 400k needs work. BELIEVE that. HU and I are agressively looking in that range and things are not looking good.

Lek I think White Oak is closer to Wheaton than Colesville. Colesville seems more surburbian-ex rural on some streets. Also the Northeast consortium includes the choice of Paint Branch, Springbrook and Blake. The schools will depend on what academic "focus" the child has. My son attends Springbrook and likes it. Daughter wants to go to Blake for the "arts" classes.

[lek7583]

Bigblueandrover, you are right White Oak is more closer to Wheaton than Colesville. I live off of GA Ave and I am not as familiar with the NH or US-29 corridors as I am with GA Ave in Silver Spring.

[selhars]

Also White Oak may be a little closer to Wheaton than Colesville, but also getting from Wheaton to White Oak is not as direct, because you can't go THROUGH a huge parka area. Look at a map and you'll see you have to go down around, or up and around. You can take major roads alright, but they're just not DIRECT east-west. (Where as White Oak and Coleville are just two different areas on the same major road, White Oak closer in, and Clolesville several lights further out)

Wheaton and White Oak are closer-in than Colesville.
Wheaton aslo has more transportation options, including a commuter train station.

I'd also say Wheaton is closer for getting into DC..

[lscalder]

I live in Prince Georges county in Upper Marlboro zipcode 20772. I wanted good schoo/safe/trees/Family friendly community so I knew I had to pay $500k or more to get what I wanted so my husband and I did and we got what we wanted.

If I had to live in Montgomery county I would only live in Chevy Chase/Bethesda or Potomac and I know I have to spend $500k and up..The other areas are not worth it.

[njterp902]

I live right near Four Corners (also called Colesville, or Northwood Park). I love it. My fiance takes the bus/metro to L'Enfant Plaza, and its about an hour each way (so I think going to Metro Center would be a bit less, since you wouldn't have to change to the Green Line). Lovely, tree-lined homes, and I think its very safe. Not a strong sense of community, unfortunately, but I"m still new to the area. I'm not so sure about the schools--I don't have kids, so its not really a concern of mine.
In terms of finding a single family home for under 400,000, I think you may be hard pressed in any area of Silver Spring. Even with a budget of 300,000, most homes you'll find will be townhomes, and the single family homes will be in need of repair. Its just a reality of this area.