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.
I have just accepted a job in DC. My wife and I are 44 yeas old. We have twin 11 year old boys. We have lived in the burbs all of our life. We are looking forward to giving urban living a shot. The idea of walking to the grocery store or taking the Metro to a ball game is something we'd love to do. We will still have a car with us, we would prefer not to use it on a daily basis. My wife is a stay at home mom who is active in the PTO. My plan is to take The Metro to work each day. My office will be off the Noma-Gallaudet U (New York Ave) Metro Station.
We are are going to rent. Our budget is $3500 to $4000 a month. A three bedroom is preferable, but we could make a two bedroom with the right floorplan work. We'd love to live in a walkable, family friendly neighborhood. In our mind's eye, we'd like a neighborhood where we can walk with the kids to the park during the day and leave the kids with a sitter and walk to a watering hole and restaurant at night. I'd like to keep my commute to 45 minutes or less. Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated.
The other part of the equation is schools. Other than the reputation, we are in the dark on the quality of DC schools. My boys are on the spectrum. They are in a mainstream class room for electives like music and PE, but are pulled out into an ASD class for academics. We've found in other places that the school ratings sites are not much help, because sometimes great general education schools don't have good special education services and vice versa. We would appreciate any advice on navigating the schools/special education aspect of the move.
Your post screams Arlington. You definitely don't want your kids in DC schools. Arlington is basically the urban alternative if you have kids and can't afford to send them to private school.
The Ballston/Virginia Square neighborhood is great for a family. It's far enough from Clarendon (20+ bars) that you won't have to deal with the drunk frat bros too much, but it has some decent bars and restaurants at the same time. There are tons of townhomes within a couple of blocks of Wilson Boulevard (main road through Arlington) that would be within your budget. For example: Ballston townhouse - 11 st N | Arlington, VA Townhomes for Rent | Rent.com®.
North Arlington kind of has a reputation as the millennial capital for drunk frat bros but there are actually tons of families in the area because there are tons of single family homes just a few blocks from the Metro stations. Schools are also good.
Your commute would be about 40 minutes door-to-door.
You could theoretically also look in the Silver Spring, MD area which is off the Red Line that goes to NOMA. I'm not a big fan of Silver Spring myself (bar and restaurant scene is like 5 levels below Arlington), but you can decide. Taxes in Maryland and Montgomery County in particular are significantly higher than they would be in Arlington too.
You could move your family west of rock creek park, but that is one of the only real options for you in DC considering your children are in middle school which is a particular sore point in DC. DC can be summed up with some good and bad primary schools, some good and bad high schools largely because of good magnet schools and a few decent HS, but mostly bad middle schools. There are also a large number of charter schools. Navigating this all though is a challenge. If you get in zone of Deal (middle school) and Wilson (HS) in DC it may be worth it, otherwise I would say it is questionable moving here considering the age of your children.
You should just move to Arlington or Bethesda. Where you can get a walkable community close to the city, and are insured to get a good school. Especially considering your budget for housing.
With regards to the Silver Spring being worse than Arlington for bars and resturants, that's disputable, but that is largely because of some massive changes which happened in Silver Spring in the last couple of years that improved things significantly on the Silver Spring front. Three years ago I would have agreed, these days, not so much.
Capitol Hill would be a good choice for you. The public schools up there are decent and there are charter schools if you don't like the public option. You are walking distance from Eastern Market, H Street, and Barrack Row. Depending upon where in Capitol Hill you end up, you might find it quickest to bike to work. At the higher end of your price range, you'll find a townhouse with a small yard and off street parking. You may find that you can ditch your car and just use zip car or cars2go.
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.
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.
