Moving to Washington DC

[JdrKuhnert]

We will be moving this summer. Does anyone have any tips? I've only been there as a tourist and do not much about the area. I'm originally from California and have been living in Germany for the last 10 years. We are looking at housing in DC NW. It seems alright, but you can only tell so much from the computer. We are big city people, so suburbs do not feel like a "fit" to us.

Thanks for any tips, suggestions, online communities, etc.

[dcmom2b3]

WELCOME!!!:waving4:

I haven't lived in NW DC for ages but I'd be happy to weigh in with my opinions on anything you're considering. Know that NW is a huge area and a mixed bag, it contains suburban-feeling nabes, breathtaking historic mansions, downtown high-rises, Chinatown, "improving" neighborhoods, public housing projects, and everything in-between. Do you have specific areas in mind? Do you want walkable to retail/grocery/restauraunts? Green spaces? Have pets? How high is your "urban annoyance" tolerance? How old are your kids? Looking to buy? Rent?

Two tips I'd give anyone moving to the city:

1. Assuming you have school-age children and want/need to do public schools, let your housing choice be dictated by the quality of the in-boundary elementary school and the MS and HS it feeds into. DC has lotteries for PS-3 and PK-4 (which have long passed for this year), but there's mandatory enrollment for in-bounds students K-12. Best elementary schools include Janney, Horace Mann, Lafayette, and Key. The public middle school of choice is Alice Deal; well regarded HSs are Wilson and School Without Walls (the latter is a test-in situation). There are many charter school options as well -- but those are lottery-based and lotteries have already been conducted for next year's class.

Even if you choose to do private, most (not all) of those are located in upper NW along Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues (Chevy Chase, Georgetown, Cleveland Park, Glover Park, Tenley Circle, Woodley Park) and it's a brutal commute from other parts of the city (ask me how I know). Which brings me to the second tip --

2. Commuting. Rush-hour traffic is awful. No other way to put it. Figuring out how all of you will get from home to work/school and back can feel like a game of 3-D chess, unless you have gobs of money to throw at the problem. Consider public transportation as an option -- it's not up to European snuff, but Metro generally gets the job done.

I hesitate to offer this, b/c it's an anonymous forum where the high school mean girls from the 70's run amok, but www.dcurbanmom.com (http://www.dcurbanmom.com) may be a source of info re: schools/neighborhoods and the like.

ETA: D.C. Public Schools website -- http://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/
Website for D.C.'s German School (it's in the burbs though): http://www.dswashington.org/

Feel free to PM me with anything. The Bunny and I would love to take you guys to lunch and a museum/zoo to celebrate your arrival! :wavey:

[fedoragirl]

Congratulations! I am so envious that you're returning home. It would be nice to know how you and your kids fit back into American life.
Sorry no tips for living in DC.

[TwinFoxes]

Welcome! I am about to start the morning scramble, but will write more later. I'm another California girl. I live in the burbs, but lived in the District, in NW, pre-kids and one stint back in LA ago. DC is expensive, just a warning! Have you looked at the school situation? DC has really bounced back from some rough times.

Prepare yourself for the heat and humidity!

[westwoodmom04]

Can't agree enough with the traffic comments. It is absolutely ridiculous and has gotten much worse over the past ten years. The metro is far preferable to car when it works, but the metro has had a dismal reliability record for the last 5 years or so. Just mentally prepare yourself for a long and/or unpredictable commute each day.

The school situation is what pushes many families into the suburbs. The suburbs immediately outside the city have some of the best public school systems in the country, on both the Maryland and Virginia side. The city also has the highest tax burden (also costs more to insure your house and car, etc. . .) and housing prices really aren't any lower than the suburbs. Taxes in Maryland are high but still considerably less than the district, and Virginia tends to even lower.

City public schools are a mixed bag, especially after elementary school. There are many great private schools but expect to pay $25,000 to $30,000 a year. I've been told that it is difficult to get into the private schools at the middle or high school level (so hard to do the great public elementary and then switch) but don't know if that is actually true or just rumor.

The area of the city most historically popular with families, Woodley Park and north, Northern Georgetown isn't in my mind all that different from areas of the close in suburbs like Bethesda or Alexandria.

[crl]

As previous posters have commented the DC schools are not great. You might be okay in public for elementary. Or you can do private. Again echoing pervious posters, transportation is another big issue. Commutes are often dreadful and traffic patterns and public transit access are an important consideration. Cost is the final big considersation. The DC area is quite expensive, though if you are accustomed to CA prices you may be well-prepared (the SF Bay Area is more expensive for example).

Note that living in the District also means being disenfranchised as far as the vote goes.

I suggest you consider Arlington. It is technically a suburb, but it is actually denser than the District and it is very close in. Depending on where work is, the commute may be shorter from Arlington than from the NW part of DC. We used metro when we lived in Arlington and I consider it pretty much essential to avoiding commute traffic. At that time Arlington also had good schools and was generally well-run.

We haven't lived there for several years now so others will have more up to date advice, but we lived in both south (7 years) and north (1year) Arlington and I would be happy to try to answer any questions.

Catherine

[westwoodmom04]

Catherine brings up a really good point. Commutes can often be shorter from outside the city. I lived in both Cleveland Park and Old Town Alexandria while working at Metro Center. My commute was about 50 percent shorter coming from Old Town.

There is so much to do no matter where you settle. I still long for the days when I was a single girl working in the city.

Housing prices are outrageous. They are not NoCal levels yet, but at this point, pretty comparable to SoCal and it is very much a seller's market at the moment, with lots of multiple offer situations.

[dcmom2b3]

City public schools are a mixed bag, especially after elementary school. There are many great private schools but expect to pay $25,000 to $30,000 a year. I've been told that it is difficult to get into the private schools at the middle or high school level (so hard to do the great public elementary and then switch) but don't know if that is actually true or just rumor.

There are "expansion years" at every school where they plan to add more students than those lost to attrition. But I think this has some basis in fact, b/c DC privates, on average, are committed to maintaining an academically rigorous image, and admissions in MS and HS require testing and primary school grades that purport to identify "academic talent" in terms that are more quantitative than the typical Kinder admissions playdate.


I suggest you consider Arlington. It is technically a suburb, but it is actually denser than the District and it is very close in. Depending on where work is, the commute may be shorter from Arlington than from the NW part of DC.

Absolutely. When I lived in Arlington, I had a 15 min commute, by car, to my office on Capitol Hill. When I moved to Capitol Hill (15 blocks from the office) I still had a 15 min commute. That was 10 years, ago, however.

[crl]

Just one more quick thought. If diversity is a motivator for avoiding suburbs, in the DC area the suburbs are often more diverse than the district as most immigrants have landed in the suburbs. When we lived in south Arlington, our zip code was the most diverse in the country.

Catherine

[anonomom]

As a former DC resident (though I moved before I had kids), I'd urge you to add Montgomery County, MD to the areas you're considering. Silver Spring and Bethesda both have a fairly urban vibe and the commute via metro isn't too bad (at least it wasn't when I left in 2005). The whole area is crazy expensive but it's also a lot of fun.

Good luck!

[JdrKuhnert]

Thank you all for your posts. We plan to rent a house. My husband will be working at an embassy and would like not to commute very much. Currently, we are a one car family and either bicycle or take public transportation. I love my Danish cargo bike and it is coming with me. All four of my boys fit in it and have a blast riding in it. Is it unrealistic to think that I can bicycle?
We are looking for a walkable area with good public transport. After my years of commuting in LA, I really don't want to sit in traffic.
In terms of schooling, we are mainly concerned with a good elementary school. We will only be there for 4 years and my eldest will be a 2nd grader this fall. Private school is an option, but I would like to try a neighborhood school first. Currently, my son is bused 45 minutes each way to school and it's so hard on him. It would be a plus if we could find a school that teaches French starting in ES.
What is the sales tax rate in the area? I know that there is sales tax in VA on food, what about DC and MD?
Thanks again.

[westwoodmom04]

There is an private International School with a focus on foreign languages; I do not know if there are public schools that offer french at the elementary level in the district. There are several language immersion programs at schools in Montgomery County, including french.

DC does have bike paths through downtown. However, many/most is just sharing the road with DC's car traffic. I personally wouldn't feel safe traveling with my kids in that fashion; but you may feel differently.

The high tax rate in the district is income tax and property tax. Maybe you can avoid both by renting and your husband's job (not sure what embassy he is working for; but assuming it is not American).