Talk to me about Bethesda, MD - Page 2

[MsElle07]

If you can't afford $400K, then it will be pretty hard to buy anything close to your DH's job that's in a decent (safe) neighborhood. You'd be better of renting, IMO. It will also be hard to rent anything decent for $1500. You could probably find a cute house to rent in the $1500 - $2000 range.

[Climbergirl]

Hum. Well, if we had to go further than 30 minutes, could we find a rental for $1500? I am not sure how much DH will be paid and I would prefer to think about what he is making now (approx 95K). We were making that when we first moved to San Jose and we were in a rental for $1200....

My fingers are crossed that they will offer much more!

[kalisis]

Oooh, I'm so jealous. I'd give almost anything to be moving back to the DC area! Lucky, luck for you guys! Enjoy!

[Climbergirl]

Jealous

I am scared to death! Of course, I have only ever driven though DC and have no idea what I am in for

[MsElle07]

Originally Posted by Climbergirl

Hum. Well, if we had to go further than 30 minutes, could we find a rental for $1500? I am not sure how much DH will be paid and I would prefer to think about what he is making now (approx 95K). We were making that when we first moved to San Jose and we were in a rental for $1200....

My fingers are crossed that they will offer much more!

It would be great to make a lot more!

Yes, the farther away from the District you go, (usually) the cheaper the rent is. If you'd take an apartment, you could find something cheaper than if you wanted a single family house to rent.

I'm sure you found this already, but go here: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/apa/, then click on the MD tab, then search for Bethesda. If you need a 1 bedroom, you can get something in the $1500 range, if you want more than that, it starts getting to be closer to $2000.

Try searching for the other areas mentioned, choosing 2+ bedrooms (be sure to choose the MD tab -- lots of people will dump their VA ads in other city's key word searches), and you'll get a better idea of rental prices.

Try Rockville, Gaithersburg, Kensington, Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Glen Echo, Potomac, Bethesda and Garrett Park. Some of those are total pie in the sky, but it's worth a shot to see if there's anything available.

[Climbergirl]

Goodness, we may need to think about buying then! $1500 for a one bedroom? We are currently paying $2200 for a 3 bedroom/2 bath house in San Jose in a really nice area. Interesting.

I guess I would prefer a house so I can make a garden (to save on money) as well as give my son some area to run in. He loves being outdoors. I guess we will budget as though we have to pay about what we are now just to be realistic.

Can you tell I am obsessed with this I can't concentrate at work at all!

[panamama]

bethesda is expensive. cute, but expensive. and, IME, not very diverse/crunchy. i don't live there though, so that's just an outsider's impression. (i live about 30 mins away in MD, and work in DC.)

anyway, IDK how long you've been in cali, but i grew up not too far from SJ and would say that the bethesda/rockville/chevy chase area out here is more like los altos, atherton, maybe palo alto, etc if you need some comparisons. i would suggest silver spring or takoma park. TP is probably a little further than you want to commute, based on your posts, but parts of SS may not be too far. TP is veeeeerrry crunchy. oh, or maybe wheaton? IDK much about wheaton, but it's not that far from bethesda. the few times i've driven through wheaton it sort of reminded me of a cross b/w mountain view/sunnyvale & palo alto in CA....sort of like SJ or cupertino.

good luck with your move!

[Climbergirl]

Ah! That helps so much!

I am more of a Mountain View sorta Campbell kinda girl My DREAM would be to live in Berkeley or Santa Cruz. I don't think there is an equivalent for that out there, but who knows?

I need to visit!

[caro113]

I don't really Bethesda that well, but my cousin was born there while her father was in the military, so I believe there should be some inexpensive housing because of that, but I could be wrong. It's a nice area, though. DC isn't too bad, just horrible traffic You'll be around so much history for your children to discover. Definitely go to the Holocaust Museum and the Vietnam memorial wall.

[Contented73]

Okay, knowing your price range really puts things in perspective. You are not going to find anything to buy or rent near Bethesda -- well, unless you want a one bedroom apartment.

I would look out towards Silver Spring, Wheaton, and definitely Takoma Park. There are deals to be had, espeically right now. Takoma Park has a great, tight-knit, crunchy community that I am particularly fond of. Though it is probably the longest drive to Bethesda (though not considered bad for commuting in DC - probably 30 minutes commute).

If you want something that is really beautiful, open spaces, great views, that kind of thing.....you will probably have to move quite a ways out of town. I don't really associate those sorts of things with (inexpensive) DC living. I don't know if that makes sense..lol....what I mean is that the beautiful neighborhoods are really expensive. Everythign else, well, you make some sacrifices.

For a VBAC I would definitely consider a HBAC because it is just much more likely. There are really some really great HB midwives around here so if your DH is open to it at all, you could meet with one. But if you want to do hospital for sure, then you would probably find one of these two midwifery practices to work the best: Midwifery Care Associates (I think they are based in Wheaton now) or the DC Birth Center (they deliver at Washington Hospital Center which is not too far from Silver Spring or Takoma Park). Both happily do VBACs.

[Climbergirl]

I have already tested the waters for the HBAC. DH looked a little apprehensive. It will definitely be something we are going to look into. I plan on finding a midwife as soon as I get out there to build a relationship with (doing paps and what not). DH knows how badly I want a VBAC. I truly felt that the c-section caused me a lot more medical trama than necessary.

I am digging though rental and for sale listings in Silver Springs, Takoma Park, and starting to look in Wheaton. I am not exactly looking for wide open spaces (which to means a couple of acres), but more of enough room to have my son run off energy as well as be able to grow a garden to save some money. I'll have to find someone to help me can, but that is a different issue

I do have a question because someone told me it was humid there. One thing that concerns me is heating/AC costs. When I was in Atlanta, there was times my bill would be $300 a month. And knowing it can get cold, I know you would need to run the heat (I have hypothyroidism and so "cold" to me anything below 70F - and at that point, I am usually wearing a sweater).

Not to get personal, but to help me with our "how to live off one income" budget, could you guys give me an idea of what your monthly bills look like? In CA, our utility bills went WAY down due to the low humidity and hardly ever geting too cold (<40F) or too hot (>85F). I thought the utility companies were ridiculas in Atlanta, so I am hoping that is not the same issue there.

My hubby talked to the sr. vp again and he told my husband that not taking this would not be a career breaker, but that he is not sure of the level and he would make sure everything was "equitable". Whatever that means! So I am going to create a budget off of his current salary to see where that takes us.

Thanks

[panamama]

Originally Posted by Climbergirl

Ah! That helps so much!

I am more of a Mountain View sorta Campbell kinda girl My DREAM would be to live in Berkeley or Santa Cruz. I don't think there is an equivalent for that out there, but who knows?

I need to visit!

yeah...berkely & SC are AWESOME!!! the closest thing to either of them out here is definitely takoma park, by faaaaaar. if you like them, you'd like TP.

as for humidity? yes, it is oppressively humid here in the summer. even if it's only in the 80's (though it often goes much higher), you'll be dripping with sweat the minute you step outside some days. seriously...walking from a doorstep to a car parked on the street can mean needing to change your shirt. not every single day, but enough of them. IDK about a $300 A/C bill though. mine is almost never more than $50 and often less than that...and i keep my A/C on allllllll summer. now, the heat bill? that's frequently $300+ in the winter, but i refuse to be cold. also, i have central, gas heat, so it's not like i can turn it on/off on a room-by-room basis. dryer, fire place and stove are all gas too, so that adds to it. i'm sure it'll depend on the type of HVAC system(s) you'll have. after 1 year at the same residence, you can get on a utility budget plan through your provider and that'll make your bill the same every month (they take your usage from the previous year and average the payments over 12 months for the following year. it's adjusted annually, i think.)

[Climbergirl]

Yeah, I am used to awful humidity. I grew up in Mobile, AL. I asked my grandfather one time why humidity numbers were from 90-100 (and why they just did not use 1-10 for humidity!). So, I totally get that part, which is why I am so concerned about heating and A/C costs.

Hum, I'll try plugging in $300 for 6 months of the year and about $100 for the rest. I need to figure out how much he needs to make to make this even decently worth it.

I would be all over the utility budget plan!

[Holiztic]

If I do my math right, a $1500 a month mortgage (PITI) payment would be on a loan of about $225 (we are in a condo in Ellicott City now and our loan is 209 and we pay just short of 1500).

This makes me a bit concerned about the recs you are getting for SS and Takoma Park. I don't think you'll find any kind of decent single family home in a safe neighborhood for this price. I think a townhouse would be hard to find at that price.

Of course, if you DO want to spend 225, we are listing our newly renovated 2 BR/2 Ba condo this week for 229k. Might be a bit of a commute for your DH though (hour or so )

On the other hand, 100k a year should get you a little more house than 225 (obviously this depends on how much of your paycheck you are willing to spend). But even conservative ratios would get you into the low to mid 300s. Something to think about at least.

[MsElle07]

Originally Posted by Holiztic

If I do my math right, a $1500 a month mortgage (PITI) payment would be on a loan of about $225 (we are in a condo in Ellicott City now and our loan is 209 and we pay just short of 1500).

This makes me a bit concerned about the recs you are getting for SS and Takoma Park. I don't think you'll find any kind of decent single family home in a safe neighborhood for this price. I think a townhouse would be hard to find at that price.

Of course, if you DO want to spend 225, we are listing our newly renovated 2 BR/2 Ba condo this week for 229k. Might be a bit of a commute for your DH though (hour or so )

On the other hand, 100k a year should get you a little more house than 225 (obviously this depends on how much of your paycheck you are willing to spend). But even conservative ratios would get you into the low to mid 300s. Something to think about at least.

:

DC has a unique situation in that you can usually rent a house cheaper than you can buy it, in terms of monthly payments. Unless you are in a position to have a HUGE (like 50% down payment). You won't find a house to buy in this area that's not the equivalent of a crack house for 225K. You'd have to move pretty far away from Bethesda (at least an hour without traffic) to find those prices.

[didkisa]

I haven't read every post, but I agree a lot with MsElle07 (hi!!! How's your little one doing? Two already, hard to believe!!) OK, back to our regularly scheduled post...lol

I live in Derwood, which is between Rockville and Gaithersburg and LOVE this location. We are a hop, skip, and a jump away from 370 (that leads to 270, that leads to everything) and also semi-walking distance to the metro. My DH takes the metro to DC and either rides his bike, drives his scooter, takes the bus (bus stop right outside our door), or walks to the metro everyday. Our rent is $2200 for a single-family home with 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 living areas, deck and screened porch, 2-car garage, and nice-sized back yard (just to give you an idea of what $2200 can get you). When we were searching for a place to live there was no shortage of nice homes in this price range (2 years ago) and even more probably available now b/c of the buyers' market. The house next door to us is renting for the same amount and I think it's bigger. I would HIGHLY recommend our area (and I'm not biased...I don't really care for the DC metro area in general, but if you have to live here, this is a great neighborhood).

We used to live in Silver Spring and absolutely hated it. Traffic was a nightmare--which is the case most everywhere here...I'd pay more money for rent to be out of that mess!! We paid $1500/month for our much-smaller, no garage, older house there. I agree, though, Silver Spring is huge...ie: we lived next to the Glenmont metro station. Not the best neighborhood! I wouldn't have walked down our street alone at night.

As far as total cost of living, my DH makes a little more than your DH does currently, but we've been living off his single income since we moved here and he was making much less. You shouldn't have trouble living off $95K.

There are TONS of moms groups, playdates, county-sponsored classes and activities, etc. around here. We have an AP group you can join; we have playdates every Friday and a discussion topic the first Friday of each month. If you look on yahoo groups you'll find a constant stream of new moms groups starting up, all with different niches/interests. Lots of volunteer opportunities, too. PM me when you get here and I can give you all the info for the groups I belong to.

I agree with the others that you probably don't want to live too far from your DH's job unless you live very close to the metro--and even then I'd highly suggest living on the Western end of the red line--b/c of the commute. The metro is not as reliable as it could be.

HTH! Welcome to the area! BTW, my DD is just a little older than your DS. We need a few more boys around here...seems we're all having girls only! lol (I think there's something in the water!)

[didkisa]

Oh, I just saw what MsElle07 said about housing prices, and she's soooo right! You won't find a decent house in a decent neighborhood, even in this buyers' market, for less than $350k.(this close to DC, I mean!) The DUMP across the street from me (VERY different from our house, and no garage!) is on the market for $420K. Needs some major work on it--it's a foreclosure home.

[Climbergirl]

I guess those real estate websites do some wonderful voodoo on their listings But, with not being able to see if it is in the ghetto, it just makes it hard to know what I am looking at.

I think the best idea is to get there and talk with both a real estate agent and do the rental shopping thing. And then make a decision.

We may move in 2-3 years anyway. But after renting for 5 years, it would be so nice to live in my own place and have some fun with the wall colors! Can I just say that I am soooooo tired of white?

I will definitely pm when we get out there. We may go out for an interview, so I may have a whole day to "play" in the area and see what is out there

[MsElle07]

Good luck to you!

[Mommyofalmost6]

hi I live in Gaithersburg. My husbad works in Bethesda. I suggest livign away from 495... the traffic is 10X worse for a commute then it is for 270. My husband has to be to work at 7am and I think it takes around 30min in the morning for him to get there when he leaves here. Rockville is very nice. Rockville town center is awesome both day and night. I know someone else mentioned the nice shopping in the area. Montgomery county schools are really good as a whole. Lots to do in DC, many things for free and you can take the metro there so you dont have to deal with parking.