Older SFHs close to downtown w/ good schools? (Richmond, Arlington: crime, houses)

[DC resident]

Hello,

Myself, my wife and 39 week twins currently live in downtown DC. Now that we are a family we have started to think about the future. We love living in the city, the vibe and being able to walk. We also love older homes/neighborhoods as opposed to newer cookie cutter types. Would love to stay in DC but the crime and schools are just no good. We could move to a much nicer area within the city where crime would be less of a concern but the schools are still really bad. Once we pay a cool $1 mil for the house, private school would not be in the budget. So I think we have ruled out DC. We are considering parts of Bethesda, MD, Arlington, VA, City of Fall Church, VA but I am also considering checking out Richmond. Problem is we both have decent jobs here, near DC. Although telecommuting is becoming more of an option. So I could potentially keep my job and maybe only have to come to the office once a week (which I could do using VRE). I have my CPA and work in Accounting/Financial Reporting so if I needed to there is problem something for me in Richmond. My wife works in IT Program Management/Consulting and has an MBA so I think she could find something decent in Richmond too(?) Our housing budget is probably in the $700-$800 range. Could we find an older neighborhood close to the city, with SFHs with a little bit of a yard and that has good schools? How bout crime? When we first moved into or DC rowhouse 6 yrs ago it was pretty sketch so we did develop decent street sense and it would be fine for us. But now with the kids we are just tired of always looking over our shoulder. So if we can live in city and feel safe and that would be a great fit for us as opposed to moving to the burbs.

[MaryBB]

Originally Posted by DC resident

Hello,

Myself, my wife and 39 week twins currently live in downtown DC. Now that we are a family we have started to think about the future. We love living in the city, the vibe and being able to walk. We also love older homes/neighborhoods as opposed to newer cookie cutter types. Would love to stay in DC but the crime and schools are just no good. We could move to a much nicer area within the city where crime would be less of a concern but the schools are still really bad. Once we pay a cool $1 mil for the house, private school would not be in the budget. So I think we have ruled out DC. We are considering parts of Bethesda, MD, Arlington, VA, City of Fall Church, VA but I am also considering checking out Richmond. Problem is we both have decent jobs here, near DC. Although telecommuting is becoming more of an option. So I could potentially keep my job and maybe only have to come to the office once a week (which I could do using VRE). I have my CPA and work in Accounting/Financial Reporting so if I needed to there is problem something for me in Richmond. My wife works in IT Program Management/Consulting and has an MBA so I think she could find something decent in Richmond too(?) Our housing budget is probably in the $700-$800 range. Could we find an older neighborhood close to the city, with SFHs with a little bit of a yard and that has good schools? How bout crime? When we first moved into or DC rowhouse 6 yrs ago it was pretty sketch so we did develop decent street sense and it would be fine for us. But now with the kids we are just tired of always looking over our shoulder. So if we can live in city and feel safe and that would be a great fit for us as opposed to moving to the burbs.

Do you mean 700-800K for a home? You could get a ton of house for less than that in Richmond. The fan or near west end have lovely older houses but not big yards. Try Monument Ave. west end. I don't know a whole lot about schools but I know there are model schools- Fox Model Elementary I think, that people love.
There are also great areas south of the river, right over the Nickel bridge, I can't remember the name of the neighborhood though. There are some nice private schools around there that you could probably afford because you won't be spending as much on housing.
Good luck.