How nice are people in olney?? (Bethesda, Gaithersburg: rentals, townhouse, private school)

[yayayards]

Hello i know someone who wants to move out of bethesda because they think people there are incredibly rude, and i have to not argue wid them. I go down to potomac, bethesda or chevy chase etc. And some people there think they own the world. No offense to anyone living there. Anyway, how is living up in olney, sandy spring ashton, etc.? They say they like being away from the beltway etc., but don't know enough about the area. Is being farther away from dc make people a little less.. Well.. Stressed out? I am not a agent or anything, but am actually interested in knowing too. They also want to know how safe the area is, the races, and etc.

Thanks for any info!

[Steelers10]

Originally Posted by yayayards

Hello i know someone who wants to move out of bethesda because they think people there are incredibly rude, and i have to not argue wid them. I go down to potomac, bethesda or chevy chase etc. And some people there think they own the world. No offense to anyone living there. Anyway, how is living up in olney, sandy spring ashton, etc.? They say they like being away from the beltway etc., but don't know enough about the area. Is being farther away from dc make people a little less.. Well.. Stressed out? I am not a agent or anything, but am actually interested in knowing too. They also want to know how safe the area is, the races, and etc.

Thanks for any info!

I think the appeal of Olney is its distinction from inside the beltway communities. If you can afford Bethesda/Chevy Chase then certainly Olney is affordable but it can be quite expensive. Olney seems to be mostly single-family homes, many of them in pretty contemporary subdivisions. There are some fairly nice townhouse communities just north of Glenmont that I'm sure has some rentals. The closer toward Wheaton the more "dicier" it becomes but no where around is particularly cheap.

Olney is a very low-density family friendly area. No shopping malls or anything like that, you have to go into Wheaton, Bethesda (yeah I know), or Gaithersburg for anything beyond strip mall type shopping. But those types of shopping are good; there is a really nice Safeway over on New Hampshire Avenue IMO. But traffic is much better by virtue of the low-density style development. Although traffic can get a little thick on Georgia Avenue and Norwood Road, a lot that could be contributed to neighboring areas. Although the Inter County Connector is controversial, it can potentially drop you off (well you in your car anyway) directly onto Georgia Avenue or New Hampshire Avenue (which is more Sandy Spring and Spencerville) and avoid much of the surface street traffic.

Although mostly "white", the area is still quite diverse and has representatives from every ethnicity that you can think of. The public schools are also diverse and very high performing. Our Lady of Good Counsel is a private school that is located up there as well. So the area is not particularly entertaining or bustling, but it is not exclusively rural either. This is my take on Olney so just assume this is one person's perspective. Others may differ and not like the area due to its lack of panache in comparison to a Bethesda. But people in the area strike me as fairly nice, perhaps not in a "down home" kind of way but certainly not pretentious.