Is Wheaton gentrifying?

[adelphi_sky]

It's a trickle-down affect. More affluent people move in. Raise the property values, which raises the property taxes. The owners of the low-rent apartments then have to start raising the rent due to market pressure and rising property taxes. Renters then can't afford the rising rental costs. They move to more affordable areas. Which usually meant moving closer to DC, but it's happening in reverse. The further in you go, the more expensive. That's why I said last year, areas in the outer suburbs need to be on notice. gentrification will affect everyone. Now there will still be pockets of low-income dwellings inside the Beltway and in D.C. but, they will be filled to capacity because they offer more modes of public transportation for people to get to their jobs who don't have their own transportation. The inner-beltway will be prime for low and high income dwellers.

[Hereiamtoo]

Originally Posted by oldway

Got a question. Where will all the low income people who are now living in these areas go to? If all of this development takes place as everyone here says will happen wont low income families be priced out of these neighborhoods?you need to have people making the money to fill these new town homes or spend money in these town centers. Lower income families don't have that type of cash. Also, if you do make that type of money why would you move to Wheaton? Why not Rockville? Or another area that has been renovated. I would not invest a dime in Wheaton you drive 3 miles down university blvd into Langley park and it's like you drove across the boarder into south America.

What are you talking about? There are many areas that are much closer to Langley Park - Takoma Park, downtown Silver Spring, Forest Glen....

Personally, for my commute to downtown DC, Wheaton was a better fit than Rockville. That and we found the particular style of house we wanted in Wheaton. So that's why we chose Wheaton over Rockville. I'm sure there are many reasons someone would choose one over the other, including the somewhat negative (though hopefully changing!) perception that some people have of Wheaton.

[Hereiamtoo]

And another thing... Wheaton, or at least the part I live in, is right next to Kensington, an unarguably nice area. They even share a chamber of commerce.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by oldway

Got a question. Where will all the low income people who are now living in these areas go to? If all of this development takes place as everyone here says will happen wont low income families be priced out of these neighborhoods?you need to have people making the money to fill these new town homes or spend money in these town centers. Lower income families don't have that type of cash. Also, if you do make that type of money why would you move to Wheaton? Why not Rockville? Or another area that has been renovated. I would not invest a dime in Wheaton you drive 3 miles down university blvd into Langley park and it's like you drove across the boarder into south America.

They'll have to move further out to places where they can afford, such is life.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

It's a trickle-down affect. More affluent people move in. Raise the property values, which raises the property taxes. The owners of the low-rent apartments then have to start raising the rent due to market pressure and rising property taxes. Renters then can't afford the rising rental costs. They move to more affordable areas. Which usually meant moving closer to DC, but it's happening in reverse. The further in you go, the more expensive. That's why I said last year, areas in the outer suburbs need to be on notice. gentrification will affect everyone. Now there will still be pockets of low-income dwellings inside the Beltway and in D.C. but, they will be filled to capacity because they offer more modes of public transportation for people to get to their jobs who don't have their own transportation. The inner-beltway will be prime for low and high income dwellers.

Doesn't quite work that way even if a landlord's costs rise they can't just up the rent to a point which is above market. Well they can but they may never get the rental rented. The market is efficient, mostly.

I agree though poverty will move further out into the burbs because of gentrification and Section 8 vouchers.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Doesn't quite work that way even if a landlord's costs rise they can't just up the rent to a point which is above market. Well they can but they may never get the rental rented. The market is efficient, mostly.

Right. Then that's when a developer sees the rising market and purchases the distressed property. Tears them down to build more attractive apartments that can meet the market price and demand.

[ct2012]

I've been trying to research the Wheaton area, so thank you for this thread. My family will be moving to the Glen Haven military housing this summer. I was wondering if you could tell me about the surrounding area, if you are familiar with it? I'm not very impressed with the school rating, but am hopeful that the wonderful parental reviews are a better indicator. Guess you have to also consider that over 40% of the attending children speak English as a second language at home! We will have a daughter going into second grade who has an IEP in place, so I do hope they can meet her needs. Many thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by ct2012

I was wondering if you could tell me about the surrounding area, if you are familiar with it? I'm not very impressed with the school rating, but am hopeful that the wonderful parental reviews are a better indicator. Guess you have to also consider that over 40% of the attending children speak English as a second language at home!

I have been trying to locate which school the apartments are assigned to-- is it Glen Haven ES? Wheaton is diverse as you have noticed, with a large Hispanic population. I think it is generally safe, and the military apartments look very nice. (Despite the bad words you see on this board, I have found the Hispanics are mostly peaceful, family-oriented people.) I can't speak about how the schools handle a child's IEP, but I believe you should speak to them as soon as possible. I think you will be OK.

Please get out to some of the wonderful ethnic restaurants in the area!

[ct2012]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

I have been trying to locate which school the apartments are assigned to-- is it Glen Haven ES? Wheaton is diverse as you have noticed, with a large Hispanic population. I think it is generally safe, and the military apartments look very nice. (Despite the bad words you see on this board, I have found the Hispanics are mostly peaceful, family-oriented people.) I can't speak about how the schools handle a child's IEP, but I believe you should speak to them as soon as possible. I think you will be OK.

Please get out to some of the wonderful ethnic restaurants in the area!

I assumed that the apartments are assigned to Glen Haven ES, especially since the school is literally next to them. That would be best with it being a community school and we could just walk down to it.
I'm glad to hear that it is a safe area. I used a site to check out the crime in the area, Glen Haven crime reports on washingtonpost.com Neighborhoods

Of course, living in such a metro area, you tend to see more crime activity just due to the shear number of people. I used the same site to search the area we now live in Maine...over the course of a month...there were only 3 crimes TOTAL! Will certainly be a big change for us!
Thanks for your input! I am looking forward to trying some of the more ethnic foods...not sure my 7 year old will though! ha ha